Ginger+Molasses=True Love

When I was young I could polish off one of those packages of Archway Molasses cookies all by myself. I love, love, love molasses cookies with ginger. Especially if they're soft and chewy. I like the flavor of gingersnaps, but I don't like that they're hard as rocks. I don't enjoy eating things that make me feel like my teeth are going to break off. Maybe that's why we used to call them dangersnaps?

I have had an old standby molasses cookie recipe that I've been using for the last few years and they were good, but not anything special. And they didn't really taste like the Archway ones that I love so much. They needed something else...something extra.

Yesterday I played around with the recipe a little bit and now I think these are my new favorite cookies. They're wonderfully soft and spicy and just completely perfect. I think the key ingredient here is the fresh ginger. It's the first cookie I've made in a long time that's made me say "Wow!" I've added a vegan option as well for people who don't want to use animal products.

An extra added bonus feature is that they taste even better the next day. Enjoy!

(BTW, aren't my vintage 1960's tea service plates fab? Thanks Mom and Dad!)


Chewy Double Ginger Molasses Cookies
(with Vegan version!)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced (don't leave this out!!)
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
white sugar, demerara sugar (for rolling)

Vegan version:
Replace the butter and shortening with 3/4 cup margarine and replace the egg with 1/4 cup water.

-Cream together the butter, shortening and brown sugar.
-Stir in the egg, molasses and fresh ginger. Mix well.
-In a seperate bowl mix together the remaining ingredients with a fork until well blended.
-Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until well blended.
-Cover and chill until firm, 1-2 hours or longer.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Roll dough into walnut size balls (rounded tablespoons...a cookie scoop will help make portioning the dough faster).
-Roll the balls in sugar. I put the sugar in a mug and shake them around until they're coated.
-For sparkly tops I dipped the top half of the cookie in demerara sugar first (so it will stick better) and then rolled them in regular white sugar.
-Place the cookies on a cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart and flatten slightly.
-Bake for 9-10 minutes. Cookies should look slightly underdone.
-Leave on the cookie sheet one minute to set. Finish cooling on a rack. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 40 cookies

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Tips:
An easy way to peel fresh ginger is to use a regular teaspoon and scrape the skin off with the tip of the spoon. Easy peasy!

Small Potatoes

I wanted to make something quick, cute and easy for St. Patrick's Day. And something that wasn't green. I mean, SO obvious! :) Whilst searching through several recipes I came upon one for Irish Potatoes candy. I had all the ingredients on hand and they were no-bake so I thought well, even if they're bad I guess it's not a huge waste of time.

I was a bit skeptical that they would turn out cute or tasty, but was pleasantly surprised when they were both! I couldn't stop gushing over their cuteness. Or their teeny tiny-ness. Or their tastiness! What a fun idea!

What a great excuse to get your kids in the kitchen. This has family time written all over it.

And just in case you were wondering, no, they don't contain any actual potato.

Irish Potatoes Candy

1/4 cup softened butter (1/2 stick)
4 ounces regular cream cheese, softened (not reduced fat, low fat or whipped)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
2 and 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
cinnamon

-In a large bowl cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
-Add vanilla and powdered sugar.
-Beat until mixture forms a ball.
-Stir in coconut with a spoon.
-Roll the mixture in your hands to form small potato shaped candies or small balls (the less smooth you make them the more real they look!)
-Put cinnamon in a plastic bag. Add two or three "potatoes" at a time and shake until coated.
-Place finished potatoes on a cookie sheet and chill for 1 hour or until firm.
-If you prefer "dirtier potatoes" you can roll the candy in cinnamon a second time after they've chilled.
-You can also dip these in chocolate for Easter eggs. (Someone also wrote that they used Nestle Quik powder to coat their potatoes, but I haven't tried this...let me know if someone does and if they're good!)

Makes about 3-4 dozen, depending on size.

**I bought my decorative chocolate Leprachauns and coins at See's Candies.**

Saint Patrick vs. Arm & Hammer

I remember the first time I had ever heard of soda bread I was a teenager and my mom had made it for St. Patrick's Day. When she said "soda bread" I imagined a whole loaf of bread that tasted like baking soda. But after the first taste I was won over!

