Ginger Snap Cookies
Food and Drink

Excerpted from Ruby’s Juke Joint Americana Cookbook, by Ruby Dee of Ruby Dee and the Snake handlers, ©2012 by Ruby Dee Philippa,

Ginger Snap Cookies

"During the war, Grandma had to alter recipes to do without butter. Those recipes are lost, but after she told me about those days, I experimented on my own and came up with these incredibly delicious ginger snaps made with vegetable oil. One bite and you can’t tell."

Ruby Dee
Makes: 3 dozen

 

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 egg

4 tablespoons molasses

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375°. In a large mixing bowl, combine oil, sugar, and egg. Add the molasses and stir to combine well. Add the dry ingredients: flour, soda, ginger, cinnamon, mustard, and salt. You should now have a moist dough.

Pour a small amount of sugar into a small bowl, about half a cup. Mold the cookie dough into small balls—about 1 inch in diameter—and roll them around in the bowl of sugar. Flatten them slightly and arrange 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Spatula the cookies off and allow them to cool on a rack.