The Best Ginger Cookie by Christmas

If you've been following my blog for awhile, then you probably remember the summer madness that was "The Great Chocolate Chip Cookie Quest of 2011." After going through thirteen recipes, dozens of cookies, and hundreds of chocolate chips, I finally discovered the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever. So, it was totally worth it in the end. That said, I wasn't sure if I'd want to go through such an experience again anytime soon.

But, that was then and this is now. Six months have passed and I've regained my cookie mojo. This time, I'm on the search to find the perfect recipe for one of my favorite cookies of all time - the ginger cookie. Somehow, the ones I've tried up till now, while being good, just weren't great. That's gotta change.

Thus begins my new quest - "The Best Ginger Cookie by Christmas (for short, the BGCBC)." That's right, starting tomorrow and every Monday-Thursday thereafter for the next three weeks of December, I will be posting a new ginger cookie recipe and hope to announce the ultimate ginger cookie before Christmas arrives. That should give plenty of time so you can make it for your own holiday platters, if you so desire.

So, the question is, what makes the ultimate ginger cookie? Is it a combo of dry spices only or does fresh ginger add more of a zing? Speaking of spices, just which spices should you use? There's the traditional combo of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves/allspice. But, what about cardamom, nutmeg, or a dash of black/white/cayenne pepper? And would the cookie be better off with some crystallized ginger?

I've been scouring food blogs for weeks and finally compiled a master list of 12 ginger cookie recipes, each one different in some way. By the end of this quest, I hope to have all the answers and be able to choose one recipe and say that THIS IS IT. It's gonna be one sweet and spicy ride and I hope you'll follow along.

Let the cookie madness begin!!!

Sweets for a Saturday #45

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm sure it was filled with plenty of good food and, knowing all of you, I also have no doubt that your guests were treated to some fantastic desserts that they'll rave about till next Thanksgiving.

And now, here are your Top 5 from last week:

1. Coconut and Lemon Mini Bundts - Catalina Bakes

They're like a bite of sunshine.

2. Pumpkin Spice Syrup - Piece Love & Cooking

On ice cream, on cake, on pancakes . . .

3. Cinnamon Streusel Banana Bread - Nancy Creative

This banana bread is tops!

4. Whopper Cookies - Shugary Sweets

What a whopper of a cookie!

5. Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake - Cupcakes with Sprinkles

Triple the layers = three times the yum

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Lebkuchen

It's Week 9 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and we're moving right along. I decided to go a little international with my cookie choice this week and picked Lebkuchen for this week's spicy treat. Lebkuchen are a type of German Christmas cookie very similar to gingerbread since it contains molasses and spices. However, it differs in that there's also some honey added in which gives these cookies a little something extra in flavor.


I'm so glad I finally got to try these cookies. They may not look like anything special, but they pack a spicy punch. They're typically made with a powdered sugar glaze, but I was planning to take my cookies traveling so I left the glaze off. I'm sure they'd also be good drizzled with some melted chocolate too.

I'm sure you'll enjoy these cookies too. Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas)!


Lebkuchen (French for Foodies)

1 cup honey
1 cup molasses/treacle
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoon lemon juice
4 tbsps candied orange finely chopped (optional)
5 1/2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 teaspoon ground ginger

In a medium saucepan, stir together the honey and molasses. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove from heat for 10 mins and stir in the brown sugar, egg, lemon juice and candied citron. In a large bowl, sift and stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.

Add the molasses mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. You may need to gradually add extra flour until it makes a moist cookie dough as the consistency will depend on the flour, humidity etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or baking trays.

Once combined, put bowl of cookie mix in the refrigerator until it has cooled to room temperature or lower.

Knead a few handfuls of dough at a time on a floured flat surface/bench and roll out the dough ready for the cookie cutters. Alternatively, Using a small amount of dough at a time, roll into small balls and press down to about 4cm diameter, OR roll out dough and place the mix into a rectangular baking tray with dough at approx 1 cm depth.

