Redheads

This ginger cookie is the nexus of two of my seemingly unrelated loves: Britcoms and a certain redhead. My U.K. readers and my fellow Catherine Tate fans know that across the pond redheads are called gingers. In other words: U.S. redheads = U.K. gingers. (Get it...?)

I used five forms of ginger in this cookie. Yes, you read that correctly, five forms of ginger: fresh ginger, candied ginger, ginger beer, ground ginger snaps, and ground dried ginger. Boy...that's a lot of ginger!

But fear not! This cookie's quintuple shot of ginger is by no means overpowering or too hot. It’s aromatic and flavorful and has just the right bite--not too spicy at all.

I also used just a tiny bit of cinnamon and--hold your horses--ground white pepper to round out the flavors.

Come to think of it, this is the perfect cookie for early September/beginning of fall when the air starts to get crisp and there's just a hint of the smell of leaves on the wind. Now if only the weather would cooperate.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Redheads.)

Creamables	2 sticks butter 2 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg yolk 1/2 cup ginger beer 1 tablespoon microplaned fresh ginger 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 teaspoon finely chopped candied ginger
Dry Ingredients	3 cups oatmeal 1 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 cups finely ground ginger snaps 1 tablespoon ground dried ginger 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
4. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
5. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
6. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
7. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Comments

[Lorraine]

These sound wonderful!! I could almost smell them baking as I read the recipe. I hope one of these makes it to your freezer supply for potential future tasting.

[Alicia]

This sounds like a good cookie to go with fresh apple cider. Have you made any apple cookies?

[WF]

Mmm, I love ginger cookies and I can honestly say that these are THE BEST ever! So perfect! Is it terrible that I want to eat a bagful of them for lunch???

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Lorraine. Yup...some of these made it to the freezer. Jon said you loved ginger. :-)

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hey there, Alicia! These are a really good autumn cookie. I have done apple cookies. I'll have to dust off some of those recipes as we head in to apple-pickin' season.

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Thanks, Pam (WF)! It looks like these went really quickly.

[Alicia]

Apple pieces would be good in this cookie. Yeah, dust off those recipes for us. I have a friend that has 35 apple trees in his backyard.