Weekend wind-down 9.16.2012

Welcome to another episode of Di's stream of consciousness week in review. =)  My big accomplishment for this weekend?  Rediscovering how much I love baking bread.  I spent a couple years baking almost all of the bready things that we ate, but then for some reason stopped doing it.  I don't know that I'll go back to doing everything, but I do want to get back in the habit of baking bread on a weekly basis.  Yesterday I made my favorite sandwich loaf recipe, Dan Lepard's Milk Loaf.  You can find the recipe on my friend Nancy's bread blog.  I actually don't use it much for sandwiches for me, but the girls like it, and it makes fantastic toast.  Since I plan to use it mostly for kids' lunches, I made two smaller loaves, in these pans.  I increased the original recipe by one third, and it was just the right amount of dough.  

Once I got started, I was asking myself why I don't make this dough more often.  It's a great method, and such a nice dough to work with.  It's the getting started that's the challenge.  Once I get going, I'm fine.  I did the same thing this evening with another dough.  I meant to make the dough much earlier in the day, but kept putting it off, thinking it would take too much time.  I finally just told myself to get in the kitchen and do it.  The amount of active time I spent?  Maybe 10 minutes.  Now I just have to hold on to that and remember it the next time I'm procrastinating.  

I also made applesauce this weekend, and muffins for Sunday breakfast.  The applesauce was because we're starting to get some good fall apples, and homemade applesauce is the best.  I found some very large Paula Red apples at Central Market, and bought a whole bunch.  Gillian isn't a big fan of the applesauce, but Brianna likes it, so that's one more thing ready for the lunchbox this week.  The muffins were pretty good as well.  Muffins are good for grab & go breakfasts during the week, so that seemed like a good thing to make today.  I've been wanting to make crumb cake, but couldn't settle on a recipe, so I decided to make a basic muffin and add some crumbs on top.  For the base, I made the batter for these doughnut muffins from KAF.  I know from past experience that the muffins end up very domed on top, so I made 16 muffins instead of the usual 12.  I topped each one with some streusel that I modified from a crumb cake recipe.  It worked pretty well, but isn't exactly what I was after.  I plan to play around with it a bit more, so when I get it the way I want it, I'll have to do a full post.

I also did some baking to take to work last week.  I may not always have something to make for dinner, but I always have the stuff to make some sort of cake. =)  In this case, I was looking for something else to make with apples.  I wanted to make this cake that my friend Tracey posted, but actually didn't have everything I needed.  (Now you know another reason why I made applesauce this weekend.)  So I went looking, and found this Apple-Ginger Streusel Coffee Cake.  (I didn't have applesauce, but did have both fresh and crystallized ginger. Go figure.)  I used pecans instead of walnuts, but otherwise made the recipe as written.  I was happy that the recipe called for a 10-cup bundt pan, because it gave me a reason to get out my Heritage Bundt pan.  I got lots of compliments on the cake, and it did look really pretty.  It was very moist, but next time I think I'll add just a bit more salt.  

And for non-baking stuff?  Well, Gillian was under the weather for a good part of the week (still that annoying cold from last week), but finally seemed to be doing better today.  We had an interesting trip to Costco in the rain this morning.  I'm thrilled to have the rain, though, and the cooler temperatures that have come along with it.  It actually feels like we really might be approaching fall.  I also survived a trip to the outlet mall with Brianna last night for some new clothes.  We managed to find some stuff with a minimum of drama, so I can't really complain.  And Jamie had an interesting day on Friday; hopefully this week will be less eventful.  

I think that's about it for tonight.  

Can't catch me...

I'm not sure when I became so fond of the flavor of ginger.  My favorite cookies are these Double Ginger Crackles.  While I don't like the flavor of cinnamon with chocolate, ginger is okay.  I like visiting my family in the northeast, because I can get individual bottles of ginger ale (near impossible to find around here, since people drink icky Dr. Pepper instead).  My favorite chai tea is heavy on the ginger flavor.  I've been thinking about making my own crystallized ginger, but haven't found the time yet.

