I’ve tried making ginger snaps before, but the result never really had that same sharp gingery taste as the store bought Ginger Nuts that we’ve enjoyed on many a holiday in Britain. Is it the molasses? Something else? Time to find out.

What’s in a Ginger Snap

Well, it traditionally has flour, sugar, molasses, fat, baking powder, salt, ginger, and spices like cinnamon and cloves. Most recipes vary only in the kind of fat that is used: butter, margarine, shortening or vegetable oil. All the ginger snap cookie recipes specify molasses, which is an ingredient that is not easily to be found in Holland. In the past, I’ve substituted it with “oersuiker” or unrefined ground cane sugar, which does taste different from plain sugar, but only subtly. Somehow, I was thinking that this is what gave the particular flavour to the store bought Ginger Nuts.

In the first lot I made last week (picture above), I was able to use “special import” dark brown Muscovado sugar. And of course, while they were awesome cookies, their taste was still not exactly what I was looking for! Silly me. I simply should have looked at the ingredients listing of the Ginger Nuts pack. If you’d boil down the industrial wording to a home kitchen recipe, it has flour, sugar, molasses, vegetable oil, baking powder, salt, ginger, and… lemon oil. No more. No spices. Just sharp, tangy, flavour-enhancing lemon oil. Could it be that simple?

So I quickly whipped up a second batch, using “common” brown sugar, and some 20 ml of lemon flavoured oil – I’m sure that’s not the same as lemon oil, but hey. I suspect it works just as well with a few drops of plain lemon juice. Plus the cinnamon, cloves and black pepper of my first batch. Instead of rolling balls, I made rolls of the dough and put them in the freezer compartment for later use. Baked yesterday evening – and oh boy! I think this is it! I finally have it, that elusive special ingredient of Ginger Nuts :-)… and it’s sour instead of sweet! Here’s the recipe:

Method

Mix together the brown sugar, oil, and egg in a bowl. Combine the dry ingredients in another bowl, and stir it in the sugar/oil mixture. If you have the time, bake them from individual ball-shapes, or alternatively, store the dough as a fridge log for a quick bake later. The ball-shaped cookies will have that wonderfull cracked top; but the fridge cookies do look pleasing as well.

Either: form the dough into small balls, about 2,5 cm across. Dip the top in granulated sugar. Put them 5cm apart on a tray lined with baking paper.

Or: form into two sausage shaped rolls, 5 cm across, using baking paper to support the roll. Leave overnight in the freezer compartment of the fridge. When you have 10 minutes to bake, take out a roll, and cut slices of about 4 or 5 mm thickness, holding the knife at a slight angle to the roll (to get an elongated shape). Put the slices 3cm apart on a tray lined with baking paper.

Baking

Put them in a pre-heated oven of 190°C, and bake for 8 or 9 minutes – the ball-shaped cookies would take about 10 minutes. Better under- than overbake. The cookies will slightly rise, and then just before they’re done, sink back again, creating a nice surface pattern. Get them out – if stuck together, gently prise them apart – and leave to cool on a wire rack (which takes about 10 minutes).

Fridge roll Ginger snaps

While it’s no contest when comparing home baked cookies to store bought ones, their flavour was not so easy to duplicate. Comparing them side-by-side, mine aren’t as hard-baked as the Nuts, but have a great, an almost airy texture. And I also liked the other spices in there: this is a full flavoured, crunchy cookie with something else happening; exciting! The lemon is there only to give an extra bite, but is a very must-have ingredient – the “secret”, yes. I suspect you could leave the cloves (and pepper) out, but with the lemon, you’d still have a great tasting “hot” gingery cookie…