Triple-Ginger Cookies

Triple-Ginger Cookies
makes about 40

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely grated
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
11-12 ounces (2-1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, minced
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
about 1/3 cup white sugar

1. Position a rack in top third and a rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F.

2. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar

4. Mix in egg, molasses and fresh & crystallized gingers

5. On top of the wet ingredients (or in separate bowl), whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and ground spices

6. Blend wet and dry ingredients

7. Put the white sugar in a small bowl

8. Measure out 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, roll between palms, roll in sugar, place 1-1/2 to 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets

9. Bake about 15 minutes, or until cookies look crackly, but are still slightly soft in the center

Guy Fawkes Day Cake

I haven't the slightest idea why Brits traditionally have a ginger cake for Guy Fawkes Day, but when Chris and I were looking at gingerbread recipes, we came across this one and saw that it wasn't too sweet and it had molasses in it (double score!). We even made it almost on time (Guy Fawkes Day was a week ago). Now, we did indeed made it according to the recipe in the book, substituting only lemon vodka (homemade) for the zest and upping the amount of ginger, but we weren't told to absolutely not use just blackstrap molasses. Which you shouldn't, as we found out. We also decided we really did miss the egg. So here's the slightly revised recipe.

Guy Fawkes Day Cake (Parkins Cake)
adapted from Joy of Cooking
1-8" round cake

Ingredients:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
2/3 cup molasses (NOT blackstrap); alternatively, 1/3 cup molasses (can be blackstrap) + 1/3 cup honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon vodka or lemon zest

5 ounces (1 cup) flour
2-5/8 ounces (~2/3 cup) rolled oats
1 tablespoon sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger (according to personal preference)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease an 8-inch cake pan

2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the melted butter and the molasses (and honey, if you're doing half and half), then beat in the egg and lemon zest

3. In a separate, large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients

4. To the dry ingredients, add 1/2 the butter mixture and stir until the mixture is uniformly moist, then add half the milk, stir, the other half of the butter mixture, stir again, and finally the last half of the milk and stir until thoroughly mixed

5. Pour into the greased cake pan, and bake 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean