Warm Spices in a Crinkle Cookie

Now that the weather has finally taken a turn towards cooler temperatures, I find myself thinking about using the warm spices of fall and winter - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper, allspice - and so I was thrilled to find a recipe in a magazine I took out of the library recently that uses a lot of those. The magazine is the Martha Stewart Living magazine from December 2018 and the cookies are Gingerbread-Espresso Crinkle Cookies. I think that it was the addition of the espresso that caught my attention. I'd never thought of adding it, but it seems right and did, indeed, add a rich deep note to these gingery cookies. The second reason I decided to make them was that Sweetie loves anything with molasses and these cookies have both brown sugar and liquid molasses in them.

These are crinkle cookies, meaning that you roll the dough in balls and roll the balls in sugar, as shown above. When baked the cookies have grown a bit, so the sugar gets sort of cracked and there are lovely fissures of cookies and areas covered with sugar between. For this recipe you roll the dough in both granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar. Just remember that confectioners' sugar is the glitter of the culinary world...it seems to go everywhere while you are working with it! The cookies aren't too sweet, even with all that sugar coating and the texture is crisp on the outside and slightly chewy in the center. I gave some to my neighbor and she enjoyed them in the morning with coffee.

You do need to start theses cookies at least four hours before you plan to bake them, but the dough can also sit in the fridge for three days, or you can freeze it for up to a month, making them a nice thing to have on hand for when a yen for cookies hits. They're not refrigerator cookies exactly, but the time in the fridge lets the flavors meld. You can shape and sugar a tray of cookie in about the time it takes to preheat your oven and then shape the next cookie sheet worth while the first one cooks, or you can bake two sheets at once, but be sure to turn the sheets around and switch the rack they are on about half way through baking.

These are pretty enough for a tea party, but simple enough for everyday eating...ready to bake?

Gingerbread-Espresso Crinkle Cookies
Martha Stewart Living Magazine, Dec 2018
Makes about 30 cookies

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger (from a 1-inch piece)
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses (not blackstrap)
1 large egg
granulated sugar (about 1/2 cup) and confectioner's sugar (about 1 cup) for rolling

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, espresso powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder and salt.

In a mixer bowl beat the butter with the grated ginger and brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the molasses; beat until combined. Add egg and beat until combined. Scrape bowl and beaters and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, beating only until combined with no dry flour remaining.

Transfer the dough to plastic wrap, pat into a disk, wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours and up to 3 days (or freeze up to 1 month; thaw in the refrigerator before using).

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, with racks in upper and lower thirds if baking two sheets at a time.

Place granulated sugar in one shallow bowl and confectioners' sugar in another.

Using a 1-oz scoop or a tablespoon measure, scoop rounded spoons of dough, roll into balls and put into the bowl of granulated sugar. Roll around to coat, then transfer to the bowl of confectioners' sugar. Turn dough balls to fully coat. Balls should be heavily coated; don't shake off excess. If dough becomes sticky as it warms, dust your hands with confectioners' sugar and continue to make balls of dough. Once each dough ball is heavily coated with confectioners' sugar, place it on the prepared sheet, leaving 2 inches between balls.

Bake, rotating sheets and rack positions once halfway through, until cookies spread and surfaces appear cracked, 15 - 17 minutes (I found that closer to 12 minutes was sufficient). Let cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, between sheets of parchment, up to 5 days.

Dusky Blondes

It felt a little bit like fall today, which is great. I've always liked the season of fall best of any season. It wasn't too hot this morning, so Sweetie and I went downhill to the pear tree and picked some pears. They are colored greenish gold and gold, but still hard, which is exactly right. I'll wrap them in newspapers and check them regularly until they are the perfect, juicy ripeness. If you pick them off the tree when they are ripe the inner part of the pear is usually gritty and overripe. Picking them early solves that. We also picked some Gravenstein apples from the two trees that are left. When we moved here there were more apple trees, but they were pretty old. I plan to make applesauce and maybe a pie or apple crisp. I love them baked, too. They tend to turn very soft when cooked, but have a wonderful, sweet-tart flavor.

Gravenstein apples are part of the Slow Food movement because they are dying out. People want apples that they can store and that ship well. Gravensteins are easily bruised and don't keep well at all. If you can find them, do enjoy some fresh or baked into your favorite treat. But this post is actually about cookies...bar cookies that are almost, but not quite, as dark as brownies.

Yesterday I baked  a version of blondies bar cookies. This time I added some espresso powder, which made them almost as dark as brownies, but not quite...I'm calling them Dusky Blondes. The flavor is still richly butterscotch, but the addition of coffee makes them more sophisticated. The coffee addition inspired me to use prunes for the dried fruit and walnuts for the nuts. I used only dark chocolate chips and the results were absolutely wonderful...and sort of fall-like. The chocolate is a supporting player here so they really aren't at all like a brownie. They are moist, rich, chewy and addictive. I froze about half of them so that I will limit how many I eat. Straight Shooter is visiting, so I know he will eat four or five of them this weekend and Sweetie likes them, too. Bet you will too, if you make them!

Dusky  Blondes

A variation of a recipe by Jill O’Connor in Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs
1/4 cup plain applesauce

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons espresso powder

MIX-IN INGREDIENTS:
1  cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup dried plums (prunes), chopped

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Use cooking spray to lightly coat a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Melt the butter and sugars together in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter and sugars are blended and completely melted and starting to bubble gently. Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, vanilla and salt.

In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and espresso powder.

Slowly whisk the cooled butter and sugar mixture into the eggs mixture just until combined. Whisk in the flour mixture to form a loose batter. (Make sure the batter is cool before stirring in the remaining ingredients, otherwise the chocolate will start to melt before the bars are baked.)

Stir the chopped  nuts, chopped prunes, and dark chocolate chips into the cooled batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake until the top is shiny and slightly crackled and feels firm to the touch, 30 – 35 minutes. A wooden skewer inserting into the batter should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then cut into bars and serve.

Makes 16 large or 32 small bars.