My Gingersnaps....Sunset Tea Nibbles

Wouldn't it be romantic to watch the sunset on a cool summer afternoon,  drinking your Earl Gray, or "Yogi Rose" tea (German organic tea brand) while nibbling on a gingersnap? Or you could take them with you to the beach in a Tupperware container to stop your hunger pangs until you go home for dinner. I would love to share with you a recipe for some gingersnaps I made last Christmas.

Your will need:

Makes two dozen.

-  1/3 cup fresh butter or margarine (νέο Βιτάμ σόφτ).

- 1/3 cup light brown sugar.

-  2 Tbsp. Greek Thyme Honey.

-  1 egg.

-  1 1/3 cups + 2 Tbsp.  all purpose flour

-  ¼ tsp. salt. 
-  ½ tsp. vanilla.

-  ½ tsp. baking soda

 -  ¼ - 1 tsp.  ground cloves (depending on your taste for ground cloves)

-  ½  - 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (depending on your taste for ground cinnamon)

-  ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper.

-  5 tsp. or two inches worth of grated fresh ginger root including juice produced during grating.  Try not to include any fibers. 

Method:

-  Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C or 350 degrees F.

-  Using your Kenwood beat the butter and sugar together with the "K" beater attachment.  

-  Add the honey and egg, continue beating until creamy.

-  Add grated fresh ginger root including juices.  

-  Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt pepper and add to the sugar, butter  mixture.   Beat gently until all ingredients are well combined. Dough should be quite thick.

-  Unload onto parchment paper roll into a sausage shape. Refrigerate for 1 to 8 hours or overnight.

-  When dough is really cold, cut sausage into 24 equal parts.
-  Roll each part into a ball.
-   In a bowl with caster sugar, roll the ball to coat on all sides and place on cookie sheet with parchment (oven paper). 
-  With the bottom of a 5 cm (2 inch) glass, press each ball to flatten to a round cookie disk.
Important note:
Before you press each ball with the bottom of the glass, coat the glass bottom with sugar otherwise the cookie  disk is going stick to the base of the glass thus losing its shape and it will be difficult to peel unless you repeat your ball.
-  Place on oven paper 2 inches apart and bake for 16 min on lowest shelf 12 gingersnaps at a time.  Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack before you put in an air-tight box and hide. (Because they will disappear as if locusts have passed over them!!)

Enjoy if there are any left after the kids see them.

Final note: 

There are many versions for ginger biscuits /  gingersnaps. These are made according to my personal taste. That is: I don't like the back taste of molasses so I didn't put any and replaced it with honey. I like the prevailing taste to be that of ginger and something spicy (black pepper or cayenne), so I put the minimum of powdered cloves and cinnamon. Since I don't trust my powdered ginger, I put fresh grated root this time and I feel I could have put more. Thanks for your attention.
Stelio