I wasn't sure whether I should do this post, since I had one about granola last month.  But as my friend Phyl put it, "It's gingerbread. It's granola. Of course it deserves its own post!"  I have a tendency to become slightly obsessed with a food and make it repeatedly, in different variations.  (See Jeni's ice cream. =) )  That seems to be the case with granola right now.  Eventually I'll go back and make my favorites again, but right now I'm having fun trying out different flavor combinations.

Since I've made granola a couple times now, I was comfortable with the process.  The only thing I needed to figure out was how I wanted to change it up.  Even when I first made the granola recipe, I debated whether to use the honey, since I'm not a big honey person.  My usual substitution is to use golden syrup in its place.  But I tried the recipe as written, and it was okay.  For the second batch, I used maple syrup, and I really enjoyed that batch and will definitely make it again.  My next thought was to play around with the spices.  I didn't want them competing with the maple, so I decided this would be the time to try golden syrup.  Then I had the idea to make a gingerbread version of the granola.  I added a bunch of ground ginger to the dry ingredients, increased the cinnamon a bit, and also added a bit of cloves and nutmeg.  Since most gingerbread recipes incorporate molasses, I ended up going with a tablespoon of mild molasses and 3 tablespoons of golden syrup.

Once the granola was in the oven and nearing the end of the baking time, I could tell I'd have a winner--it smelled amazing.  Once it was out of the oven, I couldn't resist sampling it while it was still warm, but also wanted to try the granola again once it cooled so I could see what the final flavor would be like.  I could taste the ginger, but was in the mood for more.  I ended up finely dicing some crystallized ginger and adding it along with the dried fruit.

The verdict?  When I tasted the granola the next morning, the ginger flavor was definitely more prominent, thanks to the chewy bits of candied ginger.  If you don't like a really strong ginger flavor, you might want to leave it out.  Overall, I'm really happy with the way the granola turned out.  I think the amount of molasses was just right (I didn't want it to be overpowering) and I like the combination of spices that I used.  I encourage you to play around and figure out what's right for your taste!  Here's my version if you'd like to try it.

Gingerbread Granola
(adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures)

4 cups (340 grams) rolled oats
1 cup (115 grams) pecans, broken into pieces
1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1/3 cup (70 grams) canola oil
1 tablespoon (20 grams) mild molasses
3 tablespoons (60 grams) golden syrup
2 tablespoons (25 grams) vanilla sugar (or plain granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
generous 1 cup (125 grams) dried cranberries
2 - 3 tablespoons finely diced crystallized ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 300º F. Line a rimmed 13" x 18" baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the oats, pecans, brown sugar, salt and spices in a large heatproof bowl and stir to combine.  Put the oil, molasses, golden syrup, and granulated sugar in a small saucepan.  Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and mix in the vanilla extract. Pour the hot oil mixture over the oat mixture and use a rubber spatula (or dough whisk) to mix until the ingredients are well combined.

Spread the granola on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the granola is golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Let the granola cool then add the dried cranberries and crystallized ginger (if using) and stir to incorporate. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Makes about 8 cups.

Sugar and spice and everything nice

One of the things that I love about blogging is all the great friends that I've made.  I'm especially glad that some of my bloggy friends convinced me to start using Twitter--it's so fun to bake along with each other.  It's also so nice that there's usually someone around pretty much any time of the day (and well into the night) if I need someone to talk to.  As wonderful as that is, though, sometimes it's nice to talk to someone in person.  Which is why I was so happy to have lunch with my friend T when I was off from work last Friday.  I have a new--male--manager, and she's currently working in an office full of guys.  So we both really wanted needed some girl time. =)  Of course, I can't show up for a lunch date empty-handed, so I decided to bake some cookies. 

Chocolate is good, but this time of year I'm more in the mood for spices.  When you think fall, you probably think cinnamon first, but my favorites are actually nutmeg and ginger.  I go with nutmeg more for cakes or muffins, but ginger is perfect for cookies.  So I turned to one of my favorite ginger cookie recipes, Double Ginger Crackles from Fine Cooking.  I first made these cookies shortly after they appeared in the magazine, around the holidays in 2005.  I've made them many times in the past 6 years, yet somehow I've never included them here on my blog!  Time to fix that. 

