molasses crinkles with butter

It has been a crazy couple weeks.  I tried to add the office job in to the rest of my life.  Which means that I have not been here as much as I try to do.  I had a friend who asked if the corporation swallowed me.  It does feel like that a bit.  There seems to be a lot of loneliness there.  And social skill need work.  There are graceful ways to end conversations.  

Koda Bear is coming back so the house is being rearranged.  Which actually stresses me out.  I would rather sell or throw out then rearrange.  But that is not going to happen currently.  Though I did realize my fiber addiction might be a bit out of control.

Last Christmas, I was not pleased with all the cookies I made.  Mostly it was do to with the butter.  It just works differently.  I played with the cookies a bit this year because I wanted the cookies to be puffier.  Not thin sugar circles.  Though the sugar circles are lovely to eat.  Just not puffy.

I figured out both the molasses and chocolate chip cookies.  I need to write down the recipes here.

molasses crinkles with butter

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

2 eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon cloves

3 1/2 cups flour

sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Mix in the eggs and molasses.  Sift in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and flour if you wish.  Mix.  If you have time, refrigerate over night.  Then, do not turn on the oven.

When you are ready to bake, cover baking sheets with parchment or silicon mat.  Roll the dough into balls that are about an inch across.  Dredge in sugar.  Place a bit two inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until set.

Puffy, not spread, cookies.  Yum!  Very good with tea.

madly baking

Posts for the month of December feel kind of redundant to me.  I bake so many of the same family recipes that I could just repeat posts.  This year, I am four days behind due to the unexpected Christmas party that was out of town.  

The vanilla and chocolate shortbread are done.  But that means the sables and molasses crinkles still need to be baked.  Also, scones for a couple people.  I am thinking about sneaking a pumpkin cake into Koda Bear's box because pumpkin pie does not ship well.  Pumpkin pie is his favorite.  Just like mine!

None of this includes any baking I would do for myself.  Travelling is happening for me at the end of the month.  There needs to be enough bread for every day let alone travels.  And I really wanted to get a kuglehopf and a panattone made.  I have a few of the cookies as they are baked but really I wish the yeasted cakes.

I do want to run one experiment past the boyos.  I wish to make a sour cream raisin pie here as a test.  I will be with my parents after Christmas and before my Dad's birthday.  I was going to make him a sour cream raisin pie for his birthday.  I was told the last one I made was the closest to what his Mom used to make.  I think I tweak now.  Brown sugar instead of white.  But I wish to test it on the boyos before I try there.  Which also means a gluten free crust because one cannot eat gluten.  

I have not even talked about the sewing that needs to go on!  Stocking my shop has slowed down as I sew for family but I keep making nine squares so there will be more quilts as the year starts.  Maybe even the one I am making for this home.  That would be a surprise!

Thanks so much for listening to the babble.  The cookie bowl should have soaked enough so I can make more dough.  Sables next.  Hopefully I can wait to walk to the grocery store tomorrow.....

gluten free ultra thin chocolate chip cookies

To say I have been under the weather for the last two days would be an understatement.  I was really happy when I was able to drink sweet hot tea.

Before I got to feeling so bad, I was able to mix up some cookie dough and put it in the refrigerator for later baking.  My Beloved felt very special.  I modified a recipe from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-Mouth Cookies, by Alice Medrich to make them gluten free and use what I had at home.

Ultra Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/3 cup millet flour

1/3 cup amaranth flour

1/3 cup almond flour

1/3 cup arrowroot flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

10 tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup quick rolled oats (guaranteed gluten free if a concern)

½ cup sugar

¼ cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup

2 tablespoons whole milk, nonfat milk, or hempmilk

½ teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

In a large pyrex with cover or a medium bowl you do not mind sitting in the refrigerator, put the melted butter, oats, sugars, milk, salt, and corn syrup.  Mix well.

Add the flours and baking soda.

Mix in the chocolate chips.  Enjoy Life chocolate chips are allergen free and mini.  I find the mini size works really well.  Cover and put in the refrigerator over night or longer.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cover baking sheets with aluminum foil.  Drop the dough onto the baking sheets in small teaspoons.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes.  You want them a bit darker then golden so they will become crispy when they cool.  But do not let them burn.  The turn very quickly.

This is the best picture of the cookies I got because they disappeared so quickly.  I know they brown quickly because we had some of those as well.  They disappeared quickly as well.  

My Beloved said these are the best gluten free cookies he has ever had.  Whether gluten free or not, these are fabulous cookies!

last of the christmas cookies - sables

I found a recipe in the nytimes.com years ago, Dorie Greenspan's Master Recipe for Sables.  It looked good but just a tad to fussy for me.  It is really only a shortbread recipe with eggs but those eggs make such a difference!  

Sables

1 cup butter (2 sticks, the highest fat content you can find makes a better cookie, like Plugra but works even without that)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 large egg yolks

2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream it together well.

Like I said, the only difference from shortbread is the egg yolks, so add the egg yolks to the bowl now and mix well.  Add the flour and salt and mix.

Prepare baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.  Take a small spoon full of dough. Roll in a ball. Place on baking sheet.  I mush with a glass bottom just so the look different then shortbread.

(At this point, if you have read the Dorie Greenspan recipe you will have noticed I left out a lot of fuss.  This is really how I do it and they turn out as good as the fussy way.  I have tried both).

When the baking sheet is full, bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

The Christmas cookie baking is done.  I did not say Christmas baking, just the cookie portion.

More tomorrow.

more christmas baking - molasses crinkles

I am continuing the Christmas baking.  My boxes will be out late because I hit a wall due to being anemic.  The iron is helping but when I am done, there is no way I can push any farther through.

One of the cookies I added to the Christmas boxes a couple years ago was molasses crinkles.  These should never be kept in the house or only baked when you know the hordes will be descending.  Then make a double batch so everyone can have their fill!  (smile)

Molasses Crinkles (old common recipe, but a good one!)

3/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses ( I have used every strength including blackstrap and nobody complains.. munch, munch, munch)

1 egg

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

granulated sugar to roll them in.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Put the sugar, brown sugar, and molasses in a bowl.  Cream together.

Add the eggs and mix well.

Put the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt in the bowl.  Carefully mix into the egg mixture.  I say carefully because this when I normally get flour in the middle of my back somehow!

If you want, you can refrigerate at this point for a hour or more but I never do because I just do not want to take the time.

Put a bit of granulated sugar in a bowl.  Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats (or aluminum foil like when I grew up).  Take  a teaspoon of dough out of the bowl.  Roll into a ball.  Roll in the sugar in the bowl.  Place on the baking sheet.  Repeat until the baking sheet is full.

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until set.  I actually like them a little underbaked so that is why there is a range.

Cup of tea.  These cookies.  Life does not get much better.

Enjoy and relax!