ginger snaps

When I get bored.. I bake. I don't think this is necessarily a bad habit, do you? My mum seems to appreciate it, it means she doesn't have to go out and buy cakes or anything, and theres something for the rest of my family to snack on. I made these when my mums friend was coming round for a coffee, I thought it would be nice for them to eat whilst they gossip.. My mum really loves biscuits, and particularly ginger biscuits, so I found this recipe on one of my favourite favourite cooking blogs, Smitten Kitchen (I'm going to snap up her cookbook when it's released!). I generally really trust any recipe from her website, even if they're a bit fiddly!

Here's the recipe, you can find it in cups, grams and ounces on her website, though:

280g plain flour

2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon table salt 

3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

8oz/227g unsalted button (at room temperature)

100g granulated sugar

100g light brown sugar

1 large egg

80ml unsulphured molasses

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, salt and spices until just combined, but evenly mixed throughout. If necessary, wrap in cling-film and place in the fridge for a bit, and then roll into 1-inch balls and place on lined baking trays, about two inches apart incase they spread. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, and bake for around 10-15 minutes, depending on how soft or snappy you want your snaps!

A few notes; I didn't have any white pepper, all spice, or molasses! I put in a bit extra ginger and cinnamon, but I think next time I might use chunks of stem ginger, as that always tastes good! And instead of using molasses, I used golden treacle, which I think is why my biscuits are much lighter in colour than hers. Next time, I'd probably go for black treacle, which is as close to molasses as I've ever managed to find in this country! If you do manage to get hold of any, let me know!