Cut out cookies using desired shapes and moulds and place onto greased trays.

Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown and fragrant. Be careful not to overcook the lebkuchen as the sugars will go too hard when they cool and the biscuits will lose the desired soft center.

Allow to cool completely before icing and decorating.

Sweets for a Saturday #44

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Time's really flying by. If you're like me, you're already planning all the delicious desserts and treats for the holidays. If so, then you've come to the right place because you'll certainly find some great ideas here. Like these Top 5 from last week:

1. Butterfingers - The Royal Cook

These are on my must-make list.

2. Oreo Turkeys - The Sweet Swiper

I could "gobble" these right up.

3. Pumpkin Pie Delight - Let's Get Cookin'

Oh how I love pumpkin!

4. Oreo Cake - Goddess of Baking

This cake is a cookies n' cream delight.

5. Red Velvet Cookies - Eat Cake for Dinner

Red velvet + cream cheese = dream come true

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2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
   
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
   
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5. Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

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Our Family's Gingerbread Cookies

What with Christmas getting closer (after all, this is Week 8 already of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies), I just had to share my family's recipe for gingerbread cookies. Making these cookies during the holidays has been a long cherished tradition. Every year, we come up with a different decorating theme. One year, it was cartoon characters. Another year, we decided to dress them in hula skirts and aloha shirts (since we're from Hawaii). It's always a fun time and we love showing off our artistic skills (though my youngest sister surpasses us all with her cookies). Of course, the best part is eating them.


Gingerbread Cookies

2/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
2/3 c. dark corn syrup
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. butter or margarine
1 egg
4 c. flour

Put sugar, syrup, spices, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add the baking soda and butter and stir until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool a little. Stir in the egg and then the flour. Mix well.

Form the dough into disks, wrap them in waxed paper, and chill until they are firm enough to roll. Roll out on a floured surface to about 1/4" thickness. Cut in shapes and bake at 350F for about 12-15 min. Decorate with icing as desired.

Sweets for a Saturday #43

Are you ready for a sugar coma? Here are your Top 5 from last week:

1. Biscoff Truffles - Shugary Sweets



2. Chocolate Fudge Pie - Flour Me With Love



3. Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies - That Skinny Chick Can Bake



4. Triple Chocolate Scones - Shugary Sweets



5. Classic Chocolate Fudge - The Kitchen is My Playground

The Rules:

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2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
   
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
   
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Two Yummy Treats

Woo-hoo. It's Week 7 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies. This time, I bring you two treats - Chai Spiced Zucchini Bread and Cinnamon Banana Bread. Both of them would make wonderful Christmas breakfasts.

The Chai Spiced Zucchini Bread was so moist, not to mention flavorful with all the spices added into it and you don't even taste the zucchini at all.

Chai Spiced Zucchini Bread (from Del Sisters Kitchen)

3 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cardamom
1 1/2 tsp. orange zest
2 c. grated zucchini
3 eggs
3/4 c. oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. hot water

Combine the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and stir to mix. Divide into two large greased bread pans and bake at 350F for 60 min. or till center is clean when tested. Remove and cool.



As for the Cinnamon Banana Bread, it's also nice and healthy since it's made with oats, bananas, and hardly any butter/oil at all. That means you won't feel guilty from eating all the molten cinnamon chips that are also added into it. The bread comes out a little dense, but full of delicious cinnamony banana-y flavor that is sure to please.



Cinnamon Banana Bread (from the Beantown Baker)

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I'd double this next time)
1 c. uncooked old fashioned oats
1/2 c. cinnamon chips
1 Tbsp. canola oil (I used melted butter)
2 eggs, beaten
3 large bananas, ripe (1 cup)
cinnamon-sugar (for sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Stir together the first 8 ingredients. Mash the bananas then add the oil and eggs and mix thoroughly. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45-50 min. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 min. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 min.

