A cookie for David

I don't know if I'm the only person who does this . I hope not, and I suspect not. I may be the only person to ADMIT it, though.

There are times when I meet someone, and I IMMEDIATELY make a connection between the person and some other media. Most of the time, it's music. It doesnt' really matter if s/he likes the music, hates the music, knows the music. from the time I make the connection until forever, when I see or think of that person, I think of that piece of music. Sometimes it's color. Sometimes, it's a work of literature. And sometimes it's food.

When the connection is food, it's frequently something I "work." I try to think about what I would make for that person, as his or her singular dish. You've done it, let's face it.

Oh. You haven't? OK, well, I don't believe you, but I'll own this one.

Anyway, last night I met David for the second time. I don't remember the first time, but he does, and he remembers it clearly enough for me to accept that I was "out of it" that night (and given the night it was, it is a distinct possibility), but in any event, we agree that this is the first time we had spent a fair amount of time together. I had heard lots about David, and I had preconceptions. None of them bad. But I thought he was much bigger than he is. I mean taller. I also thought I was going to meet someone more reserved. WRONG AGAIN. But none of these missed connections were diappointments. We had a lovely evening. And he added another notch to the list of reasons to "Not keep up, but keep open." Yet another young one convincing me I was wrong to write them all off.

So, yes, today is Sunday, and it's cooking day. In fact, Sunday is baking day. And that's a perfect connect for David, because he's sweet.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Ok, all of you sillies, knock it off. Let me go on, ok? It's MY blog, damnit.

Well, (and he's gonna roll his eyes, say "not him, too", and probably try to kill me when he reads this), if there is one word that came to mind in spending time with David was "sunshine."

Go ahead David, smite me. It's ok. Sunshine doesn't hurt.

Well, sunshine is easy: citrus. Lemons and oranges say sunshine like nothing else does.

So, we have sweet, and we have citrus. I bet you think you know where I'm going. Well, you'd be wrong. Because I haven't given you the LAST aspect.

Spicy. Warm spice. Not the "firecracker" heat of jalapenos, and that ilk, but the warm spice of cinnamon, and cloves, and ginger.

Getting warmer? Ok, I'll tell you, after a bit of a digression.

The "house cookie" around here is the gingersnap. I make them a lot. Everybody loves them. I find it hard to stop eating them, which is unusual for me and cookies. And I was thinking about making them today. My recipe, after many tries, many attempts, many failures, comes from an old edition of the Joy of Cooking, with a few modifications, that I will describe.

Ok, there's the spice and the sweet. What about the sunshine?

Glaze. Citrus glaze. Kicking it up a notch. In a way, this is a modification of a classic German Christmas cookie, the pfeffernusse, where a very spicy, sweet cookie, is dipped in a heavy lemon glaze. Mine is a bit different, and here it goes.

Let's start with the cookies first (incidentally, this makes about 100 cookies. You'll be glad it did). You'll need 1.5 sticks of softened butter. You can do this by hand, with a big spoon, but you'll have to work hard. I use a mixer. Add two cups of granulated sugar and stir until it's well combined and uniform. This will take a while. Now, you add half a cup of molasses (any kind), two whole, large eggs, and two teaspoons of white vinegar, and stir that all up. Now, you have a soft mass, and you're going to add just under 4 cups of flour (3 3/4 cups), a teaspoon and a half of baking SODA, a full tablespoon of ginger, a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon, and a half teaspoon of the spice of your choice (cloves are traditional. I used allspice). Now , I add a teaspoon of salt here, because salt brings out the spicy flavor and the sweetness too. Finally, I add a cup of finely chopped, candied ginger. That's my secret ingredient. Stir this all up. It's going to give you a workout, but it's worth it. (As if I know this as a fact. I used a mixer, remember?). You'll need a bunch of cookie sheets, probably four , if you have them, because you're going to want to get about 24/5 cookies on a sheet (I do six rows of four, and squeeze the extra one in SOmewhere). Roll the dough into little balls, about 1/2 an inch in diameter, but don't be a slave to measurement here. If you like (and sometimes I do, here I did not), you can roll these in granulated sugar, before you put them on parchment lined cookie sheets. Preheat your oven to 325, and bake these, preferably one sheet at a time, two if you're pressed, for 14 minutes. If you do two at a time, at seven minutes, move the top to bottom, and vice versa, and rotate the sheets so that the backs are at the front.

You'll see a distinct "crackling" forming on the cookies, the style you've seen in many gingersnaps.

When they come out of the oven, these will be very, VERY soft. That's ok. Let them dry on their baking sheets until they are cooled completely.

While this is happening, make TWO glazes. The first one will be the juice of one lemon, in a bowl, the other, the juice of half of an orange, in a second bowl. (you want to have equivalent amounts of juice). Add confectioner's sugar to the juice until you have a thick, but still "spreadable" consistency. You'll probably need at least a cup of sugar for each glaze. Now, take each cookie, and dip half of it in the lemon glaze. When you're done with all of those, let them cool. Now dip the other end in the orange glaze. Let them dry. You could, of course, do half in lemon and half in orange, but hey, this is DAVID we're talking about, OK?

You need to store these in a metal container, a true "tin." If any moisture gets near them, they will soften up and you'll have "ginger sags" rather than "ginger snaps." Still good, but not with the crispy "Pizzazz" you associate with these cookies.

So, there you are David. Hope you like them (and I never remembered to tell you that David is my middle name)