"Molasses" Ginger Cookies w/ Orange Zest

Tonight I made what I call Vegan "Molasses" Ginger Cookies w/ Orange Zest. Molasses, in parenthesis, because I ran out and had to substitute a portion w/ brown sugar. I have to admit that I still loved the result, however they probably would have been quite a bit chewier if I had used more molasses. Next time...

Anyway, I like ginger in massive portions, and crystallized even better- so I added lots of chopped crystallized ginger. I also like oranges, so I think the large amount of orange zest in this recipe goes very well. With that in mind, I will post the recipe as I made it.

"Molasses" Ginger Cookies w/ Orange Zest!

Makes about 2½ dozen 3-inch cookies

You'll need:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2¼ teaspoons baking soda

2 tablespoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ cup chopped crystallized ginger

1 cup Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread (79 percent vegetable oil)

1½ cups sugar (divided)

Grated zest of 2 oranges

2/3 cup molasses (if you have it, but brown sugar will do, I think)

3/4 teaspoons cornstarch

Okay, it's pretty straight forward cookie recipe. Heat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, allspice and crystallized ginger, and let it just hang out for a bit while you get the other stuff going. In another mixing bowl, beat the Earth Balance spread, 1 cup sugar, orange zest and molasses (brown sugar) until well incorporated. Toss in the cornstarch and mix to incorporate, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. Throw in the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated.
Pour the remaining sugar into a small bowl. Shape 2-tablespoon portions of dough into balls and place in the bowl with the sugar. Roll the dough balls around until they’re completely coated. Place on baking sheets about 3 inches apart. Bake for 12 to14 minutes or until they have all puffed up and are starting to look crackly. Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Lucia Buns

Happy Saint Lucia Day! Went up to my Grams this morning for breakfast.
It's a tradition we have carried out ever since I remember; to eat Lucia buns on this day!
St. Lucia day is Swedish holiday, celebrating "light", I believe... or lake there of!


St. Lucia Bun Recipe

2 tsp yeast
1/2 c. lukewarm water
1 1/2 c. lukewarm milk
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. softened butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. ground cardamom
zest of 1 orange
3/4 tsp. salt
7-7 1/2 c. flour
1 slightly beaten egg
1 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. sugar
raisins

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, butter, eggs, cardamom, salt, and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.
Divide into 24 parts. Shape each piece into an S-shape rope; curve both ends into a coil. May place raisin in center of each coil. Place rolls on cookie sheet. . Mix egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush buns lightly.. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Fruitless Granola

The road was a sheet of ice this morning and I had to call out of work. In turn I got a day of down home cookin, cleaning.. and catching up! Give and take!!

Got the tree decorated, house cleaned, and a batch of granola made!

This recipe is very basic, no bells or whistles..

Fruitless Granola

Ingredients:

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup flax seed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 and 1/2 cup walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup oil (probably not olive oil, but whatever you have. The more mild, the better)
1/4 cup syrup (any kind, I prefer real maple syrup though)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
In a large bowl, or even on a large 'cookie' baking sheet, toss together the oats, wheat germ, flax seed meal, brown sugar, sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, and cinnamon. Top with the oil, honey, vanilla and water and mix well; until evenly blended. Spread out evenly in the pan, (if you mixed it in the pan) other wise pour the mixture into a large 'cookie' baking sheet and spread out evenly.
Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until toasted; stirring every 20 minutes. Let cool completely and store in an airtight container

Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I took my last final! It was for the wine, beer, and spirits class! It went well, I feel pleased and cheery to be able to relax for a bit and look forward to the holidays!!

Tomarrow I have Arley so I thought I would make up some cookies! Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies is what I came up with. There are kinda mix between plain old chocolate chip cookies and cozy winter ginger cookies. ..mom was sceptical but they turned out great i n my opinion

These Holiday cookies are made with two forms of ginger and lots of chocolate.

Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

2/3 C chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup molasses
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger,
1 large egg, well beaten

Preheat the oven to 350F, and position racks in the top and bottom third of the oven.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, and salt.
Heat the butter in a saucepan until it is just barely melted. Remove from heat and stir in the molasses, sugar, and fresh ginger. The mixture should be warm, but not hot at this point, if it is hot to the touch let it cool a bit, so the egg dosn't cook when you add it!! Now whisk in the egg. Pour this mixture over the flour and stir until just combined. Mix in the chocolate.
Place spoonfulls of the dough a few inches apart on baking sheets., and bake for 7-10 minutes or until cookies start to become golden.

Creative Peppermint Bark

I love peppermint bark this time of year, but I wanted to play with the usual white chocolate on dark chocolate, plus I needed to use up same random bits of chocolate in my chocolate box, so I decided to melt all the randoms down and substitute that for the usual white! I turned out great because the miscellaneous things in the chocolates (caramel, truffle-ness, etc.) gave the top layer a great texture, a lighter consistency, and taste.



This is what I did, the recipe can be easily multiplied but this is a good basic start.

Creative Peppermint Bark Recipe

1 cup dark chocolate
1 cup random leftover chocolates
1 small candy cane, crushed

Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler and spread immediately in a wax paper lined pan. Set aside and melt the random chocolates the same way. Spread over the dark chocolate once the dark chocolate is cool. Sprinkle the crushed candy over the top and set in the fridge to harden.

Amandas' Squash Bread

I had a great pumpkin/squash harvest this year, thanks to all the starts given to me Last spring! The pic above is just a fraction!


My good friend Amanda came up with this recipe for a squash bread, like a pumpkin bread; and you could use pumpkin or any kind of squash puree. It was great and a good way to store some of this squash cuz it freezes well!


Squash bread Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 cup vegie oil

2 cups and type squash puree

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon bk powder
2 teaspoons bk soda

pumpkin spice(or) cinnamon, nutmeg, ground allspice

1 to 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2/3 cups raisins (I used golden raisins)

Preparation:

Combine wet and dry Mixture together adding Nuts and Raisins last

Pour into two greased bread pans

Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 20 minets or until a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the bread.cover top with parchment paper when there is 30 min's or so left(so the top wont burn) Cool in pan for 10 min's before cutting.

Thanks Amanda! This was wonderful!

Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip Cookies for Arley

Peppermint Bark/Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is a large batch of cookies! You could bake off half of them, form the rest of the dough into cookie-sized balls, and put them in freezer bag for later use!

3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups peppermint bark, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 375F. Put the racks in the middle of the oven.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar until it is the consistency of a thick frosting. beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing each in well before adding the next. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients in 3 increments, stirring between each addition. At this point you should have a moist uniform dough. Stir in the peppermint bark, mixing only until evenly distributed.

Drop a heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for about 10 - 14 minutes, until golden on bottom and top. Cool on wire racks.