Jump to Gingersnap Cookies Recipe
Tomorrow is Yule.
Usually I’m super-prepared for it. By this time, I’ll usually have a Yule log decorated, lots of goodies made, a duck or goose or turkey brining (and another one or a ham thawing for the subsequent Christmas festivities), and one round of presents wrapped for the kids. The house is usually decorated with greens and reds and candles everywhere and, if I could find them while living in the big city, boughs of holly and evergreens and pine cones. And, because Yule is a time of renewal, I usually do a mega-cleaning of the house, moving counter-clockwise through the house; it seems to bring in positive energies and sweep out the bad ones.
This year, it seems to have snuck up on me.
Apparently it’s one of the side-effects of parenting. Time seems to fly way too quickly.
A Yule feast - Image by Jupiter Firelyte via Flickr
Reflections on Yule
For those who may not be familiar with the holiday, Yule is one of many ways nature-oriented faiths celebrate the winter solstice. It’s Germanic in origin, but neopagan adaptations of the holiday include some Scandinavian and Celtic practices. Specifics on how they celebrate Yule varies depending on the pagan tradition the practitioners follow.
But pretty much all neopagans treat it as the rebirth of the sun. It’s the shortest day of the year, and so every day afterwards is a little brighter. And because our ancestors, lacking the technological amenities we take for granted, struggled through long, harsh winters, they put aside their hostilities and got together to share their food and wealth and celebrate the coming spring. If you could make it to Yule, you had a good chance of making it to spring. It’s a time of hope, of goodwill–just toss in baby Jesus and it sounds a lot like Christmas, huh?
It’s a reminder that even the deepest, darkest, scariest things in life are not permanent. Eventually the sun will shine through and will shine brighter, no matter what personal problems in life you’re facing.
In my family, we acknowledge the science behind the winter solstice, but it doesn’t diminish the spirituality behind it. You can revere nature and still understand how it works. Perhaps it’s also because we love outdoorsy hobbies that we find peace in connecting with the seasons and cycles of the world around us, but I personally find something deeply inspirational in knowing that, in all the randomness and chaos of the universe, life flourished here on Earth, focused around our rather average (by astronomical standards) yellow star and the influence of it and our moon on the stability of the days and seasons. The solstices and equinoxes, which give a sense of predictability to our world, are not standard for other planets in the universe. It was a rare chance that life evolved on Earth, because we had all the right conditions (distance from a medium-sized star, a moon with a stabilizing effect on the Earth’s axis and rotation, the fact that the axis is positioned the way it is, and so on) and that alone is something to be grateful for.
No matter what your religious or spiritual views, I think that taking time to reflect on the importance of the sun in our lives, considering how easy it is to inundate oneself in work and stressful events and mind-numbing technology, is key to a healthier outlook on life.
Winter Solstice in Manhattan - Image by Dave Kliman via Flickr
If you’re interested, you can read a more thorough description of the history of Yule here (Wikipedia) and here (About.com). The celebration of Yule has been getting more recognition in the media within the past few years. Mainstream parenting magazines, like this partial article from Kiwi Magazine, and even some newspapers and the US and Canada, like the Montreal Gazette in this article, cover how some neopagan communities observe Yule today. Also, there is a beautiful and captivating children’s book that explores the winter solstice from the perspectives of both ancient religions and modern science called The Winter Solstice by Ellen Jackson. In my opinion, it does a great job of illustrating the way that ancient peoples viewed winter and how some of these cultural practices have been applied to modern-day Christmas traditions without being disparaging to any worldview. It reflects the sentiments I have expressed above.
Before we had the kids, my husband and I would watch the sun set on Yule. There is something inexplicably beautiful about it, knowing that it’s the shortest day of the year. Last year, the night of Yule was also a lunar eclipse, and so our family festivities were particularly exciting.
This year, I’m hoping we can brave the cold weather and watch the sunset over a local lake. It will be an otherwise simple Yule, with a few baked goodies and brightly-colored foods like sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce to honor the birth of the sun.
I like to make gingersnaps for Yule and Christmas because the flavor tastes bright and cheerful (in fact, the tradition started sometime in high school when I baked gingersnaps and sugar cookies for my friends as Christmas gifts). They are popular this time of year, and I suspect that the flavor is part of the reason (aside from the health benefits of ginger that likely prompted our forebears to cook with ginger during winter).
Gingersnap Cookies Recipe
Gingersnaps are fairly simple to make. They require a lot of sifting, so if you don’t mind the dust (flour can get in the air and make you sneeze), it’s a great project for this time of year.
When following the recipe, I highly recommend having the egg already cracked and waiting in a cup or bowl, along with the sugar and molasses. When you’re mixing the dough, you’ll have to pour them in gradually, and it saves some time to have them ready in advance. You’ll also need at least two mixing bowls to carry this out. As for sifting, if you don’t have a fancy sifter, a large strainer will serve the same purpose just fine.
Starkitten helps by mixing the cinnamon sugar.
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
To make the cinnamon sugar you’ll need for the coating, you need:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Simply mix the ingredients together very well. If you’re baking with small children, mixing the cinnamon sugar is a simple task that they can accomplish while you work on the cookie dough.
The Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup dark molasses
Directions
This is what it should look like if you use a beater to mix the dough. This was my first time trying it this way and, honestly, it's so much easier than mixing by hand--which had been a turn-off for me in the past.
- Preheat oven to 350 ˚F.
- Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly. Then sift and stir again, two more times. (It’s best to sift from one mixing bowl into another.)
- Place the shortening into an empty mixing bowl and beat until creamy.
- Gradually beat in white sugar. Then gradually beat in the egg and molasses.
- Sift 1/2 of the flour into the shortening mixture, and stir to blend it thoroughly.
- Sift in the remaining flour mixture and beat (or stir) until a soft dough forms.
- Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1-inch balls.
- Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake about 10 minutes, The tops should be rounded and slightly cracked.
- When they first come out of the oven, they will tend to fall apart if you try to move them. You’ll want to wait a minute or two before removing them from the cookie sheet. Then place them on wire racks to cool completely.
Starkitten helps by coating the cookie dough balls with cinnamon sugar. This was her favorite task and she took great pride in making sure they were evenly coated.
Since Starkitten wanted to help me, I gave her the task of rolling the cookie balls in the cinnamon sugar. It was a great experience for her, as it gave her a sense of accomplishment, knowing that those were her cookies, and overall a great bonding experience for both of us.
They don’t taste too sweet, which is great if you have members of your family who, like my husband, don’t care for sweets but still want a holiday treat. They go great with a hot cup of tea or just a glass of milk.
This recipe made just over two dozen cookies. And it wasn’t enough to sate my family’s cookie appetite.
The end product. As you can tell by the half-empty plate, they don't last long.
Happy Holidays!
—Mommysaurus
For Further Reading
- Winter Solstice ~ Merry Yule (fordrinksandtips.com)
- Thirteen Yuletide Celebrations (witchesofthecraft.com)
- Yule – Sustaining Rebirth (slacktivist.typepad.com)
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