You start by creaming butter and granulated sugar, then add molasses, an egg, and a bunch of diced crystallized ginger.  I admit, I add about a quarter cup, rather than the 3 tablespoons that the recipe calls for.  Then the dry ingredients--flour, baking soda, salt and a hefty dose of ground ginger--are stirred in.  The dough is scooped out by the tablespoon (I use my #70 disher), and rolled into balls.  The balls are coated in more granulated sugar, then baked on a sheet lined with parchment paper.  The dough can be rather sticky right after mixing, so I often chill it first.  The dough doesn't get rock hard like some, probably thanks to the molasses.  The recipes says to bake at 350º for 12-14 minutes, but mine are usually done in about 11 minutes.  

The verdict?  We all love these cookies.  I still can't believe that I haven't blogged about them before.  They have a wonderful texture--slightly crisp around the edges, and chewy in the middle.  One thing to watch out for--the dough itself is very tasty, so some of it may never make it to the baking sheet.  The cookies are actually more flavorful cool than warm, so be patient and let them cool completely.  If you manage to keep them around for a few days, the ginger flavor continues to intensify.  I haven't tried it, but I bet these would be great for ice cream sandwiches.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe here at Fine Cooking.  

Milestones

Any parent can tell you that there are all sort of milestones that you look forward to with your children.  As babies, you are excited about them learning to crawl and walk and talk and--very important, this one--sleep through the night.  As they get older, you mark different occasions, such as the first day of school and the first loose tooth.  As the mom of an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old, I've been through all of those.  But then last week, I got to make note of a new milestone that I wasn't expecting.  I don't think they have a spot in the keepsake book for your child's first x-ray. =) 

Yes, thanks to my younger daughter Gillian, I've now had the exciting experience of taking my child to the urgent care facility to have her foot x-rayed.  Thank goodness it turned out to be just a bad sprain, no broken bones.  I just really hope that this isn't going to be a trend with her.  I didn't have my first sprain until I was in college, and was even older when I got my first stitches.  Honestly, though, that's pretty surprising, since I've always been quite a klutz.  I've mostly just had lots of scrapes and bruises that I can't remember acquiring. =)  I have to say, it worries me that Gillian is starting all this at 4.  *sigh*

I did have some other, more enjoyable, new experiences over the weekend, thanks to this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  Sarah of teapots and cake stands picked Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp for us to make this week.  I was happy because this gave me a chance to use my new baking pan that I got recently from King Arthur.  Phyl got one recently and recommended it, and I really like the pretty green color.  Even better, it was on sale!  (and might still be)  

Another new thing with this crisp was the idea of using part of the crumb mixture to make a bottom crust, then using the rest for the top.  I've done that for bar cookies, but not for crisp.  I also like the new idea of adding crystallized ginger to the crumb mixture.  One last new thing--I don't think I've ever used strawberries in crisp, since they can get watery when cooked.  Cooking and thickening the strawberry part ahead of time took care of that problem.  I did make one change to the recipe.  I'm not a big fan of rhubarb, so I didn't use it.  I thought about using cranberries to get some tartness (a good idea from Kayte), but then Nancy suggested using apples to get the same sort of bulk as the rhubarb.  I used some fairly tart Macintosh apples, which worked nicely.  (Oops, just realized that I made one other change--I left out the nuts so my girls would eat it.)  (Okay, last one--I also reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup since I thought it might be too sweet without the rhubarb.)

The verdict?  Yum!  This crisp was really delicious.  The combination of strawberries and apples was very good, and I love the chewy bits of crystallized ginger in the crust/crumbs.  Ginger and strawberries is a great flavor combination that I'm going to have to remember.  Both girls liked it, as did Jamie (though he couldn't quite place the ginger flavor at first).  I ate mine without ice cream, both for dessert and breakfast the next day.  I enjoyed the texture of the bottom crust, and will have to try the same technique with other fruits.  

If you'd like to try this recipe for yourself, head on over to Sarah's blog.  And to see what everyone else thought of this week's selection, check out the Links.

Crackly new year

Second post of the year, and it's another Wow.  As in, wow, I can't believe Tuesdays with Dorie has been going for three years!  And even more crazy is the fact that I've been a part of it since week seven.  I've skipped a few things along the way (though not that many), but have made the vast majority of the recipes chosen so far.  I didn't do so well in December, though, and I'm trying to get off to a better start for the new year.  To kick off the month and the year, Laurie and Julie picked our recipe, Midnight Crackles (in celebration of the new year starting at midnight =) ).

