Lily Wallace's Gingersnaps

This time of year, I find myself poking around old cookbooks, looking for Christmas in the smell of cinnamon and ginger, the feel of crust and dough and the taste of molasses.  I found it here in this fuss-free gingerbread recipe from my grandmother's 1946 Lily Wallace New American Cookbook.  If your ingredients are at room temperature so that the butter is soft, you could easily make this without a mixer, though it's nice to have one when working in the last of the flour. 

Tasty, Christmasy, old-fashioned tasting, and would probably roll and freeze well if you wanted to slice and bake a batch at a time.  A lovely tea cookie.

LILY WALLACE 1946 GINGERSNAP / GINGERBREAD COOKIES
(See my notes about making these crispy or soft, below.)

1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup unsalted butter (at room temp)
1 egg (at room temp)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger (or more, if you like a strong ginger taste)
2 teaspoons soda
1/2 tsp salt (optional, my addition)

1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

+/- 5 cups flour*
Sliced candied ginger (optional, for decoration)

Combine sugar, molasses, butter, egg, cinnamon, ginger and soda.  Mix well.  Add vinegar, vanilla, and flour one cup at a time, until you have a stiff, non-sticky dough. 

*The recipe just says "Flour to make stiff dough" without listing an amount, assuming that the experienced cook of the day would know what that meant and of course, have enough on hand.  I found 5 cups to be the right amount for a pliable and rollable non-sticky dough.  Use a little more for sprinkling when rolling. 

Roll very thin.  Cut with cookie cutter.  Bake in 325 degree oven, 10-12 minutes.  The yield for this recipe is about 72 1 1/2 inch cookies, or 48 larger cookies.

This makes a classic, gingerbread-tasting cookie that is easy to work with and would be a great recipe to do with kids.  Because I am a ginger fanatic, I would say that you could double the ginger in this recipe.  I also added 1/2 tsp salt. 

Experimenting with cooking times and resting times, I found that in my oven, 12 minutes bake time was perfect.  For crispy, gingersnap-type cookies, leave on baking sheet 2-5 minutes after removing from oven, then move to a cooling rack. 

For softer, gingerbread-type cookies, pull parchment off cookie sheet immediately and allow to cool on rack, or roll a thicker cookie to begin with.  Before baking, I decorated some with a piece of sliced candied ginger in the center of the cookie, some with a sprinkling of the ginger sugar at the bottom of the ginger jar, and some with a silver dragee in the center.  Did you know those things are made with real silver?  Weird. 

Easy, Cozy Braised Dishes for Chilly Nights

Here are a couple of recipes that are easy to prep ahead, throw in the oven and forget about, with lots of rut-busting flavor and cozy warm richness for cold nights.

The first is adapted from a classic from the old Silver Palate cookbook.  The original recipe serves 10, so I've cut it down for a more reasonable 4-5 portions, and used whole chicken legs instead of quartered chickens.  For two, you can make this recipe, bake half and put the other half in the freezer while marinating, or for a family, double it and freeze half. 

Big note:  you do want to start this at least the day before so that the flavors can sink into the chicken all day or overnight. 

CHICKEN "MARBELLA"

5 lbs of whole chicken legs (4-6 legs)
Marinade
1/2 head of garlic, minced or pureed, about 6 cloves
1/8 cup dried oregano
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper (approx 1/2 to 1 tsp salt plus 1/4 tsp pepper)
1/2 cup chopped pitted prunes
1/4 cup pitted Spanish, Italian or Greek green olives
1/4 capers with a bit of juice
3 bay leaves

Marinate for 8 hours or overnight
then add:

1/2 cup brown sugar, sprinkled over chicken
1/2 to 1 cup white wine

A few tablespoons of Italian parsley are nice to finish after baking.

1. Combine all marinade ingredients with chicken in a plastic bag, bowl or oven proof baking pan that will hold the legs in a single layer, turning now and again to make sure they are mixed and all sides of the chicken are coated.  

2. After 8 hours or overnight marinating, sprinkle the sugar and pour the wine.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting with pan juices (or not-- I didn't and it was delicious.) Chicken is done when juices run clear when the chicken is pricked with a knife or fork.  Don't be afraid to overcook. 

3. The original recipe asked you to remove the olives and prunes with a slotted spoon and serve the pan juice in a sauceboat, but I think you'll be perfectly fine just serving this out of the pan as we did.  Who needs one more dish to wash?  

The second make-ahead-and-braise recipe reminds me very much of a short-rib we used to serve at Tra Vigne restaurant, is pretty quick and easy to put together, and is made in one pan, in one day.  The Tra Vigne version was a 13 hour affair, brining, searing, smoking and braising, but I think you'll find this to be a deliciously easy substitute.

BRAISED SHORT RIBS
Serves 6

Olive oil
4 lbs beef short ribs
1/2 - 1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 - 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups finely chopped onion
1/4 cup minced garlic
2 cups low-salt beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cups chopped plum tomato or stewed tomato

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat.  Swirl olive oil to coat.  Sprinkle the ribs with the salt and pepper and brown as many as will fit easily in the pan at a time-- don't crowd.  If necessary, brown in two batches.    When browned, remove all ribs to a plate.

Add onions and saute until lightly browned.  Add the garlic and saute for one minute.  Return the ribs to the pan.  Add the broth, wine, vinegar, sugar and tomato and bring to a simmer. 

Cover and bake for 1.5 hours or until tender.   If making ahead, cool slightly then refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.  If you have time to do this, the ribs reheat perfectly and are even more tasty. 

Skim the fat from the surface of the sauce mixture and discard.  Check seasoning and adjust salt and pepper as necessary. Serve the sauce over the ribs, or if reheating, reheat together and serve both on warm polenta or risotto, or with crusty bread and an easy winter salad.  

Voila! 

On Sunday, I prepped both of these dishes and made the ribs Sunday night and the chicken Monday night.  On Wednesday, I reheated the last rib with the sauce for lunch, and I do think it had more flavor (or maybe I was just hungry!) so I'd recommend doing both ahead if you think of it.  Since I already had the special ingredients, olives, prunes, capers, plenty of garlic, I have a second batch of chicken waiting for the next time I don't feel like cooking.

Enjoy! 

Don't Knock Yourself If You're Not Feeling the Christmas Spirit

Don’t knock yourself if you’re not feeling the Christmas spirit this year, or if you think that everyone else feels warm and fuzzy and hot-chocolatey already.  A lot of people aren’t there yet either. It’s not because the world is coming to an end (unless it is) or because no one cares anymore, or because the season is just about commercialism or because politics is messing everything up.

It doesn’t always knock you down like a friendly golden retriever. More often, it’s like a campfire in the dark: you have to protect it and blow on it, give it little bits of dry moss and tinder. It’s not about having a lot of matches or a flamethrower, it’s about a spark or two and a little bit of air at the right time.

Mike and I were at Whole Foods yesterday, and noticed as we arrived at the checkout stand that a line was forming about 20 feet away. It turned out to be a line of kids waiting for Whole Foods’ Santa. The cashier, a young woman with neatly described black Cleopatra wings at the corners of her eyes, and a surfeit of earrings, said jokingly, “Oh boy, crying babies for the next 8 hours!” We laughed and groused along with her about how kids who are afraid of fake Santas have every right to be. Then Santa arrived, and everyone sort of shut up about the whole creepiness thing, like we'd been caught talking behind his back. He looked like a naturally fluffy guy underneath, with a big, curling, gorgeous silver-white fake beard that rolled in tendrils down his belly, in a nice red velour outfit that wasn’t too cheap.

All the grownups turned to look and everyone smiled. The very first little girl, 3 or 4, was old enough not to be scared, and young enough to truly believe. She looked charmed—star-struck even, tucking her chin into her shoulder just a little bit to stave off the shyness she felt at being so overwhelmed by his wonderfulness. To her, he was really and truly magical. She appeared to be starting right in on her list, chattering away, tilting her head a little to look up at him out of the corner of her eye. The three of us at the checkout couldn’t stop sneaking peeks at her and smiling. Just now, writing that, the preciousness of that perfect, hopeful, believing little girl made the tears just stream down my cheeks.

That there is the currency of joy, my friends. That is what we are sharing.

I don’t know what touches your heart this time of year, but when it does, protect it, blow on it a little... and let it.