Grandma's Gingersnaps- Vegan Cookie Recipe

We have a lot of allergies at our house.  It is a pain, but over the last 18 years I have become quite good at adapting recipes to make them suitable for my family while still retaining the yuminess of the recipe.

I have adapted this recipe to account for my kids who are dairy free (one of them at least) and egg free (two kids).  We are vegans who eat meat.  I know it isn't really Vegan but it makes me laugh.

Gingersnaps are some of my favorite cookies!  I love fall and Christmas and this recipe is perfect for either occasion.....or let's be honest, any time you have a hankering for something delicious.

My favorite things about this recipe.

#1.  It makes a TON of cookies.  This is nice when you have to bring cookies to a party or cookie exchange because you get a lot of bang for your buck (or more importantly your time).

#2.  These cookies always come out really soft....and stay soft!  

#3.  Everyone in my family can eat these cookies and everyone loves them!

So here you go....from my Grandma (with some LiLo tweaking) to you.

Grandma's Gingersnap Cookies

1 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter (or butter substitute) 

1/3 cup molasses

1 2/3 cup sugar (plus some to roll the cookies in)

1/4 cup applesauce---one of those little cups (or 2 eggs if you are not vegan)

4 cups flour

3 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt shortening and butter over low heat.  Cool 15 minutes (or if you are impatient like me, just let it cool while you are assembling the rest of the ingredients and then have at it).  Mix shortening/butter mixture with molasses, sugar and applesauce until blended.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  It will be pretty dry.  That is okay.  Grab little bits of the dough and roll into a ball.  Roll the balls in granulated sugar until coated.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  

I like to form a bunch of balls and then roll them all at once.  I feel like it is faster, more efficient and makes your hands less messy.  But do as you will!

Bake 7-9 minutes until they start to crack open.  Don't wait for them to get brown.  They are already brown and if you wait for them to get browner (it is a word....at least in my world) then they will be over cooked and crunchy and not good.  Better to err on the side of underdone than over done.

If you REALLY want to be a rock star, then take the cooled cookies and dip it half way into a bowl of melted white chocolate and watch this recipe go from amazing, to out of this world!  I opt not to do this very often because I have yet to have found a dairy free white chocolate and I don't want my dairy free boy to feel left out.

Store in a ziploc bag or airtight container to keep them soft and fresh.  Makes about 3-3 1/2 dozen depending on how big you form the balls.

Enjoy!!

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