Blueberry White Chocolate Blondies

It's Reveal Day once again for the Secret Recipe Club. This month, I was assigned to Heather's blog, Eggs Cream and Honey. In case you didn't know, Heather lives in England. How cool is that! She has so many neat recipes on her site and I finally decided to go with the Chewy Chunky Blondies. The great thing about these bars is that you can add whatever you want to them and it's sure to be good - chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, toffee, etc. I decided to go with a combo of white chocolate chips and dried blueberries.

The blondies were super delicious. They were definitely chewy and had an awesome caramelly flavor from the brown sugar infused into every bite. Plus, the white chocolate blueberry combo is simply marvelous. I ate some of the edge (my favorite part) right after it came out of the oven. Sure, it was hot, but oh so gooey . . .


I am in love with these blondies and will never look for another recipe for them again. I'm thinking I might like to try them with orange, ginger, and dried cranberries or some chai spice or cherries and dark chocolate. The possibilities are endless. Thanks Heather for one sweet recipe!




Chewy Chunky Blondies
(adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking From My Home to Yours")

2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
1 c. white chocolate chips
2/3 c. dried blueberries

Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter a 9x13" baking pan.

Cream the butter and sugars until until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 min. after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips and blueberries. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top as best as you can.

Bake for about 40 min., or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool completely.

Sweets for a Saturday #42

Hope you all had a sweet Halloween. As for me, I made sure to snag a bag of candy corn the day after so that I can make some of those homemade Butterfingers that everyone is posting.

And now, here are your top 5 from last week:

1. White Chocolate Blondies - Catalina Bakes

Ooey gooey dense and chewy.

2. Pumpkin Doughnut French Toast Casserole - Piece Love & Cooking

Glorious, simply glorious.

3. Candy Corn Cupcakes - Cupcakes with Sprinkles

Perfect for Halloween!

4. Spooky Halloween Bundt Cake - Let's Get Cookin'

Love the color on this one.

5. Homemade Tootsie Rolls Candy - Baking and Boys

A great treat from the queen of all things chocolate.

The Rules:

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2. Please leave a link back to this post in your post or Grab My Button.
   
3. Share your delicious sweets from this week. If you've made more than one during the week, feel free to link them all up.
   
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Citrus Ginger Blondies

Can you believe it's already November? We're already halfway through the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and time is flying by. I'm still sticking with my spice theme and so this week, I chose to make these Citrus Ginger Blondies that I saw on Redpath Acts of Sweetness.


Imagine, chewy bars with three kinds of zest, three kinds of juice, and a combo of four spices. Really, you can't go wrong with that. One taste of the batter (before adding the eggs of course) and I had a feeling these were going to be something special. Then, one whiff of that glorious aroma when they came out of the oven and I couldn't wait try them. The blondies are a little on the cakey side, but I think chilling them would make them more blondie-like. Not that I'm complaining because the taste is out of this world. The flavors combine beautifully and the candied ginger is definitely a must. I also sprinkled a little raw sugar on top which gave it a yummy, crisp crust.


The creators of these blondies suggested topping them with cream cheese icing but it's not necessary cause they are plenty good without it. Of course, a little extra indulgence never hurt anyone, especially during the holidays, so frost away if you want. Tis the season after all.


Citrus Ginger Blondies (Redpath Acts of Sweetness)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour(
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used vanilla powder)
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Juice and zest of 1 lemon, 1 lime, and 1 orange
2 eggs
1/2 - 1 Tbsp. raw sugar (for sprinkling)

Preheat over to 350F.

Cream butter in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugars and beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla.

Add the candied ginger, zest, and juices from the lemon, lime, and orange. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until just combined. Spread the batter into a greased 8x8" pan. Bake for 25 min. (mine took 40 min.).

Note: If you want, you can sprinkle the top with the raw sugar about halfway through the baking time (i.e. when the batter is about halfway set).