Baked Sunday Mornings

a sweet journey through baked: frontiers | explorations | elements | occasions

You are here: Home / Baked Occasions / In the Oven: Gingersnaps with Lemon Sugar

In the Oven: Gingersnaps with Lemon Sugar

by

Ready to spice things up?
Next posting date is Sunday, 18 January.

In the Oven: Gingersnaps with Lemon Sugar
Recipe Type: Cookies
Author: Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito
Serves: 36 Cookies
Ingredients
  • For the Lemon Sugar
  • ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
  • Zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
  • For the Gingersnaps
  • 1¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (195 ml) canola oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon (75 ml) molasses
  • 2 2⁄3 cups (340 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
Make the Lemon Sugar
  1. Place the sugar in a small shallow bowl. Sprinkle the zest over the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest and sugar together.
Make the Gingersnaps
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and canola oil until combined. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk to combine. Add the molasses and whisk to combine.
  3. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Using your (very clean) hands, combine the dry and wet ingredients together in the bowl, kneading as necessary.
  5. Scoop and roll the dough into balls about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter.
  6. Roll them in the lemon sugar to coat and place them on the prepared baking sheets about 1½ inches (4 cm) apart.
  7. For soft cookies, bake 12 to 15 minutes; for a cookie that is crunchy on the outside yet soft on the inside, bake 15 to 20 minutes.
  8. Remove the sheets from the oven and place them on cooling racks. Serve warm or transfer the cookies directly to the racks to cool completely.

Excerpted from Baked Occasions: Desserts for Leisure Activities, Holidays, and Informal Celebrations, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Copyright © 2014 by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Excerpted by permission of Stewart, Tabori & Chang, an imprint of Abrams. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Comments

  1. I made these not too long ago, and the dough was super dry and the cookies were like dry rocks. Hoping I have better luck this second time. Something seemed “off” in the recipe. I’m finding that with a lot of the “Occasions” book… Sadly, by far not my favorite of their books. :-(

    • Same thing happened to me. The cookies were rock hard and completely inedible. They looked nothing like the picture in the book. I actually ended up using (about 1-2tbs) more of both oil/molasses and adding an extra egg, but I modified about 3/4 of dough, so I am not sure if this would work to the entire mixture. Anyway, these changes actually made a really delicious cookie. Good luck!

      • That’s so odd…I’ve made this recipe 3 times and had zero issues. What brand of flour did you guys use? And did you use weight or volume? This is my new favorite holiday cookie! ❤️

        • Good point Erin-I used volume instead of weight, my mistake. I usually try to use a higher end flour for these recipes-King Arthur, but I do have Medal Gold which I may have used instead (although I use this one often without any issues). I do need to try these again with volume- I did get a new scale for Christmas and I should be putting it to good use.

        • I made mine using volume as well, and I will try next time with weight too. Also, I was VERY tired the night I was making the cookies, so it’s entirely possible that I mismeasured something… Erin, what kind of flour do YOU use?

        • I use KAF and I love it! Well the recipe should work flawlessly using both weight and volume – I was just curious. I’m interested to hear from everyone else on these.

          Yes Nicole – use that scale! It’s so much quicker and cleaner! ;)

      • I checked in with the two people who tested the recipe – both are stellar bakers and detailed testers, and they reported no issues with the recipe as tested. We also verified that the recipe tested is the same as what’s published. Side note, both testers used Grandma’s molasses.

        I haven’t made these yet but will report back once I do. But my guess is that it’s a volume vs. weight issue with the flour.

        • I think I may have figured out the problem. My book calls for 1/4 cup plus 1 tbs oil, where as the recipe posted here calls for 3/4 cup. Oddly, my book contains the correct ml-195. Let me know if you need me to send you a picture.

        • That’ll do it, Nicole! Great detective work. Could you double-check the amount? The fractions are really hard to read and I usually can’t tell the difference between 1/4 and 3/4 in the Baked books unless I’m wearing glasses and have plenty of light.

          I made these today, and I took obsessive notes and weighed and measured everything twice. They turned out perfectly – they’re a really lovely cookie. I tried with a different brand of molasses than what was tested (just in case), and I used KAF. My volume measurements for flour were slightly over weight but not significantly so (using the fluff, scoop, sweep method).

          There is one suggestion I’d like to make for anyone that hasn’t made these yet. Dafna said her dough was very oily. Mine wasn’t, but I was mindful of her comment and I made sure to whisk the oil in very well so it emulsified and didn’t separate out. It made me feel fortunate to have at my disposal the wisdom and experience of all of the other bakers here!

  2. Mark, to say repeatedly that there is something wrong with the book after you know we tested the sh*t out of it is kind of a slap in the face to all who worked on it. We all struggle with recipes sometimes; my dough was very oily, but the cookies still turned out great. It would be cool if we could try to keep it positive on here, frustrations and all. Nice save, Nicole! :)

  3. I use KAF too; can’t remember if I used weight or volume. I’m going to try weight this time and just halve the recipe, in case it doesn’t turn out. Sometimes I think it’s climate too. When I first made them, it was really dry here – I’m sure that had a lot to do with it. My apologies too for offending anyone. I’m a bit too blunt and honest here sometimes because I think I feel too comfortable chatting about about baking with you all. We all put a lot into this and I want to respect that. Dafna, I feel like you and I just butt heads too much, though I greatly admire you and the work you do. I’m sorry. I will keep baking the recipes, but am taking my leave of this group. My sincere apologies and best wishes to you all! It’s been fun and you all inspire me!

  4. Just looking in from the side, as one who was not in the group that was privileged enough to test the recipes, let’s remember people………. it’s BAKING…..NO MORE AND NO LESS!! It’s fun, it’s tasty, but it certainly isn”t a “deal breaker” type of issue!!!!!!!

  5. Thanks to Nicole & Sheri for your detective work. The error on the website was mine so I apologize if that’s what caused the issue for some of our bakers. So glad that we were able to collaborate and solve the problem.

    I appreciate each of you & your tireless efforts to make this a worthwhile group. I have learned so much and have made things I would never have attempted before.

    Onward, team!

  6. I did make these on the weekend. And two hours later had a bad case of vertigo (and am still feeling dizzy). Ugh. So that to say I didn’t try the cookies, but my hubbie did. He said they were dry. And they did feel rock hard two days later.
    I do think if I feel better and try this recipe again, I will go with weight measurements to see if it changes. And bake for less time. I do find everyone differs in time when baking (due to oven temp, etc). And I did bake for the whole time which I don’t generally do when baking cookies.