The Finest and most Delicate Gingersnap EVER

My sister-in-law LOVESuh ginger and on the occasion of her birthday about six years ago I started developing this recipe.  Last Christmas it was ALMOST perfect and this year I absolutely perfected it.  It doubles beautifully and I strongly urge you to double it.  Once you taste them you're going to want more AND it's such an easy recipe to work that it's the perfect cookie to gift to people.  PLEASE NOTE:  THIS IS THE RECIPE FOR A SINGLE batch, with one notation for doubling:

GINGERSNAPS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mince about an 1/8th of a cup of crystallized ginger and place in on the bottom of a large mixing bowl.
On top of that place:

• 6 TABLEspoons of butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 cup of DARK molasses
• 1 large egg and
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Beat until smooth (which I found out yesterday some people thing that is a VERY long time and it's TOEtally not, it's like 2 minutes, m'kay?).

Sift in to that, all at once:

• 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking POWDER
• 1/4 teaspoon baking SODA
• a PINCH of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon each of cloves and allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg (that's literally called a "dash", hardee har)

and here is the modification: for a DOUBLE batch you want to double the cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice but DON'Tuh double the nutmeg.  trust me.

Mixie mixie with a spoon.  It feels like it's dry.  It feels like it's chalky.  I actually, toward the end, wash my hands but don't dry them, and mix fully with my hands until incorporated.  That's ALL the moisture it needs.

Now...all of the recipes I've seen tell you to do stupid things to get the cookies on the sheet.  The worst one is "blah blah ball blah blah cookie sheet blah blah flatten with a floured glass".  This is what I've found works best:

Keep that idea of wetting your hands in mind, but don't get them TOO wet or it'll turn the cookie to mush...you'll know when you need to wet your hands.

• Take a large teaspoon of batter in to your hand and roll it in to about a one-inch ball then
• Press that ball in to a flat disk in the palm of your hand and put that on an ungreased cookie sheet.  The cookies don't rise so you can put them very close together.
• Put that in the oven and bake for TWELVE minutes.  You're going to think it's too long and if the first batch burns on the bottom, which it shouldn't, then adjust your time to TEN minutes.
• Get them off the sheet and let them cool.

This is a rich, flavourful mouthful with a nice bite.  I hope you enjoy them.