Let's play "one of these things doesn't belong"...Grandkids, shopping, sight-seeing, swimming, movies, running a 5k...Yep! The mister AND I ran a 5k...well, to be truthful, we walked it...but at a very fast clip and we had official numbers pinned on us and even got an official T-shirt! I had to keep reminding myself that a 5k was not 5 miles...it's actually less than what I walk every morning! But it sounds so cool...Yeah, just did a 5k (snort, spit, flex)...and on the day of the race it was blazing hot, so I suppose I should really say we did an Extreme 5k...hope you're duly impressed. Bucket List scratched.
One of the girl's I teach, Bonnie, turned 18 a few weeks back and since she is a bonafide Harry Potter freak, we had a Harry Potter themed party for her...Ginger-beer, Spotted Dick with Custard (which made all the girls giggle and exchange raised-eyebrow-glances!), Butter Fudge, and Chewy Ginger Biscuits (cookies for us yanks).
These biscuits/cookies were SO MUCH BETTER THAN I THOUGHT THEY'D BE! SO MUCH BETTER! The ginger taste is very, very mild and the cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside! And they do not taste like gingerbread men, they are much lighter in taste - not that there's anything wrong with gingerbread men, after all, they are the only perfect men...they lay around looking pretty but if they get on one's nerves their heads can be bitten off! I did not follow the directions which said to put the cookies two-inches apart on the baking sheet...so my cookies came out a bit mis-shaped, which did not impede the speed of the feed one bit!
The best thing about these cookies, aside from their delicious goodness, is they last for a week and still retain their crispy/chewiness...and one more thing, they make the BEST ice cream sandwiches I've ever had. Hands down, no lie, darn-tootin'...if for no other reason, you should make these just to have them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two cookies...crispy, chewy, creamy...need I say more?
This recipe is one of 150 from the most clever book - one every HP fan should own! Each recipe has a brief description of how it fits into the HP book series, this is what the book had to say about Chewy Ginger Biscuits,
"Ooh, Harry is in such trouble. He loses his temper with Professor Umbridge, and with a lot of fanfare and drama, she sends him to Professor McGonagall. Harry enters her office expecting to be scolded and punished, but to his surprise she offers him a newt-shaped ginger cookie (see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 12)."
(I found the book at Fuego in Bell Square but it is available at Barnes and Noble and from Amazon.)
Chewy Ginger Biscuits - Adapted From The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg white
3/4 cup golden syrup or light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar for rolling the cookies
The cookie dough needs to chill in the fridge for a bit before baking so don't turn your oven on yet. Line one cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and ginger. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, about 5 minutes. Add the egg, egg white, and golden syrup and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and stir on the lowest speed until combined. Scrape the bottom with a rubber spatula to make sure it is fully combined.
Scoop out balls of dough with a cookie scoop or tablespoon. Form into 1 1/2-inch balls, dough will be very soft. Roll the balls in sugar. As this point I put all of the cookie dough balls onto one baking sheet, I crowd them all in so they fit. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate the cookie balls for at least 2 hours before baking, or even overnight. When ready to bake, separate the cookies onto a baking sheet and keep them about 2 inches apart then put them into the preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes. do not let them warm up. Slide the parchment paper onto wire racks to cool, do not remove the cookies individually until they cool. (Be very careful not to over bake these cookies or they will be hard instead of soft and chewy. The cookies will be very soft when you take them out of the oven; they will set up as they cool.) Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.