This blog is going to be brief as it is Sunday night and truthfully, I am wiped out. Part of the reason...we are going away on vacation. Work is busy and our fiscal year ends September 30th. I need to get things done before we leave for Hawaii. Yes, 8 amazing days in Honolulu and Kauai. I promise to give some food updates!
Over the next year, you will hear me speak about making cookies for my youngest son's lunch as both he (and I) graduates from high school this year, it is bittersweet. So far, I have been baking at least once a week. I freeze cookies and it becomes easy to take homemade cookies to school every day. Plus, my staff as well as friends, family and acquaintances get to try both new and family favorites.
This week I made a batch of Jingle Jumble Cookies. I found the recipe in the Cookie Bible, a cookbook I was given for Christmas last year. I was craving a spice cookie the other day as I was waking to 50 degree weather and a cup of Pumpkin Spice Coffee. Molasses or spice cookies always remind me of Christmas and the holidays. This cookie gives you the best of a molasses cookie with raisins crossed with a ginger snap. It's a different combination but absolutely delicious.
Whenever I am highlighting a new cookie, I love to share it with as many people as possible. You can always tell how good a cookie is when people go back for seconds and thirds. The night I made them, Stephen, had two warm cookies and finished with two cooled ones. The Jingle Jumbles seemed to have enormous success, most reactions were similar to Stephen's..."oh, these are delicious, and yes, I'll have another one."
If you would like to join my little challenge of homemade cookies in your loved ones lunch, check out the tab called "A Year of Cookies". Everybody deserves a little bit of love with lunch!
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of butter, softened
1 cups of brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup of molasses
1 egg
2-1/2 cups of flour
2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of cloves
1-1/4 cup of raisins
Additional sugar for rolling - we used Demara sugar
Preparation:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix dry ingredients of flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Put aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until blended, by hand or mixer.
4. Add the molasses and egg to the mixture and continue to incorporate.
5. Once blended, add the dry ingredients, mix together.
6. Add raisins.
7. Roll into 1-1/2 inch balls and dip in Demara sugar. If you don't have Demara, white sugar is fine.
8. Place on cookie sheet. (We get 15 cookies per sheet)
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes until set.
10. Cool on racks.
Enjoy one, two, three...