Damn. Damn, damn, DAMN!
Dec. 18th, 2005 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
I calculated how many cookies everybody is getting based on "six people!". Turns out I have seven to send to.
So, I've decided - I'm cheating Amy. We have a few extras, she'll get those, and that's it, instead of the slightly larger amount (1.5 dozen, in three varieties) she should've gotten. Why? Because Amy lives in the city, and can have cookies anytime I bake them, just by calling and stopping by. And I aim to be doing a lot more baking. Sorry, Amy. It's just easier to give you less than to give everybody else less :(
For the convenience of people getting cookies, or who want to make cookies, here are the recipes:
Gingerbread
.5 cup shortening (we used butter and applesauce)
.5 cup sugar (we used dark brown sugar, because we like it more)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger (we grated ours fresh, because we didn't know we had ground ginger)
.5 teaspoon baking soda
.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
.5 teaspoon ground cloves (we used nutmeg because we weren't getting out the spice grinder for that measly amount of spice)
.5 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar (yes, vinegar)
2.5 cups flour
1. Beat the shortening on high for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until blended. Beat in the egg, molasses, and vinegar. When blended, beat in the flour as much as you can, then add the remaining flour by hand. Chill until easy to use.
2. Roll it out about an eighth of an inch thick. At this point, we found that the recipe wasn't easy to use - it wasn't floured enough. This may be because we'd tripled it. At any rate, we added more flour, but that ultimately affected how gingery it was. If I had to do it again, I'd've started out both with more flour and with more ginger. Cut into shapes.
3. Grease a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 F for 5-6 minutes.
4. Because they weren't as gingery (nor as sweet, really) as I would've liked, we iced these. They're shaped like stars, so we used yellow icing. To make the icing, we took out a cup of powdered sugar, and mixed it with yellow food coloring and ginger water. We made the ginger water by grating more ginger - maybe about a teaspoon - and then pouring an equal amount of hot water over it. We'd then squeeze the juice out of the grated ginger, and pour the whole concoction (minus the grated ginger itself) into the powdered sugar. We repeated the water-pouring step until the icing was at the consistency we wanted - somewhat thin.
Sugar Cookies
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup shortening (we used more butter. Lard would've been better, no doubt)
.75 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (we'd tripled the recipe, so we didn't have enough vanilla extract. So I used orange extract instead)
2 cups flour
dash of salt
Beat the butter and shortening for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, baking powder, and dash of salt. Beat until blended. Add the egg and extract, keep beating. Add the flour - you'll probably end up adding the last bit by hand.
Chill
Roll out to an eighth of an inch thick, cut out shapes. Grease a cookie sheet, and bake them for 7-8 minutes at 375 F
Spicy Pepper Cookies
This is a weird one. We'd doubled the recipe, and made a few small substitutions. The cookies came out nothing like the picture in the cookbook, and it probably taste not at all like it, either, though they're still yummy. They taste very much like cardamon. I'll note our substitutions when they occur.
1.75 cups flour
.5 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder (this is a lot - but the cookies didn't come out puffy like the picture, they came out flatter and crispier)
.5 teaspoon ground cardamon (we ground this ourself. I suspect we put in slightly more than the recipe called for)
.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
.5 teaspoon nutmeg (we definitely put in more than the recipe stated)
.5 teaspoon ginger (if I had to do it again, I'd either add this later than the recipe says, or used dried ginger)
.5 teaspoon allspice (we used cloves this time)
.5 teaspoon pepper (we used a tiny bit more)
.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup butter
1 1/3 cups light brown sugar (we used dark brown sugar mixed with a little white)
1 t grated lemon rind (hah! Like we're grating that much lemon rind. We used half as much lemon extract)
.25 cup cream (cream is expensive. We used half-and-half)
.75 cups ground almonds (didn't have. We ground a little less walnuts, and instead used a generous dollop of almond extract. Seriously, until it baked, I thought it smelled like alcoholic marzipan.)
To top (we didn't do this) use powdered sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and spices together. Set that aside.
3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, and add the extract.
4. Add the flour mixture and cream, alternating - flour, cream, flour, cream, and so on. Begin and end on flour. This is so specific, I felt it must be important, so I didn't alter it.
5. Add the almonds.
6. Make the dough into balls, set them about an inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.
All these cookies are supposed to be cooled on a wire rack after baking.
