COOKIE #11: GINGERSNAPS + "#10.5"

So I ditch the effort to come up with a “snappy” intro for this cookie and decide to jump right in with first thoughts.  To begin with, I take a closer look at the name – Nope, it doesn’t say gingerbread. It says GingerSNAPS. I’ve always assumed they were one and the same?  Next I look at the ingredients and notice that this cookie uses cloves, one spice I don’t happen to have (and I have A LOT of obscure spices).  So I jot down ‘cloves’ on my grocery list.  I get to the store and assume they don’t want chunks of whole cloves in this cookie, so I zone in on the ground clove. Holy moly, have spice prices gone up? To me the spice aisle is like standing in front of a gas pump. You know you’re about to get screwed, but you proceed anyway. Why don’t they have a bulk section for spices like they do for beans, quinoa, etc? Do you have any idea how long it’ll take me to go through this entire bottle of ground cloves? Considering I haven’t needed any in the last decade, more than 10 years perhaps. Unless this cookie is awesome and I happen to start making them more often. Maybe?

Since I know that this spice is going to linger in my cabinet, I begin to wonder, do spices go bad? I’m pretty sure I have some turmeric and anise in there that are more than a few years old. So do they expire? Yes and no. They don’t spoil in the sense that they will make you sick or completely lose their flavor.  However they do lose their potency and complexity after awhile. Whole spices keep longer than ground spices, about 4-5 years. Ground spices stay up to par for about 2-3 years. And crushed herbs (think oregano) keep for only 1-3 years. A good chef can tell if a spice is still good by its smell.  Can’t smell a thing? Then save up those dollars and head to the store for a new bottle.  Want to be sure your spices last the longest? Store them in a cool dark area, preferably in a cabinet away from your stove.  I personally have spices that are over 5 years old and they still smell okay to me, so I’m keeping them around. Though one day, I’d love to go to an actual spice store (think Moroccan market) and go on a crazy spice spree. J

Annalie enjoying her gingersnap with a "pot of tea"

Back to the gingersnaps, also known as ginger biscuits or ginger nuts. Turns out that they are different from gingerbread. They are flatter and crispier.  So crispy that they “snap” when you break them, hence their name.  Gingerbread is lighter, more like bread (imagine that). In my BH&G cookbook, gingerbread is actually listed under the “Cakes” tab and cooked in a cake pan. And while gingerbread is great for making little men out of, if you can bite off its head with a crunch, you may actually be eating a gingersnap man. 





Just a little taste...mmm

The origin of gingersnaps is probably quite old. Spicy cookies like this one have been a favorite since the Middle Ages. Lots of variants of this cookie exist around the world and generally they are considered a winter holiday treat.  Some think that ginger cookies were the first cake/cookie to be related with Christmas. Gingersnaps get their dark color from the molasses that is used and aren’t excessively sweet. Molasses was used as a sweetener rather than refined sugar because it was less expensive.  Most recipes now call for both molasses and sugar. Gingersnaps are great for dipping in tea or coffee.  I even read that they were once traditionally dunked in port wine.  Now that is something I will definitely have to try!

I know that I mentioned before that I only use light brown sugar in my recipes, so that the extra molasses in the dark brown wouldn’t interfere with the cookie’s taste, but this is one recipe I decide to make an exception. Since this recipe calls for molasses and since I already have the dark brown sugar, why not save my light brown sugar (translate: money) for other recipes. The batter smells like Christmas.  I consider changing the radio to Christmas tunes, but shake the idea. I felt like a kid again as I rolled the dough balls in sugar before I baked them. Annalie would love doing this! I can’t wait until my little cookie monster is old enough to help! And since I wasn’t sure if the cookie balls would flatten out, I took the liberty of flattening a few to experiment.  The outcome?  Excellent, top notch, better than store bought spice cookies!  The round cookies I made did not flatten, so they remained little balls that were crispy on the outside and softer on the inside.  But the cookies I flattened, oh SNAP! They were perfectly crunchy without being hard on your teeth. The spicy flavors are just right.  I do taste the clove I spent so much money on, so it was worth it. And I’m excited that I like these cookies so much, because Cookie #12 is another variant of this one, but with icing, so stay tuned!

Cookie Grade: A = why wait until Christmas? I’m going to have mine with coffee right now!

*********** COOKIE #10.5 : SHOT AT REDEMPTION ***********

Cherry Glaze

I mentioned in my last blog that I wanted to try something different to improve upon Cookie #10: Orange Drop Cookies.  They had potential, but were sorely disappointing. The first batch ended up in the trash, while I froze the remaining dough.  Well, today I defrosted the dough in the fridge for a few hours, then baked up another batch.  The twist? I decided to add a glaze on top of them.  I saw that most orange drop cookie recipes online included a simple confectioner’s glaze and thought that made sense. I’ve posted the common glaze recipe I decided to use. But after I baked the cookies, I realized one problem.  Even though I had bought the necessary confectioner’s sugar and orange juice, I go to the fridge and we’ve already drank all the OJ. Oops! So I search for a substitute and find a jar of maraschino cherry juice left over from my Cherry Winks. (I always save the juice to use on top of ice cream.)  That’ll work! So I make a cherry glaze to put over my orange drop cookies, and what an improvement. There aren’t too many fruity cookies, so I like the orange and cherry flavors in this one.  Still not the best cookies in the world, but if you’re gonna make them, you’ve GOT to use the glaze. 



Gingersnap balls, Gingersnap rounds, Orange Drop w/Cherry Glaze



Updated Cookie Grade: C+ = tasty, but really only because of the awesome icing (which is truly awesome). The cookie itself still disappoints.

What I was jammin’ to: Go (the movie) soundtrack