Heavenly Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Ginger is a great ingredient to use in winter baking/cooking because it adds a bit of heat to foods along with great flavour. This recipe for very tasty cookies comes from my young friend Ginny who happens to be one of the primary instigators of this blog.

When I last made this recipe several years , I had just recovered from a Christmas cookie-baking extravaganza and was barely able to think about cookies  without feeling faint. I managed these with ease. This recipe makes approximately 2 dozen of the little beauties.

Ingredients:
- 7 ounces best-quality dark chocolate (or 1 small bag of dark chocolate chips)
- 1 and 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. In another bowl, beat the butter and grated ginger with an electric mixer until it is fluffy and light in colour. Add the brown sugar and beat until combined, then add the molasses and beat until combined. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in 1 and 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Beat in the baking soda mixture, then the remaining half of the flour mixture. Finally, mix in the chocolate. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1-inch thick and seal. Refrigerate the dough until it is firm, approximately 2 hours (or less; I did 15 minutes.) This dough can be frozen.

When ready to bake the cookies, heat your oven to 325 degrees F. Roll the dough into 1 and 1/2-inch balls then roll in granulated sugar and place 2-inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10-12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Editorial Note: Chocolate and ginger are flavours that go together surprisingly well.

Gingerbread Pudding a.k.a Ginger Bread Pudding

A bowl full of gingery goodness.

Recently a friend gave me a large and very tasty loaf of gingerbread which, for various reasons, I was unable to consume completely before it became dry. That’s when I created a moist and yummy gingerbread pudding or ginger bread pudding, if you prefer. 

You say 'po-teh-to', I say 'po-tah-to'.   

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• about 5 cups of cubed gingerbread
• ½ cup of heavy cream
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1- 2 tablespoons of chopped candied ginger (to taste)
• ¼ cup of maple syrup 

Mix the candied ginger with the cubed gingerbread and place in a large baking dish. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs together with the milk, cream, and ground ginger to form the custard bit of the pudding. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and then place the whole thing in your fridge until the bread is well-soaked in the liquid custard. (At least ½ hour or overnight if required). You may have to place a large plate on top of the pudding to keep the bread adequately submerged.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place the gingerbread pudding in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until set and nicely browned. (This is a bit of a judgment call because the thing is brown to begin with). About 15 minutes prior to the end of baking, I took the pudding out of the oven and drizzled it with maple syrup, then placed it back in the hot oven to finish baking.  



Lemon-Pear Upside Down Gingerbread Cake

This warmly aromatic cake is perfect for holiday entertaining. My sister Sylvia ( the creative baker) made it with apples rather than pears, simply because she had apples available. 

When she sent me the electronic files containing the recipe and accompanying  photos, Sylvia mistakenly called the final product a gongerbread cake, which naturally appealed to me greatly. Gongerbread it is. 

Ingredients:

• Zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar, divided
• 3 large pears (or works nicely with apples), peeled, cored and sliced
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 tablespoon dry ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

In a skillet over low heat, combine the lemon juice and zest with the wine and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Add the pears and bring to a slow simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the pears are just tender. Remove from the heat.

Heat the oven to 350 F. Spray a tube pan with baking spray. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in the bottom of the pan. Arrange the pears, slightly overlapping, over the sugar.

In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, granulated sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl between additions. Add half the milk followed by half of the flour, mixing before adding the remaining half the milk and flour. Spoon into the prepared pan over the pears.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then place a large overturned plate or platter over the cake. Invert the cake so it is standing on the plate.

Serve slightly warm, with a large dollop of whipped cream and a few small pieces of candied ginger on each piece.

Editorial Note: If you don't have a tube pan, no worries. Just do as my sister did and cover a small bowl with foil and place it upside down in the middle of a large round cake tin. Instant 'tube' pan.

Shrimp Tikka Masala

Because you may still have a knob of ginger left over from making those delicious chocolate gingerbread cookies (recipe posted January 15, 2010), you might as well use it up in a dish that seems exotic (to those of us who don't make curries every day) but is a snap to make. If you don't like shrimp, you can substitute skinless, boneless chicken. This Indian dish comes from Marty Stewart's January 2010 issue of Living.

A note on Garam masala from Wikipedia. The term comes from the Hindi words garam ("hot") and masala ("mixture"). Garam masala is a basic blend of ground spices common in Indian and other South Asian cuisines and is used alone or with other seasonings. The word garam refers to spice intensity, not heat; Garam masala is pungent, but not "hot" in the same way as a chili pepper. It is available in the 'spice section' of most large grocery stores.

Ingredients:

- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons grated, peeled fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon grated garlic
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 cup water
- 20 large shrimp (about 1 pound)
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat. Cook the onion until golden, about 20 minutes. Add the ginger, garam masala, tomato paste and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the water and shrimp and cook until the shrimp are opaque and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the yogurt and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice and mango chutney.

Editorial Note: I did not have any tomato paste available so used 2 teaspoons of tomato ketchup instead. Whatever works.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

This recipe also comes from Ginny. Again, it happily incorporates the heat and savoury flavour of ginger. For those of you who have not used fresh ginger before, you can buy it in the 'produce' section of your grocery store. It is a tuberous root (that's why you will see it called gingerroot) with a skin that needs to be pared off with a sharp knife before use.

Ingredients:

- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- ¼ cup gingerroot minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 7 cups chicken stock (vegetable stock)
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 and ½ pounds carrots, peeled and cut into ½” pieces
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- pinch curry powder
- salt, to taste
- freshly ground pepper, to taste

Garnish: fresh chives or fresh parsley

Serves 6

Melt the butter in large stock pot over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent (not browned), about 5-10 minutes. Add the stock, wine and carrots and heat to boiling. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the carrots are very tender, about 45 minutes. Puree the soup with a hand-held whizzer or in a blender or food processor. Season with fresh lemon juice, curry powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chives or parsley. You can serve this soup hot in the winter or chilled, as a summer soup.

Editorial Note: I made 2 different kinds of vegetable soup this morning, each with the addition of fresh lemon juice at the finish. The lemon juice improves the flavour of both (already delicious) soups.