Yesterday, I felt much better after leaving the house. So much so, in fact, that I wondered if I might have some sort of allergy to something inside the house itself.
So, I've decided - I'm cheating Amy. We have a few extras, she'll get those, and that's it, instead of the slightly larger amount (1.5 dozen, in three varieties) she should've gotten. Why? Because Amy lives in the city, and can have cookies anytime I bake them, just by calling and stopping by. And I aim to be doing a lot more baking. Sorry, Amy. It's just easier to give you less than to give everybody else less :(
For the convenience of people getting cookies, or who want to make cookies, here are the recipes:
Gingerbread
.5 cup shortening (we used butter and applesauce)
.5 cup sugar (we used dark brown sugar, because we like it more)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger (we grated ours fresh, because we didn't know we had ground ginger)
.5 teaspoon baking soda
.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
.5 teaspoon ground cloves (we used nutmeg because we weren't getting out the spice grinder for that measly amount of spice)
.5 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar (yes, vinegar)
2.5 cups flour
1. Beat the shortening on high for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until blended. Beat in the egg, molasses, and vinegar. When blended, beat in the flour as much as you can, then add the remaining flour by hand. Chill until easy to use.
2. Roll it out about an eighth of an inch thick. At this point, we found that the recipe wasn't easy to use - it wasn't floured enough. This may be because we'd tripled it. At any rate, we added more flour, but that ultimately affected how gingery it was. If I had to do it again, I'd've started out both with more flour and with more ginger. Cut into shapes.
3. Grease a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 F for 5-6 minutes.
4. Because they weren't as gingery (nor as sweet, really) as I would've liked, we iced these. They're shaped like stars, so we used yellow icing. To make the icing, we took out a cup of powdered sugar, and mixed it with yellow food coloring and ginger water. We made the ginger water by grating more ginger - maybe about a teaspoon - and then pouring an equal amount of hot water over it. We'd then squeeze the juice out of the grated ginger, and pour the whole concoction (minus the grated ginger itself) into the powdered sugar. We repeated the water-pouring step until the icing was at the consistency we wanted - somewhat thin.
Sugar Cookies
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup shortening (we used more butter. Lard would've been better, no doubt)
.75 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (we'd tripled the recipe, so we didn't have enough vanilla extract. So I used orange extract instead)
2 cups flour
dash of salt
Beat the butter and shortening for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, baking powder, and dash of salt. Beat until blended. Add the egg and extract, keep beating. Add the flour - you'll probably end up adding the last bit by hand.
Chill
Roll out to an eighth of an inch thick, cut out shapes. Grease a cookie sheet, and bake them for 7-8 minutes at 375 F
Spicy Pepper Cookies
This is a weird one. We'd doubled the recipe, and made a few small substitutions. The cookies came out nothing like the picture in the cookbook, and it probably taste not at all like it, either, though they're still yummy. They taste very much like cardamon. I'll note our substitutions when they occur.
1.75 cups flour
.5 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder (this is a lot - but the cookies didn't come out puffy like the picture, they came out flatter and crispier)
.5 teaspoon ground cardamon (we ground this ourself. I suspect we put in slightly more than the recipe called for)
.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
.5 teaspoon nutmeg (we definitely put in more than the recipe stated)
.5 teaspoon ginger (if I had to do it again, I'd either add this later than the recipe says, or used dried ginger)
.5 teaspoon allspice (we used cloves this time)
.5 teaspoon pepper (we used a tiny bit more)
.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup butter
1 1/3 cups light brown sugar (we used dark brown sugar mixed with a little white)
1 t grated lemon rind (hah! Like we're grating that much lemon rind. We used half as much lemon extract)
.25 cup cream (cream is expensive. We used half-and-half)
.75 cups ground almonds (didn't have. We ground a little less walnuts, and instead used a generous dollop of almond extract. Seriously, until it baked, I thought it smelled like alcoholic marzipan.)
To top (we didn't do this) use powdered sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and spices together. Set that aside.
3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, and add the extract.
4. Add the flour mixture and cream, alternating - flour, cream, flour, cream, and so on. Begin and end on flour. This is so specific, I felt it must be important, so I didn't alter it.
5. Add the almonds.
6. Make the dough into balls, set them about an inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.
All these cookies are supposed to be cooled on a wire rack after baking.
Yesterday, I felt much better after leaving the house. So much so, in fact, that I wondered if I might have some sort of allergy to something inside the house itself.
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