Ginger is the Warming Spice
RECIPES INCLUDED
Queen Bee Ginger Panforte
Rye Gingerbread Cookies
Chickpea Gingerbread Cookies
Gingerbread
By Sidonie Maroon
I always keep ginger on hand and use it in both savory and sweet dishes. It’s a popular ingredient in world cuisines from India and Indonesia to Germany. In ancient Rome and China, it was the favored spice for cooking. By the ninth century it had arrived in Europe and was so popular in England that it was used on the table like salt and pepper.
Ginger Aid
Ginger, more than any other spice we use, warms us from the inside out. It has excellent culinary and medicinal qualities, and is rich in phytonutrients called gingerols, which are anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, antiviral and anti-disease! Doesn’t it sound like the perfect winter ingredient?
Ways to use Ginger in Winter
Ginger Garlic and Turmeric Vinegar Paste
This is a great way to preserve and use my favorite trio. Chop up equal parts fresh ginger, garlic and turmeric and grind them into a paste in a small food processor. Put in a small jar and cover with apple cider vinegar. Store in the fridge. I use it in soups and stews, salad dressings, marinades…. It quickly becomes indispensable.
Ginger Garlic and Turmeric Roasted Roots with Coconut Gravy
Transform ordinary roasted vegetables by rubbing them with oil, salt and a flavor paste of equal parts ginger, garlic and turmeric. I roast on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper at 425 F for about 45 minutes. Try potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions. When they’re almost done, add the creamy solids from a can of coconut milk. Gently stir and allow the cream to reduce and thicken for 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve hot with greens like kale or collards.
Hot Hibiscus Ginger Punch
How to describe this wonderful warm drink? It’s purple, pink, spicy, warm and lemonade sour with just the right amount of added sweet. I make up a batch every few days in my Instant Pot.
To make hot hibiscus ginger punch: add 2 quarts of water, ¼ cup fresh chopped ginger and ½ cup dried hibiscus flowers to the Instant Pot and set it on the soup/broth cycle for 30 minutes with a natural release. Strain and fill two mason jars to keep in the fridge and heat as needed with sweetener to taste.
Ginger Cinnamon Turmeric and Black Pepper Tea
This is another hot drink that makes a cold morning brighter, or a long dark evening shorter. I love the spicy and creamy combination with plenty of sweet. To make the mix: blend and store in a quart mason jar: 1 cup cinnamon, 1 cup dried turmeric powder, 1 cup dried ginger powder, ¼ cup freshly ground black pepper. Use 1 tablespoon of the mix, per 2 cups of boiling water in a large mug. Add milk and sweetener to taste.
Liberated Gingerbread Spice
Here’s a gingerbread spice mix to use with black tea, or in custards, desserts or sprinkle on a baked squash or sweet potato. Find more of my gingerbread and cookie recipes on the Food Coop blog
Grind together: 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 4 whole cloves, 1/4 teaspoon allspice berries, ½ teaspoon coriander seed, ½ teaspoon fennel seed, ¼ teaspoon whole peppercorns, ¼ teaspoon decorticated cardamom, 1 tablespoon powdered ginger
On this longest night of the year— keep gingery and bright. Happy Solstice Everyone!
Queen Bee Ginger Panforte
Inspired by the famous Christmas sweet Panforte di Siena, a chewy Italian dessert with fruit and nuts. I kept the fruit and nuts, and added gingerbread spices with rich molasses. It makes an impressive offering, sliced with the pistachios shining out of the dark bread. You could shape it as a dessert sausage, or in the traditional panforte flat round or rectangular loaf. Serve chilled in thin slices.
Ingredients
1 cup cashews
½ cup pecans
½ cup pistachios
½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
½ cup pitted dates
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, ground into a paste
1 tablespoon ground chia or flax seeds
½ cup unsalted cold butter, cut into small pieces
¼ cup unsulfured black strap molasses
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Spices
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seed
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon decorticated cardamom
¼ teaspoon allspice berries
½ teaspoon coriander seed
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Directions
Read through the recipe and assemble ingredients and equipment.
Using a spice grinder, grind spices and salt together into a powder. Grind the chia or flax seeds.
Mince fresh ginger into a paste. A small food processor works well for this job.
In a preheated 350 F oven, on a parchment lined baking sheet, toast the nuts, dates and coconut together for 5 minutes. Watch that the coconut doesn’t burn. Stir and toast for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Pulse the ginger paste, ground spices, ground chia or flax, nuts, dates and coconut together in a food processor. Add the butter pieces, vinegar, vanilla and molasses. Pulse together into a chunky sticky mass.
On parchment paper, shape a round or rectangular loaf that’s ¾ inch thick. Alternatively, shape into two sausage shapes. Chill in the freezer until solid. Slice the loaf or sausages into ¼-inch slices. Wrap and store in the freezer until served. Beware, the butter will soften at room temperature.
