cooksimple.com » desserts

Chewy Ginger Cookies

carrie — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:38 +0000

Ginger is one of my favorite spices. I love ginger tea, gingerbread, ginger snaps, basically everything ginger! Unlike gingers naps these cookies are chewy and soft. Perfect for the holidays.

Chewy Ginger Cookies

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 25 mins

This makes about 2 dozen soft and chewy ginger cookies.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup light-tasting oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup milk (I like almond)
1 cup brown sugar, loose & not packed firmly

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet.
Combine flour, baking soda and spices in a large bowl. Mix well until spices are evenly distributed.
Combine oil, molasses, milk and brown sugar in a large glass measuring cup. Mix well.
Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well. Drop by Tablespoons onto the cookie sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet 3 minutes then transfer to a rack so they can finish cooling.

Notes:

Molasses is much easier to get out of measuring spoons & cups if you first coat the spoon/cup with oil.

Pumpkin pie

carrie — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:30:51 +0000

It has been busy around here with vacations, a number of visitors, and attempting to train for an upcoming Turkey Trot 10k. We will be spending Thanksgiving with family this year and though I am not cooking the meal I couldn’t resist making pumpkin pie. It is one of my favorites and one of the easiest pies to make healthier. This recipe is easy, however, if you want to make it easier you can skip the crust and bake the pumpkin mixture in ramekins. Then you have pumpkin pudding!

Pumpkin pie

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

Crust
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
pinch of salt
1/4 cup light-tasting oil
3-4 Tablespoons honey, agave syrup or maple syrup
2 Tablespoons water
Pie filling
1 can pumpkin
12 oz silken firm tofu
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teasoon salt
2 Tablespoons water

Directions:

Crust

Combine flour, rolled oats, pecans, and salt in a large bowl. Mix together oil and honey/agave/maple syrup in another bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients then pour in liquid ingredients. Mix with a fork until ingredients begin to form a dough. It will be crumbly. If the dough looks dry add 1-2 Tablespoons water. Oil pie plate. Press dough into the pie plate covering all surfaces of the pie plate.

Filling

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into prepared crust.
Bake in preheated 375°F oven for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

Coffee cake

carrie — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:30:07 +0000

I made coffee cake this weekend for Saturday morning brunch. It is a great quick and easy basic coffee cake. You can easily modify it by adding various nuts/fruits to the batter. Next time I’m going to try substituting puréed pumpkin for some of the oil. I’ll also add some pecans instead of almonds. This cake would also be nice with diced apples added to the batter. Enjoy playing around with this recipe!

Coffee cake

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 12

A basic coffee cake recipe to play around with. Try adding various fruits & nuts!

Ingredients:

Topping
1 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Batter
3/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/4 flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Oil an 8 x 8-inch square pan.
Make the topping: Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Add canola oil slowly, mixing with your hands to create crumbs. Stir in sliced almonds.
Make the batter: Combine almond milk and apple cider vinegar in a large measuring cup and let it curdle. In the meantime stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir sugar and canola oil into milk mixture. Pour liquids into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Pour batter into pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle topping over batter. Bake for 30 minutes.

Smattering of new recipes

carrie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:34:24 +0000

You will all notice I’ve been absent and not posting much. I have been cooking but haven’t had the time to update the site will full posts (pictures, recipes, etc.). To make up for this I thought I’d share several of the best new recipes I’ve tried over the last few months. In no particular order:

Puree of Chickpea Soup – from the NY Times

Swiss Chard & Sweet Potato Gratin – from Smitten Kitchen

Whole Wheat Biscotti – I made these into lemon whole wheat biscotti by adding some lemon juice and lots of lemon rind

Granola Bars – from Smitten Kitchen

Pumpkin Spice Syrup – Yummy in a latté. I put the recipe & latté directions in a new post.

Mixed Greens with Garlic, Cumin and Paprika – A great veggie side dish. I posted the recipe in a new post.

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette – from the Joy of Cooking. Quite possibly the best dressing recipe! It is a basic vinaigrette made with apple cider vinegar and crumbled blue cheese. I’ll post the recipe once I get home and have access to the book

Individual Chocolate Soufflés

carrie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:10:31 +0000

Yesterday I was searching for an easy, quick and chocolate dessert. I initially had the idea of pudding cake, however, I have yet to find a deep, dark chocolate version. I turned to my cookbooks and ended up in the Joy of Cooking. Amazingly enough the chocolate soufflé recipe looked to be just what I wanted – quick, easy and chocolate. Even better it could be made ahead! This dessert looks very impressive and has a great chocolate flavor. Whipped cream or a custard sauce would be a great accompaniment.

Ingredients

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon rum or bourbon
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat four 6 oz. ramekins with butter all the way up the sides. Pour sugar into each ramekin and make sure sugar thoroughly coats inside of ramekin.

Combine chocolate, butter and liquor in the top of a double boiler. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes then whisk in the egg yolks.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until the egg whites make stiff peaks (but not dry). Using a large rubber spatula stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Carefully fold the rest of the egg whites into the mixture until they are thoroughly mixed.

Divide the batter equally into ramekins and smooth the tops. Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes, until risen and set.

Note: The soufflés can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.

Yield: 4 soufflés