Sunday, December 18, 2011

Mixing it up: Gingerbread cookies

You might have noticed that I don't use a lot of convenience products. But every once in a while, one drops into my lap - or more accurately, onto my porch. In this case,

Recently, I got a review sample of King Arthur Flour's Traditional Gingerbread mix.

The interesting thing about this mix is that it has instructions for making either cookies or cake. I flipped a coin. Cookies won. Cookies always win, it seems. Probably because cake is soft and fragile. It's no match for crunchy cookies.

The ingredient list in this mix is reasonable. Nothing scary. King Arthur flour, sugar, molasses, spices, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, natural flavor, baking soda, and caramel color. The spices and flavors weren't listed, but when I opened the bag, the ginger smell was obvious.

The required ingredients for cookies were butter, egg, and water. That's easy enough.

Equipment needed is minimal, too. Just a bowl and a spoon to assemble the dough. The soft butter is mixed into the dough until it's all crumbs, then the egg and water go in. Mix, knead, then chill it in the fridge for a while before the roll-cut-bake.

Simple, really.

The result? Pretty good cookies, actually. Here's the thing. I've been baking so many cookies lately that I don't want to even taste them. But I just ate two of these, because they're spicy. Yes, they're a little sweet, but they've got a savory punch to them.

I'm probably not the prime candidate for buying boxed mixes because I don't mind the measuring and mixing, and I have all of the ingredients on hand so I don't have to go shopping before I bake. On the other hand, I'd have no problem using this mix if I needed to shave a little time from my schedule.

I'd sure as heck use this mix before I'd buy pre-made cookies, that's for sure.

Oh, and if you like the little stars, those are edible glitter, also from King Arthur Flour. I've been sprinkling them everywhere.
Yum