Thursday, April 28, 2011

Tornados, Ginger and Lemons! Oh my!

There have been tornado warnings all over the place in Virgina, DC and Maryland in the past couple of days. This is really unusual for our area. While trapped inside the other night with the TV blarring about monsterous winds and black clouds all I could think of was the Wizard of Oz.

I had this vision of a tornado with a cow, a man in a bathtub, pieces of furniture, a lady on her bike and whole houses were trapped inside. Clearly that is my only basis for knowledge on tornados.

I think the tornados got to my head because my dinner was a little bit of a tornado too. I mixed up quinoa, a jar of tika masala sauce I bought to try and some veggies. Strange and not my favorite meal I've ever made.

So when I decided to bake I was a little worried about the outcome.

I made soft ginger cookies which are even better than crunchy ginger snaps because they molassesy and soft and chewy and melt in your mouth with a serious kick of ginger to your taste buds.



I have this theory that ginger cookies go best with a glass of sweet and sour lemonade. I don't know where this idea first started but I love the combination.

The tornado in my mind was spinning and I came up with making lemon butter cream sandwiched between two soft gingery cookies.



The cookies bake up soft and golden brown and I sprinkled sugar over each one to get that glistening effect.



I filled my pastry bag and piped a little dallop of lemon buttercream sunshine onto each cookie while watching a special on the Royal Wedding of course.



Luckily this combination of flavors worked amazingly well, making my lemonade and ginger cookie theory that much more substantial. The tornado and royal wedding hoopla hadn't taken over my brain completely!

When you eat these cookies your "worries melt like lemon drops, way above the chimney tops"!

And I'm done with the Wizard of Oz references, even thought you secretly know you love them.




Soft Ginger Cookies:

~Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book

2 1/4 Cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 Cups butter

1 egg

1/4 Cup molasses

Sugar for sprinkling on top

Directions:

Mix butter and sugar until it forms a light yellow paste. Add the egg and molasses and mix until combined.

In another bowl mix flour, baking soda and all spices.

Mix together wet and dry ingredients.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat and drop a small dollop of dough on the pan

bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until slightly browned.

Sprinkle the top of cookies with sugar right after taking out of the oven.


Lemon Butter Cream:

1 stick of butter

2 Cups confectioners sugar

zest of 2 lemons

Juice of half a lemon

Directions:

Beat butter and sugar until it forms a thick paste. Add lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat again for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and lighter in color.

Fill a pastry bag with butter cream.

Place a dollop of butter cream on the back of a cookie and top with another cookie.



But to be honest simply making the ginger cookie and drinking a glass of sour lemonade on a beautiful summer day would be equally delightful!

1 comment:

  1. You can never have toooooo many references to the wizard of oz!

    ReplyDelete

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