Useless post without pictures and the recipe ;-)

Come on girl, share.

And do you think I could roll them out, cut them and frost them as teacher gifts?

What? Sorry if it's useless to you --- and don't call me girl!

Relax Annie, Loves2cook4six was bring funny and asking you to post the recipe and share photos if you had them. She sure didn't mean it the way that you took it.

Ann

It was a joke!!!! See the smile?

Please share??? We just like pictures!

Deanna

I think we should start calling annie92 OOA LOL!
Here ya go OOAnnie's original chewey molasses cookies...

Chewy Molasses Cookies

1 1/2 cups of shortening (I use half and half with butter, but all butter makes them too crispy for my taste)
1 cups granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup of dark molasses
4 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Chopped crystalized ginger, optional, to taste. I used about half a cup, finely chopped and wish I'd have used more but I love ginger
Coarse sugar or turbinado sugar for rolling

Ccream the shortening and sugars. Add the molasses and eggs and mix until well blended. Sift the flour (yeah right, I don't, LOL) and measure 4 1/2 cups into a separate bowl. Add the spices, salt, and baking soda and whisk to combine. Turn the mixer to low or stir, and add the flour slowly until well mixed. Stir in the chopped ginger and chill the dough for at least an hour.

After the dough has chilled for an hour, roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and roll the balls in the coarse sugar to completely coat. Place the dough balls about an inch apart on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The cookies will puff up and crack. When the cookies are done the cracks should still look a little wet, but the outside should look dry. They'll "fall" a little as they cool, let them sit a couple of minutes on the sheet before you try to move them to cooling racks.

Great, now I want some.....

Annie

I thought it was "OUR Original Annie"... ???

: )
one of her imaginary friends

Right Michael....she's OUR Original Annie....and she certainly is still a young good lookin' chick!

And she's one of the dear cornerstones of our Cooking Forum. :-)

SharonCb

Ya, those cookies are WONDERFUL. I didn't take a picture when I made mine, no time, they were all scarfed down before I could even lay my hands on the camera. LOL

Of course both boys were home from school at the time. Now that they're gone for the summer, I can make them again and maybe have time for a photo shoot!

I'm out of molasses now and both my nearby grocery stores don't carry Brer Rabbit! I don't remember where I bought it the last time but I'm going to stop on my way home tonight to see if one of the other chains has it.

Hey, annie 1971 - please accept my apologies. I really didn't mean it to sound snarky - more tongue in cheek, wink, wink, sort of.

Lindac, thanks for the recipe.

I have some homemade ginger and molasses (not homemade lol) in the pantry and a yen to do some baking. I'm going to give it a try

Oh my, ginger recipe please......
Thanks,

Linda

lynda

The ginger is really easy.

It's a siple syrup with 3 parts sugar to three parts water and 1 part sliced ginger.

Directions:
Peel the ginger and slice it into rounds about 1/8 inch thick. For every cup of ginger slices, bring 3 cups water and 3 cups sugar to a boil in a large sauce pan. When the sugar is completely dissolved, add the ginger and boil for 45 minutes, until the ginger is sweet and tender. Drain the ginger, reserving the liquid. Place the ginger on a rack to dry for 30 minutes, then toss it with enough granulated sugar to coat. Let it dry on wax paper and then store in an airtight container.

Boil the reserved liquid until it is reduced to a syrup with a consistency somewhere between maple syrup and honey. This will intensify its flavor. This syrup can be used for pancakes, waffles, or ice cream, and is an extra bonus for making your own candied ginger.

The ginger is delicious eaten as candy, and can also be used in recipes calling for candied ginger. If you don't want to make it yourself but don't want to spend a fortune for it, look in an Asian grocery store, where the price will be much less than it is at the supermarket.

Notes:
The left over syrup can be strained and stored in the fridge. It's great over ice cream and can be added to Jams etc

What do you suppose a teaspoon of that syrup would do added to an Apple-tini?
Can you tell it's cocktail hour? LOL!
Linda C

LOL, New Young Annie, I'm glad you liked them! I love 'em and can't keep them around or I'd eat too many. The lemon sorbet sandwiches sound impossibly delicious, OMG, ginger and lemon? Two of my favorite flavors.

Michael you are one of my very favorite imaginary friends too......

Old Original Annie

OOA, and NewA, I like it!
;)
Loves2Cook I have GOT to try that ginger recipe some time! Thanks for posting it and the picture, very inspiring. I can't ever post pics, :( no camera. So I have to live vicariously thru others.
I think ginger cookies are my favorites, although they could be tied with chocolate chip, which sometimes I have just GOT to have. I'm eating so-so gingerbread this week, but I much prefer any type of ginger recipe with the crystalized ginger. I'm out and haven't seen it lately at the market, they used to carry it in the international section at Wegman's but not any more. I can order from Penzeys but so expensive. I am just about due for an order from them though, I'm out of vanilla sugar, (for chai), and cardamom pods. I love mixing the ginger, cardamom, cinnamon stix and a few cloves and pieces of nutmeg in a little spice ball in with my tea. Add milk and sweeten with vanilla sugar--yum, and I can control the level of sweet unlike the overly cloying stuff they sell at most chai places.
But even better is a ginger cookie with my tea. That's how grandma always had afternoon tea, with gingerbread cookies most of the time. Also probably good with lemon cookies, which I have never made but want to. Lemon ginger would be fab too!

