An occasional indulgence in a cookie or two never wrecked anyone's nutrition, but a steady diet of cookies, which are high in refined sugar and often high in saturated fats, can wreak havoc on your diet. Ginger snap cookies, which contain a small amount of ginger and molasses in addition to the usually cookie ingredients of sugar, butter or shortening and flour, have no particular health benefits over other types of cookies. There are ways to increase the nutritional values of homemade gingersnaps by choosing the right ingredients.
Ginger
Ginger root has medicinal uses as a stomach soother when you have nausea, diarrhea, gas or appetite loss. The amount of ginger found in a single gingersnap cookie is negligible; a typical recipe on the McCormick website adds 1 tbsp. of ground ginger to a recipe that makes 48 cookies.
Sugar
The McCormick website gingersnap recipe lists both table sugar and molasses, which is made from table sugar, as sweetener sources. Consuming large amounts of refined sugar, which is quickly absorbed into cells, rapidly raises your blood glucose levels. Diabetics in particular need to control their blood glucose fluctuations by limiting refined sugars in their diet. Using blackstrap molasses rather than regular molasses adds extra calcium, potassium, iron and B vitamins to your gingersnap cookies.
Fats
The McCormick website's typical gingersnap cookie includes shortening, which is a saturated fat. Butter, which is also a saturated fat, can also be used for gingersnap cookies. Liquid oils, which are unsaturated, generally can't be substituted for saturated fats in cookie recipes. Saturated fats are the most important dietary element for increasing cholesterol levels; unsaturated fats such as liquid oils should be substituted as much as possible in your diet for saturated fats to lower cholesterol levels. Commercially made cookies may also contain trans fats, man-made fats that can increase your risk of heart disease.
Grains
Gingersnap cookies contain flour. Using whole grain flour rather than refined white flour would add vitamins to your cookies that are often removed during refining, such as B-complex vitamins, selenium, potassium, magnesium and fiber.
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