No matter how hard I work on allergy-free sweets, my kid is my biggest critic. I hit the jackpot with this recipe! (Whew!)  My son happily devours these cookies every time I bake them — Which makes me so happy because I love this recipe just as much as he does.

For those of you that don’t need the ingredient substitutions, I placed the non-allergy alternatives in red parenthesis.

Ingredients —

• 1 cup of Granulated Sugar
• 3/4 cup of Soy Butter.  We use Earth Balance’s Soy Garden  (non-allergy alternative is Unsalted Butter)
• Egg Replacer.  We use Ener-G Egg Replacer.  It’s egg-free and gluten-free  (non-allergy alternative is One Egg)
• 1/4 cup of Dark Molasses
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups of All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons of Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of Ginger
• 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon of Ground Cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon of All Spice
• 1/2 teaspoon of Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of Pepper

Directions –

Set out all of your ingredients to ensure you have everything you need before you begin.

In a medium bowl, cream together the soy butter and the 1 cup of granulated sugar until the mixture is smooth. Mix together the egg replacer.  You will need enough to equal one egg.

Beat in the egg replacer, molasses and vanilla extract until it is well blended.  In another bowl, sift together the remaining dry ingredients — the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, ground cloves, all-spice, salt and pepper. Stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture to form a dough.

Wrap the dough into plastic wrap, then chill for 30 to 60 minutes.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two (2) cookie sheets, and set them aside.

Remove your dough from the refrigerator, and roll the chilled dough into 1-inch balls. Then, dip (and roll) the 1-inch balls in the ramekin of sugar.

Place the cookies approximately 2 inches apart onto the greased cookie sheets, and bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes in your pre-heated oven. (Avoid baking the cookies too long or they will lose their chewiness.)

Remove the cookie sheets from your oven and allow the cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe makes 3 dozen ginger snap cookies.  If you are living in sweltering heat, you can make them ice cream sandwiches!  (Note: Don’t wait more than 24-48 hours to make them ice cream sandwiches.  They are best for sandwiches when they are fresh and chewy.)

Enjoy!

Love & Soul Always, Kawania