The Cookbook Experiment: Ginger Cookies

Sometimes it is hard living in a house with family that have completely different ideas about what certain types of food we should have and others that are off limits. There is one member of my family that does NOT like chocolate chip cookies. Its a travesty, I know. I needed to find a cookie that everyone would like so I turned to my trusty church cookbook.

The recipe I found was "Ginger Cookies" by Sandy Viner. Sandy is one of the hardest working people at the church. She is the secretary, a Sunday school teacher, my mentor, my friend and a mother.  This recipe seemed like a real winner.

Ginger Cookies by Sandy Viner

(1 1/2) cups shortening, some butter added for flavor
(2) cups granulated sugar
(2) well beaten eggs
(1/2) cup molasses
(2) teaspoons soda
(2) teaspoons cinnamon
(2) teaspoons cloves
(1) teaspoon ginger
(1/2) teaspoon salt
(4) cups flour

Cream shortening and sugar together; add eggs. Sift dry ingredients together; add with molasses and beat. Chill. Form in small balls; roll in mixture of 6 tablespoons sugar and 4 teaspoons cinnamon. Place 2 inches apart. Bake in 375 oven for 12 to minutes.

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• I only had cinnamon. I could not find my ginger and I did not have cloves.  I used (2 1/2) teaspoons in lieu of the (2) called for in the recipe.
• I did not let the dough chill. I had no time for that and they rolled into balls to put on the cookie sheet just fine.
• I forgot to roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. They were still amazing.
• This makes a LOT of dough. My large Kitchen Aid could barely handle that this recipe made.
• I used (1) cup of butter and (1/2) cup shortening. Why? Because butter. But do not neglect putting in the shortening as it is an important ingredient.
• With my oven I baked them exactly 12 minutes and did fine. They stay soft for only a few minutes then they turn into snap cookies.
• Don't neglect to add the salt. It is an important ingredient.
• These cookies are amazing. They have become one of my families favorite cookies. 

The Cookbook Experiment: Snickerdoodles

My daughter Paulina felt like making something last night.  She chose the Snickerdoodles recipe by "Unknown".  I like Unknown....he/she never causes any problems!

Snickerdoodles by Unknown

Fun Fact: Snickerdoodles were a favorite of America's cookie-loving Dutch colonist.  No one knows where they got their funny name but, given their delicious flavor and texture, we're sure they'll be around for a few more generations.

(1) cup shortening
(1 1/2) cups sugar
(2) eggs
(2) teaspoons cream of tartar
(2 3/4) cups sifted flour
(1) teaspoon baking soda
(1/4) teaspoon sugar
(2) teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs thoroughly.  Blend flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt.  Stir into shortening mixture.  Shape dough into 1" balls. Roll in mixture of (2) tablespoons sugar and cinnamon.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. Makes 6 dozen cookies.

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• We typically do not use cream of tartar because we do not like the taste. Instead we used (2) teaspoons of baking powder. Baking powder and baking soda together can be a substitute for cream of tartar anyway.
• These should have been called "disappearing cookies" because as soon as they came out of the oven they disappeared!
• The best part about this is that my daughter made them!

Helen's Little Gems aka Thumbprint Cookies

Tonight I got the urge to try another one of Helen's recipes. As I poured over the many I have, this one stood out mostly because I have all the ingredients on hand. I love recipes that use staple ingredients that the average person keeps in their kitchen/pantry.

The title of this recipe is "Little Gems". I recognized it as one I have made in the past called "Thumbprint Cookies" but Helen's recipe calls for a lot more butter and I can tell you, I am totally okay with using MORE butter!!

Here is what you need to do:

3 cups of unsifted flour
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of vanilla
strawberry preserves
pecan halves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment (Helen's note: I just spray them with Pam, forget the parchment! Isn't she adorable? It works too, I did not use parchment either)

Combine the first three ingredients using a mixer or food processor (I used my Kitchen-Aid). Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. (This worked great in my Kitchen-Aid). Beat yolk with vanilla and add to flour mixture.  Beat or process until completely blended.

Pinch of pieces of dough (about 3/4 teaspoon each) and roll into balls. Place on baking sheets. Using your finger (I used my thumb) make an indention in the center of each ball. Place about 1/8 teaspoon of jam in each and top with a pecan half. (I did not use the pecans.) Bake until light brown, about 20 minutes. Helen says to watch this carefully. Makes approximately 6 - 9 dozen if you make small cookies...Mine only made about 2 dozen because I made BIG cookies.

