seasonal cooking pt. deux

well, okay, that's a bit of a misnomer. Baking and cooking are technically two different things. This is a recipe for some chewy ginger cookies that seem nice and appropriate for the holiday season.

There are three different "types" of ginger in this recipe, which, paired with the dark brown sugar, molasses, and other spices give these little cookies a lot more depth than they look like they'd have. They're delicious, trust me. The cookies that this recipe is for are vegan, but feel free to substitute dairy products if that's what you'd like (although the nice thing about these is that they don't have "bad" cholesterol).

ingredients (use organic/fair trade/sustainable wherever possible!):

2 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoons of freshly grated nutmeg
a few pinches of kosher salt (kosher does make a difference, promise)
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper (I know, weird, just trust me)
3/4 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup of canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons of Ener-G egg replacer
2 tablespoons of filtered water
1/2 cup of blackstrap molasses
2 teaspoons of peeled, freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallised ginger
about 1/2 cup of raw (turbinado) sugar

directions:

"prep" all of the ingredients: grate the nutmeg, peel and grate the fresh ginger, chop the crystallised ginger, and mix the water with the egg replacer powder (again, this is the "vegan version") until it's smooth and creamy.

(the crystallised ginger, all nicely chopped by my lovely assistant James Curry)

after all of that is taken care of, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

now, mix the flour, ground ginger, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

in a separate bowl, mix the canola oil and brown sugar until it's all nice and combined. Add the egg replacer mixture, vanilla, grated ginger and molasses to the wet mixture. Again, make it all nice and smooth.

add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until juuuuust combined. Don't overmix! It supposedly does bad things! Now, add the crystallised ginger and mix it around. It should be pretty thick, gooey, and dark.

the crystallised stuff gets you pretty sticky, as my lovely assistant found out.

all right, now you've got to take out a couple baking trays and get ready for the fun part. Put the turbinado sugar into a shallow bowl. Take little glops of the dough about 1 tablespoon in volume. Roll it gently in the sugar and place on the baking tray.

Do that until it's all used up.

Space them about 1 1/2 inches apart on the trays, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. You can tell when they're done if the edges are a bit firm and the centers are cracked.

let 'em cool for about five minutes until you transfer them to another plate or rack.

 

mae thought the dough was pretty tasty, at least.

 

don't worry, I sanitised afterwards.

well, that's it! happy ginger-ing!

California: The Golden State's nature becoming as rare as it's name

I came across a very concerning issue today, CA's nature is losing almost all of its natural spawning ground. Here is an excerpt from the article by sign-on San Diego journalist Mike Lee:

"The studies show that common trees are fading from their current ranges, premium wine grape varieties are under siege [...]the hub of the state’s water system faces increasing risks[...]"

The new changes in CA's climate and weather(most of which is believed to be cause global warming) is said to be causing the local wildlife change as well.

"[...]Marine creatures are shifting locales[...]and — surprisingly — birds in the state are getting bigger as the weather warms.

Coming across this article makes me think that we should further expand our efforts to get a ban on water bottles, along with a bicycle movement, at San Diego High.

If you you would like to read more into this please visit http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/20/grapes-birds-trees-fish-respond-climate/

Winter is approaching!

With the onset of winter near, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to put on a sweater or wrap a blanket around before cranking up the heater!

If you're not one of those people who are excited to break out their sweaters and coats, then perhaps this will convince you:

Lowering the temperature 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit can save you up to 20% on heating costs!

If you're still not convinced enough to don a fashionable sweater this season, then consider some other alternatives to staying warm:

• Increasing the insulation in the walls, ceilings, and between the floors
• Making sure all the windows are tightly sealed and don't leak in air
• Turning down the temperature of your water heater to the warm water setting, and the lowest one when you're away
• Replacing your water heater (newer ones are significantly more energy efficient)

Anyone have any other alternatives? Leave a comment!