This past weekend my sister and I embarked on our annual trek through our family cookbooks. Bags of flour were opened, and emptied, various sugars covered the floor, sinks were temporarily dyed the colors of the rainbow with food coloring, three types of nuts were roasted and chopped, candy canes were bashed, and chocolate was melted, and melted and melted. We made two types of fudge, Chocolate Crunch bars, dough for Pfefferniusse, made preparations for making my grandma’s truffles . . . the list goes on and on!
We have more work to do this weekend (coconut pecan and peanut butter truffles for sure!) but wanted to share my new favorite recipe with you in the interim.
I have a FANTASTIC gingersnap cookie that I normally make during this time of year. But, I picked up some super cute cookie cutters the other day and wanted to try them out instead! I researched and found this recipe at http://www.allrecipes.com/, augmented it a bit to make it with healthier ingredients, and increased the spices a bit to suit my taste, and have found a winner. It was just what I wanted, full of dark spiciness without being super sweet. I added just the right amount of sweetness with the icing we decorated them with. I’m enjoying these this week with coffee in the morning and have sent them to work with my hubby and sister to share!
- 2 cups white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ Cup rapadura (white sugar may be substituted if you do not have rapadura)
- ½ Cup coconut oil in solid form
- 1 egg
- 1 Cup unsulphured Molasses (measure into a greased glass measuring cup and warm briefly in the microwave, about 20 seconds)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons warm water
In a large bowl cream coconut oil, rapadura, egg and warmed molasses. Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to egg mixture, beating until smooth. Mix in flours, spices and salt until well blended. Cover and chill for 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut using cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until firm. Let cool and decorate with . . .
In a large bowl mix:
- 2 Cups Powdered sugar, with
- equal parts light Karo syrup and milk, one tablespoon full of each at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
From the bowl, separate the icing into smaller cups or bowls and add food coloring to make desired colors. You can also add flavoring (vanilla, lemon oil, cinnamon oil, peppermint, etc.) if you prefer, but keep in mind that unless the oil is clear, it will affect the whiteness of your frosting!
You can make this thicker or thinner, depending on what you want to do. It can be piped, or spread with a knife (I often use a bamboo skewer for details). To thin, or if you have a lot of cookies to frost and it starts to set in the cup after a while, add a tiny bit of milk and stir.
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