This traditional ginger snap recipe from the Gold Medal Flour Cookbook (1917) highlights the simplicity of early 20th-century baking, but a few tweaks will make it more convenient. Swap dark brown sugar if you don’t have molasses on hand. Use 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups of dark brown sugar for 1 cup of molasses. Since brown sugar isn’t liquid, add 1–2 tablespoons of water to maintain moisture and achieve a dough consistency closer to the original recipe.
To use fresh ginger in this recipe, peel a 1-inch piece of ginger root and finely mince or grate it. Instead of a “quick oven,” bake at 350°F for about 8-10 minutes until crisp. To prevent exposure to raw flour, aim for a fully baked interior temperature of about 190–200°F. This verifies doneness and ensures any potentially unsafe bacteria in the dough have been neutralized. For a gluten-free option, substitute with a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. Pair with a cup of fruit punch tea from 1909.
