Ginger Snaps

I wanted to do something special for my Dad because I will be missing Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving has always been his holiday (my parents are divorced split holidays) and I will be relaxing at home while he runs from appetizer to dinner to dessert to cocktail. His favorite cookie is the ginger snap and around this time, he keeps the familiar orange box in his car around the clock. I wanted to bring a batch for him when I went home last weekend but I hit a slight snap in the recipe. I printed one off foodnetwork.com courtesy of Alton Brown only to discover that the measurements are in ounces. I don’t have a food scale. (Although on a side note, I do have some friends who might have a food scale but they use it for very different reasons) I understand why AB wanted people to weigh the ingredients because it gives a more precise measurement and with baking precision is key. However, I did not want to go and buy a food scale so I opted for a different recipe.

During this process, I made t he mistake of mentioning to my portfolio manager that I was making ginger snaps. Turns out that ginger snaps are his favorite cookie as well. Everyday I came to work, “where are the cookies?” And everyday I would come in with a different excuse but finally last night a got around to making them. I was surprised because no butter was involved and I do not think I have ever made a cookie without butter before. I decided to try a test batch on the people from work and yes, my portfolio manager before I send them home to my dad.

The result was phenomenal. I am normally not a fan of ginger snaps. I prefer chocolate and sweet in my cookies. When they came out of the oven, the smell of fall filled my apartment. (and smoke because for some reason my oven is smoking) When I brought them to work, one of my co-workers said it was the best ginger snap she ever had. The only thing is that I wish they stayed soft a little longer. I know that ginger snaps are supposed to be a firm cookie but that is just my preference.

Mom’s Ginger Snaps

Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup white sugar for decoration

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; stir into the molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll each ball in white sugar before placing 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until center is firm. Cool on wire racks.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Kristen K. (yes, if you have been counting there are 3 Kristin’s in this cooking club) is one of the cutest people ever and has a knack for meeting every person on the food network. She got this recipe from runners kitchen and these little cookies are power packed with good things for you. BP II loved these cookies, so much so that when I suggested we bring the leftovers into work, he propositioned I bring in the muffins I made for his breakfast instead. (Sad face)


I got to give it to Kristen K. She hit a home run. Even after a couple days in a Zip top bag these cookies are still moist.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Ingredients:
1.5 cups whole wheat flout
.5 cup of all purpose flour
½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
¾ teaspoon of ground ginger
½ teaspoon of nutmeg
¼ cup of wheat germ
½ cup of canned pumpkin
¼ cup of molasses
1/3 cup of canola oil
¾ cup of granulated sugar, reserving ¼ cup
2 tablespoon water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350º, lightly grease a large cookie sheet

• Sift together dry ingredients (flour through wheat germ), set aside

• In a medium bowl, whish together pumpkin, molasses, canola oil and sugar

• Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients, add 2 tablespoons of water near the end to help dough come together

• In a small bowl, mix together ¼ cup of sugar and dash a dash of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg

• Roll tablespoon size balls of dough (use your hands) lightly into the sugar mixture

• Place dough ball on cookie sheet and flatten slightly using tine of fork

• Bake for 10-12 minutes, cool for 1 minute on baking sheet, then finish cooling on a wire rack

• Enjoy

Peanut Butter Cookies

My Mom's birthday was October 8 and I am always grappling with what should I get her. She is your mom, so you want to give her something special and something that makes her feel appreciated for all the things she does for you. However; when you get to a certain age, everything has been done. Flowers, perfume, clothes, and even a mixed MOM CD have already been done. So I was thinking and thinking, until it finally hit me. The way you show someone you love them is to cook for them. So I decided to make these cookies for her and send them home in a care package. Again, I got this recipe from allrecipies.com but did not follow the recipe exactly. You can probably see a pattern forming here. I use the recipe as a loose guide to cooking, improvising as I go.


INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2.) Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

3.)Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.

4.) Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

5.) Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

These cookies turned out really well but do not make 40 cookies like the recipe says. I made 24 cookies with this batter. I made the following deviations from the recipe: chunky peanut butter instead of creamy (Life needs a little crunch, right?) and 2 TBL of heavy cream instead of milk (I had heavy cream on hand from the pie I made earlier and the "correct substitution" for milk is 1 part heavy cream 1 part water but whatever they are COOKIES!). I also, did not have little baby muffin tins (umm who does?) so I just rolled little cookie dough balls and put them on a cookie sheet. I did everything the same except I baked them for 7 min, stick in a PB cup into the cookie and then bake again for 1 minute to melt the cup a little. But if you like peanut butter cookies and peanut butter cups, these cookies are for you. Very Yummy.

Minor anecdote: My oven started to smoke halfway though my cooking process, filling my entire apartment. The cookies did not burn, sooooo I am unsure if my oven can handle lots of cooking in one night or maybe something spilled and was burning. So that is a mystery.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peanut-Butter-Cup-Cookies/Detail.aspx