Chef John's Gingersnap Cookies

1. Whisk 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cloves, black pepper, and cayenne together in a large mixing bowl until thoroughly mixed.

2. Cream together butter and 2/3 cup sugar in a separate bowl until pale yellow and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add candied ginger, molasses, vanilla, and egg. Whisk mixture until well blended. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir just until the flour disappears. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour 1/2 cup white sugar into a shallow dish for rolling cookies.

4. Scoop out about 1 1/2 teaspoons dough with a small scoop or teaspoon. Form dough into balls and roll in white sugar. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheet. Slightly flatten cookies to about 1/4-inch thick; sprinkle with a pinch more sugar.

5. Bake in batches in the preheated oven until cookies are your desired crispiness or chewiness, 10 to 15 minutes.

Cook's Note:

Depending on the exact size of your dough balls, and how crispy, or chewy, you want these, the baking times will vary from 10 to 15 minutes. So start with a small batch and adjust for doneness and texture. For me, cookies baked for 14 minutes were perfectly crisp. Those baked for 11 minutes were chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside.