Snappy Gingersnaps

i find there are two breed of people when it comes to gingersnaps - chewy snap or snappy snap. the ladder of which i belong to. as a matter of fact i like everything snappy, i like to think i am a rather snappy person. SNAPPY.

ok- sorry about that. back to what i was saying: there seems to be two kinds of gingersnaps. in england they are called "ginger nuts" and in Scandinavia they are lovingly named "brunkage" - or "brown biscuit" to us english speaking savages.

is it just me or does "brunkage" lend itself more towards the snappy group than the chewy group? i'm so european.

this cookie dough is great because you can roll it into a log, freeze it and as you feel the urge for something snappy and delish just slice off a few rounds and bake. what more can you ask for?

SNAPPY GINGERSNAPS

8 oz butter, softened

1c sugar

1c molasses

1 tsp baking soda (generous)

2vtbs hot water

3 1/2c AP flour

1 1/4 tsp ginger

1 tbs cinnamon

pinch salt

*cream butter, sugar and molasses until smooth

*mix soda w/ hot water and then beat into butter mix

*in separate bowl sift together flour, spice and salt

*stir in flour mix into butter mix

*shape into (2) 2"-3" dia. logs, wrap in plastic and chill a few hours or overnight (or freeze as mentioned above)

*preheat oven to 350F, place parchment on your baking sheet

*slice into 1/8" - 1/4" disks, bake 10 minutes until edges are golden -- do not burn them (although i will still eat them).

Persimmon, Date and Pecan Bread

up until about 2 years ago persimmons were one amongst a list of fruits that i was convinced simply could not be purchased from a grocery store. my father (in my mind) is the persimmon master. every time he would walk through the doors of our camp and plop down a few of those oddly cartoonish orange fruits i would get so excited because, in all seriousness those perfectly ripe little guys were a heavenly mix between an orange and jello. our family favorite ritual is to peel a few of them (enjoy all the mess), throw them in the freezer for about 30 minutes then gorge ourselves on the amazingly complex textures and tastes of this low country louisiana delicacy. as a matter of fact when josh and i were in town visiting my family a little over a month ago my dad trucked a few into the house. don't you love how some things never change?

when i moved to NYC i began to notice that persimmons were sold in the grocery. this was an interesting phenomenon considering this was never the case in louisiana. the logistics would never work out - from what i knew these things are all mush. try putting that in a pyramid and leaving it out for a week or two in hopes some poor schmuck would buy one. well i bought one one day - i just needed some kind of comfort food and this seems perfect. that was a horrific experience - yikes. biting into one of those, thinking you will get a mouthfull of sweet goo was like drinking from a cup filled with sprite when you thought it was water.

needless to say i had never heard of the other persimmons that happened to look just like my childhood ones. these are so grandly called FUYU persimmons and as i discovered; they are not suppose to soft and gooey like my beloved memories. ok, i can accept that then, but what the hell do you do with them then? make bread i suppose. i was rummaging around blogs and found a recipe for persimmon bread. alright then - lets make some changes and do this!

i really like the finished product, its great for breakfast or afternoon snack.

PERSIMMON, DATE & PECAN BREAD

1 egg

2/3c sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c grated persimmons (about 3)

1/3c oil

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 1/2c AP flour

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp (heaping) cardamon

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2c chopped pecans

1/2c chopped dates

*preheat oven to 350F, grease a loaf pan

*whisk together the first 5 ingredients (through to oil)

*in separate bowl sift together the salt, flour and spices

*mix in oil mixture to just combine

*fold in pecans and dates

*pour into loaf pan and cook 45-50 minutes until toothpick comes out clean

Pear Up-Side Down Gingerbread Cake

its full on autumn here in NYC and we had an extremely overdue dinner date with our newly parented friends over in williamsburg. so there is no way in hell i could show up to their place without some kind of sweet treat. no way.

with that credo established - ummm what the ?! i have no kitchen! but i do have a skillet. okey dokey lets do it, lets make a freakin cake in a skillet. i suppose its not that crazy of an idea. its done all the time, i think. my only word of wisdom here is don't use a skillet with a plastic handle - that's all i'll say about that. besides the smell of stressed molten plastic that wafted through the apt; everything was perfect!

i've actually never made an up-side down cake. something about it reminds me of old ladies. right? like a pineapple upside down cake with cherries in the middle - ha! well i got over it and glad i did, i love this cake! make sure you use ripe bosc pears, they need to be able to "melt" into the cake. i'm such a foodie - melt? anyways the dinner and company was great as always with those guys. think josh wants to move to london with them. and katy claimed the cake reminded her of childhood - rock out, i'll take a slice of that!

PEAR UP-SIDE DOWN GINGERBREAD CAKE

For Pears:

2 ripe bosc pears, peeled, cored sliced in 8

2oz butter

3/4c packed light brown sugar

For Cake:

2 1/2c AP flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1c pure cane syrup (or molasses)

1c boiling water

4oz butter

1/2c packed light brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

*preheat oven to 350F

make pears:

*in a large, deep, non-stick skillet heat the butter over medium heat until foam subsides

*lower heat to low & sprinkle evenly the sugar over butter, let cook 3 minutes undisturbed

*place the pear slices around the skillet, cook 2 minutes undisturbed

*take off heat

make cake:

*sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg and salt

*in separate bowl combine cane syrup and boiling water, stir to combine

*in separate bowl cream together butter and sugar to light and fluffy

*add in egg and vanilla, beat to combine and fluffy

*in 3 batched alternately add in the dry ingredients then the syrup mixture into the butter mix. end on the dry ingredients and mix to combine

*pour batter evenly over the prepared pears

*place the (melt proof) skillet in the oven and cook 40-50 minutes until toothpick comes out clean

*let cool only about 5minutes then run a knife around the edges of the skillet and invert the onto a plate - enjoy!

