My grandmother, Mother Spell, was famous for her great cooking. One favorite at Christmas or anytime was her gingersnaps. They lasted a long time, so she often had some ready for when people dropped by.
Some time after she had passed away, my Mom got a call from one of her sisters. “Do you know Mother’s gingersnap recipe? Nobody else has it.”
Mom said, “Yeah, I have it.”
“How did you get it?”
“It’s in the Salem Baptist Church Cookbook.”
So from Mother Spell to Salem Baptist Church to my Mom to me and now to you, here is Mother Spell’s secret recipe for ginger snaps.
Ingredients
- 1 cup oleo or butter (I use butter — Tech Farm)
- 1 cup dark brown sugar. [I recommend piloncillo sugar if your store has a good Mexican food section. It's real brown sugar. American “brown sugar” is actually refined white sugar with some molasses added for flavor — BRM.]
- 1 cup molasses (cane kind)
- 6 cups plain four
- 1 tsp. Ground ginger (I use more. I sometimes go to the health food store and buy candied ginger, cut it fine and stir into the dough.)
- t tsp. Cinnamon (or more)
- 1 tsp. Of any other spice of your choice
- 1 tsp. Soda
- ½ cup hot water
Directions
- Cream shortening and sugar.
- Add syrup.
- Sift dry ingredients together
- Add to mixture.
- Dissolve soda in hot water, add.
- Made a stiff batter to roll easily.
- Divide in small enough pieces to roll thin.
- Flour your dough board well to keep your batter from sticking.
- When it is thin enough, sprinkle with granulated sugar, (I have used granulated brown sugar).
- Smooth off, then roll sugar in by pressing with rolling pen as you roll pin over dough. [[These should be very thin to make them crisp when done — BRM.]
- Cut with knife [You can cut these in shapes, but usually they're cut in strips about 1" wide and 6" long. — BRM.]
- Bake at 350° on a cookie sheet until brown. Keep an eye on them for they burn quickly.
My mother’s recipe as copied from her Salem Baptist Church cook book published in 1988. Her name is Ella Spell. — Vivian Magee.
— Ella Spell
— Vivian Magee
Source — Dinner on the Ground.
Salem Baptist Church. 1988.
Prepared by Bruce R. Magee
Louisiana Anthology
December 30, 2024
