Chin Deep

I guess today is a day for recipes! Here’s the ginger cookie recipe everyone is so excited about You can throw all of your other ginger cookie recipes away. You’ll never make them again after trying this recipe.

2 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cloves

1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup molasses
about ¼ cup turbinado sugar

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°. Rub 2 baking sheets liberally with olive oil.

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cayenne into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light brown color, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate.

Spread the turbinado sugar on a large piece of wax or parchment paper. Roll ¼ cup of dough between the palms of your hands into a 2 inch ball, roll the ball in the sugar and place on one of the prepared baking sheets. Continue making cookies, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm, but they are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on top, about 14 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 9-12 cookies

Enjoy!

~Melissa

This is a great potato salad recipe to make when you want something a little different than the traditional ‘picnic’ potato salad, and when you don’t have the time to make a side salad that needs to cool for several hours before serving. I made this a couple nights ago and was reminded how good and easy it is.

12 medium size  unpeeled red potatoes, boiled until fork tender (but not too soft-about 20 minutes)

10 slices bacon, fried until crispy-reserve 4 Tablespoons of the bacon drippings

1 cup onion, chopped fine

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon celery seed

fresh ground pepper

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup vinegar

After boiling the potatoes, drain and set aside. Once cool enough to handle, slice thin and place in a large mixing bowl. Fry the bacon, set aside to cool. Saute the chopped onion in the drippings until golden brown. In a small mixing bowl: combine flour, sugar, salt, celery seed and pepper. Add to onions. Cook until the flour browns slightly, being careful not to burn. Stir in the water and vinegar, boil for a minute, stirring constantly. Carefully combine the bacon and potato with the vinegar mixture. Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!

~Melissa