To stick with the ginger theme, I decided to try a crunchy, gingersnap. I read Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food" a while back and her gingersnap recipe looked simple and good. When I came across it on Foodie-in-France expat David Lebovitz's blog, I thought it should be the one to try...
Here's Ms. Waters' recipe:
Ginger Snaps
Makes 40-50 cookies
2 cups (280 g) flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
11 tablespoons (150 g) butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (80 g) mild-flavored molasses* (sometimes called 'light' molasses)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1. Stir together the dry ingredients.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter just until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides of the bowl.
3. Stir in the vanilla, molasses and egg.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients gradually until the dough is smooth.
5. Divide the dough in two equal portions and roll each on a lightly-floured surface until each is about 2-inches (5cm) around. Don't worry if they're not perfect; you can neaten them up in a second.
6. Wrap each in plastic wrap then roll them lightly on the counter to smooth them out. Refrigerate, or better yet, freeze the cookie logs until firm.
7. To bake, preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
8. Slice cookie dough into 1/4-inch (a scant 1 cm) rounds with a sharp knife. Dip one side and press firmly in a bowl of coarse sugar if you want (you can also use granulated sugar instead), and place on baking sheet, evenly-spaced apart. Leave a couple of inches, about 5 cm, between cookies since they'll spread while baking.
9. Bake for 10-14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until deep-golden brown. The cookies will puff up a bit while baking, then settle down when they're done. Bake on the lower end of the range for softer cookies, and more for snappier ones, depending on your oven.
10. Let the cookies cool two minutes, then remove them with a spatula and transfer them to a cooling rack.
Storage: The dough can be refrigerated for up to five days, or frozen for up to three months. Once baked, the cookies can be kept in an air-tight container for a couple of days but like anything made with butter, of course they're best the day they're baked.
From The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution (Clarkson Potter) by Alice Waters.
Now, these cookies are stellar as they are, but....
My Mom and I made a batch of caramels and, like-mother-like-daughter, we didn't actually check to see if we had all of the ingredients on hand. Having no brown sugar we decided to mix a little molasses in with the white sugar for the darker color. And it's good! If you like molasses flavoured caramels. And let me tell you, chewy molasses caramel layered between crunchy gingersnaps is sooooo good. So here's the modified caramel recipe if you want a decadent treat for the holidays. Or any day for that matter. Sharing these cookies with others will make you a star.
Shortcut Caramels
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar, 1/4 cup molasses (the original recipe called for 2 1/4 cups of packed brown sugar)
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
Spray or butter an 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 baking pan. In a heavy 3-quart saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Add sugars, milk, and corn syrup; mix well. Cook and stir over medium-high heat to boiling. Clip a candy thermometer on the side of the pan and boil until the mixture reaches 248F, firm ball stage (about 15 - 20 minutes).
Remove from heat and remove thermometer. Stir in the vanilla. If using as cookie filling, let cool a little before slathering a layer on one cookie, then sandwiching another on top. If you want to make individual caramels, immediately pour into the prepared pan and let set until the caramel is firm. Use a buttered knife to cut into squares. Wrap each in clear plastic or wax paper. Or do a little of both, this recipe makes about two pounds of caramel.
(Adapted from "Better Homes and Gardens, New Cook Book, copyright 1989 - It's the first cook book I owned!)
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