Ginger Snaps in a Snap!

A few years ago, some good friends and I had the idea that we would start a small
(actually, very small) farmer's market on the green in our little town in central New Hampshire. I was the baker and my friends grew beautiful flowers and vegetables and had farm fresh eggs. Every Sunday morning we would pack up our offerings and sit together for a few hours as people came by to pick up a few things. Although I had a variety of baked goods for sale, these cookies were very popular and sold out every time. I like this recipe because it uses oil instead of butter and they mix up in a flash. They taste great with a glass of cold milk or a cup of tea.

This recipe originally came from my mom. Growing up, the cookies did not have the crystallized ginger in them and yet were still really tasty. Now that it is more readily available, I think we both now only bake them with the added crystallized ginger.

    Ginger Snaps   

 375 degree oven

  Makes 24 generously sized cookies

 Stir together in large bowl:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

    3/4 cup vegetable oil

 1 teaspoon cinnamon

    1 teaspoon ground cloves

    1 teaspoon ground ginger

 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Then stir in 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda and 1/2 cup chopped, crystallized ginger.

Take a healthy tablespoon size of dough and roll it into a ball. If you would like, roll the ball in sugar, and put on cookie sheet. I gently tap down the top of each cookie. Bake 9-12 minutes on the top rack in your oven. I bake two sheets at a time and just switch racks halfway through. I bake them until the top is cracked and the edges look crisp. I like the center of my cookies to still be a bit chewy. If you want a truly crispy "snap", bake for another minute or two, but be careful. The sugar and molasses in this recipe mean that it can go from crispy to too crispy in a flash!

Let cool on a wire rack, pour yourself a glass of cold milk and enjoy!

yours in baking-
p

One Cookie, Many Ways

 

Ok, so I have to admit I LOVE cookies. In fact, I can usually have a cookie hot from

the oven within 15 minutes of deciding that I want one. For obvious health reasons, this is not always a good thing. I have to say I rarely bake cookies anymore unless I have someone to bake for. For those of you who can have just one cookie and then be done with it...I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU! It is actually easier for me not to have any at all. If I am going to have a cookie, then I most likely want three cookies. Are you beginning to see why it isn't always a good idea for me to make a batch of cookies?! I baked this batch for a group of students at my school a while ago and I have just gotten around to completing the post. Here it is...

Basic Cookie Dough Recipe

2 sticks of butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups white wheat(or all-purpose) flour

1/2 wheat germ

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Your "add-ins"*

*For these cookies I added in 3/4 cup chopped pecans and 1 3/4 cups chopped dark chocolate.

Other combinations I have tried and liked: 

* milk chocolate chips and walnuts

* white chocolate hcips and macadamia nuts...indulge yourself

* chopped up Milky Way bars (the caramel melts and the cookies do spread a bit)

* chocolate chips and Heath Bar bits

Cream together butter and sugars, then beat in eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl mix together dry ingredients and then stir into butter mixture. Then stir in your add-ins.

Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. I use heaping tablespoons of dough..I like bigger cookies.

I do "tester cookies" because I frequently try different add-ins. I typically put 4 cookies on a sheet and start baking. After 6 or so minutes I can tell if the cookies have spread too much that I need to add more flour to rest of the dough. 

For a chewy cookie you need to make a commitment to learning just when to take the cookies out. Remember that anything that has been baked has some residual heat when you take it out. So if your cookies don't quite look cooked, it might be a good time to take them out. The center will finish cooking on the cooling rack but will remain chewy. Obviously, for a crispier cookie, cook longer but remember to still look for G, B and D

(golden, brown and delicious!). And it is always a good idea to cool your cookies on a cooling rack.

Enjoy and please let me know of any new combinations you have tried!

yours in baking-

p

Blueberry Hazelnut Scones

I have made my way to Anchorage but while still in Oregon, I went to Bob's Red Mill with a good friend and we had a great time exploring the aisles of various flours and grains. I found an excellent book on baking with non-traditional flours and I also happened to come upon hazelnut flour with a recipe on the back for Hazelnut Currant Scones. Because hazelnuts are grown in Oregon, I thought "why not?!" They also had a wide selection of dried fruit, so I picked up some dried blueberries and added those instead of the currants. I expected the scones to have an overpowering hazelnut flavor, but I was pleasantly surprised that although the hazelnut flour definitely comes through, they were rather tasty. And they mixed up in a flash which makes it an easy choice for a morning treat.

Blueberry Hazelnut Scones

1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup hazelnut flour
1 TBS. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 TBS. baking powder
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
3/4 cup dried blueberries(or other fruit)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix first six ingredients in medium bowl. Then stir in blueberries. Pour cream on top and gently fold in. Place dough on lightly floured surface and pat into an 8 inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges and put on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until G B & D (golden, brown and delicious)....about 13-15 minutes.

             






Here are my niece, Zuma and my nephew, Angus about to dig in!

Cukoo for Coconut.."Brownies that is!"

So, I was planning on heading up to Anchorage to visit my sister and her family and I was talking with her about this blog. She had visited the site and knows how much I like to bake..so she hesitated a bit as she said, "You know, Patty...we don't really eat many grains any more." Well, some people might see that as an obstacle to baking, when I simply took it as a challenge. I also have a friend who is allergic to gluten and dairy so I was intrigued with the idea of baking something sweet for her. Here is a recipe I found on the back of a coconut flour bag which I have adapted to my own taste. The 6 eggs seems a bit much, but coconut flour really needs the extra binder and moisture. I happen to LOVE anything coconut, but know that some people do not. The good news is that these brownies have very little coconut flavor(unless you add the shredded coconut like I did). And surprisingly enough, they taste remarkably close to your typical cake-like brownies. Round one in the baking without grains challenge goes to me!*

Brownies

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter, melted (I used Earth Balance sticks)

½ cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla
½ cup Coconut Flour
1 cup chopped nuts, chocolate chips or shredded coconut (optional)

In a saucepan at low heat, blend together butter(or Earth Balance) and cocoa powder. Remove from heat and let cool. In a bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in cocoa mixture. Whisk coconut flour into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in optional ingredients. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 inch pan. Bake at 350F for 28-33 minutes.

*I will be exploring more grain-free recipes in later blogs. I have a banana bread recipe made with garbanzo bean flour and fava bean flour which I am interested in trying.