soft

Ginger Crinkle Cookies

By in Cookies & Bars, Sweets 7 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Ginger Crinkle Cookies

I”ve been eating these Ginger Crinkle Cookies since I was a little girl, except we grew up calling them Ginger Snaps. The name felt a little bit misleading because these cookies are soft and not snappy at all, so I thought I”d switch it up. Hope you don”t mind, Mom! ;)

I looked so forward to these cookies every time my mom made them. I still remember coming home from school and the house being filled with the smell of sugar and spices. I don”t think there”s a more comforting smell (well, besides the cuddly smell of a newborn baby. Can”t beat that!).

Warm spices may be more reminiscent of fall but even in the spring and summer we need that bit of comfort to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. These are lightly spiced so they are a great cookie to serve any time of year. We made them a bit more spring-like by sandwiching them with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (recipe to come!). It was such a perfect combination that I”m definitely going to be doing it again soon. It”s a great way to bridge the gap between the cooler weather and the warmth to come – because here in western Canada it is still cold!  I think I need to go make some more cookies to comfort myself.

Ginger Crinkle Cookies

  • 1.5 cups butter, softened

  • 2 cups sugar (+ more for coating)

  • 2 eggs

  • 1/2 cup molasses

  • 4 cups flour

  • 4 teaspoons baking soda

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger

  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

  • 2 teaspoons ground cloves

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and molasses. Combine dry ingredients and blend into butter mixture. Shape into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar to coat. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350ºF for 8-10 minutes (no obvious browning should appear). Allow to cool several minutes before removing to wire wracks or paper towel to cool completely.

Soft Bird’s Nest Sugar Cookies

By in Cookies & Bars, Easter, Kids, Sweets 8 Comments Tags: , , , , ,

soft birds nest sugar cookies

I love making things with Max in the kitchen, but if the project is too intricate or involved I find myself getting more stressed out then I like to be. I want us all to enjoy our time in the kitchen together, I want to foster a love for the kitchen, not memories of a stressed out mom. That’s why I love planning projects like this that are easy for him to help with, don’t make a ton of mess and look great no matter how tiny the hands are that made them.

This is the perfect project for toddlers and preschoolers because although their not quite adept enough to pipe sensical decorations onto cookies, they can decorate these cookies easily and have them turn out beautiful. They can choose the colours they like or mix and match them like Max did. They can have complete freedom and you’ll know the end product will add something special and delicious to the Easter table.

We topped our’s with candy coated chocolate covered almond eggs (wow, that’s a mouthful!) which I thought were the perfect complement to the coconut topping. When I made these I figured they would be just for looks but they were actually really delicious. This is one case where the toppings aren’t just there for show, they actually add something special to the flavour of the cookie.

The coconut topping is just shredded coconut that has been dyed with food colouring and water. I used liquid food colours but you could also use gel colours, although you may need to add a bit more water to make it the right consistency to coat the coconut. My favorite colour was definitely the purple and I’ve included the instructions below on the amounts of liquid colour I used to achieve the colour. The other colours are much more straight forward – just one or two drops from the average four-pack of liquid food colouring.

These are so tasty and so fun, I know I’ll be making them again next year. Im pretty sure we just found a new Easter tradition. :)

Soft Bird’s Nest Sugar Cookies

Just FYI, I had a lot of leftover frosting. But, I don’t think half the frosting would be quite enough. Better to have too much then too little right?

Soft Sugar Cookies
  • 1.5 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 5 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Beat in vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly beat into butter mixture, just until combined. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Scoop 1/4 cup amounts of cookie dough, roll each into a ball and flatten slightly. Place on parchment-line baking sheets 2-3 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until set; do not brown. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to cooling racks or paper towel to cool completely.

Frosting
  • 5 cups icing sugar (confectioners sugar), sifted
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 7 tablespoons milk

Mix together all ingredients until smooth.

To Decorate
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • food colouring
  • water
  • chocolate covered almond eggs, chocolate eggs or jelly beans

Place 1/4 cup coconut into four ziploc bags. In a small bowl add 1/4 teaspoon water and desired food colouring, swirl to combine. Pour into one of the bags, seal and shake until the coconut is evenly coloured. Rinse the bowl and repeat with remaining colours. (To make the purple, use 3 drops red and 2 drops blue of liquid colour.)

Top each cookie with frosting, a good sprinkling of coconut and chocolate eggs.

Store, covered, at room temperature.

Makes approximately: 2 dozen cookies

Decoration inspired by Betty Crocker. Recipe Adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from Hostess with the Mostess.

Soft Honey-Wheat Sandwich Bread

By in Breads, Recipes 17 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Soft Honey-Wheat Sandwich Bread

Moving from Europe, where tasty, fresh artisan bread is readily available, I have to say, I miss it. I love baking bread, but the bread in Norway was so fresh and delicious I never had a reason to make my own. I”ve had such a hard time finding a sandwich bread that even compares to the ones that I took for granted there so, I knew it was time to start making my own once again.

I thought it might take a while to find a great recipe, but this was the first recipe I tried and it is perfect. Light and airy, thanks to the use of bread flour, and slightly healthier, thanks to the use of honey and whole wheat flour. There”s absolutely no sugar in this recipe – awesome! It”s not a european style bread at all but the slightly sweet and wholesome flavour makes it perfect for sandwiches. And, homemade beats store-bought hands down.

A Few Tips:

  1. The first time I made these I didn”t have any loaf pans so I just baked them freeform and they turned out fine. The shape isn”t perfect but the taste is just as good. :)

  2. These are made with a sponge but don”t let that scare you off. This is a simple bread recipe that”s easy to make. It has a couple more steps than usual but they only take a little extra time and that time is worth the results.

The other thing I love about this recipe is that it stays soft for a long time, longer then other recipes I”ve tried. I really can”t say enough good things about this bread. Now that the bread baking fire is renewed in me I know I”ll be trying my hand at many more recipes, but this will definitely be one that I return to when I want a soft and tender loaf.

Soft Honey-Wheat Sandwich Bread

You can make this bread by hand or using a stand mixer. It makes a lot of bread so I store them in the freezer. For tips on working with yeast doughs head here.

Sponge

  • 3 cups warm water

  • 2 (.25 oz) packages active dry yeast

  • 1/3 cup honey

  • 5 cups bread flour

Bread

  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted

  • 1/3 cup honey

  • 1 tablespoon salt

  • 3+ cups whole wheat flour

After it”s baked

  • 1 tablespoons butter, melted

For the sponge: Mix together warm water, yeast, and honey. stir in the white bread flour until evenly combined. Let sit for 30 minutes, until risen and bubbly.

To make bread: Mix the melted butter, remaining honey, and salt into the sponge. Stir in 2 cups of whole wheat flour. Knead in enough flour until the dough is smooth and tacky but not overly sticky. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray, place the dough in the bowl and spray the top of the dough with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double (about 1 hour).

Once risen, punch down the dough and divide it into 3 equal loaves. Place each into a greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, and allow to rise until the dough has topped the pans by one inch (about an hour).

Bake at 350º F for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Brush the tops of the loaves with 1 tablespoons melted butter to prevent the crust from getting hard. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool completely before storing in plastic bags.

Makes: 3 loaves

Adapted from allrecipes.com.