Tag: Holidays

Chewy Gingersnaps, Perfect for the Holidays

Gingersnaps

Gingersnaps
Gingersnaps

These are possibly the best gingersnaps I’ve ever had. Or maybe they should be called Gingerchews, because they don’t snap. Instead, these cookies are perfectly chewy in the center and crispy on the edges.

For my birthday, my co-workers – who know me incredibly well – bought me this Real Simple magazine/cookbook thing. It looks like a magazine, but is just full of fall and winter recipes. Jonah and I have enjoyed more than a few of the recipes from it, but it being gingersnap season and all, I wanted to share this one with you sooner rather than later.

Chewy Gingersnaps

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 clove
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup packed (light) brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus some for sprinkling

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (if you have 2 baking sheets, line 2 – these take a little prep time on the pan, so it’s nice to have time to get them ready while there’s a batch in the oven). In a bowl, mix together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cloves; put aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the shortening and brown sugar until fluffy: you’ll want to use at least a medium speed for about 3 minutes. Turn the speed down to low, and mix in the egg, molasses, and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until combined.

Put the granulated sugar on a plate or in a shallow bowl. Take about a heaping tablespoon of dough, roll it into a ball, and roll it in the sugar to coat. Put the balls on the baking sheet at least 2 inches apart, and then, using the bottom of a glass, press the balls till they’re a little less than 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle them with a tad more sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Enjoy these gingernsaps by your holiday decorations (tree? menorah?) of choice with a glass of cold milk.

Kolacky Cookies

Kolacky Cookies

For Christmas, Jonah and I went to Salem (where his Grandma Patty lives) with his parents. It was my first real Christmas and Jonah’s family made it so wonderful. They pulled out all the stops, and even though we’re adults we still left cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. And it was all worth it because he left us a thank you note!

Anyway, the day before Christmas was full of baking: I made cookies (the chocolate peppermint cookies I made with Carmelle), Susan (Jonah’s mom) made pies, and she also made these wonderful cookies called Kolacky cookies. Pronounced ko-lach-key, these are Slovak cookies from Randy’s (Jonah’s dad) aunt. They’re yeast cookies, so they rise and get kind of flaky like bread, and are filled in the center with jam.

Kolacky Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups flour
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
Jam (we used the homemade raspberry jam that Jonah and I had made Susan for Christmas)
Powdered sugar

Instructions

Mix butter with flour, sugar, and salt using a mixer (or pastry blender). In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the yeast mixture, sour cream, and egg to the flour mixture, combine well. If the dough is too dry , add a little bit of milk. If it’s too wet, add a little bit of flour. Ball the dough up, wrap it in buttered or greased wax paper, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

After removing the dough from the fridge, roll it out on a floured surface until thin. Fold it in thirds and re-roll it. Then do that again (the “fold it in thirds and re-roll it” part). The last time you roll it out, you want to get it to be about 1/4-inch thick. Now cut it with cookie cutters into round/square/diamond shapes, just nothing too crazy. Imprint the cookies with your thumb and fill the imprint with about 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of jam. Now let them rise for 1 hour. (During this time you can preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Back them for 15 minutes. After removing from the oven, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These cookies were a nice change from a lot of the goodies we’d been eating because they weren’t so sugary sweet. But I liked the touch of fruitiness from the jam and that the cookies were a little more scone or bread-like. And they were a big hit with the family, as you can see from the photo below.

Kolacky Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies + Happy Holidays!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

So many of our friends have left Portland to go home for the holidays. Luckily for us, one of our dear friends, Carmelle, was still in town during the earlier part of this week. And her boyfriend, Mac (one of Jonah’s bestest friends ever), was out of town, so we had her all to ourselves. Carmelle is a baker extraordinaire (I believe I’ve mentioned her a couple times before), and so I thought it’d be fun if she came over and we made something together for the blog.

This recipe for Chocolate Peppermint Cookies is hers, and I just want to warn you all that while I usually have pretty good self control when it comes to not eating sweets that are laying around are kitchen, these cookies have broken my good habits. They are amazing. So incredibly good. So be warned, if you’re not taking them to a party or giving them as Christmas gifts, you will eat them all yourself.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp peppermint extract
1 3/4 – 2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 – 2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together. Then mix in the egg and extracts. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, mixing well. In batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer.

Now fold in the chocolate chips. Grease a cookie sheet, and place balls of the dough (about 1 1/2 – 2 Tbl in size) on the sheet. These guys spread a bit, so leave enough space between them.

Put them in the oven for 7-11 minutes. I think we ended up doing 9 minutes. You want them not to fall apart, but you still want them to be a little gooey and chewy. After removing them from the oven, let them cool a little bit on the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack. I advise trying one while still pretty warm and the chocolate chips are all melted. Oh lordy, very very good.

And that’s it! These are, once again, great holiday time cookies. Enjoy with a big ol’ glass of milk. After we had eaten our fill of cookies, we lit the menorah that Jonah made for me and played cards. It was a lovely, relaxing evening. I hope you all have just as lovely holidays!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes

Jonah and I are nannies, and one of us has to wake up really early in the morning to take the kids to school in the morning. A few weeks ago, I thought that while Jonah was out taking the kids, I would sneak to the store and get ingredients to make pumpkin pancakes. It didn’t quite work though, because the store didn’t open as early as I thought, so he got home before me. So I made him go back to bed while I whipped these up. He still liked them and was, of course, very appreciative. They’re super good! I found the recipe by searching “pumpkin pancakes” on google and looking at a few recipes. This is a great way to kind of get the idea of how to cook a dish without actually using a recipe.

Pumpking Pancakes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg

Instructions

In a bowl, stir together all the try ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients minus the butter. Fold the wet into the dry and stir well. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat, pour 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake and cook about 3 minutes per side. I think the best way to know when to flip a pancake is by the bubbles. All the bubbles come up to the top and pop, and when there aren’t anymore, you flip. Or just when the bottom is cooked enough. Whatever floats your boat.

Serve these bad boys with butter and syrup. I ate them with the balsamic fig jam which you can find in an earlier post on the blog. Enjoy!