I made these incorrectly.
Here's what I learned: 1) Butter probably doesn't work very well here. 2) corn syrup + brown sugar cannot be substituted for molasses. They're too flat, they cooked too quickly, and they're a little bit oily. They're delicious. Recipes all over the place with little variation:
3/4 cup margarine (I never use margarine, maybe oil would be better)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 Cups flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking soda (this seems like a lot)
1 Tablespoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar to coat dough balls
Chill the dough. Form into walnut size balls, smash a little bit. Bake 10 - 12 min. @ 350℉, (mine were done in 7 minutes, that was part of their wrongness)
I actually only made these because I need some to use for the crust in a cheese cake tomorrow.
3/4 cup margarine (I never use margarine, maybe oil would be better)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 Cups flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking soda (this seems like a lot)
1 Tablespoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar to coat dough balls
Chill the dough. Form into walnut size balls, smash a little bit. Bake 10 - 12 min. @ 350℉, (mine were done in 7 minutes, that was part of their wrongness)
I actually only made these because I need some to use for the crust in a cheese cake tomorrow.
4 comments:
Butter would probably be OK if you chilled the dough thoroughly before baking. I wouldn't use margarine (gack) but substituting oil introduces its own problems, you need a fat that's solid at room temperature and not half water (as newer margarines are). Use shortening (Spectrum Organic is lovely) or lard.
You can't sub corn syrup+brown sugar for molasses because that's two liquids for one, so your proportionate volume will be off. I often sub white sugar + molasses for brown sugar, but I know of no reliable substitute for molasses itself.
The huge amount of baking soda may be to counteract the acidity of the molasses. If you're not using molasses, you might not need so much baking soda. Also, many recipes labeled ginger "snaps" are actually ginger "bread" and you end up with doughy cookies which I like, but aren't snaps.
Was that too much? Sorry, I geeked out there for a bit. I bet these tasted awesome with the cheesecake.
Not at all, most welcome, in fact.
The dough seemed to me stiff enough, and they were chilled before baking. It was just a little depressing seeing them spread out and flatten so much. But they taste great and I haven't given up. I wonder, if I stick with butter, to use less and clarify it first to get rid of its 20% water. Maybe I'll compare about 10 or so recipes and examine more closely what's going on. Thank you for your suggestions.
I found a recipe that calls for half margarine and half shortening.
My biggest problem was that the cookies would flatten and look like "cookies" and still like the round balls I rolled.
But after splitting the margarine, ginger & shortening are my fav. again.
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