Ginger Crinkle Cookies

Ahh, the lessons from my kitchen.  Baking cookies should never, ever make you want to cry.  But these did. And not the good kinda cry, either.  These cookies took 4 complete do-overs to get them right.  Not kidding.  I got the taste right on the first shot...but the texture?  Crap, I could not have made more stupid mistakes.

So this recipe is an adaptation from a very old Chatelaine recipe.  The original, of course, used wheat flour and shortening and white sugar--by the boatload.  But I figured I was up to the challenge.  In hindsight, I have to ask myself--was I really?

So lets go over those mistakes 1 by 1.

First--do not make the cookies too big or stick them too close together. They go from perfectly nice cookies to a big sheet of solid goo which dripped off the edges of my insulated cookie pan all over  my stove, which led to an oven cleaning, just one day after the last oven cleaning...

Too thin...

Next, do not melt the lard/coconut oil fist, thinking it makes the molasses and lard easier to blend into the dough.  The cookies melt all over the cookie sheet before it even goes in the oven, making them too thin and lacy to call gingersnaps.

Too cake-like

Next, do not add an extra egg, trying to set the dough faster, because what it does is leaven the cookies and gives them a cake texture--which might have been great for snicker doodles, but not gingersnaps.

Too burnt...

And most importantly--do NOT walk away on baking cookies.  Even if they turned out perfect on the first round, the second dozen is not a guarantee of perfection to follow.  The element can come on, scorches all of the cookies and ruins everything.

So, so many lessons.  Here's a couple more--do not taste every batch, raw and cooked, when making 4 x 48 cookies.  It will give you an awful bellyache.  Do not cry into your cookie dough.  No one will want to eat it.  Do not scrape ruined partially-cooked cookie dough off a hot baking sheet and shovel it into your mouth.  That will also make you feel ill, eventually, and it will still increase your waist circumference even if it is grain-free and refined-sugar-free and all that.  And my final lesson--do not make these to keep to yourself.  Share them.  Because they are soooo good that you will eat all of them.  And then you will blame me when you put weight on.  Me, I'm blaming the dogs for all of this.  Because they can't argue with me.

So here's the right way to make these cookies....


Makes 48 cookies (or more)

Ingredients:

• 1 c slivered almonds (or almond meal)
• 1 c tapioca starch
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger 
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c coconut sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c molasses
• 3/4 c lard or coconut oil

Method:

Move oven rack to highest setting.  (Cookies scorch easily).  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In food processor, puree almonds until fine crumbs/almond meal texture.  Add dry ingredients and blend.  Add lard.  Blend until fine crumbles.  Add egg and molasses.  Puree until mixed thoroughly.

Place by small, very scant spoonful (they REALLY spread) onto parchment-lined cookie sheet (This is waaay important--they stick like crazy if you don't).  Bake 7-9 minutes.  If the element comes on, just turn the oven off and let them finish with it turned off.  Don't worry.  they'll still cook.  Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to cooling rack.

A lot of sweat and tears, for sure.  But worth it?  I totally love these cookies.  You'd never know they were wheat-free or refined-sugar-free.  Freakin' delicious.