I decided to just make half the recipe, since we're still trying to finish off the last of the Christmas cookies.  The cookie dough is pretty straightforward to mix up.  The only change I made was to skip the cinnamon and cloves in favor of some dried ginger, since I don't like cinnamon with chocolate.   Also, based on the experiences of others, I shortened the chilling time for the dough to just half an hour.  It was still a bit challenging to form the balls of dough, since the dough was a bit crumbly.  But I got it done.  I ended up with 21 cookies, which I baked for 10 minutes.  

The verdict?  I'm still trying to decide on these. I mean, they're good.  (They have lots of chocolate, after all.)  But they're not my favorite chocolate cookie.  Right now I think that title goes to the Alice Medrich chocolate chunk cookies (one variation of which you can see here).  They were still eagerly eaten at work, though. =)   I also couldn't taste the ginger at all.  If I try these again, I'll probably add some finely chopped crystallized ginger to the dough.

If you'd like to give these a try, the recipe can be found on the Tuesdays with Dorie site.  To see what everyone else thought of these, check out this week's Links.   Happy anniversary, everyone!

I like big bundts, too

For the past year (not counting our summer hiatus), I've been part of a fun activity with a bunch of other bloggers/bakers.  Each month, we bake and send each other treats.  It's kind of like Secret Santa, but with baked goods, so it ended up with the name Secret Baker.  I've participated every month so far, but was actually thinking of sitting this one out.  Then I got an email from this month's organizer, Kayte.  She said that the theme for the month was Bundt Cakes, and the targeted shipping date was November 15th.  Now as an avid reader of The Food Librarian, I'm well aware that November 15th is National Bundt Cake Day.  So how could I resist? =)  (As it turned out, Kayte didn't know about the significance of the theme and date until I mentioned it.)

Mary, the Food Librarian, is crazy for bundt cakes.  (And I mean that in the best possible way.)  Last year, she posted 30 bundts in 30 days, leading up to the grand finale on National Bundt Cake Day.  And despite vowing never to do it again, she decided to repeat this impressive feat this year.  She welcomed everyone to join her in celebrating today by making bundt cakes of our own.  After she was sweet enough to make a cake that I suggested to her, I knew that I absolutely had to join in.  

For my Secret Baker recipient, I knew I wanted something with fall flavors.  But I didn't want to try something brand new, since I wouldn't be able to sample the finished product.  (It would be awfully tacky to send a bundt cake with a piece missing.)  I turned to one of my favorite magazines, Fine Cooking, and checked some of the recipes that I have bookmarked online.  I settled on the Espresso Gingerbread Cake.  I've made it before, and it's delicious.  The espresso works well with the dark molasses and spices in the cake.  I thought about buying a new bundt pan, since I've really been wanting this one.  But I'm trying to be good, and well, Christmas is coming. =)  So I went with my Classic Bundt pan.  It makes a very pretty cake.  

The batter is pretty straightforward to make, using the creaming method.  The liquid comes from brewed coffee or espresso, but I don't usually have those on hand, so I used water with some additional espresso powder added.  Espresso powder also gets included in the dry ingredients, along with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  The batter filled my bundt pan about halfway, and the cake took 40 minutes to bake.  I wasn't sure about adding a glaze since I'd be wrapping and shipping the cake, so I ended up brushing it with syrup instead.  I made the syrup by mixing 100g of turbinado sugar with 50g of water in a Pyrex measuring cup.  I heated the mixture in the microwave for a minute, and whisked to dissolve most of the sugar.  Then I added half a tablespoon of dark rum and a big pinch of kosher salt to the syrup.  I brushed the bottom of the cake with the syrup while it cooled in the pan for a few minutes before I turned it out of the pan (onto a cardboard cake round).  Then I brushed the syrup all over the rest of the cake.  I only ended up using about two-thirds of it.

The only other time I've shipped a bundt cake, it had a similar syrup, and I think that helped it stay moist during its travel.  Once the cake was completely cool, I wrapped it (cardboard and all) in several layers of plastic wrap.  Then I wrapped it in heavy duty foil.  Then it will go into a box with lots of crumpled newspaper for padding and be sent on its way.

