Gingersnaps?

In our modern, connected, planned and accounted for world, the idea that someone might come for a visit unannounced seems out of place to me to me, but as a boy, such visits were more common than not. I might have been outside playing in the yard when Uncle Frank drove up in a beige Ford shouting "Hi, peanut," even when I was almost six-feet tall. My grandparents Kern and Marion might have been on their way to camp, or on their way back. The circumstances never mattered. What did matter was that we were happy to see them, and whatever was on our table was happily shared.

Sometimes, they would bring something with them, and one of my favorite treats that my Aunt Frances brought were her gingersnaps. And, yes, I had an uncle named Francis and an aunt named Frances, husband and wife. I suppose these cookies were failures in the world of gingersnaps because, in truth, they were not hard cookies, and so they didn't snap. However, I thought then, and still think, that they are the best traditional ginger cookies. They walked the fine line between a soft cookie and a snap.

When I tried to make them as a teen, I failed, and so I decided to dust off the recipe card and try again so many years later. The result? Success. The cookies were crisp around the edges with a golden brown bottom, but chewy on the inside. 

Aunt Frances' Ginger Cookies

Aunt Frances' Gingersnaps Recipe (makes 26)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

Cream

   3/4 c. oleo

   1 c. sugar

Beat into the creamed mixture 

   1/4 c. molasses

   1 egg

Sift together

   2 c. flour

   1 T ground ginger

   2 t. baking soda

   1 t. cinnamon

   1/2 t. salt

Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the creamed sugar, fat, and egg.

Shape dough into 1" balls, roll in sugar, space a baker's dozen on each of two cookie sheets, and bake both sheets on the top shelf for 12-15 minutes, or place one sheet on the top shelf and the other on the middle shelf, changing positions about 8 minutes into the cooking time. Cool on baking racks.