Soft and Chewy Ginger Snaps or Is My Mother a Liar?

From Ginger Snaps

Is my mother a liar? That is the life altering question I am pondering tonight. You see my Mom makes the best ginger snaps I have ever had the pleasure of eating in my life. They are encrusted in a delicate sugar coating, and when my teeth sink into the body of the cookie they are met with a soft and yielding cookie that is sweet and spicy and full-bodied. I love these cookies.  But these cookies are at the root of the question tonight - is my mother a liar?

You see, I wanted to look into the history of the ginger snap so I googled it, of course. PS btw, what the heck did we do before the ability to google? I have a love/hate relationship with googling - but that will have to wait for another blogging day. Anyways, I googled "ginger snaps". The first definition I see is "traditionally, the cookies are very crispy, so that they make a snapping noise when they are bitten into." Now do you see the problem?? If not, read the first paragraph again! The cookie I have viewed as the quintessential ginger snap are SOFT!! There is no "snapping" noise! There is no sound except for a gutteral "mmmm" coming from somewhere within me! And if this is true, what other life shattering lies has my mom told me... am I not the most beautiful girl in the world?? Is it possible I don't need an extra ten pounds on my body just in case I get sick?? Is my singing voice not up there with Celine Dion's?? Could my mother possibly be deceiving me in these areas too?? Oh the horror of it all!

It's too much to deal with tonight. I have decided that somewhere in the world ginger snaps were named ginger snaps because they are snapped up as soon as they are baked! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Most importantly, it means my Mom is not a liar and I don't have to lose 10lbs, stop singing or start saving for a face lift. Phew. And, in case you are interested, here is my mom's recipe for her amazing, aptly named Ginger Snaps... :)

From Ginger Snaps

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2.5 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt

extra granulated sugar in bowl for dipping cookies

From Ginger Snaps

Method
1. Cream butter and 1 cup sugar well.
2. Beat in egg.
3. Mix in molasses.
4. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt.
5. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
6. Shape into 1 inch balls.
7. Roll in sugar and on baking sheet.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.