Well, first off, I'd like to welcome a few more countries to our viewership. Very big and warm welcomes to Isle of Man, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Croatia and Mexico. We hope that you enjoy the blogs, recipes and photographs!
This blog entry will be a continuation of holiday recipes that I made, mainly cookies, during the 2012 Christmas season. Today's feature cookies are gingerbread kids and gingersnaps. I love spice. Not necessarily "hot" spice...more like aromatic spice. In previous posts I've mentioned my love of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, etc. Ginger is such an amazing example of this type of spice. It is known for it's healing powers as well as its flavor in cooking and baking. Personally, I'll take it just about anyway I can get it.
This first recipe is one that I have tinkered with over the years. I love gingersnaps..but I don't always love the super hard cookies you may buy from your local grocery stores. I like a cookie that has a slight crispness to the exterior while being soft and chewy in the center. That's what you'll get with this cookie. Some people believe that the "snap" in gingersnap comes from the hardness of the cookie. I like to believe that in my recipe the "snap" comes from the snap of ginger flavor. That snap is brought on by both the ground ginger and the chopped crystallized ginger that are included in these cookies. I have to say (and I say it often) this is one of my favorite cookies that I will make any time of the year. The recipe is very simple to throw together. If when trying the recipe you decide that you do not like the crystallized sugar (it can also be very expensive to purchase) the recipe is just as wonderful and flavorful without it. Here is a pic of the batch made this past December as well as the recipe.
Gingersnaps
Ingredients:
2 ¼ c all purpose flour
1 c packed brown sugar
¾ c shortening
¼ c molasses
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ sugar
¼ c crystallized ginger, finely chopped
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine about half of the flour, the brown sugar, shortening, molasses, egg, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and chopped ginger. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until set and tops are crackled. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
(Yields 48 cookies)
Now the gingerbread kid cookies..there is a story behind this recipe. Back in 2007 I entered a holiday cookie recipe for an area newspaper. I made the top ten for Special Occasion cookies, but did not place (I know...how is that possible - I'm just kidding!!). Anyway, a woman from Michigan finished in 2nd place in my category with her Gingerbread Stars. This is a labor intensive cookie, but so beautiful and yummy. Well, I thought that her gingerbread cookie recipe was probably the best gingerbread cookie I had ever tasted. Once again, gingerbread cookies can be very hard and difficult to eat. This recipe is soft and chewy. We have borrowed her recipe and we make gingerbread boys and girls. I have included the recipe for the gingerbread stars and would say to those that would just prefer to make cutouts without filling, just omit that portion of the recipe. Same ingredients for the dough, same process, just use whatever cookie cutters you have and bake. Here is the recipe and some of the end results.
Gingerbread Stars
Ingredients:
Dough:
1 c packed brown sugar
½ c shortening
1 c dark molasses
2/3 c cold water
7 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
½ tsp salt
Filling:
¾ c chopped raisins
¾ c chopped dried cranberries
2 c chopped walnuts
½ c orange juice concentrate, thawed
Glaze:
1 to 1 ½ c vanilla candy melts
You will need two star shaped cookie cutters; a 3-4 inch and
a 1-2 inch.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl mix brown sugar, shortening and
molasses. Add cold water; mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together flour,
baking soda, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and salt; add to the sugar
mixture and mix until dough starts to form, scraping sides of bowl a few
times. Remove from bowl, wrap in plastic
and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
While dough is chilling, prepare the filling. Mix together all of the filling ingredients;
cover and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the cookies.
To make the cookies:
Roll half of the dough about 1/8 inch thick. Keep the remaining dough covered. Using the larger cookie cutter, cut out 6-8
stars. Place on lightly sprayed cookie
sheet.
Wet your finger with water and moisten the edge of each
cookie. Place about 1 tablespoon of the
filling in the center of each cookie.
Cut out 6-8 more stores (these will be the tops of the cookies). Using the smaller cookie cutter, cut out 3 or
4 small stars out of the centers of the top cookies. Be careful not to touch edges or points of
stars. Place the cookie tops over the
filling and press the edges of the cookies together to seal. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Melt the candy melts in the microwave in a microwaveable
glass bowl at 20 second intervals (handle carefully as bowl will get hot). Stir
between each interval until smooth.
Drizzle over tops of cookies.
Well...that's about it this time around. I still have a ton of catching up to do and many blog entries coming. I hope that you are enjoying the posts. As always, please feel free to comment or ask questions. I would like to thank my wonderful husband for acting as the world's best photographer as well as cookie decorator. He decorated all of the gingerbread kid cookies :) Have a great day and may you have Happy Adventures in the Kitchen!!
No comments:
Post a Comment