I wanted to make a cookie that I could cover in beautiful Royal Icing, but that wouldn’t be overly sweet. I decided Gingersnaps would be PERFECT and I was right, the spicy gingersnaps and the super sweet icing makes for the ideal cookie combination.

I also discovered the key to a good Gingersnap cookie when researching this recipe, Black Pepper. I know it sounds nuts to add black pepper to your cookies, but TRUST me, that’s what adds that spicy “snap” to the gingersnaps.

Gingersnaps

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups Flour
2 tsp ground Ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 tsp ground Cloves
1 tsp ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Butter
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1 Egg
1/3 cup Dark Molasses
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and both sugars.
2. Add in Egg, Vanilla and Molasses and mix completely.
3. In a seperate bowl sift together, Flour, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg, Baking Powder and Pepper.
4. Slowly add Dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, until just combined.
5. Form dough into a ball, place in bowl, cover and refridgerate at least 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. On a floured surface roll out dough as thin as you can get it, cut into shapes, move to a parchament lined baking sheet.
8. Bake 8-10 minutes or until slightly browned – NOTE: I under cooked my first batch, you want to make sure the cookies get brown on all edges and most of the middle, this gives you a perfect crispy gingersnap.

9. Cool and Enjoy Plain or Decorate with Royal Icing – Recipe Below.

Royal Icing
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
5 tbsp. water