Chuckieb Ginger Sparkles I Made It

Chuckieb ginger sparkles

gourmetana 10 years ago
Ginger Sparkles

Looooooooove these cookies, amazing flavour! The spices come through and the salt kick too. Will make this a lot more. Had to substitute the cloves (didn't have any) for chinese 5 spice. They are crispy on the edges and chewey inside. Just perfect!
The only thing is I don't know why my cookies look so flat... Used butter instead of margarine. Could it be?

Thank you Chuckieb for sharing ;)
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NPMarie 10 years ago said:

Oh these look delish! I have this recipe bookmarked..can't wait to try them! Love the pic Ana:) I'm not quite sure about butter making your cookies a little flatter..I would think it wouldn't matter which you used..I always use butter in recipes calling for margarine because I only use butter:)

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gourmetana 10 years ago said:

Yes, you are right! I honestly don't care if they turned out flat. Love them anyway ;)
I need to stop eating them now :)) I've been drinking tea, eating cookies, drinking tea, eating cookies.... Lazy Sunday at its best!

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NPMarie 10 years ago said:

Ha ha! I imagine it IS hard to stop eating these cookies! Don't ya just love lazy Sunday's:)

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frankieanne 10 years ago said:

hehe Sounds like you have had the perfect Sunday, Ana. Glad London is treating you so well. That is a wonderful picture!

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mommyluvs2cook 10 years ago said:

Awesome that you made these! I plan on making these to go with the usual cookie spread at Christmas, glad they turned out good for you :) I think they look deliciously good flat!

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chuckieb 10 years ago said:

Thanks for the kind words on the cookie recipe Ana! I love your picture (and would love for you to add it to the recipe page!). Interesting sub with the Chinese 5 spice powder. I think it's pretty versatile and you could add any spice you liked really, nutmeg is another that comes to mind.
My cookies were a bit flatter than normal this time too actually and I attributed it to only adding 1 tsp. of baking soda (recipe called for two ....oops). That being said, I did google what makes a cookie rise and it said that baking soda results in a flatter cookie and baking powder in a puffier cookie. So if you did want a puffier cookie I guess you could try sub the baking powder.
Glad you liked them. That's what counts!

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chuckieb 10 years ago said:

I'm sure Points could add some beneficial knowledge re: baking soda/powder, flat/puffy cookies....Points? :)

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gourmetana 10 years ago said:

I definitely think my oven might have something to do with it too. I'll bake these more that's for sure. Flat or puffy they're delicious anyway!

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pointsevenout 10 years ago said:

Seems like a lot of baking soda to me. It makes the cookies spread. Use self-rising flour. The rising agent is already in it. But use fresh flour. Baking soda setting in the spice cabinet over a month will naturally deactivate. Use fresh baking soda. Use cake flour or pastry flour. One cup AP flour with 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt makes fresh self-rising flour. Baking powder and baking soda MUST BE FRESH. Use butter flavored shortening. Butter also makes the cookies spread. In equal parts of baking powder and baking soda, the baking soda rises 4x more.
Chill the batter at least 1 hour. Make your round balls and bake them while still cold in a preheated oven.
Beat the sugar and fat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until pale light and fluffy. It will give the cookies more body. Then add the other ingredients.

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bakerme 10 years ago said:

Ginger cookies are a must-have for Christmas at our house. The recipe I use is from the old Betty Crocker cookbook I got as a wedding present years ago and makes thick chewy cookies. The two biggest differences between the BC recipe and yours, Gourmetana, is the amount of flour and the type of fat used. The BC recipe uses 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour and shortening instead of butter or margarine. I don't usually like cooking with shortening, but the BC ginger cookies and pie crust are the two exceptions where I use nothing else. Try adding 1/4 cup more flour to your recipe and use butter flavored shortening and I think you'll love the results. No more flat cookies! I bake them right after mixing up the batter, so you won't need to refrigerate the dough, either. And just in case you want to make them ahead of time, they freeze beautifully. Interestingly, the new editions of BC cookbooks have changed the recipe to what you made. (Why did they mess with success?) Here is the link to the new version. The picture shown on the recipe page is what mine look like made with the old recipe:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/ginger-crinkles/49b12da1-abda-43ae-90a7-cee97691416d

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pointsevenout 10 years ago said:

Easy on the flour. It will make the cookies harder.

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bakerme 10 years ago said:

Points, the extra flour doesn't make the cookies harder for me. We don't like crispy, crunchy cookies, so I take them out of the oven when they are nicely cracked and just set and they're chewy. I think letting them bake longer will make them crispy, though.

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pointsevenout 10 years ago said:

Not saying that this small amount of flour will make the cookies harder BUT there is a point where adding too much flour will. I've done it in a quest to make puffier cookies. They were OK when fresh but the next day were hockey pucks.

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bakerme 10 years ago said:

Points, I've done the same thing with other recipes for the same reason and gotten the same result you did. The little extra flour in this recipe really helps, though, and will keep the cookies from coming out too flat.

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gourmetana 10 years ago said:

All the ingredients I used were fresh (bought everything the day before). In my case, I am sure it was my oven.
Either way, cannot stress enough how delicious they were.

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bakerme 10 years ago said:

They *are* good, Gourmetana, and addictive, and we always eat more than we should! Sometimes, I finely chop crystallized ginger and add it to the dough. It gives the flavor a little extra punch. You might try that some time and see how you like it.

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chuckieb 8 years ago said:

Just a note.....made these again today....and today they are puffier like they usually are (as opposed to quite flat like they were the last time I made them). I did check the date on my baking soda and I probably shouldn't admit it but it says 2014, so it's very old. :)
Perhaps it's a matter of not overworking the dough. I tried not to do that this time. Just mixed all the ingredients together until they were well melded but didn't overwork it. That's what I'm going with. :)

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frankieanne 8 years ago said:

Old baking soda. That is on my resume as well. :)

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chuckieb 8 years ago said:

LOL.

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