Pan Chancho's ginger cookies

I was living in Kingston when the original Pan Chancho bakery opened up. A small offshoot of the successful Chez Piggy restaurant, the shop on Johnson served up loaves of fresh bread each day, as well as some take-home gourmet goodies.

I lived around the corner at the time, in a grubby basement apartment with mouldy walls and a kitchen sink that would occasionally back up, allowing us to witness what our upstairs neighbours had flushed down the drain earlier.

So, needless to say, a new bakery offering up wholesome bread was a bright spot in an otherwise dreary student existence. My roommate Julie and I jumped at the opportunity for an affordable foodie addition to our cooking repertoire. Actually, meals in our little William Street abode were pretty tasty, as I liked to cook and Julie was a talented chef too, whipping up lots of hearty New Brunswick fare like baked beans and a killer mac and cheese. But on the nights that it was too much effort to make a fuss in the kitchen, or those evenings with a double header of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place beckoned, or the Thursday night line up of Friends and a George Clooney-studded ER called our names (yes, we watched A LOT of TV) dinner was, quite frequently, a loaf of Pan Chancho bread and peanut butter. In fact, sometimes that was chased down with a bottle of White Zinfandel, because we considered ourselves early wine connoisseurs, and topped off with a dessert of Ganong Chicken Bones. It was the high life, I tell ya.

I don’t remember these ginger cookies on offer at Pan Chancho back then, but I have enjoyed them several times since during my day trips to Kingston. Pan Chancho is now in much bigger digs on Princess Street, and boasts its own fabulous restaurant and expanded bakery. (If you’re there for lunch, try the lamb and chickpea wrap – deelish!)

As previously mentioned on this blog, I’m a sucker for most things ginger, and these chewy cookies pack a lot of bite. I’m happy to say that they reproduce rather authentically at home, so I’m most pleased to have the recipe at last. I spruced up my batch with some chopped crystallized ginger for an extra element, but they're just as tasty without.


Get your dry ingredients together. Notice the massive amount of dried ginger? That's hot.

Cream your butter and sugar, then add in the molasses.

Roll out the dough into balls, and coat in remaining sugar. This gives the crackled finish to the cookies.

And here's the final product -- chewy and gingery. Great with a nice cup of tea, and cheaper than a roadtrip to K-town.

Ginger Cookies
From Pan Chancho Bakery cookbook, as reprinted in The Toronto Star

2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp (15 mL) ground ginger

2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda

1 tsp (10 mL) ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp (2 mL) kosher salt

3/4 cup (185 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1-1/4 cups + 2 tbsp (310 mL + 30 mL) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup (60 mL) fancy molasses

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In large bowl using electric mixer on medium, cream butter and 1 cup (250 mL) plus 2 tbsp (30 mL) sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, scraping down sides of bowl. Add molasses; beat well. In three additions, beat in flour mixture just until incorporated.

Shape dough into 24 balls, each about 2 tbsp (30 mL). Roll balls in bowl with remaining 1/4 cup (60 mL) sugar. Place several inches apart on large, parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 15 to 17 minutes in preheated 325F (160C) oven until just golden. (Cookies will spread to about 4 inches/10 cm.)

Makes 24 large cookies.

Date and ginger loaf

The thing I like about loaves is that they're basically cakes, but somehow so much easier.

I made this loaf especially for my dad, who happens to love dates. And I happen to love ginger, so I thought it was a good combination.

This is the kind of damp, cake-like loaf that keeps very well and holds its flavour. It's very good with a cup of tea or coffee. I made this loaf on a very cold, very wet early spring weekend and it was the perfect late afternoon snack, just before a nap.

Start by soaking the dates in hot water and an Earl Grey tea bag. Not the most visually appealling step of the process, I admit!

Then you add the steeped mixture into the other ingredients and stir it all up.

All ready for the oven!

And here's the finished product, complete with drizzled icing and more ginger. Yum! (Someday I'll figure out how to rotate the pictures on here!)

All ready for a tea break! Note the pieces of ginger studded throughout.

Date and ginger loaf (from the LCBO Food and Drink magazine)

1 c. coarsely chopped pitted dates
1 c. boiling water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Earl Grey tea bag
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¾ c. packed brown sugar
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
½ c. finely chopped crystallized ginger
½ c. plain yogurt

Glaze
½ c. icing sugar
2 to 3 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger

1. In a medium bowl, combine dates, boiling water, baking soda and tea bag. Let cool to room temperature. Discard tea bag.

2. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

3. Grease and flour a 9x5” loaf pan.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, baking powder and salt.

5. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Stir in date mixture, crystallized ginger and yogurt until well combined. (Batter may look curdled.)

6. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture. Stir just until combined and dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top level. Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of loaf comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove loaf from the pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

7. For glaze, in small bowl, stir together icing sugar and 2 tbsp. water until smooth, adding a little more water if necessary to make the glaze thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over loaf and sprinkle evenly with crystallized ginger. Let glaze set before slicing loaf.

A sweet start.....

....to the new year. These molasses cookies will satisfy a sweet tooth, but there's also a hint of spice that's quite nice as well. They're the kind of cookies that remind me of bakery treats -- crispy on the outside, and chewy and flavourful inside. Plus, they've solved the mystery for me of how to get that crackled, almost broken top on a cookie. I think it's the rolling in sugar before baking that does it, but don't quote me (I'm the daughter of a biology teacher after all, not chemistry!).

I amped up the ginger quotient when I made these by throwing in a handful of chopped, candied ginger. A nice addition, if I do say so myself. Are you listening, Martha?

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies (recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookie Book)
Makes about 36

Ingredients:
-2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
-1 large egg
-1/4 cup molasses

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl, place 1/2 cup sugar; set aside. (*note: I found I needed less than 1/4 cup)

2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until combined. Beat in egg and then molasses until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms. Put dough in the fridge and chill it for at least an hour.

3. Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 tablespoon. Roll balls in reserved sugar to coat.

4. Arrange balls on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges of cookies are just firm, 10 to 15 minutes (cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly). Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 4 days.

These go well with a latte, regular cup of coffee, or even a cold glass of milk. Happy dunking!

Sweet Potato Soup

So, when I went away on holiday it was summer. No jackets, sandals -- the whole bit. Then I go away for two weeks, and suddenly it's fall! Long sleeves and sweaters and seeing your breath in the morning. Yuck!

Anyway, the change in season does mean I start thinking about cooking stews and soups and roasted veggies. I started this weekend with this. It has a really complex flavour, and the recipe makes tons, which means lots of frozen soup to take in my lunches over the next few weeks.

Like any good soup, it start off with softening some onions in butter. Hard to beat that smell!

The only really taxing part of the whole recipe is chopping the six cups of sweet potato. But they're actually pretty easy to peel, because they're relatively hard. I used about four smallish potatoes to get the required amount, but if you get the enormous ones (that are almost as big as your forearm) you may well only need two.

Check out my new knife. I bought it a while ago at Ikea and it's my new favourite. It's well balanced, has a good weight and is super sharp. I think it was $16, or something quite reasonable. It's joined on my knife rack by my second favourite knife, also from Ikea, which I've had since university.

Fresh lime juice makes a real difference in this soup. I always add more than the recipe calls for, because when Farm Boy has them at five for 99 cents, you have to use them up!

And here's the finished product. The coconut milk makes this really creamy, without tasting too rich. And you get a nice kick and heat from the ginger and hot sauce, and the lime balances it all out. Very tasty, and a pretty colour as well!

Sweet Potato Soup (from Anna Olson's Fresh)

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
1 1/3 cups (325 mL) diced onion
6 cups (1.5 L) peeled and diced sweet potato
2 tbsp (30 mL) grated fresh ginger
1 can (14-ounce/398 mL) coconut milk
3 to 4 cups (750 ml –1L) chicken stock
2 tbsp (30 mL) fresh lime juice
salt and pepper
dash cayenne pepper or hot sauce (optional)
1/4 cup (60 mL) fresh coriander leaves
1/2 cup (125 mL) plain yogurt

Directions:

Melt butter in a large saucepot over medium heat and cook onion 3-4 minutes to soften, but not browned.

Add sweet potato, ginger, coconut milk and 3 cups of stock. Simmer 25 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender. Purée until smooth with a hand blender, add remaining stock if soup is too thick. Stir in lime juice and strain (straining is optional). Return to heat and season to taste.

Ladle into bowls and top with coriander leaves and a swirl of yogurt. Soup can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature.

Stay tuned for pictures from my trip. Just have to get all the photos sorted!