I wanted the gift to be edible (as I want all gifts to be) so I turned to my mom's old cookbook to find something that would sustain a cross country trip. Cherry Dream Pie was out, as were Salmon Patties and Chicken Divan (yes these are actual recipes! amazing, no?)
The book is so fantastically retro, covered in a floral pattern of oranges and browns and all of the recipes were hand-picked by her, most passed down from relatives and friends. I love flipping through the yellowed pages decorated with grease-spotted fingerprints, the quotes taped to the pages by authors she admired, her handwritten recipes, the separate section for casseroles. Our cousin Jody kept it and gave it to me last year. Thank you, Jody. It is perfectly and authentically her.
Back to decision making. Cookies? I asked John to name his favorite. He responded with a very unobtrusive nilla wafer? Now, I didn't try very hard to find one, but I'm pretty sure no public recipe exists. It's like the Oreo. Why try when Nabisco's got it perfected?
Anyway. I found this photo a few months ago of the 3 or us. John looks about 4 years old. I love that the cookie is almost the size of his head. It looks like it could be a gingersnap......maybe......oversized........with a bit of imagination? And I just so happened to find a recipe in the binder with my great grandmother's name typed right next to it. Just in case he isn't thrilled (although I simply can't imagine this) there is a yellow box of wafers tucked inside the package, too.
In her recipe, Nana calls for shortening. I used butter and it worked just fine (I'm sorry, Nana). If you do substitute butter, you will want to set your oven at a lower temperature, about 300 degrees. I like a strong essence of ginger, so I used 2 teaspoons instead of 1. The cookies turned out deliciously spicy. There is nothing like the combination of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Make these and your kitchen will smell like heaven for hours after they come out of the oven.
Ginger Snaps
from Nana
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
4 T molasses
2 cups flour
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
Cream shortening/butter and sugar. Add well beaten egg and molasses. Mix dry ingredients well and combine with the first mixture. Form into small balls and dip into cinnamon/sugar mix. Bake on greased pan at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.
