Pumpkin Ginger Cookies

One of the delights of living in Maine again is that we are lucky enough to live near many of our good friends. Not just any good friends, but friends we can invite for dinner at the last minute. If you ask me, this might be the best kind of get together. The kind that happens with some spontaneity, not too much worry, and leaves your plates scraped clean and filled with gratitude for this unexpected gathering.

We are entering a time of year full of gatherings, most of which require planning a few days or weeks ahead. It is, of course, a busy time on top of the busy times that happen every other day of the year. Maybe it is because schedules don't often align without a lot of planning that it feels magical to share a good meal on a Tuesday or Sunday evening. We pull the kitchen table out from the wall and squeeze a few extra chairs around it or sit on the living room floor and make trips back into the kitchen for seconds. Its not too different from our usual weeknight family dinners but sharing food with friends makes it special.

Sometimes I like to throw together a quick dessert and these pumpkin ginger cookies are just right this time of year. I created the recipe when I wanted a ginger cookie but didn't have any molasses in my cupboard.

Pumpkin Ginger Cookies
For a bit more "pumpkin spice" you could also add a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and cloves.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 ounces/1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup cooked pumpkin or butternut squash
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

Preheat the oven the 350. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg, pumpkin, and ginger and beat until everything is incorporated. Add the flour and mix to form a smooth, stiff dough. Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and place on a baking sheet, repeating until all the dough is used. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Makes about 24 cookies.

P.S. Pumpkin Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting, Pumpkin Chocolate Tart, Pumpkin Ice Cream.

To Messes

I've always been neat and organized. I don't enjoy cluttered spaces or coats on the floor when they could be on a hook. I'm not completely obsessive about it, but I do at least a little tidying every day. But I've been noticing more and more that its not just my house that I want to keep neat, I have the urge to organize and make sense of the rest of my life too.

I ponder questions of how to use my time, how to accomplish my creative goals, how to find fulfillment and some sort of balance between everything I need and want to do. I've realized how much I want everything to be neat and orderly, linear and logical but I am doing my best to let go and embrace the mess. It isn't possible for me to pick up every speck or thread on the floor before Amos pinches it between his little fingers and tries to put it in his mouth (yes I do vacuum and sweep regularly). I can't perfectly schedule my time or fit everything I do neatly into the boxes that I create in my head as I try to make sense of it all. And that is okay.

It turns out that most acts of creation start with a mess before they become what they are meant to be. A seed requires soil and water. Writing begins with a jumble of letters and words and eventually a rough draft. When I sew I end up with scraps of fabric and tangles of thread. I truly love my studio space when the floor is swept and the fabric is tucked neatly on the shelves but when I am creating I hardly notice the upheaval as I pull things off the shelves.

The kitchen is full of messes that end deliciously. Baking is thought of as precise, scientific and orderly. You add exact amounts of each ingredient at the precise time. But whether or not you measure carefully, it all gets mixed together in its own sort of chaos. Flour flies, butter sticks, egg shells break. The dough is lumpy or slumpy or a big blob, it sticks to your fingers, drips on the floor, and it rarely resembles the loaf or cookie or cake that you pull out of the oven and serve with pride. 

So here is to messes. And chocolate.

Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies
Adapted from Tartine Book No. 3
I've been baking bread from the Tartine Bread Book and slowly exploring the pastry section of Book No. 3. These cookies are slightly crisp on the outside which yields to a soft very chocolatey middle. The dough does need at least 30 minutes to chill but they are certainly worth that extra time. They keep well for a few days in an airtight container. I cut the recipe in half and made the cookies slightly smaller and got at least 3 dozen cookies.

227 g (1 1/3 cups) bittersweet chocolate (70%), chopped
2 tablespoons (28.5 g) unsalted butter
42.5 g (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) dark rye flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
170 g (3/4 cup) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
flaky sea salt (such as Maldon) for topping

Place a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Add the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a handheld mixer). Whip on medium high speed, adding the sugar a little at a time. When all of the sugar is incorporated turn the mixer to high and whip until the eggs have nearly tripled in volume (about 5 or 6 minutes). Reduce the speed to low and add the melted chocolate and butter, mixing to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 

Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes or until it can be scooped and rolled into smooth balls. Preheat the oven to 350'. For larger cookies measure the balls by the heaping tablespoon, for smaller ones use a heaping teaspoon. Roll the balls of dough slightly so they are smoooth on top. Sprinkle each ball with a few flakes of sea salt. Bake for 8-10 minutes until they have completely puffed up. 

