Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange Blog Hop ~ My Day!


 
It is Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange Time! 


Welcome to my home for Christmas! 

This is my favorite blog hop of the year.

For this year, I wanted to make a gingerbread cookie with candied ginger. 

I started with this "flight" of cookies for sampling to decide on the "best" recipe.


In the end, I made them three ways for everyone to choose.

My Ginger Snowball Cookies ~ Three Ways 

are for the ... 


Please visit all my friends today: 

December 7
Life in the Scrapatch (you are here)

My Ginger Snowballs are based on this recipe:

Gingerbread Snowballs @ Crazy For Crust

I made this as shown and then added the other goodies.


I gathered my ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground  allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

  • I preheated my oven to 325° and lined two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

  • I mixed butter in my kitchen mixer until fluffy. Added the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and molasses and mixed until smooth. Added flour and mixed until a smooth dough formed. The last part was done by hand. 

  • For basic recipe, I scooped 1 tablespoon of dough, rolled into ball and in powdered sugar and placed on prepared cookie sheet.

  • I baked my cookies for 15 minutes until bottoms were just slightly brown.  After removing from the oven I let them set 5 minutes and then re-rolled them in powdered sugar.


  • For my test flight of cookies, made one plain rolled in powdered sugar, one plain thumbprint rolled in demerara sugar cookie with blackberry jam, 


  • two with just finely chopped candied ginger rolled in powdered sugar, 

  • two with finely ground walnuts added to the candied ginger
  •  and rolled in nuts, 


  • and three with finely chopped golden raisins added to the nuts and ginger, two rolled in powdered sugar and one in demerara sugar. 


  •  Then Mr. Scrapatch and I tested while we decorated our tree. 
 In the end, we did not decide on a favorite. 
Mr Scrapatch enjoyed the ones with just nuts and ginger 
and liked the fact that the spices were not too strong.
These cookie were not very "spicy" on the ginger/clove scale.
If you like your gingerbread cookies to have a bit of bite,
 you may want to double the spices. 


I found the ones with chopped candied ginger, nuts and golden raisins 
had a nice moist and flavorful chew.


So I made all three kinds.

To the basic dough, I added one cup of finely chopped candied ginger and scooped, rolled in demerara sugar and baked this batch of cookies.

Then I added 3/4 cup of finely ground walnuts and made another batch rolled in the extra ground nuts.

Then I added 1/2 cup of finely chopped golden raisins and rolled this batch in powdered sugar.

The recipe would make about one dozen of each kind of cookies this way. 


I had hoped to have my Gingerbread Cookie Cross Stitch
completed for this post, but I have very busy doing other things.
I sat today and enjoyed my tree and latte and cookie break
while Maestro enjoyed The Tree.


Nutmeg snagged and enjoyed my comfy chair. 


Thank you for visiting us today.
I hope you have enjoyed my virtual cookies this year. 

May your Christmas be merry and bright and full with delicious cookies this year! 


30 comments:

Dorian said...

Good morning Pat! Your house is looking very festive and bright :) Sounds like you had a lot of fun with your cookie experiment. Have a lovely day.

Rebecca Smith said...

I wouldnt have thought of some of those combinations but they all sound good!

Rebecca Smith said...

I wouldn’t have thought of some of your gingerbread combinations but they all sound delicious.

Stitchin At Home said...

I love gingerbread and those cookies look so tempting! Happy Holidays!

Gretchen Weaver said...

I love ginger cookies, enjoy snacking on them. Happy stitching!

Inflorescencedesigns said...

Thank you for sharing your recipe variations! They look really good!

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

Thoroughly enjoyed your entry in this Cookie Exchange! Making my mouth water though. Your place is looking so lovely and Christmasy!

piecefulwendy said...

I like gingerbread pretty much any way I can get it. I'm fascinated by the idea of candied ginger in the cookie, so I might have to try that sometime. I've done more baking than stitching lately too - you've been busy!

Brenda @ Songbird Designs said...

These sound really good! I like ginger but not too spicy. Candied ginger sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Calicojoan said...

These sound absolutely delightful! Oh my goodness, you house looks beautiful as well. You are definitely decked out for the holidays!

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

I love ginger!!! Looks delicious!!!

Karrin Hurd said...

While I was going through recipes, I found one similar to these. You have convinced me I need to try these two! Thanks for the recipe and loved your decorations!

Carol Swift said...

Oh yum! I love ginger cookies so these look like something I need to make. I've never used candied ginger before, but now I want to. Thank you for sharing all the ways to make them. Love your decorations! xo

Linda said...

Those photos look sooooo cozy with the cookies, the kitties, the cute little gingerbread cross stitch, and your beautiful tree - makes me want to go knock on your door! I love snowballs but I've not tried ginger ones - sounds and looks delicious!

Anorina @SameliasMum said...

Oooooh yummy! I love ginger but have never tried baking any of my own ginger cookies. Thanks for sharing your yummy bake and a little look into your festive home.

Beatrice said...

Your cookies look delicious, and I love that cute little snowman/penguin tray!

CathieJ said...

Oh, I love how you changed up that basic cookie. I have to try these and also some of your variations. I am looking forward to seeing the gingerbread cross-stitch.

Carol Andrews said...

So much fun looking at your photos with your tree and decorations making it so festive. I think I need to make and sample (hah) all of the cookies! Thank you for sharing.

Carla said...

What a fun way to add different flavors. Your tree is so pretty. Merry Christmas, Pat.

Cynthia's Creating Ark said...

Very handy to be able to adjust the recipe to suit. Thanks.

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

The tree is gorgeous! You finished the Christmas quilt! It looks fabulous on your couch. The cookies look fabulous, and I love that you tried 3 different ways. I was thinking about that today with a cookie recipe since I have a kid with a nut allergy.

Joy from Days Filled With Joy said...

Mmmm they look good! And I love your Christmas tree! I still need to get mine up... sigh... ! xx

Carol said...

All of those cookies sound good! Thanks for sharing your baking adventure and photos.

Denise said...

These look really good, thank you.

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Pat! Your home looks so festive and inviting. Just where one would like to pull up with a cuppa and three different gingerbread cookies to enjoy! Just to be a good friend, you know, to determine if one should be proclaimed the 'best' after all. The kitties don't take an interest in the cookies? I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas! {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

tink's mom said...

Thanks for the Christmas visit and all those wonderful versions of your cookie.

thatfabricfeeling.wordpress.com said...

Your goodies look amazing. I love easy and those actually look like something I could whip up quickly. Thanks so much for sharing. I wish you a very Happy Holiday.

Sharon said...

So glad that your baking experiment resulted in three wins! Thanks for sharing, and Merry Christmas to you!

LA Paylor said...

OH YUM!!!

Danice G said...

All three look super tasty. Happy holidays wishes to you and your family.