Molasses Cookies

At a holiday get-together with some close friends this year, I made these molasses cookies. I found the recipe in the Food section of the L.A. Times earlier this year. It was the first time I made a recipe from the newspaper! And, to tell you the truth, I didn't have very high expectations when I first made it. But, I was pleasantly surprised with the results for they were the chewiest and moistest home-made cookies I've ever had!

The cookie is a little spicy, gingerbread like, with a hint of sweetness. It's the perfect cookie to make this time of year! It's such a simple recipe, too. I really enjoy making it since there is very little clean up in the end. The recipe calls for melted butter, so there is no need to use a mixer nor muscle power to get the butter creamed as called for in other recipes. I end up mixing everything in the pot I melt the butter in, so if you try it out, make sure you use a large enough pot! The original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp ground cloves; however, I don't have that available so I substituted 1/2 tsp nutmeg for it. I like how they turned out so I'm sticking with the nutmeg! The cookies have always come out moist and chewy and stays that way for at least a week (if it lasts that long!).

Molasses Cookies

3/4 C. Unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Molasses
1 Egg
1 3/4 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Remove from the heat, add the sugar and mix until fully incorporated. Then, add the molasses and mix until fully incorporated. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg and add to the melted butter mixture; blend well.

3) Sift the flour with the nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, salt and baking soda and mix into the melted butter mixture. The batter will be wet.

4) Lay a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. Drop tablespoons of cookie batter on the sheet, leaving 3 inches between the cookies. These will spread during baking.

5) Bake until the cookies start to darken, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven while they are still soft. Let cool on the cookie sheet. Store in an air-tight container.

Total time: About 40 minutes
Servings: Makes 48 cookies
Note: Adapted from LA Times (which was adapted from "The Silver Palate Cookbook." Read More...

Crumb-Style Apple Pie

Okay, so where shall I start? How about with an apple pie recipe that I have been making on a weekly basis for the last couple of months? It's a recipe I found in my Cooking Light magazine (Oct 2007 issue, "Susan Bracket's First Prize Apple Pie")- an award-winning, delicious, crumb-style apple pie. My husband can't get enough of it!

I experimented to see which type of apples tasted the best. I tried Jonagold, Fuji, and Gala (those were on sale!)-- but not Pink Lady as called for in the original recipe. We liked the Gala apples the best. I will try the recipe out with Pink Lady apples in the future (and provide an update when I do), but for now, I'm sticking with Gala apples.

The pie is the perfect balance of sweet and tart and the crust is thin and crisp. The pie holds up rather well to reheating, but fresh from the oven is best, of course. Put a dallop of vanilla ice cream, and you have the best comfort dessert ever!

Crumb-Style Apple Pie

What I do first is prepare the crust. While the crust is in the refrigerator, I peel and slice the apples and then make the topping. Once the topping is done, I mix the apples with the sugar-filling. It takes roughly 30 min for me to do all that-- the amount of time the crust needs to be in the refrigerator. I'll then assemble the crust into the pie dish, add the apple mix, then the topping. I find that the longer the apples and the sugar-mix is together, more liquid appears at the bottom of the bowl. I don't really like that, which is why I mix the sugar and apples together towards the end of the pie assembly.

Crust:
1 1/2 C. All Purpose-Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
2 Tbs. Chilled Butter (cut into small pieces)
2 Tbs. Vegetable Shortening
1 tsp. Vinegar
7 Tbs. Ice Water

Filling:
1/3 C. Granulated Sugar
2 Tbs. All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Salt
7 C. Thinly sliced peeled Gala Apples
Cooking Spray

Topping:
6 Tbs. All-Purpose Flour
3 Tbs. Brown Sugar
3 Tbs. Chilled Butter

1) To prepare crust: Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle surface with vinegar and ice water, 1 Tbs. at a time, tossing with a fork until dough is moist and crumbly (do not form a ball). Gently press dough into a 4-in circle on 2 sheets of overlapping heavy-duty plastic wrap, and cover with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll the dough, still covered, into a 12-in circle. Chill the dough 30 min or until the plastic wrap can be easily removed.
2) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3) To prepare filling: Combine granulated sugar, and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a small bowl. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apple; toss well to coat.
4) Remove top sheets of plastic wrap from dough circle; fit dough, plastic wrap side up, into a 10-in deep-dish pie plate coated with cooking spray, letting dough extend over edge of plate. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Trim off the extra dough with a knife. Spoon filling into crust.
5) To prepare topping: Combine flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle topping mixture over apple mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees (do not remove pie from oven). Bake an additional 40 minutes.

Yield: 8 servings
Adapted from: Cooking Light (Oct. 2007) Read More...