Soda bread is incredibly easy to make. You can add raisins or not.
Or (heavens!) caraway seeds if you like them. I don't.  I think it's best slathered with rich, creamery butter. MMmmm!

This recipe is supposedly from someone's wee Irish Gran called Rosie. It has a really nice light texture and rises high and soft. Perfect to go with some corned beef, cabbage and anything else you've decided to dye an unearthly green colour.

Rosie's Irish Soda Bread

3 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like your bread)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 pint sour cream
2 large eggs
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
2 tablespoons caraway seeds (also optional)

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
-Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

-Combine dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
-In a smaller bowl beat eggs and stir in the sour cream.
-Add the egg and sour cream mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well with a wooden spoon. The dough will be very thick.
-Add the raisins and caraway seeds (optional) and stir well with wooden spoon or knead in with your hands.
-Place the dough in your pan.
-Dust the top with enough flour that you can pat it down evenly into the pan without it sticking to your hands.
-With a sharp knife cut an X on the top. 
-Bake for 50 minutes or until a rich golden brown.

What do you do with a Lonely Rhubarb?

Okay, so I had some frozen rhubarb that needed to be used up, too. My parents have a gi-normous rhubarb patch in their garden and I squirreled a few bags of it away for the winter months.

I love rhubarb, but I run out of ideas when it comes to putting it in things. I noticed strawberries were cheap again, so I started searching...I was delighted to find this recipe on the web. It's originally from Guide to Southern Cuisine.

Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Filling

3 cups rhubarb (cut into 1 inch pieces, fresh or frozen)
2 pints fresh strawberries, mashed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 and 2/3 cups sugar (you may add more or less to taste, depending on how tart you like your rhubarb)
1/3 cup cornstarch

Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar

To make the filling:

-Combine the rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice in a saucepan.
-Cover and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
-Combine the sugar and cornstarch.
-Stir into the strawberry mixture.
-Bring to a boil, stir constantly until thickened, remove from heat.

To make the cake:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-In a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
-Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.
-In a seperate bowl, beat together the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.
-Stir into the flour mixture until just moistened.
-Spread half the mixture into a greased 9x13x2 baking dish.
-Carefully spread the strawberry rhubarb filling over the top.
-Drop remaining batter evenly over top with a tablespoon until well covered.

Topping:

-Melt the butter.
-Stir in the flour and sugar until crumbly.
-Sprinkle over the top of the batter.
-Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or until it tests done. (You may need to lay a sheet of foil or a baking sheet on the lower rack under the pan if the juices from the filling start to leak out so you don't have burnt rhubarb all over the bottom of your oven.)

Coffee Cake on the Run

I have a freezer full of frozen fruit (say that 5 times fast!) that I usually use to make smoothies. Sometimes though, a girl just gets smoothied out. So I had a whole bunch of frozen blueberries that needed to be used up.

I decided to make a last minute treat to take to work yesterday and this is what I came up with. I thought they were faboo...and so did the people who were fighting over the last two in the pan.

These are just the right size for a breakfast on the run. And much more economical than your local java joint. Take that Starbucks!

Blueberry Coffee Cake Crunch Muffins

for the crunch topping

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

for the muffins

3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
3 extra large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (about 1 large lemon)
8 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 and 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Lightly grease the top of your muffin tin (so when they rise they won't stick!) and line with 18 paper liners.
-Put the crumb topping ingredients in a bowl. Stir until well mixed and crumbly. Set aside.
-In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
-Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well between each and scraping down the bowl.
-The stir in the vanilla, lemon zest, sour cream and milk.
-In a seperate bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
-Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined.
-If you are using fresh blueberries, pick through for stems and rinse thoroughly. If you are using frozen blueberries, put them in a bowl or strainer, rinse with water and drain.
-Fold in the blueberries until evenly distributed.
-Use a standard size ice cream scoop to scoop the batter, fill each muffin paper to just over the top.
-Sprinkle each muffin generously with crumb topping.
-Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Makes about 18 muffins