Tis the season: COOKIES

Yesterday, I wrote about cookies being the true time sucker of the kitchen. Trust me, this is true. I can say categorically that NO ONE knows this better than I do. Ok, you want details.

Any of us who feel that we have our lives under control is wrong. Completely and totally. The question is not : is your life under control? Rather, the relevant question is : how many aspects of your life are OUT of control? Mine could fill an entire writing tablet. One of those is cookie baking. By December 15, I will have baked somewhere between 2000 and 2500 cookies.

You read that right. Two thousand, and two thousand five hundred. How did this happen? Beats me. I THINK what happened is I made a tin of cookies for someone one Xmas. People heard about it and asked for theirs. So next year I made five tins. That became 15. Now, I have no idea of how many there will be. What I DO know is that between last Friday and the end of Sunday night, I made 31 different types of cookies, and the end is not yet in sight. My ankles are in open revolt, and they are calling me names in languages that have been extinct for two thousand years. But I go on.

Is this crazy or what?

Still, let's face it. A cake is wonderful, and just about no one (well, I can think of ONE person, but I think he's lying), will turn away from a piece of cake and say "I just don't eat the stuff," give someone a plate of homemade cookies and WATCH THEM BEAM.

The only thing better than receiving cookies, in my view, is being the one who inspires that kind of look, that kind of pleasure for which there are no words. And I am blessed with SO MANY friends, most of whom I don't see, or don't see enough of, during the holiday season, that this is my way of saying "you're on my mind, I love you, and I wish I were spending more time with you."

Well, THAT was a little saccharine wasn't it? But it happens to be true. I can't tell if the look when they open the tin is more satisfying than the look when they bite into the first one, but it's a close, close call.

The types of cookies that go into the tins is essentially a matter of whim. Every year I make a selection about a week ahead of time, and then when I start baking, toss out the list and cook from the heart. That's the only way to describe it.

But there are some constants. One of them is gingersnaps. Now, when was the last time you had a REALLY GOOD ginger snap? Hmmm? Can't think of when, huh? Well, I'm gonna see if I can fix that.

NO, I am NOT sending all of you gingersnaps. But I'm going to slip into enabler mode and let you make them yourself.

There are scads of gingersnap recipes all over the place. I am told that people find the gingersnaps at Chez Panisse the pinnacle of this type of cookie. Well, y'all know that I am obsessed with CP, and treat their recipes not unlike members of certain religious sects treat prounouncements by their leaders, but on this one... I beg to differ. Mine are better.

And "mine" are not really mine. The recipe I'm about to print is from The Joy of Cooking. The BIG one. NOT the one that is called "The Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies." They changed some recipes in that little book, and this is one of them. The changes are NOT for the better.

This recipe makes about 100 cookies, which is a lot, but not really. You can make them before you go to work in the morning if you're truly crazy (which is what I did today), or you can spend an hour in the kitchen at night and make them. And because they're so easy, when you finish them two days later, you can make another batch.

You will do that. Trust me. They are that good.

1.5 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup of molasses
2 cups of white sugar.

Blend the butter until it's soft, then add the molasses and combine it well, and then the sugar

2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Now blend in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.

4 cups of flour
1.5 teaspoons of baking soda
BIG pinch of salt
a tablespoon (yup, a tablespoon) of good quality ginger
a teaspoon of cinnamon
half a teaspoon of cloves

BUY NEW SPICES TO MAKE THIS unless you're a spice freak and can swear yours are fresh and fragrant. Blend all of those dried ingredients into the wet ones, until they are just combined. You can add a heaping half cup of candied ginger too, as I sometimes do (not this year).

Then, on parchment lined baking sheets, roll one inch balls and line them up. You can get about 30 to a sheet. You can roll them in sugar, if you like, but I don't. Bake them at 325, for about twelve minutes. But check. When I was doing my baking, some baked fast, and others needed more time. You want that little ring of dark brown to form around them, and you want to see a tell tale "cracking" on the top.

Now, you can play with these spices, and I have. But ultimately, I came back to the classic combination and just kicked up the quantities of everything. I add a bit more flour than the Joy recommends, because measuring four cups of flour is a helluva lot easier than 3 3/4 .

And here's something you n eed to know: cookies like this pick up moisture. FAST. If you put them in a tin before they're cooled, they will soften and while they will taste good, they will not "snap." And if you plan to put them in a mix of other cookies, put them in last. They have far less moisture in them than others do, and molasses is "hygroscopic" as we tech folks say, which means it sucks the moisture out of other things. So the longer they're around moist cookies, the softer they will get.

Enjoy them. Eat them. And make more. And then give some to people. You'll feel SO good about yourself you won't believe it.