Gingersnaps – Totally wicked

My family and I have a soft spot for ginger and molasses. We just love these stuff, as a cookie of course :)

Browsing, I chanced upon Ari’s blogsite in support and review of fellow blogger Anita Chu’s new book, the Field Guide to Cookies (reminds me of Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, the movie of course). Ha ha I was immediately taken by the lovely crackled snaps. They look so good and inviting I could just taste it off the webpage!

I have my own version but Anita’s recipe looked very good. In fact, its pretty similar to the one I usually bake.

I just knew I had to try especially since it is an easy mix and dump type of cookie.

Within minutes, the kitchen was filled with aromatic smell of molasses infused with spices. Couldn’t wait for the cookies rest before sinking my teeth into one.

All yum, passed our taste test. I sprinkled some orange coloured sugar. Wished I had some red and green coloured sugar, I'm sure they'll add a nice touch to the up and coming festive xmas season!! :)

There's something alluring about a tall stack of cookies.

Um, somehow I didn't get the nice wide signature cracks a gingersnap should have. Couldn't help but wonder where I went astray. Hope Anita or any expert or gingersnap baker/lover would be able to clarify. Was the reason contributed to the use of a cookie scoop instead of rolling them into balls??

A great 'kick' to start to the day - coffee and cookies. You simply can't stop at just one!
*Oh dear, now I have none left for teatime snack :p*

Recipe from Anita Chu's Field Guide to Cookies, adapted a little by me
(Yields 62 cookies using a small cookies scoop)

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (Used 290g)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (added extra 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger (added extra 3/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (scant 1/4 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (used 1/4 tsp nutmeg)
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter (used 170g)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (used 90g)
1/2 cup sugar (used 30g soft brown sugar and 30g caster)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark molasses (that’s about 170g but used 140g treacle. Apparently, molasses and treacle is the same. Difference is that the former term is used in the US, while the latter in UK!)
Extra sugar for rolling

1. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and spices into a bowl and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla followed by molasses. Mix until combined.
4. Add flour mixture and mix on low just until incorporated.
5. Cover and refrigerate for 30-40 min.
6. In meantime, oven to 160 degrees.
7. Roll 1 1/2 inch balls of dough in the reserved sugar. Place cookies on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
8. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through. For crispy cookies, leave them in for another minute or two. Cool sheets on wire racks for about 5 minutes before transferring cookies directly onto wire racks with a spatula to finish cooling.

Bench notes - Overall this is a great cookie but felt the treacle overpowered the flavour of the spices. Will reduce more next time.

H2H - Going 'Dutch' with a German Sunflower Seed Bread

What do I mean? Let me explain - the brief snippit.

I used two versions of the 'Dutch Crunch' on the same German Bread.

For the 'longer' version...
A friend invited me over to her new house for tea. Since I couldn't come empty handed *for Asians, it can be considered rude visiting a friend without bringing something* or rather I wanted an excuse to try something new I decided on bread since I had most of the ingredients in the pantry.

Decided on the beautiful Sonnenblumenbrot generously shared by Jude.

For the Pâte Fermentée (Pre-fermented Dough)
60g bread flour
40g water
Pinch instant yeast
Pinch salt

For Final Dough
all of the soaker
242g bread flour
124g water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
15g light golden syrup
25g sunflower seeds

Method as described in Jude’s post. Note that I didn't have any cracked rye so I just omitted this and instead added the sunflower seeds into the bread mixture.

Enchanted by the crunch topping contributed by Karen of BakeMyDay and just waiting for the opportune time to use it. This is the ratio I used in orange:

100 gr rice flour (used 25g)
1/4 tsp salt (used a pinch)
1 tsp sugar (used
1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp yeast (used a pinch)
400 gr boiling water (used about 80g as it was getting a
little watery)
[1 tsp oil] (used a drop or two)

Mix everything to a paste, adding the boiling water while
stirring vigorously (you don't want clumps like I had) and let cool to lukewarm.
Right before you're ready to apply, mix in the oil. Spread your shaped but not
risen bread with the paste, using your fingers or a brush. It will look and feel
like wall paper glue, thick and white opaque.

Cover your shaped loaves and let rest for their second rise and bake off as usual. Depending on how thick your layer it on your bread will get stark or less defined crunchy spots.

To be honest, until I downloaded the pictures I thought the bread may be a little burnt (on the dark side). But viewing the pictures now, I really like the cool golden dark streaks!!
Side note - covered the bread with a tent after 20 min as it was getting too dark.

All the way to my friend's place, the aroma from the bread was just intoxicating. Regretted not making another for the family.

Well since I didn't have an opportunity to try it, I decided to bake one for our house the next day. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the earlier surly Dutch crunch as I thought it was suppose to be a little more 'pasty' - I mean after all I did want to achieve some spots stripes. So for the second bread, I used less water and ended up with a slightly thicker paste, just enough to dilute the rice flour into a smooth mixture.

Version 2 (still had leftovers for another loaf or two)
18g g rice flour
pinch of salt
4 pinches of sugar
pinch of yeast
2 tbsp boiling water (or a little more, sufficient to mix the flour to a smooth paste)
[A drop or two of olive oil]

Yep, got my spotted wish!

The final bake. Hm, interesting look but thought the 'spots' were not dark enough. Reason was that the top of the bread was browning too quickly and so I don on a tent after 10min in the oven.

I liked the bread, the centre was soft and tasty with bits of sunflower seeds. Somehow for the edges, I kept on thinking that it tasted slightly nutty, a bit like 'peanut butter'!! M said I was lucky. Ha ha

The MOST exciting part of this bake was the bread 'singing' as it was cooling - snap and crackle....definitely music to my years! Ha ha, can't blame me for my excitement as this is my first 'musical' bread!

For that reason, I'll be submitting these streaky swingers for yeast sporting by Susan of WildYeast.

One final question....

From Marty (Zebra) of Madagascar: Am I black with white spots stripes or white with black stripes? Lolz