Day 78

My hairdresser, who happens also to be my habitat-mate, agreed to cut my hair in exchange for a batch of cookies. At the time we were out of chocolate chips, so I went digging in the recipe file for something different, and remembered we had this one for ginger cookies, given to me by a friend a long time ago.

I wanted it to have more ginger kick, so I added grated ginger to a recipe that originally called for just the powdered ginger. Also, the original recipe calls for 3/4 cup of shortening, which I already knew I was going to swap for butter. I put in the partial stick of butter I had on hand, and meant to get more out of the fridge, but forgot. When I mixed up the dough it didn’t hold together, and I realized I’d shorted it on fat, so I did something rash. I just added vegetable oil until it bound together into a reasonably moist dough. I thought that might ruin the batch, but, on the contrary, they came out soft, and stayed chewy after they cooled.

Whether they would keep well, I don’t know. At our habitat that isn’t an issue we worry about.

Gingery Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Butter (1 stick)

• 1/8 to 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

• 1 cup Sugar (plus extra for topping)

• 1/4 cup Molasses (not blackstrap)

• 1 Egg, beaten

• 2 cups Flour

• 2 tsp. Baking Soda

• 1/4 tsp. Salt

• 1 tsp. Cinnamon

• 1 tsp. Allspice

• 1 tsp. Ground Ginger

• 2 tbsp. Grated Fresh Ginger

Directions

Heat oven to 375°

With a mortar and pestle, crush together 1/4 cup of the sugar and the grated ginger, to further break up the ginger fibers, and draw out the juice.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar, including the ginger/sugar mixture. Beat in molasses and egg. Add dry ingredients and mix well.

Form into balls and roll in sugar. No need to flatten.

Bake for ~8 min. Makes about three dozen