I sometimes find myself sucked into the online abyss of food pictures and recipes. There are so many gifted cooks out there! They can pair ingredients like nobody’s business and they always seem have some sort of fresh herb on hand for garnish. Garnishes don’t happen here. 4 and 7-year-olds simply do not appreciate them. Kids these days!
Often this online recipe hunt is a half-hearted attempt to get out of a dinner rut. I’m not really sure what’s wrong with having tacos 5 nights a week, but my family seems to want variety. The nerve!
Other times I’m just wondering what I can make out of the random ingredients in my fridge in a desperate attempt to avoid going to the grocery store. If the zombie apocalypse happens, we aren’t going to last long on the food we have in our pantry. In case you were wondering.
I had an epiphany the other day when the Internet was simply not inspiring me. Why don’t I look through my actual recipe book? You know, that one with paper pages and hand-written notes. The one that has recipes passed down from my grandmother. Huh. What a novel idea!
So, that’s what I did.
While plopped down on my kitchen floor flipping through my recipe binder, I found a recipe for Swedish Chewy Gingersnap Cookies that I had never made. Since the zombie apocalypse has not occurred, I happened to have all the necessary ingredients in my pantry. Score!
I decided to make the cookies and figure out what was for dinner later…when I wasn’t so hungry.
Now, I have NO idea what makes these cookies Swedish. I’m guessing it is because this recipe has been passed down on the Swedish side of my family. My aunt is the one who passed it along to me and I would have stopped and asked her, but it’s not polite to talk with your mouth full of cookies.
Regardless, I’m not going to question it because these cookies hit the spot. Big time!
In my one deviation from the recipe, I rolled the cookie dough balls in sugar prior to baking and then sprinkled a little more sugar on top when they were done.
It seemed like the right thing to do. I have to tell you, I have no regrets about that decision. None whatsoever.
When it comes to cookies, I’m definitely on Team Chewy and not Team Crunchy. Depending on how long you bake them, these could go either way. The ginger flavor was just right for me – not too spicy, but definitely there.
And when I declared it “Cookies for Dinner Night,” everyone was happy. Kidding, kidding. I draw the line at gingersnap cookies for dinner. Cereal for dinner…that’s acceptable though. 😉
CHEWY SWEDISH GINGERSNAP COOKIES
RECIPE
3 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup butter
2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
optional, sugar for dusting
DIRECTIONS
Cream together butter, sugar, eggs and molasses. Add in remaining dry ingredients until a soft dough forms. Chill dough for at least one hour. (I shaped my dough into a disc, wrapped it in plastic wrap and chilled it in the fridge.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a cookie sheet, you could use cooking spray, but the butter really adds something. Form dough into small balls and roll in sugar to coat. Place dough balls on cookie sheet making sure to give them plenty of room to spread out when baking.
Bake 10 – 14 minutes until lightly browned, but still slightly soft to touch in center. (Mine were ready in 11-12 minutes.) Be careful to not over bake. Cookies will be cracked on top. Sprinkle additional sugar on top, if desired. Makes approximately 60 small cookies.
Notes:
1. This recipe is easily halved.
2. I experimented with leaving the dough in balls or rounded heaps versus pressing the dough ball a little flatter. There wasn’t a lot of difference. Pressing the dough flatter will make the cookies a bit thinner though.
Thanks for reading! Here are some other yummy treats!