Gingersnaps (AB version)

This Saturday was a productive day, with over 4 dozen gingersnaps coming out of my kitchen.  I've had Alton Brown's gingersnap recipe sitting on the landing above the living room for ages.  I'm not a gingersnap fanatic or anything, in fact I can't even remember having one before, due to the fact that if I don't make it, I don't eat it, if it's a cookie.  I cannot bring myself to buy store boxed cookies.  I have seen gingersnaps called for in numerous recipes before and I've heard many people exclaim that gingersnaps are one of their favorite cookie, although they've only had store-bought gingersnaps.

I've always had success with Alton Brown recipes and when I saw his recipe for gingersnaps, I was intrigued.  His recipe calls for three forms of ginger: ground, candied and fresh grated.  I knew these cookies would have flavor, but would I like them?  Another reason I was hesitant to make these at first was because they call for molasses and hubby does not like molasses.  On Saturday though, I asked him if he would like me to substitute honey for the molasses, but he said 'no, its ok, go ahead and make them with molasses'.  (He likes the gingerbread men I make at Christmas and they do have molasses in them)

I had also considered making Nick Malgieri's Three-Way Gingersnaps from The Modern Baker, but Alton's recipe was way more interesting spice wise.  AB's recipe calls for ground cardamom and ground cloves as well as the ground ginger.  For the ground cardamom I used:

This past year I had skipped making several recipes because they called for ground cardamom and I didn't have any.  When I checked the price at the grocery stores, I thought no way am I spending that for a spice I will use only occasionally.  Well, it just so happens that Penzeys carries cardamom, the white kind, in the whole pods.  They also carry green cardamom, which I believe is usually used in savory dishes, whereas white cardamom is usually used in desserts & breads.  I've been told that the cardamom will last quite some time in the pods, without being ground yet.  This is one pungent spice!!  I snip off the tip of a pod and dump the teeny black seeds into my coffee grinder (used only for spices).  I'm sure the fact that I ground my own cardamom gave these cookies even better flavor.

The verdict, after Saturday's baking, was that these little gems are exceptionally good.  I don't know this for certain, but I would bet that the cookies I made do not even compare with ones you buy in a box, not even the ones I've heard they sell at Trader Joe's.  However, I will be trying Nick Malgieri's recipe in the near future just to see how they compare.  If you would like to give AB's recipe a try it can be found here.

 Thank you for visiting my blog and feel free to leave a comment and/or let me know if you have a favorite gingersnap recipe!