Name: Five-Spice Gingersnaps
Cook time: 1 hr
Total time: 10 hr
Yield: Makes about 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 3/4 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger; 1 cup sugar; 1/4 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup; 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled; 1 large egg; Garnish: decorative icing (optional).; parchment paper; a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter; a piping tip with a 1/4-inch plain round opening (if making cookies into ornaments); pastry bags or several small heavy-duty sealable plastic bags (optional)

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Five-Spice GingersnapsRomulo Yanes

Typical gingersnaps lean toward the soothingly plain; these are the opposite of that, spicy with chewy crystallized ginger and aromatic with Chinese five-spice powder. Left unadorned, the cookies will continue to crisp over time; iced, they become softer and more cakey.

Cooks' notes:

•Cookies are best when dough is chilled 8 hours to allow flavors to develop, but if you're in a hurry, dough can be chilled just 2 hours. Dough can be chilled up to 3 days.
•Using a pastry bag fitted with a piping tip results in cleaner lines of icing, but you can use small sealable plastic bags. Spoon each color of icing into a separate sealable bag, pressing out excess air, and snip an 3/4-inch opening in 1 bottom corner of each bag.
•Cookies keep, layered between sheets of parchment if iced, in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.

Recipe notes

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