This time of year is kind off “meh” for me. The in between of the Holiday’s ending and the daily wondering, Spring, is that you?
However, what I do love about this season is how much time I spend in my kitchen. There is usually no other place I’d rather be than creating in my kitchen. Throwing ingredients together to make something beautiful—the kind of art you can eat. I love diving into new recipes, losing track of time. I love returning back to the battered and splattered used recipes cards, the tried and true family favorites, the beauty in the known.
Over the Holiday’s this year I played with some recipes and added essential oils to my creations. Oh the beauty! It brought flavor to my tastebuds that made me want to dance.
This weekend I made some Molasses Ginger Cookies for some friends that were coming over to watch a movie. As I was throwing the ingredients together I realized I was out of ground ginger and ground nutmeg...so I grabbed my ginger and nutmeg essential oils and added a few drops to the batter. Delicious is what happened with that decision. Sometimes I add essential oils to my recipes, and sometimes I don’t., that’s the beauty of creating. I love having the option to use them, and so many oils to choose from, they pack a flavor punch and make your recipes so unique.
I adapted this recipe from Eve and Eivin Kilcher’s book Homestead Kitchen. It is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks and whenever I read it I am often starting conversations asking DJ if we can become Homesteaders. I want my own chickens, I want to pickle and can and make my own butter. But for now, we will take it one step at a time. Sometimes I mill my own flour for this recipes, all though I have found that it doesn’t make them quite and chewy, but it does add a different, beautiful texture and flavor.
Molasses Ginger Cookies
1/2 c. butter (I use vegan butter)
1/4 c. grapeseed or sunflower oil
1 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/4 c. uncultured molasses
1 large egg
2 1/2 c. flour (All purpose, whole wheat or a mix off the two)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
5 drops ginger essential oil
3 drops nutmeg essential oil
Brown sugar or white sugar to roll cookies in
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream the butter, oil, brown sugar and molasses. Once mixed, add the egg.
In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, folding them in. Add the ginger and nutmeg essential oil, mix until well combined.
Using a table spoon, scoop a heaping T. of the dough, using your hands form it into a ball and roll in sugar. Repeat until you have all cookies formed, about 36. Place them 1 inch a part on the baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes.
Once done baking, remove them from baking sheet and allow to cool on a cookie rack.