Ginger.
Last week one of the interns in the pastry shop at work asked me if I thought lemon and ginger would go well together in a chocolate-chip-style cookie. I replied that it was a pretty common combination, especially in Asian cuisine, and sounded like it would probably be ok, but it would be a lot better if she worked off a ginger snap recipe instead. Her cookies turned out all right, but but I was pretty sure I could make them better, so returned to a recipe that I’d written a couple years ago for my first cookbook. Originally just slightly spicy vegan ginger snaps with chunks of dried apple thrown in, I decided I’d try adding some crystallized ginger and lemon zest into the mix. I think they turned out deliciously, but don’t take my word for it; if you come early to this show tomorrow night you might be in for a literal treat.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup margarine
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 measure egg replacer
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ginger
- 1 tsp. cloves
- 1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
- 1/2 cup dried apple, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
Equipment: Mixing bowl, electric mixer, cutting board, chef’s knife, vegetable peeler (or citrus zester, if you want to get all fancy), baking sheets.
Music: Tristan da Cunha - Instanter
Instructions:
- Chop the dried apple and crystallized ginger into chocolate-chip-sized pieces, zest the lemon (if using a vegetable peeler, go over the pieces with the chef’s knife until you have them finely diced), and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Cream the margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl, then blend in the egg replacer and molasses.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices (you can sift them together in a separate bowl beforehand if you want, but unless you really suck at stirring I don’t think combining them directly is going to be a problem), and stir until evenly mixed.
- Fold the dried apple, crystallized ginger, and lemon zest into the dough.
- Use a tablespoon to scoop out portions of the dough, roll it between your palms to form a sphere, then dip the top sides into a bowl of sugar and place on a cookie sheet. These will spread out quite a bit as they cook, so unless you like my hexagonal cookie style you might want to leave a little extra room between them.
- Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool thoroughly.
This recipe produces a pleasingly moist and chewy cookie. If you’re more into the actual “snap” part, you can try refrigerating the dough, portioning it out into logs, and then slicing thin cookies off of them. Alternately, prepare the cookies as above and leave them on the pans as they cool, then simply put them back in the oven and bake them again (maybe at a slightly higher temperature) until crisp.