The verdict?  Well, that's hard to say right now.  I'll come back and let you know once the recipient gets it, later this week.  Update: I heard from Tracey, and she really liked the cake. Yay! And it got there in excellent condition. 

In the meantime, head over to Mary's blog to see all the great cakes she's baked in the past month.  She'll probably have a recap of them today.  And in a week or two, she'll have a lot of the other great bundt cakes that are being posted around the web today.  If you'd like to try the one I made, you can find the recipe here.  Here's a peek at the rest of my bundt pan collection, as well. (On the left, my two mini bundt pans; they hold three cups each.  On the right, my fancy Kugelhopf pan.)  Happy National Bundt Cake Day!

Tea time

I'm a tea drinker, and have been for a very long time.  I knew I was considered one of the grownups when I was allowed to stay up late enough to drink tea with everyone else before bedtime during family visits.  More often than not, you can find me relaxing with a cup of tea late in the evening.  Actually, I drink tea almost any time of day.  I'll occasionally drink iced tea, but most of the time it's hot tea, even in the summer.  I find the whole process of making tea to be a stress reliever.  It takes time to heat the water and brew the tea.  You might think I would just be impatient about that, but instead it forces me to slow down and relax.  I like my tea really hot to start, so you can only sip it slowly at the beginning.  That's one of the things I disliked about living in Boulder.  At the higher altitude, water doesn't get as hot when it boils, so the tea starts off less hot.  Drove me crazy. =)

So when I read that this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Coffee Break Muffins, I knew what changes I was going to make.  The recipe was picked by Rhiani of Chocoholic Anonymous.  While I'll occasionally use coffee or espresso powder in baked goods (usually chocolate ones), I'm not that fond of items where you can actually taste the coffee.  But I figured why not just use tea?  In particular, chai.  I've been doing a lot of baking with spices during the past few weeks, trying to will fall to arrive, even though the temperature is still consistently in the 80s and 90s around here.  Hasn't really worked yet, but I'm going to keep trying. =)  As part of that, I've actually made these muffins twice so far.

I have occasionally tried making chai by adding a mix of whole spices to brewing tea.  But most of the time, I just use one of Stash's chai teas.  My favorite for drinking is the Holiday Chai; I enjoy it year-round.  I didn't use it for the muffins, though.  For the first batch of muffins, I used some Double Spice Chai, figuring the extra spices would stand out more.  I left out the espresso powder and added some additional spices to the batter.  I kept the cinnamon, and added 1/4 teaspoon each of ground ginger and ground cardamom, as well a pinch of ground cloves.  I used 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  I also used half white whole wheat flour for that batch.  I wasn't sure how much the muffins would rise, so I was conservative in filling the muffin tin, and ended up with a dozen regular muffins and 8 minis.  

I made those muffins back at the end of August.  I did take pictures, but wasn't that happy with them.  Since then, I got some new stuff for pictures, in lovely fall colors.  (I couldn't resist some of these towels from SLT.)  So I made the muffins again.  I was partway through adding the dry ingredients to the bowl when I realized that I used all AP flour for this batch.  I was out of the Double Spice Chai, so I used some Chai Spice Tea for this round.  I decided to increase the spices a bit, using half a teaspoon each of cinnamon, ginger and cardamom, and a pinch of cloves.  Since the first batch of muffins ended up a bit short, I filled the muffin tin more this time, and just made 12 regular muffins.  I baked them for 18 minutes.

The verdict?  We enjoyed these muffins a lot.  Brianna and Gillian ate theirs with a variety of jams; I just put some salted butter on mine, which was quite tasty.  It's nice to have another muffin recipe to add to the rotation.  A lot of the ones the girls like are more involved, with add-ins or toppings; I needed another "plain" option.  We'll definitely be making these again, maybe trying some different teas and different spices.

Want to try these (coffee or tea) for yourself?  You can find the recipe on Rhiani's blog.  For everyone else's take on this recipe, check out this week's links.  

Bunny food?

