snowed in

I had plans to travel back to my parents house for the holidays today, but several inches of snow foiled those plans.

Instead, I was forced to stay inside, drink hot chocolate, listen to soma.fm's "x-mas in frisko" station, and bake gingerbread cookies all day.

They're not the prettiest cookies since I didn't have a piping bag to put on the frosting. However, they are very delicious, if I do say so myself. I've been on a fresh ginger kick lately and happened to have some in the refrigerator left over from some other cooking project-it really amped up the flavor in these cookies.

Gingerbread Cookies

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. grated fresh ginger (I used a microplane)

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp. maple syrup

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

about 1 tsp. vanilla

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, soda, spices, salt.) Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and combine.

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, working with half the dough at a time, roll 1/8 inch thick. With floured cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes. Using a metal spatula, place cookies 1/2 inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until very lightly browned.

Royal Icing

Recipe from Alton Brown

Note: I used only about 2 cups of sugar and 2 egg whites and still had a lot more than I needed to frost the cookies.

3 ounces pasteurized egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners' sugar

In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

thanksgiving: shoo fly pie.

I'm posting this pie I made at thanksgiving because I just finished all of my work for the semester and had zero time to do anything since thanksgiving except for frantically design stuff, eat ramen, and get very little sleep. It was nice to take a break on Thanksgiving day, even though I didn't have enough time to go home and visit my family. I made this pie to bring to a Pittsburgh thanksgiving gathering with some friends, and it was a good night with good people.

I chose to represent my home area of Pennsylvania by bringing a traditional wet bottom shoo fly pie. These can be a little tricky to make and I ended up having to bake two pies from different recipes to get one that worked. It ended up being delicious even if it's not as beautiful as the ones I've seen back home. This pie has an intense, sweet molasses flavor with a nice crunchy crumb topping.

Shoo Fly Pie

1.2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. molasses

3/4 c. boiling water

9" unbaked pie shell

Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and combine with molasses and pour into pie shell.

Crumbs:

3/4 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. shortening (or butter)

1/2 tsp. salt

Combine dry ingredients with shortening. Use hands to make into crumbs. Put over top of liquid. Bake pie at 400 degrees until crust starts to brown, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake until firm, make sure to watch the pie and test it with a toothpick to see when it's firm.