Ginger Snaps

I'm not going to turn this into a food blog, but I am impressed with these ginger snaps that I just made. Anyone can make ginger snaps. That is not the impressive part. But can you cook crispy on the outside, soft on the inside ginger snaps in a toaster oven? It's not easy, believe me.

Usually with any cookies, you should take them out of the oven just before they are finished. That way they will stay soft. With a toaster oven, if you take them out early, they will always be too soft on the inside. You have to practically burn the outside just to get the inside close to cooked. Just like with a regular oven, if you overcook them, they will be rock hard. In a toaster oven, it is all a balancing act.

The recipe is pretty simple.

1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
pinch of salt

Some white sugar for decoration

Mix the brown sugar, vegetable oil, molasses and egg until you get a soft, gooey mess.

Mix the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a different bowl. You can sift it or stir it or whatever gets it all mixed together.

Stir the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients. Mix it all up until it is dry enough to handle.

Roll small bits of dough into balls and flatten slightly. They will keep pretty much whatever shape you put them in unless you substitute butter for the vegetable oil. Then they will spread out. You can make them into gingerbread men, but nothing that big will cook evenly in a toaster oven.

Put some white sugar on top and cook just until they start to burn on the outside. I put more white sugar on top right after they come out of the oven. The sugar melts a little and it looks better.