Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps for Secret Recipe Club

It's been a perfect fall weekend - bright and sunny with a slight crispness in the air and leaves falling everywhere. And to top it all off, it's Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! The blog we were assigned for October was Mommy's Menu, written by Toni, a stay-at-home-mom who has a fantastic recipe index filled with all sorts of delicious delights.

Some of Toni's recipes that sounded particularly good for this weekend included Caramel Apple Marshmallow Dip, Super Duper Hot Chocolate, Smokey Chipotle Chili, and Homemade Pumpkin Puree. But even though we always claim that we are not really into making desserts, it seems that something about the Secret Recipe Club brings out the bakers in us. For some of this year's SRC's, we've made Brownies with a Twist, Strawberry Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake, Meyer Lemon Bars, and Golden Cinnamon Buns, for example. This month, Toni's Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps sounded so easy and so yummy and so perfect for this time of year, we just went for it.

And they were both easy (done in about 1/2 hour, including baking time), and yummy (we got 42 cookies out of them and we each ate 4 or 5 straight out of the oven), and perfect for this time of year (our house smells amazing). We love Toni's suggestion of crumbling them over ice cream topped with caramel sauce. Doesn't that sound fabulous? 

Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps

recipe from Mommy's Menu

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 1/4 cups flour, sifted

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch ground cloves

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

Preheat oven to 375. Cream together the shortening, molasses, brown sugar and egg. Add the dry ingredients and mix together until well combined. Form into small balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place (staggered, as they will spread) onto a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

UPDATE: Click here to see what was done with one of our recipes!

Sorghum and Spice Gingersnaps (Secret Recipe Club)

Here we are. It's mid-September, and yet we still haven't told you about the last week of summer that we spent in Maine. That would be because we're teachers. That we'll get around to it sometime is about all we can promise right now. But for today, it's time for September's Secret Recipe Club. We sat out of the summer reveals because we were away a lot, but we're back and certainly glad to be, especially after the tasty results we got today's recipe!

Our SRC assignment this month was Yumsilicious Bakes. At first we were nervous. ALL of Yums's recipes are for baked goods, and, as you may know, we've had a few baking disasters in the past. But then we received some inspiration: this gorgeous leaf we found on our lawn this weekend. Yes, it's almost fall and what's better for fall than crisp spice-flavored cookies to match the crisp spice-scented air? Let's make gingersnaps!

Avanika of Yumsilicious Bakes adapted her gingersnap recipe from one by David Leibovitz who based his on Alice Waters's version from The Art of Simple Food. This particular cookie recipe was even more exciting for us because it calls for molasses, and we've been wanting to bake with this Bourbon Vanilla Sorghum that Bourbon Barrel Foods sent us to try. Molasses, a by-product of sugar, can be used interchangeably with sorghum. And this sorghum, milled in Kentucky from a single crop then blended with Kentucky Bourbon and Bourbon-Madagascar Vanilla (yes, those are ALL the ingredients!) is earthy, sweet and spicy and, we thought, would give that certain complexity to our cookies that we are always searching for.

Did it ever! The crisp, sugary cookies have remarkable depth of flavor with hints of cinnamon and vanilla and a nice kick from the black pepper. In the spirit of fall, we used orange sanding sugar to make them pretty. We ate them with tea, then by themselves, and later that same day, stuffed with chocolate chip gelato as ice cream sandwiches. We couldn't get enough! For fans of Pepperidge Farm Ginger Man cookies or any other crisp, spicy gingersnap, we highly recommend this fabulous recipe. Thank you to Yumsilicious for sharing it, and to Bourbon Barrel Foods for the amazing sorghum. What will we make with it next?

Sift together dry ingredients

Cream together butter and sugar

Add sorghum and one egg

Mix in dry ingredients

Wrap dough and chill

Slice dough and top with sanding sugar

Bake, then cool on wire racks

Sorghum and Spice Gingersnaps

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup Bourbon Vanilla Sorghum

1 egg at room temperature

sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper. Using a stand mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the egg and sorghum and mix until well incorporated. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator for 30-60 minutes, then roll to shape into a cylinder. Line two baking sheets with parchment or a silicone mat. Slice the dough into roughly 1/4-inch thick rounds. Dip the tops into the sanding sugar, and place on the baking sheet, leaving room to spread. Bake for 13-14 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, and store in an air-tight container.