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Ginger Snaps with snowflake design decoration

The Best Ginger Snaps

The Best Ginger Snaps - thin crispy spiced cookies with plenty of warm ginger flavor. Just a Ziploc bag is all you need to decorate them for the Holidays too.
Course Cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 13 minutes
Total Time 28 minutes
Servings 24 3 inch cookies
Calories 137 kcal
Author Barry C. Parsons

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ginger
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup molasses

FOR THE ROYAL ICING

  • 1 large egg white
  • About 1 1/4 cups icing sugar powdered sugar icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • pinch cream of tartar

Instructions

  1. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
  2. Cream together the shortening, butter, sugars and molasses until light and fluffy.
  3. Fold in the dry ingredient mixture until a soft dough forms.
  4. Refrigerate for a couple of hours until the dough is well chilled.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  6. Roll out to about 1/8 of an inch or a little thicker.
  7. Use cookie cutters to cut out the cookies and transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
  8. Bake for 15-18 minutes depending upon the size of your cookies. The cookies pictured were made using a 3 inch cookie cutter and took about 17 minutes. You don't want to under bake them or they will not be crispy.
  9. Store in airtight containers. Freezes well.

TO MAKE THE ROYAL ICING

  1. Beat together the egg white, cream of tartar and about 1 cup of the icing sugar until light and fluffy.
  2. Beat in the remaining icing sugar a tablespoon at a time until the icing reaches a spreadable consistency.
  3. Use a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off to draw on snowflake patterns.

Recipe Notes

Nutritional information calculated for undecorated cookies.