This is my great-grandmother’s recipe, which I obtained by watching my grandmother (who turned 90 this year!) make them. Her version is more quaint than my own, being baked in a wood-heated oven and full of measurements such as “a pinch“, “enough to keep if from being sticky, but not enough to make it dry”, and other such specifics. 😉
It took a fair amount of experimentation to get the oven temp and timing right — my grandmother varied this based on her best guess at the wood oven’s temperature on any given baking day — but it’s well worth the effort. This makes a fairly large batch and they keep very well for a long period in an air-tight container.
Ginger Snaps
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp ground ginger
4 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Mix wet ingredients together in large bowl.
Combine dry ingredients and add slowly to wet ingredients, mixing well. Refrigerate dough overnight — this allows flavours to mellow and the makes the sticky dough much easier to handle.
Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out dough to 1/4″ thickness. Cut and bake on lined cookie sheets for 7-8 minutes, or until adges are crispy and brown. Be careful, as it is very easy to over-bake them!
Store in air-tight cookie tin. Will keep well for several weeks (unless they get eaten first!) Makes 5-6 dozen cookies.
Just found your recipe – I hope to make them. No butter though, eh?
Dawn
Nope — that’s what makes them snappy! 😉