Feel free to substitute anything else for the strawberry jam. My favorite is raspberry preserves. I have even been known to drop chocolate chips in the thumbprint. The cookie is so wonderfully buttery that just about anything can go in that spot.

I hope you enjoy!

PB Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was cookie time tonight! I did not feel like making the same ordinary chocolate chip cookies tonight so I decided to start tossing things into the bowl and see where I ended up!  Here is what went into my mixer:

(1) cup of softened butter (2 sticks)
(1) cup of packed light brown sugar
(1/2) cup of granulated sugar
(1 1/2) cup of creamy peanut butter

Cream together until smooth.  Then add:

(2) eggs
(2) teaspoons of vanilla extract

Blend well. Then add:

(2 1/2) cups all purpose flour
(1) teaspoon baking powder
(1) cup quick cooking oats

Mix well then stir in the following:

(1) cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
(1) cup of butterscotch chips

Scoop onto cookie sheet two inches apart and bake in 350 degree oven for approximately 14 minutes.
It makes a very soft cookie, about two dozen or so.

Raspberry Tiramisu Trifle

My amazing husband has quite the sweet tooth. I love making him happy so I set out to make a dessert with three things he really likes: raspberries, coffee and Milano cookies.  I wish that I could say I came up with this idea all by myself but alas, I cannot.  It came from a "new" cookbook found yesterday while on my thrift store marathon! It is called "Campbell's Potluck For All Occasions" by Publications International Ltd. 2007.  The recipe can also be found online right here: Campbell's Raspberry Tiramisu Trifle

It is an interesting cookbook and I was impressed with the recipes.  I got very excited when I found the trifle recipe.  I knew I had to make it for my sweet husband.  The only problem with the recipe was that I do not have a trifle bowl! How trifling! (Sorry! I could not resist!)

I started with three bricks of cream cheese, softened.

I put a second bowl and beaters in the freezer to get cold while I beat three cups of powdered sugar into the cream cheese.  I needed the other bowl and beaters cold because I was going to whip some heavy whipping cream and having a cold bowl and beaters helps the whipping go quicker and easier!

 Combining the powdered sugar and cinnamon was no easy feat for my little handheld mixer! I should have used my Kitchen Aid but I had it busy behind me whipping the heavy cream into a frenzy of fluffiness!

I added the cinnamon to my cream cheese and powdered sugar mixture and combined until it was light tan and smooth.

The heavy whipping cream that whipped all light and fluffy was folded it into the cream cheese mixture.

I began the layering.  First a layer of the cream cheese on the bottom. Next dip the Milano cookies into a cup of strong brewed coffee and place them on top.

 A sprinkle of raspberries and the the layering begins again.

I just kept dipping and layering until I reached the top! A few extra raspberries for good measure and the trifle was done! How does it taste? I have NO idea! It is in the refrigerator right now, setting up. I will let you know!!

Luscious Lemon Bars

Tonight I am making some cookies for my family. I have to be out of town for a few days so I wanted to leave something sweet behind.  I recently re-discovered a cookbook I forgot about called "Grandma's Old-Fashioned Cookies" by Favorite Brand Name (Publications International, Ltd. 1996).

It is an amazingly simple recipe that does NOT require graham crackers.  Of all the baking ingredients I keep handy around the house, I never have graham crackers! The crust is simple and light and only consists of sugar, flour, butter and lemon zest.  It is baking in the oven right now and when the 15 minutes are up I will be pouring over the filling.

Here is a picture of the crust.  And here is what it looks like when I poured the filling over top of it:

It is now in the oven, all warm and cozy and baking away!  I can't wait for it to be finished.  The filling is a wonderful mixture of eggs (four of them!), sugar, lemon zest and a touch of vanilla.  Shoot me a message if you would like the recipe as I am not sure I can post it online because of copyright but I will be happy to email you!

As soon as this is out of the oven I suppose I should hit the hay and go to bed as I have a very long flight tomorrow! Goodnight all! Don't forget to be thankful for EVERYTHING, no matter what!

