Cook the Book: Fairy Gingerbread Cookies - Hit or Miss?

I love America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country. I subscribe to Cook's Country magazine and really enjoy it, but I rarely make any of the recipes. I love to bake, but it is often super time consuming so I usually only do it on the weekends. Plus, I love taking the results into work, to share and to get them out of my house. So, for the February/March edition, the cover is story is a recipe for Fairy Gingerbread Cookies, an updated and improved version in a 19th century cookbook. I love gingerbread and the recipe pretty doable, and I had everything on hand; a definite plus because I didn't want to leave my house. So, early Sunday morning, I ventured into the kitchen to bake these ginger cookies. My Fairy Gingerbread Cookies didn't come out exactly like the picture, for a few reasons I think, but they were really delicious, light and gingery with a delightful snap that I adore in gingersnaps. 

This image is taken from Cook's Country, where I got the recipe. My version were delicious, but did not look like this!

According to Ericka Bruce in Cook's Country, the recipe was originally found in Jessup Whitehead's 1893 book Cooking for Profit where the Fairy Gingerbread Cookies were described as a popular sweet treat to be served between rounds of Euchre. Since I love Euchre (a game popularized in the 1890's in the midwest and PA that is similar to Spades), I thought these cookies would be just the thing to brighten a cold Chicago winter weekend. Also, I thought it might inspire me to find some Euchre partners...it hasn't yet.

Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
9 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
4 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature

Apple Cranberry Compote for Buckwheat Pancakes

Today seemed like a good pancake day, I decided to make buckwheat pancakes. Now, I don't eat pancakes all that often, but when I do, I prefer to eat them with some kind of fruit compote. The pancake is really the catalyst for eating the compote.

Since I had a few apples laying around, I decide to make some apple compote. Again, my measurements are never exact, so you may want to asses as your compote progresses. 

3 apples, cored and cut into squares

1/2 cup dried cranberries (if available)

1/2 cup sugar in the raw

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon, more if necessary

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

dash of salt

dash of corn starch

Curry Squash Soup a top Mustard Greens

So I know I have been slow in updating in the last few weeks. The start of the new term has proved to be busier than originally I suspected. So, here is a soup I made weeks ago, that is just thing the for warming your belly amidst all the snow across the country. Apparently, according to NPR this morning, this week, every state except Florida, had snow on the ground. This includes Hawaii! So, to warm you up through the snow, here is a delicious soup.

This is an adaptation of the "Thai-spiced Pumpkin Soup Recipe" from 101cookbooks. Though I love the recipes on that site, I find that they are rather bland for my tastes, so, I kicked it up a notch. I also used butternut squash instead of pumpkin. Again, my measurements are more of an approximate and not exact.

Pantry Chicken Chili

I love chili. I think it is one of the perfect foods. I love the fact that it is a one pot meal and it freezes really well. It can be made relatively cheaply and cheese makes it even better. Cheese makes most things better, but especially chili. I decided that I wanted to make a chili for the new year, but I didn't want to go store; I wanted to make a chili with what I had. I usually have black beans on hand (they may be the perfect food). I had a some tomatoes and a pepper and I definitely had some frozen chicken. Again, I don't have exact measurements on things, but I will give you a list of what I scrounged to throw in the chili.

Ingredients:
3 pieces of Grilled Chicken (with no salt magic seasoning blend of spices) cut into squares
4 cans 16oz black beans, rinsed (I really like black beans)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (chopped)
additional herbs and spices, including smoked paprika, cracked red pepper, black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and cumin; couple of teaspoons of hot sauce

Prep everything above. While the chicken is grilling, I usually prep everything else. I separate each food into piles, and put them in the order they are supposed to go into the pot (I may be a little bit ocd...)

Chicken cut up into little pieces