A-P'S
3/4 cup butter 1 cup sugar. 2 eggs 1/2 pound flour Beat the butter and sugar to a cream; add the eggs well beaten, then the flour. Drop by the half teaspoon on buttered tins and bake until the edges are delicately browned.
GINGER SNAPS No. 1 1 cup melted butter and lard 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup molasses 1 tablespoon ginger 1 scant tablespoon soda 1/4 cup milk Flour to make stiff dough Mix the butter and lard with the sugar; add some flour, then the molasses and ginger, and the soda dissolved in a very little warm water. Continue adding flour and milk alternately until a stiff dough is formed. Roll out as thin as possible; cut into round cakes and bake on greased tins in a quick oven. GINGER SNAPS No. 2 1/2 cup molasses 1/2 cup sugar 1½ tablespoons ginger 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup sour milk 1/2 teaspoon soda ¾ tablespoon hot water Flour to make stiff dough Boil the molasses, spices and sugar together; add the butter, sour milk and the soda dissolved in hot water. Add sufficient flour to make a stiff dough; roll very thin; cut into round cakes and bake in a hot oven.
Two versions of the same cookie, both leaning on the cook's judgment for the flour. Work from the dough's feel rather than a cup count, and roll thinner than instinct suggests.
- Quick or hot ovenBoth recipes call for a quick or hot oven, which in this period means roughly 400-450F. Thin ginger snaps at that heat are done in about 5-8 minutes, and they can go from pale to burnt very quickly, so watch the first tray.
- "Flour to make stiff dough"For No. 1 expect roughly 3 1/2 to 4 cups of all-purpose flour; for No. 2, about 2 1/2 to 3. Stop when the dough no longer sticks to the hands and holds a rolled sheet without tearing.
- Roll as thin as possibleThis is the hinge. A snap is snappy because it is thin: aim for 1/16 inch, roll between parchment if the dough fights back, and chill the dough an hour first to make that possible.
- Soda quantitiesA scant tablespoon of soda in No. 1 is a lot by modern standards, but molasses is acidic and the soda is what gives these their open, crackled texture. Level the spoon rather than heaping it, or the cookies will taste soapy.
- Sour milkNo. 2's sour milk would have been milk soured naturally, not deliberately acidulated. Substitute buttermilk, or milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred in and left five minutes.
- Butter and lardNo. 1's cup of mixed melted butter and lard can be half and half. Lard gives a shorter, crisper snap; all butter works and browns faster.
- Boiling the molassesIn No. 2, bringing molasses, sugar and spices to a boil blooms the ginger and cinnamon and drives off some water. Let the syrup cool to warm before adding the butter and milk, or the dough will be greasy and slack.
- Greased tinsParchment on a heavy sheet is easier than greasing; molasses doughs stick hard once cooled. Lift the snaps off while still warm.
- YieldYields depend on how thin you roll and how large you cut; No. 1 is roughly twice the batch of No. 2. Both keep several weeks in a tight tin and will soften if left open.
Ginger snaps descend from the medieval European gingerbreads that used honey, and later molasses, both as sweetener and as preservative; the hard, thin, long-keeping version was a staple of American home baking through the nineteenth century because it survived a biscuit tin, a lunch pail, or a sea chest. The heavy hand with soda here reflects the period's enthusiasm for chemical leaveners, which by the 1890s had displaced much of the yeast and beaten-egg work in cookie doughs. The book offers two numbered versions of the same cookie, letting the cook choose between a lard-rich dough and a sour-milk one according to what the larder held.