Recipe of the Week: Ginger Cookies
by Kelly Rossiter, Toronto on 01.27.06
Our mother is an extraordinarily talented baker. We learned the art of cookie making and cake baking at her elbow and have passed that love of baking on to our own children. We don’t know the provenance for this recipe which our mom handed down to us. We do know that when we make it for bake sales, parties or picnics, they are gone in minutes and people ask for the recipe. The recipe is quick, easy and fun for kids to make because you can let them shape the balls and roll them in sugar. See if you find them as addictive as our family does.
Joyce’s Ginger Cookies
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp cloves
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup butter
¼ cup molasses
1 egg
1. Mix flour and spices together in a bowl.
2. Cream sugar, butter, molasses and egg thoroughly.
3. Add dry mixture, half at a time and stir thoroughly.
4. Make one inch balls, roll in fruit sugar or regular sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes. (the longer you bake them the crisper they will be). Makes roughly 3 dozen cookies
This sounds yummy! Any suggestions on low-fat or vegan substitutes for this?
Thanks!
I would think you could use vegetable shortening as a substitute for the butter. It might make for a crispier cookie - I'm not sure, but it's worth a try.
sorry - I forgot about the egg. Maybe our vegan readers could let us know what they normally use as a substitute for eggs.
i have tweaked a recipe to make it vegan friendly and it is a big hit...
2 cups all purpose flour
1.5 t baking soda
.25 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ginger root finely chopped
.5 cup crystallized ginger finely chopped
.5 t ground cloves
.25 cup veg oil
.5 cup applesauce
.5 cup light molasses
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
preheat oven to 350 degrees. USE ORGANIC INGREDIENTS! mix wet ingredients in one bowl with brown sugar. mix dry ingredients in another bowl. combine. customize as desired (maybe less sugar or add vanilla extract). drop level tablespoons of dough onto sheet and bake for 11-14 minutes (you will find the right time after the first batch). let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. cookie will crinkle when cooling. DELISH!
and that last recipe is for ginger cookies...they are super moist, so unless you super overbake them they are not snappy.
FLAX = Egg
2 1/2 T flax in 1/4 C water = 1 egg to be exact.
let the flax soak for a while, you'll find it gets VERY gelatinous. if you wanna be really fancy, once its gooey and stivky you can put it in a food processor and puree it like mad, but even without doing so you will have a nice rich egg substitute!
You can also buy a product called EnerG Egg Replacer which is a powder that consists mostly of potato and tapioca starch. You mix a small amount of it with water before you add it to the recipes. It works very well in place of eggs in baked goods, and doesn't make things overly moist, like applesauce does. It's also great for non-vegetarians who don't want to have to always keep fresh eggs on hand.
And I highly recommend using Earth Balance margarine. It's organic and is not hydrogenated, and is "precisely balanced and patented by nutrition researchers at Brandeis University to help improve the cholesterol ratio". And, unlike the vast majority of other margerines, it's completely vegetarian. It makes really yummy (and quite fattening) chocolate chip cookies!
I just made these cookies last night, and vegan too! they are yummy!
I didn't use flax or egg-replacer, though I commonly use flax-eggs in baking. I used margarine instead of butter, and I replaced the egg (and some of the margarine) with two small ripe mashed bananas. This also makes them lower in fat, and you can use up those brown bananas!
Using mashed bananas is a good replacement for egg in many baking recipes. If you are making cake or muffins, you might want to add extra baking powder to keep it fluffy.
thought you'd enjoy