What is it about Christmas and ginger? They kind of seem to go hand in hand somehow. Almost as cozy as a romance. Well maybe not, but anyway, it’s only a week out from Christmas day... which we are going to be spending with Lincoln’s (my husband’s) family, most of whom still cook with sugar. I can’t quite imagine Christmas without some sort of sweet ginger-y, spice infused confection. A whole line-up of them would be nice, really.
I have always enjoyed supplying plenty of baking when we all get together at Christmas time. But these days even more so, because if I do then we fructose-free weirdos can have some treats too, and not feel deprived. (No, enlightened, not weird!) And so today I find myself contemplating my next flurry of kitchen activity with a ginger theme.
I have got some gingerbread man dough chilling in the fridge which needs rolling out, and cookie-cuttering. But that’s very messy, and we have visitors coming tomorrow morning (I don’t need to go into any more detail than that in my reasoning against the gingerbread man process today, do I?)
All up I kind of feel like a less arduous act of ginger-ish-ness. It’s mid-afternoon, and I’m feeling lazy. Plus I have a friend or two who are interested in my crunchy gingersnaps. And the longer I prattle on about it in a blog post, justifying my rationale, the longer I can sit on the couch with my coffee procrastinating...
Nevermind. They are easy, once you get into the kitchen!
*Aack! I have just corrected a typo in the Glucose syrup amount below. Hope nobody made these before I picked that up... My apologies if you did!
Crunchy Gingersnaps
This recipe makes heaps of gingersnaps!
1 c (200 gr) Butter
1 1/3 c (380 gr) Glucose syrup
1/2 tsp pure 'non-bitter' Stevia powder (NuNaturals brand if possible. Stevia's are not all equal, some are horrible.)
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Bicarb Soda (Baking Soda)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Ginger powder (I use a 20 ml Aussie tbsp. The North American tbsp is 15 ml so add an extra tsp if your spoon is a 15 ml!)
2 1/2 c Flour
1/4 c Dextrose (for rolling dough balls through to coat before baking)
1. Add butter, glucose syrup, stevia, salt, bicarb soda, cinnamon and ginger to a large mixing bowl. Beat till very pale.
2. Add flour. Beat. This mixture is quite thick, so if your beaters aren't powerful, you might want to mix by hand and save them from the effort...
3. Shape dough into small balls, about 1 1/2 - 2 cm, and roll through dextrose to coat.
4. Place on baking tray leaving plenty of space for spreading! These spread a lot! (One of the photos above shows the size of a dough ball compared with the baked gingersnap to show how much they spread.)
5. Bake at 150C (300F) for 16-18 minutes turning half way through - unless your oven bakes evenly without doing so.
Thermomix method
1. Add butter, glucose syrup, stevia, salt, bicarb soda, cinnamon and ginger to Thermomix bowl.
2. Beat on speed 3 for 20 seconds, scrape sides down with spatula then beat again for another few seconds.
3. Add flour. Beat at speed 3 for 20 seconds or until well combined.
4. Shape dough into small balls, about 1 1/2 - 2 cm, and roll through dextrose to coat.
5. Place on baking tray leaving plenty of space for spreading! These spread a lot! (One of the photos above shows the size of a dough ball compared with the baked gingersnap to show how much they spread.)
6. Bake at 150C (300F) for 16-18 minutes turning half way through - unless your oven bakes evenly without doing so.
This makes a great dunking cookie, if you are into that! Perfect with tea, coffee or a glass of cold milk...