Oops, just realized that it's Tuesday evening and I still haven't finished this post!  I guess that's kind of an odd way to "start" a post, but that's because I seldom write a post in order from start to finish.  Especially if I'm having a hard time deciding what to write, I'll start at the bottom, with the verdict.  And usually my baking notes are pretty straightforward to type up.  So all I had left after this morning was this first section.  I've been trying most of the day to come up with something interesting to put up here, but no luck.  So I guess I'll just get right to it...  This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was picked by Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina.  Her selection was Gingered Carrot Cookies.

Since there are a lot of other things on my "want to make soon" list, I decided to just make half the recipe.  As with last week's recipe, I changed the add-ins.  No coconut, of course, and no nuts again.  For the carrots, I went with a technique from my favorite carrot cake recipe, and finely chopped them in my food processor, rather than shredding them.  I think it gives a nicer texture than shreds.  Also for texture reasons, I decided to use some zante currants that I had in my pantry, rather than raisins.  I used about 100g of each for my half recipe.

As with most cookies I make, I mixed the dough by hand.  I started off with creaming together the butter and sugars (brown and white).  The recipe says to mix the ginger and nutmeg in with the dry ingredients.  I'm in the middle of rereading Shirley Corriher's Bakewise, and she recommends adding spices to the fat to bring out their flavors more.  So I mixed the ginger and nutmeg into the butter mixture, then added the vanilla.  Most of the ingredients divided easily, but the original recipe calls for just one egg.  To get half, I weighed the whole egg (out of the shell) and got about 50g.  So after beating the egg a bit, I added 25g of it to the butter/sugar mixture.  Next, I mixed in the flour, salt and baking powder, then stirred in the carrots and currants.  I used my #40 scoop to portion the dough, and baked the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  I ended up baking them for 15 minutes.  

I decided to add some icing to the cookies to dress them up a bit.  Several people mentioned the idea of a cream cheese frosting or glaze, and I thought about that.  But I decided to go with something different.  I have a wonderful recipe for pumpkin cookies that has a really yummy butter-based cinnamon icing.  I changed the spice to ginger for these cookies.  I whisked together 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 70g of powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, a pinch of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon of milk.  The icing hardens somewhat as it cools, so it's best to use it quickly and apply it to cookies that are still warm.

The verdict?  I wasn't sure about how we'd like these, but they were quite tasty!  I did try one plain, but I have to admit, I like them better with the icing.  They have a nice soft texture that works well with the currants and bits of carrots.  I'd like to make them again with walnuts or pecans, though I don't know if B or G would eat them that way.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe on Natalia's blog.  And to see how everyone else did this week, check out the links for this week's recipe.  

Germ-y

Finally, after two weeks, I think I'm over the illness I caught from Brianna.  Of course, now Jamie has it. He's about a week behind me, so he's pretty miserable right now.  Gillian's take on the whole thing is interesting.  We were in the car one day last week, and she struck up a conversation with me.
"Mommy?"  "Yes, Gillian?"  "Did you get Brianna's germs and that's why you're sick?"  "Yes."  "You need some germs lotion."  "Germs lotion?"  "Yeah, so you can get rid of the germs you got and make sure you don't get any more.  But it's not the same as the lotion for the dry skin."  (The fun of 3-year-olds--all I hear about lately is how she needs Chapstick because her lips hurt and lotion because she has "the dry skin.")  I never did get an answer as to where I could find some of this magic "germs lotion" but it sure would be nice... =)

It didn't help that through all this, work has been totally crazy.  It's a lot harder to get better when you don't really get time to rest.  Since I was seizing any rest time I could get, baking and blogging have definitely been on the back burner.  I never did get as far as baking last week's chocolate chip cookies for TWD.  So I knew I needed to be sure to make this week's recipe.  Even so, it almost got lost in the shuffle over the weekend.  Sunday was my birthday, and I celebrated by doing lots of baking.  I made crumb cake for breakfast and hamburger buns for dinner, not to mention baking myself a birthday cake.  Then Sunday evening, I realized that it might be good to look at this week's recipe.