Pumpkin Apple Nut Loaf

so i'm back - kinda sorta.

got hitched, got swine flu (seriously), attended two after the fact receptions and have the apt packed up and ready to move on out. so like any home purchase - it takes longer than you think. i sadly packed away my kitchen so there hasn't been much baking lately. but i couldn't take another weekend void of fun treats so i trekked downstairs to duane read and got myself a few disposable baking pans in various shapes and sizes - then got to baking.

lesson here: disposable baking pan are worthless. yeah worthless. basically you have to increase cooking time by 50%, don't ask me why. seems to me the pans; basically made from thick foil would cook faster. just untrue. everything comes out all doughy and weird. like i said increase cook time by 50%.

fortunately, after "fixing" the cooking time for my pan's shortcomings, this loaf came out great! below is the correct cooking time if you are using real pans. i am trying to clean out the pantry and i have a ton of canned pumpkin from thanksgiving last year as well as mini packs of pecans my mom mailed me a while back that were getting rancid. throw it all in and happy autumn!

PUMPKIN APPLE NUT LOAF

Topping:

1 1/2 tsp flour

2 tbs brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp oil

Loaf:

1 1/2c flour

1/2 tsp (scant) salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp clove

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ginger

1c canned pumpkin

1/4c + 2 tbs canola oil

1c sugar

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1 apple, peeled and finely chopped

1/2c chopped pecans or walnuts

* preheat oven to 350F, grease 2lb loaf pan

*mix together all topping ingredients and set aside

*sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice, and ginger

*in separate bowl whisk together the pumpkin, oil, eggs and sugar

*add wet to dry ingredients and stir just to combine

*fold in apples and nuts

*pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle with topping

*cook for 50 mins - 1 hour until toothpick comes out clean

Ginger Snaps

if you look up ginger in the thesaurus you are given the synonym "sparkle". oh sparkle! of-course who wouldn't put the two together?

synesthesia is a condition in humans where our senses are literally crossed. so you can hear colors or smell words. strange yes, but it is believed that when we are born our senses are all crossed. over time we learn to separate and classify our experiences into the 5 basics we learn. psychedelic, yes but that alone proves to me that this crossing is possible in all of us and that we all subconsciously understand this mishmash of senses.

eat a slice of ginger, fresh or crystalized, and tell me what you feel. i bet its sparkly. who doesn't want to be sparkly? i do.

think about fireworks, just about as sparkly as you can get. the burst of twinkly perfectly engineered symmetrical balls of colored flame shoot through the sky. all your attention is focused on what is unfolding before you and you ease into it just in time to see the glittery leftovers fall.

yeah, ginger is sparkly - not sparkle, that's completely different. since i can't leave anything well enough alone, i dipped these guys in a pool of turbinado before putting them in the oven to give it some extra jazz, aka make them sparkly! i like my snaps extra snappy so i cook then a tad long and cut a bit thin.

GINGER SNAPS

2c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground clove

5.5 oz unsalted butter, soft

2/3c sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4c cain syrup (i only use STEEN'S)

1 egg

* combine all dry ingredient, whisk to make sure evenly mixed

* in separate bowl cream the butter to light and fluffy

* add sugar to the butter, beat until smooth and creamy

* beat in egg, cain syrup and vanilla

* gradually mix in the flour mixture. mix to combine.

*roll into a log and chill for 2 hours.

* preheat oven to 350 F

* cut the chilled, stiff log of dough into 1/8" to 1/4" thick rounds.

* smash one face of the round into a plate filled with turbinado, put cookie sugar side down on a lined baking sheet.

* cook for 10-13 minutes, depending on your required snappyness level.

PEAR WALNUT CRUMBLE MUFFIN

josh, if left to himself would eat coco-puffs for breakfast. i kid you not, ok maybe he would settle with some cinnamon toast crunch. both of which have basically no nutritional value. how can someone start their day with that? so every now and again i venture and make him some muffins for saturday morning breakfast. and when i do i try my hardest to cram as much fresh fruit and nuts in these little guys as possible. its one of my only chances to get fruit into his diet.

like banana bread you should opt for very ripe bananas for the maximum sweetness and taste - same with the pears. who wants to bite into a unripe pear? yick! pears should not have the same consistency as apples people! go for the ones that are more like a peach - a ripe one of-course. enough of my preaching... eat ya breakfast!

PEAR WALNUT CRUMBLE MUFFINS

1 pear, finely diced

3 tbs brown sugar

3 tbs sugar

3 tbs vegetable oil

1 banana, mashed

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbs milk

1c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 c chopped walnuts

* preheat oven to 350 F and line muffin pan

*toss the pear, brown sugar and regular sugar together to coat

* beat together the mashed banana, oil, vanilla, milk and egg

* sift together in a separate bowl the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt

* slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture. stir just to combine.

* fold in the pears and walnuts

* spoon into your prepared muffin pan.

* make crumble:

CRUMBLE

2 1/2 tbs brown sugar

3 tbs chopped walnuts

2 tbs flour

1 tbs cold butter, cubed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

*combine sugar, walnuts, flour and cinnamon

*with your hands cut in the butter into the walnut mixture. mix until it has a nice evenly crumbly texture.

* spoon even amount on top of your muffin batter filled pan

* cook muffins for 25 minutes.