Ginger Spice and all things nice!

I bought this months Taste magazine as I was lured in by the baking section by Julie le Clerc . I used to buy the Julie le Clerc magazine, but it seems to have disappeared from the shelves. A sad victim of the recession I suspect.

I tried these ginger cookies - which were just lovely. The method is pretty similar to the slice and bake cookies I tried a few weeks ago, only this particular recipe doesn't need to be frozen before slicing, just refridgerated.

I splashed out on real butter, and the extravagence was so worth it. The end result is more 'grown up' than your regular cookie due to the chopped crystalised ginger.

Ginger cookies

250g butter

3/4 cup soft brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp ground ginger

200g crystallised ginger, chopped

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy.

Sift flour, baking powder, and ginger. Beat into the creamed butter mixture until just mixed.

Add in the chopped ginger.

Divide the dough in half, and roll each into a 5cm thick log. Wrap in cling film and refridgerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 180C. Place baking paper on two baking trays.

Cut the dough into 1cm slices, and lay on the baking trays. Space them to allow the biscuits to spread a little during cooking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Remove to wire wracks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container. Will keep for a week - if not all snaffled in the meantime!

Slice and Bake Cookies

I'm taking part in a monthly recipe challenge to try out new baking recipes with group of online friends. This is one of the recipes for our first month. The recipe has been kindly reproduced from the http://smittenkitchen.com/ blog. I'd never made cookies using this method before, and I was pleased with the result. They produce a softer crumbly cookie, that is similar to short bread in texture. I did find I had to add a bit of extra flour and icing sugar to the recipe as the dough was just too sticky to form into a ball when first going into the fridge. I added half a cup of chopped apricots, and half a cup of slivered almonds.

Slice-and-Bake Cookies
Makes about 50 cookies
230 g butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup icing sugar
2 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
2 cups plain flour

Options:
Grated zest of 2 oranges and 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Grated zest of 2 lemons and 1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots and 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Swap ¼ cup of flour for unsweetened cocoa

Beat butter until smooth, and add icing sugar until smooth and silky. Beat in egg yolks and any dried fruits, zest, nuts or seeds. Add flour until just mixed. Turn the dough out bench, wrap dough in plastic wrap or place in lidded container, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Form each piece of dough into a log that is about 2.5 to 3cm thick. Wrap the logs in glad wrap and freeze for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
While the oven is preheating, roll cookie logs in any coatings of your choice. Then, using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 10 mm thick. Place cookies on baking sheets, leaving about 1.5 cm space between them.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set but not browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.