writer’s block at work

The Simplest Gooey Molasses Cookie
(with kitchen tips* from moi)

You can always tell how much I don’t want to be writing by how much I bake.

3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg

Measure the oil first, then pour it into a mixing bowl. In the same measuring cup, easure the molasses next; that way, it won’t stick to your measuring cup.*

Blend the first 4 ingredients together.

Then add

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix well to form a thick, dark dough.

Drop by teaspoons into a dish of sugar (try to use the coarse turbinado variety) and roll to coat.*

Place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Make sure they’re far enough apart so they don’t turn into one giant molasses rectangle.* Duh.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool on the parchment, then store in an airtight container.

Good luck not eating the whole batch.

pear and ginger tart

This is as yummy as it looks and ridiculously easy. You can blame my friend Suz. She has this recipe you can adapt to any fruit or flavoring. All you need is a little imagination and a spring-form or tart pan. If you do not have either of these, fie on you. Your life is not complete. I customized the recipe by placing pear slices in the bottom of the pan. After baking, brush the hot cake with ginger preserves, warmed in the microwave. Voila!

So print the recipe. You probably have all the ingredients on hand right now.

ginger cookie smackdown!

Here are the two best soft ginger molasses cookie recipes ever created. And hello, they both hail from Bainbridge Island. Do me a favor and make a batch of both. Then tell me which ones are your faves.

Image source: Bainbridge Style

The Most Amazing Ginger Cookie

from this very nice food blogger named Carla

2 ¼ cups All-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup molasses

1 egg

3 ounces crystallized ginger, chopped.

granulated sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients (flour-salt) in a large bowl. Whisk until well mixed.

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine brown sugar and butter, mix well then add the oil and molasses. Mix well then add the egg and mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Fold in the crystallized ginger.

Scoop mixture and shape into a ball then roll in the granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet and flatten slightly with your finger. Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on how soft you like the interior. Let cool. These keep well in a sealed jar and taste even better the second day. Enjoy.

Now, before you get too excited (although something about the chopped candied ginger is pretty exciting), make a batch of these, from the extremely delightful chef, radio personality, teacher and author, Greg Atkinson (and PS, his cookbook makes a great gift):

Recipe: Bainbridge Island Molasses Cookies

Makes 2 dozen large cookies

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar, plus additional sugar for rolling

1 medium egg

2 tablespoons water

1/3 cup blackstrap (dark) molasses

Turbinado sugar for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with baker’s parchment. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt; set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk oil and 1 cup sugar, then stir in egg, water and molasses. Add dry ingredients all at once to oil mixture and stir just until mixture is combined. Divide dough into 4 pieces and chill.

3. Roll each piece of chilled dough into 6 balls, and roll the balls in turbinado sugar. Arrange the balls on the baking sheet, allowing plenty of room for the cookies to spread, and bake 8 minutes, or until cookies are crackled and lightly browned.

Okay, gang, let’s get baking.

ANZAC biscuits

So I’m breaking in a new friend–a KitchenAid stand mixer. There wasn’t really anything wrong with the previous Hamilton Beach–but the thing was ancient and tended to fling batter 360 degrees around the kitchen, so I got this new one.

new toy

The inaugural recipe is for some delicious, chewy cookies from Down Under. ANZAC stands for Australia-New Zealand-Air Corps. “Biscuits” stands for cookies. And you thought you wouldn’t learn anything from this blog. I’ve Americanized the ingredients so you don’t get confused by metric measures and things like “bicarbonate of soda” (aka baking soda). These are totally simple, first invented during WWII by housewives who needed a recipe without eggs for cookies that would keep for a long time.

They only call for one weird ingredient you probably don’t have on hand–Golden Syrup. I love that they call it that, like it’s something from Harry Potter. This recipe is simple to double, which you might want to do if you live with a cookie monster.

any oats will do

Lyle's Golden Syrup, the secret ingredient

Ingredients

• 1  cup  rolled oats (regular or quick cooking, or combine with oat bran and/or ground flax seed for extra nutrition)
• 1  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1/2  cup  shredded sweetened coconut
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 4 T butter, softened (use margarine if you must, or if your son-in-law is lactose intolerant)
• 3  tablespoons  water
• 2  tablespoons  golden syrup (I think in the South they call it cane syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• optional additions: cinnamon,  almond extract, raisins (they call them Sultanas Down Undah), nuts, chocolate bits…
• Parchment paper and cooking spray

high performance stirring

Combine dry ingredients, then stir in water, butter and syrup; stir well. Add extra things to taste. Drop by level tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray. Do not try these without parchment paper. Parchment paper is your friend. Bake at 325° for 12 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven; let stand 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from baking sheets. Place on wire racks; let cool completely.If you’re an inquisitive dobie, you definitely want to check out the action. This is a technique Barkis calls counter-surfing.

any oats will do

Lyle’s Golden Syrup, the secret ingredient

high performance stirring