Chocolate Chip, Walnut and Cranberry Cookies

In February I changed the phrase between a rock and a hard place to reflect the weather that month: between a giant puddle and a sheet of ice. Now in mid-April I'm saying, when life gives you snowstorms, bake cookies (or bake anything, really). I know I've complained about mentioned the weather too many times this week but I promise I'm trying to make the best of it and hoping for sunnier days ahead.



Just as this extended winter has given me extra time for staying inside and stitching, I have been indulging in more baking projects to fill some of these gray afternoons with satisfying warmth. These cookies were, at first, inspired by this recipe but strayed in a different direction and evolved from a few favorite cookie recipes (and much further scribbling on that scrap paper above). They are the kind of cookie you can whip up on any afternoon, regardless of the weather. I couldn't resist loading them with chocolate, walnuts and cranberries as well as a couple of different flours for flavor and texture.

What have you been doing to enjoy spring (or make the best of an extended winter)?  Are cookies or picnics part of your plan?



 

Chocolate Chip, Walnut, Cranberry Cookies
If you are a purist you could use regular all purpose flour here and the cookies would be great. I have made several versions of these using a mix of gluten free flours which would also work well. The combinations of flours will each have their subtle differences, but don't be afraid to try something different if you want to.

8 ounces (2 sticks/1 cup) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup almond meal (or almond flour)
1/2 cup ground flax seed (flax meal)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350'. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until smooth. Dump in the whole wheat flour, almond meal, and flax seed meal. Add the salt and baking powder and mix to combine into a dough. Add the chocolate chips, walnuts, and cranberries and stir to incorporate evenly. 

Spoon the dough onto a baking sheet into two-tablespoon sized balls. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown. 

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Graham Crackers

 

How do you choose recipes to make? Because of the gorgeous photo that makes your mouth water? Because it is new and different? Or maybe it is familiar, similar to something else that you enjoy? I am probably motivated by all of these reasons. I am often drawn to new recipes when they provide a chance to make something in my own kitchen that I've only ever seen on a supermarket shelf perfectly shaped, wrapped, boxed and sealed. I don't bring a lot of these boxes home since I'm not that interested in factory made foods. Creating a version of a classic at home? I have to try it!

This is what piqued my interest in making graham crackers. I like to eat them but I can certainly live without them. They are one of those foods that seem to appear on earth in their perfect perforated rectangles which meant that I had to eventually try making them myself. I used a recipe from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce which uses teff and whole wheat flour. I wasn't sure what to expect from the homemade version but the grahams turned out to be a bit sweet, lightly spiced and resulted in the familiar crunch (and occasional shower of crumbs) that a bite of graham cracker should.



When I was racking my brains for possible things to say about graham crackers, I remembered that I used to eat them as an occasional after school snack. My sister and I would each take a stack of cinnamon grahams and set the bowl of my mom's homemade chocolate sauce that was usually chilling in the fridge on the table between us. The graham crackers might have been a way to legitimize eating the equivalent of chocolate ganache straight from the bowl, but it was quite a nice treat. If plain graham crackers are too dull, try them with a spread of chocolate, a toasted marshmallow, or both.

 

Graham Crackers
Adapted from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce
I enjoy using and experimenting with different flours, such as teff in this recipe. My co-op sells a variety of flours, as does Bob's Red Mill. If you can't find or don't want to use teff flour, substitute whole wheat flour. This recipe does require some time for the dough to chill so you will need to plan ahead a little bit. Also, I didn't use enough of the cinnamon sugar on my graham crackers and wished I had sprinkled them more liberally so keep that in mind.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup teff flour
3/4 cup white flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3 ounces butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon unsulphered molasses
1/3 cup milk

For sprinkling:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Sift together the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and spices. In a separate bowl whisk together the butter, honey, molasses and milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together to form a soft dough. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap with parchment or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 3 days. 

Preheat the oven to 350'. Line two baking sheets with parchment (or butter them). Cut the dough in half and dust your work surface with flour. Roll out half the dough with a rolling pin until it is 1/8 of an inch thick, flipping or moving it often to make sure it doesn't stick. If the dough is too thick the graham crackers won't be crisp. When the dough is rolled out use a knife or pastry cutter to cut it into uniform shapes. Place each cut graham cracker on a baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Using a fork, press holes into each cookie. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle the graham crackers generously. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges of the graham crackers are darker then the middle. Cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container for up to a week. Makes about 16 small rectangular graham crackers.