Day 12: Molasses Ginger Crisps

Connie at our Bridgetown branch baked for the last day of our 2013 “12 days of Cookies”.  Connie says,  “This recipe for Molasses-Ginger Crisps comes from The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman.  This is not technically a cookbook, it's a gentle, thoughtful novel centered around a group of women who gather together once a year at Christmas and share cookies.  Each chapter begins with a particular cookie recipe.  The recipe I chose to make features ginger -- one of my favourite flavours!  And I was particularly attracted to this recipe because it uses three different forms of ginger: fresh, powdered and crystallized.”  Connie’s cookies can be found at the Middleton branch today.

Here's the recipe:                                 
Molasses-Ginger Crisps

1 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped crystallized ginger
2 cups + 2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup molasses

Beat butter and sugar together 2 minutes.  Add egg and yolk, salt, fresh ginger and crystallized ginger.

Use whisk to blend flour, powdered ginger, and baking powder, and add to mixture.  Add molasses.

Form into logs about 2 inches in diameter and chill a couple of hours (or freeze for a few days).  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut the rolls into 1/8 inch slices.

Bake for 12 minutes.  Makes about 6 1/2 dozen cookies.

Day 10: Espresso Thumbprint Cookies

Today's cookies are baked by Wendy Trimper, Head of Branch Services. Her cookies will be making an appearance at the Port Williams Library .

Espresso Thumbprint Cookies

(from the book Betty Crocker Christmas Cookies)

COOKIES:

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

¼ teaspoon salt

FILLING:

¼ cup whipping cream

2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee granules

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 Tablespoon coffee-flavoured liqueur, if desired

TOPPING:

Crushed hard peppermint candies, if desired

1.       Heat oven to 350⁰ F. In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon, until well blended.  Stir in flour, cocoa and salt until dough forms.

2.       Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into 42 (1 inch) balls.  On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls about 2 inches apart.  Using thumb or end of wooden spoon, make indentation in center of each cookie, but do not press all the way to cookie sheet.

3.       Bake 7 to 11 minutes or until edges are firm.  If necessary, quickly remake indentations with end of wooden spoon.  Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.  Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

4.       Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, mix whipping cream and instant coffee.  Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally , until steaming and coffee is dissolved.  Remove from heat; stir in chocolate chips until melted.  Stir in liqueur.  Cool about 10 minutes or until thickened.

5.       Spoon rounded ½ teaspoon espresso filling into indentation in each cookie.  Top with crushed candies.

Day 2: KOURABIEDES

Today's cookies are baked by Tim Jackson, who works at our headquarters location in the technical services department. You can stop by the Bridgetown Library if you want to try one!

KOURABIEDES

During Christmastime in their native Greece, each of these almond cookies is crowned with a whole clove to symbolize the spices brought to the Christ child by the three wise men.

Prep time: 40 minutes  Bake time: 15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sifted powdered sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoon brandy or orange juice

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup finely chopped almonds or walnuts

Whole cloves

Sifted powdered sugar

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 2/3 cup powdered sugar and the baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolk, brandy or orange juice, and vanilla until combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour and almonds or walnuts.

2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Insert the stem end of a whole clove in center of each cookie.

3. Bake in a 325 oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 60 cookies.

From Cookies for Christmas by Jennifer Dorland Darling

Day 1: Molasses Cookies

These cookies were baked by our Head of Youth Services, Angela Reynolds. If you stop by the Annapolis Royal branch today, you might get to try one!      

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks of butter at room temp

1 cup sugar

1 egg, at room temp

¼ cup molasses

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp Kosher salt

½ tsp ground cardamom (optional)

1)      Turn oven on to 350 degrees

2)      Put the butter and sugar in the bowl and mix until smooth and creamy

3)      Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla and mix well. The mixture will not be completely smooth. Don’t worry.

4)      Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cardamom (if using). Stir until everything is mixed in. (You can cover and refrigerate the dough up to 1 week.)

5)      To form the cookies, break off small pieces and roll into balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Press down gently to flatten slightly.

6)      Carefully put the baking sheet into the oven until cookies begin to brown at edges, 12 – 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet (or wire rack). 

OPTIONAL: dip into melted white chocolate, coating half (or the edge) of the cookies.

Baker’s NOTES:  Watch the time on these – they only needed 10 minutes in my oven. While the white chocolate is tasty, these are just fine without it. I found the white chocolate chips a bit fussy to work with. 

