Monday, December 17, 2012

Christmas Cooking--and various other things

Hello, all!

Yesterday was rainy and cold, so it was the perfect day to start my Christmas cookie making.

I made three kinds and will make another three before the week is out.

This is a new one for me and considering it's the second time I had to make this recipe this month, tells you that I can't keep it in the house very long!

It's a BROWN SUGAR GINGER CRISP.

This cookie is perrrrrrrfect with a cup of tea. It's thin, crispy, buttery with just a hint of ginger.
Very nice and delicate.
I think the girls in my cookie swap will be very happy.

I thought I'd share the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (3 oz)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at moderate speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in yolk, vanilla, and gingers. Add flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.
Drop heaping teaspoons of dough about 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets and bake in batches in middle of oven until golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 5 minutes, then transfer with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely.
Cooks' note: · Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 3 weeks.


And some things of note in case you are interested...

Amazon has dropped the price of SUNNY DAYS FOR SAM to 99 cents. I don't know why and I don't know for how long.

But there it is.

Grab it while it's CHEAP. LOL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, I'm at the lovely Kate Evangelista's blog today. She has been doing a 24 Days of Christmas Blog giveaway with various authors this month and now it's my turn. I will (naturally) be giving away a copy of my new release KISSING KENDALL.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, the winner of KISSING KENDALL from Julie Jarnagin's blog is Jessica Nelson!

And, the winner of KISSING KENDALL from Rula Sinara's blog (A Writer's Rush) is Kathleen Bosman!

Congrats!

What's YOUR favorite Christmas cookie?

27 comments:

Shelley Munro said...

These sound yummy. I'm a fan of anything ginger, but I think my favourite is a cookie with chocolate chips.

Mary Preston said...

I do love chocolate/chocolate chip cookies.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Old Kitty said...

I've never baked with crystallized ginger! This recipe sounds terrific! Thank you! Take care
x

Sandra Orchard said...

Mmm, these sound great. I've never heard of crystallized ginger. Do you buy it that way or do something to it to make it that way?

Liza said...

Well...perfect. I do have a lovely ginger cookie recipe of my own...but it doesn't call for crystallized ginger and I happen to have a ton of that left over from another recipe...so I'll have to give these a try. They sound yummy.

CJ Kennedy said...

There are very few cookies I don't like

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Where do you find crystallized ginger?

Our tradition is butterscotch bon-bons. Four ingredients and no baking. My kind of cookie.

Stacy McKitrick said...

I like snickerdoodles. Don't know if they're Christmas-y or not, but it's what I like.

However, I do not bake at Christmas. Not enough people around to eat the goodies and I don't need the calories! Have fun!

Linda Kage said...

Well, of course they would drop of price of your book AFTER I already bought it at full price!! Oh, well. I'm sure I'll still love it.

My favorite Christmas cookies of all time are peanut butter balls that my mom makes. Can't. Get. Enough. Of. Them!!

Nancy said...

Congratulations to the contest winners.

Your cookies sound good. My favorite cookies are sugar cookies with confectioner's sugar and lemon juice icing.

I'm going to hop over to Amazon and try to get one of your Sam books. When I tried before, they were out of them. Have fun with your cookies.

The Happy Whisk said...

Love, love, love baking and eating with ginger. Best flavor. So yummy.

Not sure what my favorite Christmas cookie is. I do however love Yankee Candles Christmas Cookie scent.

So peaceful and calming.

Carolyn V said...

They sound soooo delicious!!! And I love the ginger with cookies. I'm so going to try this. Thanks Jennifer! =D

Jemi Fraser said...

I made 3 different cookies yesterday too. These look yummy! I'm bookmarking for the weekend when I have a bit more time :)

Carol Kilgore said...

Yummy cookies :)
Now I'm off to Kate's blog.

Karen Lange said...

These cookies sound yummy! Glad you shared the recipe with us. :) Congrats to the winners!

Susan Fields said...

Those cookies sound yummy! I'm hoping to get the Christmas cookie baking done later this week when my kids have two half-days off school.

Rula Sinara said...

Those sound delicious! Gotta try 'em!

Theresa Milstein said...

This is the second delicious-sounding cookie recipe I've come across this morning. It's making me hungry!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Linda G. said...

I've been reading Sunny Days for Sam on my Kindle, and am enjoying the heck out of it! Now, if I could only find more reading time. Hmm...maybe that's what I'll ask Santa for.

Charlie N. Holmberg said...

My favorite cookie period is the Betty Crocker recipe for chocolate chip. :) Best Christmas treat is my Mom's microwave fudge.

Every Christmas my mom and sister make chocolate- and almond-flavored spritz cookies to give away. They always make me thing of Christmas. :)

Jeanette Levellie said...

Oooh, these do look luscious! Thanks for sharing. My favorite Christmas cookie is a chocolate-filled bonbon; I have the recipe on my blog.

And my book, Two Scoops of Grace with Chuckles on Top, is free on Kindle this Friday, Dec. 21! Happy Christmas!

Laura S. said...

Ooo, these sound delicious!! I make M&M chocolate chip, oatmeal chocolate chip, double chocolate mint chip, and chocolate peanut butter chip. I also make mint thins and peanut butter thins, which are chocolate-covered Ritz crackers. I'm obsessed with all things chocolate obviously, LoL.

My favorite are probably the M&M cookies and the chocolate mint chip cookies. I also love pizzelles, which is an Italian cookie my dad makes.

Have fun with your cookie baking, Jennifer!

Jessica Nelson said...

Wooohooo! Can't wait to read it. Thank you! :-)

LTM said...

ooo... I'm a sucker for anything with "crisp" in the title. These cookies sound DELICIOUS!!! OH! And I saw Sunny Days for Sam on Kindle Daily Deals! Maybe that's why the drop?

I absolutely love that cover~

Have a wonderful holiday, Jennifer! <3

Joanne Bischof said...

Sounds DE-lish! Thank you for sharing your recipe! :)

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