Gingersnaps (Joy of Baking)

I can't get enough of the ginger! My final batch of Christmas cookies had to be ginger ones.  I picked the ginger snaps recipe from Joy of Baking.  I added a quarter cup of diced crystallised ginger to give it an extra kick.
 

Before we roll it out.

 It was easy to make, similar in technique to the peanut butter cookies and chocolate christmas biscuits.  Having a freestanding mixer really helps!

Little balls of sugar covered cookie batter.

After being flattened into discs.

It turned out beautifully chewy and soft.  I could've baked it longer for a crisper ginger snap cookie, but I like mine chewy.  These were also packed off as Christmas gifts.

All done! Yummy!

Nigella Christmas Chocolate Biscuits

Nigella promises that these are a "doddle to make, and meltingly gorgeous to eat", and she is not wrong at all.

The recipe doesn't require eggs.  Just creaming the butter and sugar, then beating in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa.  The most finicky bit about making these biscuits are rolling them into little balls.  I used my plastic gloves.  

Nigella decorates the biscuits with Christmas sprinkles. But I just used whatever I had at home - which were chocolate black, brown and white dog shaped sprinkles....not very festive at all!

The biscuits were really yummy.  Super soft.  It really does melt in your mouth.  You can eat a dozen before you realise it.  I packed them up as Christmas gifts so I didn't face the temptation of eating a dozen at a time.  

Nigella Christmas: Sticky Gingerbread

 "I can't disentangle the smell of gingerbread from the smell of Christmas...", Nigella Christmas, p 201

And so, I couldn't help myself.  I love the smell of ginger.  And with the weather being so wet and cold recently, ginger is so beautifully warming. This gingerbread is just calling out to be made.  Nevermind the fact that I have only attempted gingerbread once before, with V, when I was about 13.  It was a dismal failure.  But of course, then, we had no Nigella to guide us through the steps.

First, you melt the butter, golden syrup, black treacle, sugar and spices all in pan, then add the milk, eggs, baking soda.  You get this black fizzy gloop.

Then you mix the liquid into the flour.  I had some difficulty here because the mixture became lumpy and impossible to mix well.  Nigella did not say anything about the mixture being lumpy.  But because we are instructed to mix it well, I pour the lumpy mixture through a sieve to smoothen it out.  I read up on it later, and some recipes say that the lumpiness is part of the deal, that you should not overhandle it or the cake will be tough (i.e. treat it like muffins).  Others have tricks to ensure the batter remains smooth.  

Whatever the case, I don't think the sieving had a negative effect, because the gingerbread came out beautifully soft and moist.  

You are supposed to wait till it cools down before cutting it.  I couldn't wait, so I had a piece while still hot.  My first impression was that it was awfully sweet and that it could do with a bit more spiciness.  

But when I tried it again the next day, the flavours really popped! It wasn't as sweet and the spices really filled the mouth.  It was still as moist and tender.  It went really well with a cup of coffee.  I brought it for my bible study group and some had seconds, and even thirds...

While Nigella is quite happy having it on its own, for those looking for more prettiness, she suggests a sharply contrasting icing of icing sugar and lemon.  I didn't bother, though I think the acidity of the lemon would have really contrasted nicely with the sweet spiciness of the gingerbread.  Maybe next Christmas!

Peanut Butter Cookies (Joy of Baking)

Peanut Butter Yumminess!

Christmas is coming and I have decided that homemade baked goods make great presents.  So I have been experimenting a little on various recipes.  I know I could probably make chocolate chip cookies which are real crowd pleasers, but I thought it would be nice to try out something different.  I don't know if peanut butter is a traditionally Christmassy ingredient, but I love it.  So my experiment #1 are these peanut butter cookies from Joy of Baking.

They are so easy to make, especially if you have a freestanding mixer.  The only work you need to do is to roll the batter into little balls and use a sugar coated fork to squash it.  I found that bit quite therapeutic.  I mixed in chocolate chips into about a third of them.

Little Balls of Batter

Squashed and ready for the oven (I was supposed to criss-cross the lines, but forgot)

Keeping in mind my oven's tendency to overcook, I baked these for only 10 mins.  They were still soft in the oven, but hardened as they cooled.  The cookies were very yummy.  Beautifully soft and moist inside.   They reminded me a little of my late grandmothers' melt-in-your-mouth Chinese New Year peanut cookies.  My mother-in-law has asked for the recipe so that she can make them for Chinese New Year.  I think the peanut butter flavour overwhelms the chocolate chips, so I will make these without chocolate chips.

I used Laura Scudders peanut butter, my favourite brand (available from Cold Storage).  Since this recipe really showcases the peanut butter, make sure you use a brand you really like.  (OK, I lied about the only work being the rolling of the batter into balls.  I used natural peanut butter, so I spent quite a bit of time before baking stirring the peanut oil back into the butter.)

These cookies definitely pass the test, and were so good that I gave V cookies from this batch.  I hope she enjoys it!

Baby's first words

For 11 months I have nursed him, bathed him, changed his dirty diapers, played with him, endured sleepless nights and sore shoulders on account of him, and generally catered to his every need and most of his fancies. But his first words were (in approximate order), "pa pa", "Bao Bao",＂抱抱", "ball", "car", "go", "dark", "no", "good", "duck", "truck", "婆婆", "gor gor" and even "goal".

Guess the missing word. :-(