My apologies! It was a hard day for me; I over-reacted and did not communicate properly. Written "e-mail" comes off poorly sometimes and in this case -- absolutely. The cookies are wonderful -- you'll love them. Tonight I'm doing Lou's rump roast instructions! Everyone -- stand by for another opinion! You all are the best!
Annie'71

Had to bump this up because everyone should try this recipe. I made these last week and only made one change due to ingredients on hand. We're all such cooks here, wouldn't you know I had candied ginger on hand, but not enough molasses? I was 1/4 cup short, so I just used corn syrup so as not to change the texture.
OMG, these cookies are wonderful. Mine are more like gingersnaps in texture. I also used the wilton sugar crystals. I have to keep these cookies in the freezer so I don't eat them all at once. But, they are great right from the freezer. Really, my new favorite cookie (gently nudging Willows apple cookies from SharonB into second place.)
Can't wait to try it with the full amt of molasses.
Thanks again for the recipe.
Jo

Jo, that's why I don't make them very often, they can be eaten nearly straight from the freezer. (grin) And they make a HUGE batch. Somehow I always think I'll cut the batch in half and somehow, I never do. LOL

I really like Willow's Apple Cookies too, though, and now I have to try Deb's (momto4kids) Vanilla Dreams.

Annie

jojoco: Don't keep them in the freezer!! Give them away, unless you can resist them calling to you. They are definitely delicious frozen as well. I have padded out to the freezer in my PJ's and fuzzy slippers before bed for those bad boys!
Annie '71

Annie1971 :
How did I get involved in this ???
Let me know how the Rump Roast turns out.
If it is good then maybe I'll try it. LOL
LOU

I've taken the advice from Annie "71. the cookies are no longer stored in my freezer. They are now safely stored on my hips. (have to make more)

OMG!!! These are sooo goooood!!!

I grabbed the last few to take a picture. Have to make more. Can I rate them 10 out of 5

{{gwi:1527745}}

Loves2cook, that is one fantastic picture!

(Old Original) Annie

Loves2:

Did you have to put in that picture ?????

That's OK, I'll just eat another Pizzelle.
Lou

annie (OO) Thanks. Is that how they are supposed to look. They deflated a lot - I thought maybe they were a little too flat but not sure how to fix that.

Can I put your recipe on my new blog?

Mine usually look like that, if I want them a bit chewier or thicker I use half margarine/half shortening or all margarine, the butter makes them crispier but I like the flavor better. I also make sure not to overbake them, that makes them crispier too, mine look almost not done when I take them out sometimes.

By all means, you may use that recipe however you like, including on your new blog. Sol tried to convince me that I needed to start a blog, but I just have no interest at all, and no time either.

Annie

Thanks for the recipe for the ginger syrup, loves2cook! We once went to a tasting dinner at a Swedish restaurant in NYC and they served "appropriate" drinks with each course. The dessert course included fresh ginger aquavit and I think your syrup mixed with a little icy vodka would be fantastic! Thanks for the idea, LindaC :)

Woodie (a/k/a a Really Old Annie)

Lol Woodie..

Loves2cook, I really, really wish you hadn't posted that picture. I've been wanting these cookies since the subject came up. Christy doesn't like ginger anything so I'd be forced to eat them all myself. Moan... Oh, there may be help for me. I don't have any fancy big sugar so I guess I can't make em... heh.. I'll try to keep telling myself that... for a while.

Munching one as I type. mmmmm, mmmmm gooood

Hey coconut, as mentioned before, they do freeze well and you can eat them right out the freezer. Keeps them going longer

So these things mail well? They do look good, and if I mailed some right away I might eat fewer.

Who told everyone these were the best cookies ever?!! By the way -- they mail very well and if you freeze them, spread them with lemon sorbet, sandwich them and re-freeze -- amazing dessert.
Annie'71

Fori:
You could mail me some and I'll test them to be sure they are safe to eat.

Annie71:
How was the Rump Roast ?????
LOU

OK, I broke down and made some too. Sigh. I have no willpower.....

Fori, I think they'd stand up to shipping relatively well, but I don't know. None have ever made it out of my house.

(Old Original) Annie (but not as old as that other really old Annie, LOL)

Oh I just might...

Annie1992, those look great too. Good to see they look like mine - I was worried mine were too flat.

Please post a pic of them made into lemon sorbet sandwiches.

Annie1971, how did your mail recipients like them?

Alright--just had to thank you all for making me make these. My mail recipients were quite enthusiastic. (Baked Sunday, received and eaten Wednesday.) I used white whole wheat flour so I could pretend they were healthy.

Just a question on crystalized ginger--I forgot which type to get and got UNcrystalized. Seemed fine, but would it have been easier to chop if it were crystalized? I couldn't cut it in my mini processor.

fori, I've never put crystallized ginger in my food processor, I just dump it out on my cutting board and chop it up with a knife.

It's pretty sticky, though...

Annie

Thanks, Annie. I ended up using a knife. Annie '71 used a mini processor but mine just immediately gummed up and said 'NO'.

Unfortunately I got the spacing wrong on the first two sheets so they were A cookie instead of cookieS which meant I was forced to eat more than I mailed. Poor me! The spouse didn't really like them, nor did the 4 year old. Just me and the baby.

Good stuff--thanks for sharing!

fori in the beginning my kids didn't like them either but they were the only cookies in the house that week so eventually they all tried them again. Needless to say I think it's an aquired taste...they're all asking for more now.

If you take a little flour from the total in the recipe and toss it in with the ginger, it will chop more easily in the FP. Sugar also works, but it's more likely to "scar" the clear plastic.

I still usually do it by hand because I like doing things with a knife (which makes me sound violent). But in a pinch a lot of those sticky candied foods can be chopped easily if you just dust with flour or sugar.

Carol

Thanks for the tips. But I really ought not make these ever ever again. They are so hard to stop eating...I really should stop thinking about them. :)