Key Lime Cookies

I have too many limes.  It was cheaper to buy a bag of limes for $4.00 than to pay for an individual one at 2 for $1.00 when I needed four of them.  It just made more sense.  I used the first few limes to make a cilantro lime dressing for a salad (see earlier post on the Ty Thai salad).   Now I am making cookies!

I searched the internet and did not like a whole lot that I found.  Most of the cookies using lime involved corn meal....really? Corn meal? I would have NEVER thought of that!  It sounds gross to me. 

This is what I did:

(1) stick of margarine (I wanted to use butter but my supply is running low and I needed to get rid of the last of the margarine - not buying it anymore! Going to stick with butter from now on)

(1) cup of granulated sugar
(1) egg
(1) egg yolk
(1 1/2) teaspoons of lime zest
(1/4) cup of lime juice (freshly squeezed)
(1 1/2) cups of all purpose flour
(1) teaspoon of baking powder
(1/2) teaspoon of salt
powdered sugar

Combine the softened margarine, sugar, egg and egg yolk until combined.  Add the lime zest and lime juice.  Mix until blended well.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until well blended.  Drop one teaspoonful into a bowl with the powdered sugar and coat completely.  Put on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Here is the finished product.  It is light and fluffy and citris-sy.  I am loving it! It is very yummy!!  I think they might go very well with some coffee.

Hurricane Sandy and my cookie urge!

Hello! I hope everyone out here on the East Coast is staying safe and dry!  We are doing fine although our canal that runs on the side of our house is starting to rise quite high.  I am not nervous because I am confident all will be well.

Since church was cancelled tonight, I got a little crazy and decided to try some new cookie recipes.  The first one I thought I would look for a mocha chocolate chip because I have some real coffee heads in the house.  Here is the link to the recipe I used:

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

One word of caution:  The batter does NOT taste good which is totally weird because the cookies taste GREAT!!  My oldest daughter, and my biggest coffee addict, almost ate the entire batch!!  She loved them.  My sweet husband and the other two kids liked them as well.

The next recipe I tried was for Raspberry Thumbprint cookies.  I am not going to post the recipe as it was rather incomplete.  I got the inspiration off of allrecipes.com.  The basics of the recipe were there.  They forgot to include the temperature they should be baked at and (you know me!) I altered the recipe slightly.

The first batch I did fill with Raspberry jam.  They are light and heavenly.  The second batch I took great liberty with.  I filled a few with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips, a few more I filled with Nutella and finally the rest of them I filled with Strawberry Jam.  I have not tasted the second batch yet.  The first batch were so wonderful.  I was most happy that my husband said they tasted good and reminded him of Italian Christmas Cookies. 

I am taking a small break.  I am not sure if I will venture to a third recipe yet or not.  It was fun and it makes me happy making my family happy.

Cookies

My first batch of Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chip cookies are in the oven.  I actually followed the recipe on the back of the package this time instead of just winging it.  I have made choc chip cookies so many times that I usually don't follow a recipe.  I guess I am starting a new chapter in my baking and cooking.  I am going to start paying more attention to recipes and trying new things.

I think I have over 150 to 200 cookbooks.  I don't have all of them unpacked.  I think some are still sitting up in the attic.  My important ones are unpacked however and I think they number in at least the 75 range.  I have a hideous corner by my itty-bitty kitchen.  It has my cookbook shelf and my stereo...a REAL stereo with a record player.  There is also a large green storage bucket filled to the overflowing with vinyl records.  I don't have anywhere to put them! I need to find some kind of shelf that will accomodate my vast and ever-growing collection.  Also sitting in the corner is a broken drawer from my kitchen cabinets.  <sigh> I really need a kitchen make-over.  I did finally take down the wall paper and put one coat of very light lemony yellow on the walls.  It really needs a second coat.  I also had taken all the cabinet doors off.  My original intent was to paint my cabinets this very sunny, bright yellow.  That fell by the wayside when I lost my job, my ceiling in the dining room burst and then I got a new job 114 miles away.  The kitchen now makes me sad.  We have lost the hardware for the doors somewhere when the disaster of the ceiling cave-in happened.  I don't even know what to do with it anymore.

GOSH! Somewhere in the midst of typing about something inane as cookies, my thoughts took a drastic turn to the meloncholy.  I don't totally know how that happened.

I guess I will log off for the moment and go get my cookies out of the oven!!