From: Chop Chop: The Kid’s Guide to Cooking Real Food with Your Family by Sally Sampson

12 Days of Cookies returns!

Our third annual 12 Days of Cookies event returns! Our staff will be baking cookies and sharing them with the branches. Staff members sign on to bake a cookie recipe from a book they found in the library, and share the photo, recipe, book title, and the cookies with our patrons. We've had some great cookies pass by our desk in the past two years, so we are fairly certain that we are up to the challenge once again.

It all begins on December 2. Each day (Monday-Friday) we will post a new cookie on this blog, Facebook, and Twitter. AND, this just in, we'll also be on Pinterest, so if you are a Pinterest fan, you can follow along there, too. The last cookie day is December 17. Since we have 12 branches, each location (including our Bookmobile!) will get to host a batch of cookies. Check in each day to find out where the cookies will be and to see how delicious they look (and to plan which branch you will be visiting).

Of course, we want you to get in on the action as well. Just bake a batch of cookies from a recipe you found in a book from the library, and send us the photo. You will be entered to win a gift card. Details on how to enter can be found here. This is a fun way to discover a new cookie recipe, and you can get the kids in on it for a literacy lesson as well. Reading the ingredients together is a great way to add literacy to a fun family activity; measuring adds a bit of math to the activity. Being creative with your cookie decorating and photography is a great way to express yourself and add a bit of the arts into your holidays. Let us see your artistic side!

So, get to the library and find a cookbook, and get baking! We can't wait to see the cookies roll in.

Alternative Thanksgiving Menus

Tired of Turkey?  You are not alone!  Whether it is just the feeling of wanting something different this year,  or  you are seriously  anti-turkey,  it really might be like they say “ a change is as good as a rest”.  

Everywhere you look there are alternative menus.   There are websites full of ideas from total vegetarian to the truly spectacular.  Some lean towards not having leftovers to deal with (personally  the leftovers are my favourite part ),  some go for unusual ingredients  and some for the ease and time spent.  Here are a few that caught my eye. 

Epicurious offers  some intriguing options  including a mexican themed menu that really got me thinking. 

Woman’s Day has always been a go to publication for recipes and they offer plenty of turkey alternatives   that are simple, straightforward and satisfying.

Food and Wine magazine offers some wonderful alternatives   from  honey glazed lamb to slow roasted salmon.   These recipes may be a little more complex but the outcome will not disappoint. 

 And About.com has  also listed some interesting menus including a menu suggestion from author Calvin Trillin that the menu should be Italian!

Have fun this Thanksgiving and if a break from tradition is what you are looking for I hope you will find something here that will work for you.

Patricia Milner, Head of Reference Services

Preserving the Harvest

Remember how exciting it was to prepare the soil and plant seeds and seedling just a few weeks ago? Look what has happened since! Your garden is full of vegetables waiting to be harvested. And so many at the same time. It’s OK. The library has a fantastic collection of preserving and harvesting books to get you started.

I grew up in Toronto, and had absolutely no experience in preserving food and will never forget the first time my husband and I made our first jam in our rural Vancouver Island home. A well- meaning friend arrived with a basket overflowing with plums. They were delicious, but the intent was to make jam. We sterilized equipment, found the perfect recipe, measured the ingredients carefully and created the most wonderful tasting jam. We were hooked. One thing led to another and before we realized it we were preserving vegetables from our garden, fruit from our orchard, homegrown meat and fish, honey from our bees. Our children learned to appreciate homegrown food at all times of the year. Making apple rings and applesauce together was always a happy day. Learning the proper techniques for freezing fruits and vegetables has been successful. I have been making the same recipe of dill pickles for 30 years now, and a family supper isn’t complete without them. I dehydrate most herbs, some tomatoes and some fruit. My children still prefer canned peaches though. My personal favorite is making fresh tomato sauce and pesto. Both of these flavors make me very thankful during our long winter months. 

From my experience it is good to start with small batches of a recipe.  The book Food in jars :

preserving in small batches year-round and The complete preserving book are wonderful for beginners. It is better to start with a small batch that is enjoyed rather than one your family refuses to eat. Read many preserving books, and choose a recipe with ingredients you can find locally. Local farmers have wonderful products and will help you get the fresh ingredients you need. 

Perhaps root cellaring appeals to you. Try reading the book The complete root cellar book : building plans, uses and 100 recipes. Preserving the abundance can be very rewarding. With so many tried and true recipes, it is possible to begin with a successful preserving product.  And if you would like some great information on planting food for harvest, get inspired with the book Backyard harvest.  Have fun preserving the colours, textures, tastes and smells that celebrate this time of year.

Wendy Kearnes – Outreach Services Manager