Friday, June 9, 2017

Ginger Syrup Cookies

A few weeks ago I came up with a recipe for ginger lemonade, and I think for me it’s going to be a summer staple. If summer ever arrives, that is--my heat's still on.

I seemed to recall having a bottle of ginger syrup lurking in my pantry closet, but I couldn’t find it when I was making that recipe, so I gave directions for making it. It’s not hard, but it does take a bit of time and planning (and I hate peeling ginger).



But because temperatures where I live have been hovering around 50 degrees (yes, I know it’s June), I started thinking about making ginger cookies—but not the traditional molasses-based ones. I wanted all ginger! And guess what? That missing bottle of ginger syrup miraculously reappeared! An omen! (Of course I hurried to order more, before I forgot the name.) Then I hunted down a recipe, improvised a bit, and voila! Ginger cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter at room 
temperature1 cup sugar
1/2 cup ginger syrup
3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
2-1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
2 large eggs
sugar for decorating (demerara sugar gives a nice crunch)


Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until they're light. Beat in the syrup. 



Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add to the butter-sugar mixture and combine.

Add the eggs and beat. (Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.)


Using a tablespoon (I have a soup spoon that was my grandmother’s, which is the perfect size), scoop the dough into balls (about 1-1/2 inch in diameter). Roll in sugar.


Rolled in sugar
Place on the baking sheets, about 2-1/2 inches apart (they will spread a bit).

Bake for 10 minutes (they will still be soft and puffy). Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets for about 10 minutes. Transfer to racks to finish cooling.


The recipe makes a lot of cookies--between 3 and 4 dozen. You could cut it down or share with neighbors!

The results? These are delightfully moist and chewy, and a bit lighter than the molasses variety. And they smell wonderful!

Books? You want books? Nothing new coming until November (A Late Frost, Orchard Mystery #11). But 2018 promises to be very busy, with a new County Cork Mystery in January (Many a Twist), a new series beginning in June, a new Relatively Dead mystery in the spring, and a new Orchard Mystery in the fall. Yikes! I'm exhausted just looking at the list.

They will be joining their friends:




5 comments:

  1. The recipe sounds divine! I love ginger!! Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to A Late Frost!!

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  2. Looking over my recipe collection, I realize how many ginger recipes I have! Plus I usually have on hand fresh ginger, dried ginger, candied ginger (my grandmother used to love it) and now ginger syrup. Have I missed anything? Hope you enjoy the book!

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  3. Those sound really tasty. Do they stay soft or crisp up as they cool?

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    1. Those few that are left have stayed nice and soft and chewy (I like them that way, but I suppose you could cook them a bit longer if you want more crunch).

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  4. I love spicy cookies, especially soft and chewy. I will copy this recipe down for future use!

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