Gingerbread cookies

Merry Christmas Everyone!  Christmas has a lot of different meanings for me, but most importantly in the Carey household, it means COOKIES!!!  And not just one type of cookie, but usually as many as you can stand to bake.  This gingerbread recipe is exactly how I think gingerbread should be; it's spicey, molasses-ey and NOT crispy but soft and delicious.  Decorating them is optional, of course, but you'd be missing out on a lot of fun.  My dad and sister turned decorating these cookies into some sort of competitive art/sport this year, and the results are pretty awesome (see below).

My favorites include 'red-overall' gingerbread man (top right) courtesy of my sister, and my dad's self-portrait gingerbread man (bottom center).  Also present is the traditional Christmas foot (right center) (possibly baby Jesus' footprint?). Anyway, they all taste good :)

I found this recipe online, and then adjusted it to fit my belief in VMETB (vanilla makes everything taste better).

GINGERBREAD Cookies    

Equipment: hand-held electric mixer; cookie cutters. Store in airtight containers.

2 sticks (1 c.) unsalted butter, softened
1 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1 lg. egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. dark unsulfured molasses
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
5 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

In a bowl sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.  In another large bowl, cream the butter, add the sugar, and beat until fluffy.   Beat in the egg, vanilla, molasses, and vinegar one at a time. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, a little at a time. (The dough will be soft.) Quarter the dough, dust it with flour, and wrap each piece in wax paper. Flatten the dough slightly and chill it for at least 3 hours or overnight. Butter 2 baking sheets and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out the dough, one piece at a time, 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface ( I think the thicker the better). Flour the cookie cutter and cut out cookies. Transfer the cookies with a spatula to the baking sheets, arranging them 2 inches apart, and bake them in the middle of the oven for 6 to 8 minutes, or until no imprint remains when they are touched lightly with the fingertip.

Transfer the cookies with the spatula to racks and let them cool. Make cookie with the dough scraps in the same manner.

After they've cooled, I decorate them with icing made of simply powdered sugar and water.  Add some food coloring and sprinkles and go to town!

Spinach-Hummus Pizza with balsamic drizzle

I made this for dinner the other night.  The idea for it came from my greatest source of inspiration; the contents of my fridge. Also, I've never met a pizza I didn't like.  There are two things a little odd about this pizza, which translates into awesomeness: 1) poppyseeds are sprinkled on top of the pizza dough, the effect is something like a poppy seed bagel with the little seeds crunching between your teeth, 2) hummus is used instead of tomato sauce. The combination is divine, why didn't I think of this before??

You'll need:

-pizza dough (I bought mine at the grocery store)
- olive oil
- garlic powder
- 1-2 tablespoon of poppy seeds
- 3/4 cup of hummus
- half a bag of fresh spinach
- goat cheese or feta cheese
- balsamic syrup*

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Pound, roll, smash, throw, etc. your pizza dough to the size of the pan you are going to cook it on.  Brush it with olive oil and sprinkle it with some garlic powder and the poppy seeds.  Throw it in the oven for approximately 5-7 minutes, or until the dough is cooked but not really brown.

While your dough is in the oven, toss the spinach with approximately 1 tablespoon of olive oil (just enough to coat it) and a dash of salt and pepper.  When the dough is ready, take it out of the oven and spread the hummus over the crust.  Use as much or as little hummus as you like.  Pile the spinach on top of the hummus and put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

After you take it out of the oven for the second time (the spinach will have wilted) sprinkles some cheese crumbles over the top and drizzle it with balsamic syrup.  Put the pizza back in the oven for 2 minutes, just to get the cheese a little melty.

*You can actually buy balsamic syrup in most grocery stores now.  If you can't find it, simmer some balsamic vinegar over low heat until it thickens and voila, balsamic syrup!  Don't skip the balsamic!

Snickerdoodle Cake

My friend Kate recently celebrated her 30th birthday and I offered to bake a cake for the celebration, whatever she wanted.  Kate baked me a cake for my birthday this summer for which she actually made lemon curd from scratch, so lets just say I owed her.  She found this recipe for Snickerdoodle cake online, and it is an amazing concoction of cinnamon, vanilla and BUTTER.  A link to the recipe is here, and I also reprinted it below.  I made a few modifications, which I included at the end.  Sadly, I was only able to take a picture of the very last piece, it was that good!

Ingredients

For the Cake:
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups fine or superfine sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk, warmed to room temperature
For the Buttercream:
• 4 1/2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 8-9 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of half and half, plus more if needed
Optional:
• Whole cinnamon sticks for garnish

Instructions

To Bake the Cake:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Butter and flour two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in colour.

Beat the eggs in one at a time, fully incorporating each egg and scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Add about 1/3 of the milk, beat to incorporate, then 1/3 of the flour, again beating to incorporate.

Repeat this process, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until all of the milk and flour are added and mixed in evenly.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake, rotating midway through, for about 35 minutes or until the cake tests done.

Let the cakes cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes before turning out onto the racks to finish cooling.

To Make the Buttercream:

Beat together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until fluffy and pale in colour.

Add 6 cups of the confectioner's sugar and the vanilla extract and beat, starting on low and moving up to high, until it is fully incorporated.

Scrape down the bowl and add the half and half. Beat to incorporate again.

Add another 2 cups of the confectioner's sugar and beat, starting on low and moving up to high, until fully incorporated. Check the consistency of the buttercream. If it needs to be thicker, add the remaining confectioner's sugar. If it is too thick, add more half and half a teaspoon at a time, beating after each addition, until it reaches the consistency you like.

To Assemble and Frost the Cake:

Level out your cooled cakes and cut each into two even layers.

Place one layer on a cake plate then add a layer of buttercream, spreading to the edges and evening out as you go. Repeat with the remaining layers.

Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream.

If desired, garnish the top of the cake with whole cinnamon sticks.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing.

Store leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator. 

 ***** I was making a cake for a crowd so I needed to expand on the recipe.  Instead of using a 8 or 9-inch round cake pan like the recipe calls for, I used an 11x17 cake pan. I put all of the cake batter into the 11x17 pan, so I had to make the recipe twice to get two layers.  However, I didn't double the icing. This recipe makes an ENORMOUS amount of icing.  If you're not going to double the cake recipe I recommend halving the icing recipe.  I'm actually surprised I'm saying that.  I love icing.*****