This recipe needed some tweaking. There was not near enough corn syrup to get the dough to stick--it was "sandy". I added about 2/3 cup and that was adequate but from looking at other recipes I think you could add closer to 3/4 to 1C and still be fine. My spice additions were at least doubled and I used as follows: 2 tsp cloves 1T cinnamon 2tsp Cardamom 1T ginger and I will add more Ginger next time as I like them zingy. WITH those changes it was a good recipe.
I followed this recipe to the letter and had no problems with it. The dough is super hard out of the fridge but I worked it a bit with my hands then rolled it out just fine. A lot of flour helped in making it roll out super thin and I didn't have any problems with crumbling until it started to warm up. They were exactly the cookies I was looking for. I only gave it 4 stars because if I make it again I will definately double the spices. I like my spice cookies to be really strong and these are pretty mild as is.
if you like Anna's Ginger thins this is the closest I have found to them. Lovely and delicious. Definitely a keeper.
5 stars for flavor but 1 star for difficulty. As other reviewers noted it was really difficult to roll out since it was sandy in texture. I could roll it with great effort (after it was at room temp - no way right out of the refrigerator) and could only get 1 or 2 cookies cut out of it because the rest was so crumbly. I tried adding more corn syrup after re-reading the reviews which did help the dough stick together better however it was extremely hard to mix it in! My arms were exhausted and it was too much for my Kitchen Aid mixer!
This recipe is great - very close to my family's recipe for these cookies. I would suggest using margarine instead of butter - the dough rolls out much more easily especially when the dough is cold. That way you don't need to add all the extra corn syrup. I also like to double the spices especially the cardamom. You can sprinkle the cookies with colored sugar prior to baking to make them more festive (my stepson loves to decorate them with colored sugar).
Made the recipe to the letter multiple times. Family and coworkers LOVE it (so do I!). Some prefer the harder crunchy version some prefer the softer version varies depending on dough thickness and cooking time. Dough is 'sandy' and tough to stick together before refrigeration and can crumble at first after you take it out of the fridge but eventually it comes together. I've found that refrigerating it briefly is much easier than for long periods of time - 30 min at most - enough to cool it off and make it less sticky but not enough to harden it up and make it difficult to roll out. Will be making this recipe again and again. PS makes LOTS of cookies - I wouldn't be surprised if the estimate of 100 cookies was right on target.
omit the syrup replace with molasses
Just tried this recipe a couple of days ago and loved it! The best I've ever tried and it's proof to me that homemade is far better than any store bought version...yes and in some cases even small bakery batches. I made a few variations and it looks and tastes like the experimentation went well. First I used used butter which I believe is much better than margarine. It adds taste and texture that you can tell lacks in store bought types. 2nd I substituted 3/4 cup of white flour for whole wheat unbleached flour. I think this allowed me to reduce refrigeration time to 15-20 min. Not to mention it added a bit of a healthiness to the recipe. Also I used 1 cup of sucanat 1 cup of natural (unbleached) granulated sugar and brown rice syrup to substitute the sugar items in the recipe. The finished product is crispy pleasantly spiced tasty buttery and fantastic compliment with tea Indian Chai milk coffee.... You name it! For the most part a lot of these ingredients were substituted because I don't normally use them in my baking. The results came out so well I think I will continue makIng them this way. Well happy experimentation and happy baking!
I followed directions too and the dough was too Sandy. I'm Swedish and this is the first time I made these here in the US. I added another 3 or 4 tbls of corn syrup and the dough became smooth and easy to maneuver but not too soft. Just like it should be.
