The Hallmark of a Gingersnap Cookie is the Pleasant Wave of Heat: I’ve strayed from the classic gingersnap recipes that use the ground form of dried ginger and amped up the ginger flavor by incorporating three different forms of ginger; ground dried ginger, grated fresh ginger, and crystallized ginger. I’ve also added one extra ingredient to build on the heat from the ginger, and that’s ground black pepper. The overall effect is a robust ginger flavor with a beautiful contrast of heat and sweetness. Why Use Different Types of Ginger? Ginger is a fascinating ingredient; as it’s processed and converted into various forms, the critical chemical gingerol responsible for its gingery heat transforms into new substances. When fresh ginger is dried to produce the ground ginger in our spice jars, the gingerol changes into shagaol. In contrast, in crystallized ginger (prepared through pressure cooking), gingerol turns into zingerone. Each of these ginger flavor molecules differs from each other in their degree of heat, and zingerone, in comparison to the other two, is also sweeter (from a food chemistry perspective to see how one molecule can change slightly and produce such a dramatic effect, see my illustration (this was one of the sketches that didn’t make it into The Flavor Equation cookbook)) Why Black Pepper? I often add black pepper to a lot of my sweets, especially cookies and ice cream. The heat and aroma from the black pepper often hold up really nicely to sweetness. Black pepper gets its heat and pungency from a chemical called piperine. One interesting thing of note, piperine is light sensitive and changes into non-pungent substances (by a process called isomerization), so always store peppercorns and ground away from light in a cool, dark corner of your kitchen. In addition, piperine loses its pungent potency over time because of spontaneous chemical changes; that’s a big reason why most recipes will ask you to use freshly ground black pepper and avoid holding on to peppercorns in the spice cabinet for several months. In these cookies, the addition of black pepper helps tie the heat from the different forms of ginger together. How Does the “Heat” Work? The flavor chemicals in ginger and pepper work on our senses by a phenomenon called chemesthesis. Chemesthesis is simply the irritation of our nerve endings inside the mouth that occurs when they’re exposed to the flavor substances in ginger and pepper during eating; our bodies have evolved to appreciate this “irritation” as a pleasurable and tasty sensation. The heat from chilies and the tingling sensation produced by lime zest on our tongues all work by the same process, but they use different food chemicals. Because of these various flavor boosters, I like to add the three different forms of ginger and black pepper to create a more robust and flavorful gingersnap cookie. Now let’s get to baking. Extra Spicy Gingersnaps These gingersnap cookies get their spicy punch from three different gingers and black pepper forms, while the demerara sugar provides a sweet, crunchy texture to the cookie. Gingersnaps are best eaten with a cup of warm coffee or tea. 5 from 1 review 1 Tbsp ground ginger 1 ½ tsp baking soda 1 tsp ground black pepper ½ tsp ground green cardamom ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp ground nutmeg 1 cup/220 g unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature ¾ cup/150 g packed dark brown sugar 1 large egg, at room temperature ½ cup/120 ml date syrup or unsulfured molasses 1 Tbsp grated peeled fresh ginger ½ cup/120 g chopped crystallized ginger 1 cup/200 g demerara or sparkling sugar I use blackstrap molasses. I did slightly modify this recipe by using coconut sugar in place of brown sugar and a flax egg instead of a real egg. I also skip the Demura sugar that you use to coat them. I use 2 tablespoons of grated ginger and rinse all the sugar off the crystallized ginger. I’m not a fan of overly sweet stuff. And lastly, I bake the cookies @325 for 20 minutes and @350 for the last 5. Exquisite! And everyone loves them🙏
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