Michelle of Flourchild picked another cookie for us this week, Honey-Wheat Cookies.  Going along with our germ theme for the week, the wheat mentioned in the title is wheat germ, and I actually remembered to pick some up from the bulk department at Central Market.  I did end up making a couple changes with the other ingredients, though.  For starters, I didn't have much honey on hand.  I don't usually have a lot, since I don't like it all that much.  And then Jamie's been using lots of what I did have in his tea (as I mentioned, he's still suffering from the cold that we're all sharing).    So I decided to substitute golden syrup for the honey.  The next thing to go was the lemon zest.  I wasn't sure that it would taste as good with the syrup as with honey, and I was being lazy and didn't want to zest anything.  Golden syrup has a brown sugary sort of taste, so I thought that some sort of spice might be nice.  I ended up using about half a teaspoon of ground ginger.  I mixed up the dough Sunday night, stuck it in the fridge overnight, and baked the cookies before work on Monday.

The verdict?  I liked these cookies more than I expected to.  The dough is really tasty. =)  The cookies don't quite live up to the promise of the dough, but they're pretty good.  I took some to work and they got  a positive response there as well.  If I make them again, I'll increase the amount of spice, though.  The ginger got somewhat lost under the wheat germ.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find them in the book, of course.  Or head on over to Michelle's blog for the recipe.  And be sure to check out the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

12 Days of Cookies - Day 6 - Ginger-Orange Stars

Wow.  I've just about made it to the half-way mark.  I'm sitting here trying to decide how I feel about how it's going.  So far, I've managed to post every day.  That's a pretty good accomplishment.  But I thought I was going to be able to get and stay farther ahead, and that just hasn't happened.  Funny how that works, with a full-time job and two kids. =)  As I mentioned, I had to work yesterday, but I prepped dough to bake in the evening.  For today, I figured I'd be able to get a couple new cookies made, no problem, since I was home all day.  And maybe bake some bread and other stuff as well.  Wishful thinking on my part.  I neglected to take into account the time I was going to spend grocery shopping, for one thing.  And then there's my part-time (verging on full-time) job as referee...  *sigh*  And I've barely gotten started on the Christmas decorating.  I'm looking at a totally naked Christmas tree in my living room right now. =)  But hey, at least the girls picked up their toys and my husband vacuumed the living room so I could actually put the tree there.  And I did get a nap, which I desperately needed.

So this is going to be kind of short so I can get to bed.  For today's cookie, I made the Ginger-Orange Stars.  They're another roll-out sort of cookie.  For all of these that I've made, I've only baked a portion of the dough, so my freezer is getting quite well-stocked.  This will come in handy in a couple weeks, since I'm on vacation the week of the 21st.  I'll be able to bake fresh cookies to give away as gifts.  This one is the smallest batch that I've baked, though, since I only made a handful of cookies so I could get some pictures.

At first glance, the ingredient list is similar to that of the Spiced Roll-out Cookies that I made on Day 1.  But there are some differences.  The recipe calls for dark molasses instead of mild, which contributes a stronger flavor.  It also has only an egg yolk, rather than a whole egg.  There's plenty of ginger, and I just  got some new powdered ginger, so it's pretty strong.  And there's orange zest--I used a satsuma, since that's what I had.  I chilled the dough for about 8 hours, but it still had a little give to it when I took it out to cut off a piece to roll out.  I quickly cut out some stars, transferred them to a baking sheet, then chilled them for about 5 minutes before baking.  I baked the cookies for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.  After letting the cookies cool a bit, I decorated them with icing made from powdered sugar, a bit of water and a couple drops of orange oil.

The verdict?  Again, I'm still trying to decide.  They're more of a ginger snap--they have a crisp texture.  The molasses flavor is quite strong, as is the ginger, but I can't really taste the orange in the cookies.   Even with the bit of orange in the icing, it was hard to detect.  Maybe I didn't use enough zest; I didn't measure it all that carefully.  I'm going to bake more of these so I can sample them again.  If I make these again, I think I'd like to try them with mild molasses so maybe the orange flavor will be more prominent.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe here.  And be sure to check out the other bakers participating in the 12 Days of Cookies to see what they've baked up for today!

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes

(honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)

Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen

Courtney of Coco Cooks

Judy of No Fear Entertaining

Kelly of Sass & Veracity

Michelle of Big Black Dog

RJ of Flamingo Musings

Sandy of At the Baker's Bench

Tiffany of The Nesting Project