Gingerbread-Molasses Men

Ah yes, nothing quite says Christmas like gingerbread. And with my tendencies towards both irrational fits of rage and emotional eating there is nothing quite so satisfying during the holiday season as angrily biting of the head off a cute little gingerbread man….I kid, I kid….sort of.

One of my biggest complaints about most gingerbread recipes is that the end result is often hard and crunchy. Now gingersnaps are great, but personally I prefer my men to be softer and chewier, and thanks to the extra molasses in this recipe, these are. I have included vegan options for this recipe as well.

 

Ingredients:

Yields about 2 dozen men 

*Don’t forget — you will need a cookie-cutter if you want shaped cookies!

 

– 3/4 c. butter or butter substitute, such as Earth Balance

– 1 c. white sugar

– 1 egg (or 1/4 c. applesauce, plus 2 tsp. oil for vegan)

– 1/4 c. plus 1 Tbsp. unsulphered molasses

– 2 1/4 c. flour

– 1 tsp. baking soda

– 2 tsp. ground ginger

– 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

– 1/2 tsp. ground allspice

– 1/4 tsp. salt

– whatever you want to decorate with — frosting, sprinkles, and dried fruit pieces are all great options!

 

Directions:

1. In a large bowl cream together butter (substitute) and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy

2. Add egg (or applesauce and oil) and mix well

 

3. Mix 1 Tbsp. warm water with 1 Tbsp. of molasses, then add to bowl. Add remainder of molasses and mix well

4. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix well.

5. Scrape down edges of the bowl with a spatula and form into a large ball as well as you can. Cover bowl with cling film and place in the refrigerator to chill and firm for 1 hour or longer.

6. Preheat oven to 350F

7. Remove dough from refrigerator. Working in sections, roll out a piece of dough on a clean, lightly floured work-surface

8. Use cookie cutter to cut dough. Place cut-outs onto an ungreased baking sheet

9. Return dough scraps to remainder, reshape, and repeat step 8 with all of the dough

10. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.

11. Remove from oven. Allow to cool on sheets at least 5 minutes before transferring to towels or a rack to finish cooling

12. Once cool, decorate, and enjoy! — You can see that my gingerbread-decorating skills could stand a little improvement… 🙂

 

Dark Chocolate-Cranberry Cookies

These are only slightly modified from my all-time favorite cookie recipe for White Chocolate-Cranberry Cookies. Obviously, the adaptation was not a difficult one…These cookies are chewy, rich, and delicious, and can easily be made via traditional recipe or adapted to a vegan cookie. Dark chocolate in a vegan cookie? Indeed! Any high quality dark chocolate should be vegan in fact. As a rule milk fat is only added to poor-quality dark chocolate, so if you are vegan, just be sure to read the ingredient list before selecting your chocolate, or, of course, you can always use carob instead…

I’m trying to make the switch over to thinking in terms of fall ingredients, and now that the weather has (finally!) cooled down a little that shift seems a bit more natural….Not that dried cranberries are particularly a “fall” ingredient, but fresh cranberries do begin to come into their peak in October, and we generally associate cranberries with Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it’s not that much of a stretch to count this as an autumn recipe….is it? I am trying to start assembling my Thanksgiving recipes now so that I can get some of them up on the site in plenty of time for the holiday, and requests and suggestions are always very much appreciated…What are your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts? I’d love to hear about what dish you most look forward to at your holiday meal….

Anyway, the cookies:

Ingredients:

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

– 1 c. flour

– 1 tsp. salt

– 1 tsp. baking soda

– 1 c. butter or butter substitute, softened

– 3/4 c. brown sugar

– 3/4 c. white sugar

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 2 eggs (or 1/2 c. applesauce, plus 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil for vegan cookies)

– 1 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips or pieces

– 1 c. dried sweetened cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F

2. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl

3. In a large bowl  combine butter (substitute) and both types of sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy

4. Add vanilla to creamed sugars

5. Add eggs one at a time, or if making vegan cookies, mix together applesauce and oil and add slowly to your sugar mix

6. Slowly begin to mix in your flour, adding a bit at a time and mixing well after each addition

7. Add dark chocolate to your cookie dough. Mix well.

8. Add dried cranberries

9. Use a spoon (or your hands!) to scoop out cookies. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes.

10. Remove from oven. Allow to cool on baking sheets 2-3 minutes.

11. Transfer to a cooling rack or paper towels to finish cooling.

12. Enjoy!

Someone really wants that cookie…

Jam-Filled Sandwich Cookies

 

These may be the most delicious thing I’ve ever made. If not, they’re definitely close to the top of the list. Of all of the sweets in the world, sandwich cookie-type-things are definitely amongst my favorites. Whoopie Pies, French Macarons, Oreos….I’m salivating just typing this. Though not as refined  (or anywhere near as difficult to make) as the macaron, these jam-filled cookies are elegant in their own right, and certainly just as delicious. Shoot, I’d take one of these over a whole sleeve of Oreos any day! You wont believe how incredibly easy these are to make — especially if you opt to use store-bought or pre-made jam.

 

Ingredients:

– 12 oz jam of any flavor. I used the Sweet Plum and Blueberry Jam that I made a couple of weeks ago, but peach, raspberry, apricot, or strawberry would be wonderful choices too — get creative!

– 1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter

– 1 c. sugar

– 3 Tbsp. lemon zest

– 1/4 tsp. salt

– 2 large egg yolks

– 2 1/4 c. flour

– powdered sugar, for sprinkling

 

Directions:

1. In the bowl for an electric mixer (you can do this by hand, but your arm may get tired!) combine butter, sugar, lemon zest and salt

2. Beat until light and fluffy — 2-3 minutes

3. Add egg yolks and mix well

4. Add flour, one half at a time and beat until well-incorporated

5. Divide dough in half. Form first half into a long log, about 1 3/4” – 2” in diameter. Wrap log in wax paper

6. Repeat step six with second half of dough

7. Chill both rolls of dough in the refrigerator until firm, at least two hours. If you are in a hurry you can place dough in freezer, but let it chill in the refrigerator at least one hour first. Can be done one day ahead.

8. If making your own jam for these cookies, or using the recipe linked above, make it now so that it has time to cool.

9. Once dough has chilled sufficiently, preheat oven to 400F

10. Line baking sheet with wax paper

11. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into thin rounds, about 1/3” thick — you may have to reshape rounds a bit with your fingers — and place on lined baking sheet

12. Bake cookies one sheet at a time on a rack in the center of the oven. Bake for 10 minutes — edges should be golden brown

13. Allow cookies to cool completely, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired

14. Spread as much jam as desired on flat side of cookie, then top with another cookie, thus making a sandwich

15. Try not to eat them all at once….

Super-duper close-up:

Yum….These were so good I had to make my stepson hide them from me….

 

Adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2009