Cookie Shaping Ideas
House Shaped Cookies
Not the whole gingerbread house, but a “house cookie”. I tried this by printing an online “witch’s house” coloring page. I used this one tiny witch’s cottage. Increase the size to 100% and cut out the outline and major windows. Roll out the dough to ¼ inch and lay down the template. Using a utility knife, cut out the house, windows and doors. Set the cut out cookie on a scrap of parchment paper. Now the fun begins — Use the dough scraps to make trim, roof shingles etc. Use piping tools to make marks and impressions. Use forks, chopsticks, anything that will make an interesting mark. You can distort the house shape to make it more fairy tale. Make animals, people, and other things to go with the house. Because there isn’t any 3-D construction, this project doesn’t frustrate. Instead, all the creative energy goes into designing the edifice. Chill the cookie for 10 minutes before baking. Bake at 350F for 7 to 9 minutes depending on its thickness.
Eat warm or cooled with a glass of milk or cocoa.
Angel Cookies
This one’s fun. Start with a large circle cutter or make one. Slice the circle so it makes two wings. Attach the wings in back and cut out a head circle to attach. Add on a face and embellishments with scrapes and marks. This is a good jumping off place for other people and creature shapes as the wings become arms or turn into something different. Make a whole angelic choir with a giant tree, or sun, or whatever which way you roll. What’s important is to make cookies that are art, mythic and edible. Chill the cookie for 10 minutes before baking. Bake at 350F for 7 to 9 minutes depending on its thickness.
Mandala Cookies
Cut out a giant circle and create a cookie based on geometry with patterns and embellishments. Cut out stained glass openings. THe only limits are your imagination and the strength of the dough. Chill the cookie for 10 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 F for 7 to 9 minutes depending on its thickness.
Cookie Cutters Go Wild
Use cookie cutters to create a basic shape and then mold and pinch into the shape you want. Embellish and mark to your heart’s desire. Chill the cookie for 10 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 F for 7 to 9 minutes depending on its thickness.
Tips and techniques
● If you have one, use a parchment lined tortilla press instead of rolling out dough
● Break out of the mold: one year everyone made Greek Gods and Goddess Cookies
● Use forks, chopsticks, and small cookie cutters to add dimension.
● Start with cookie cutter shapes and embellish from there.
● Keep it fun, don’t stress, have doughs made up ahead, delegate prep and clean-up.
● Express yourself
Note on the recipes — Yes, you can replace white flour for the rye in the first recipe. You can use spices you have on hand and you can substitute light molasses for dark.
Otherwise stick to the recipe.
Rye Gingerbread Cookies
Makes 15 average sized gingerbread people
Ingredients
2 ½ cups/300g rye flour
½ cup/80g potato starch
½ cup/70g tapioca starch
2 tablespoons/12g flax meal
½ cup/85g whole cane brown sugar
¾ cup/165g/1 ½ sticks cold unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks) cut into small chunks
1 cup/318g unsulphured blackstrap molasses
All the spice mix
Spice mix
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 whole cloves
½ teaspoon allspice berries
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon peppercorns
4 green cardamom pods
1 tablespoon dried ginger powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
Spice mix instructions
Combine all spices in a coffee or spice grinder
Grind into a powder
Sift through mesh strainer
Making the Dough
Assemble ingredients
Make spice mix
Cut butter pieces
Measure out molasses (oil the measuring cup for easy clean-up)
In a food processor, add dry ingredients spin until combined
Add butter pieces, pulse 10 times
With machine running, add molasses until the dough comes together
Portion the dough into 14 balls with a ¼ cup measure. Each ball will weigh approx. 75g
Press each ball into a 2 inch/ 5.5cm disk, cover and chill for ½ hour. If your dough is frozen, allow it to thaw until you’re able to roll it.
Notes: The dough is naturally soft and best worked chilled. Keep your scraps cold as you go along. You can make the dough by hand.
Forming and baking the cookies
Gather cookie cutters, rolling pin, chopsticks, pastry wheel... anything you can find that will make interesting textures or impression
Preheat the oven to 350 F/175C
Lightly flour individual work areas
Work on small pieces of parchment so that the cookies are lifted to the cookie sheet on the parchment paper
Cookies will need to be a similar thickness to bake evenly. Dough rolled ¼ inch/6.5mm thick is great.
Encourage everyone to work at their own level and have fun expressing themselves.
Bake for 7-9 minutes. Cookies will be soft when hot and firm up as they cool.
Why rye flour?
Rye is the traditional grain for gingerbread cake and cookies. It’s moist and doesn’t toughen like wheat because it has less gluten and a more complex flavor.
Why potato, tapioca, starches and flax meal?
Potatoes and rye complement each other. The potato starch helps produce the moist chew in the cookie centers. Don’t confuse potato starch with potato flour!
Tapioca starch creates the wonderful crispy edge on the cookie.
Flax meal is a powerful binder and makes a cookie that won’t crumble.
Why unsulphured blackstrap molasses?
I love the rich, dark flavor. If you don’t, then substitute honey. Historically, the gingerbread was made with honey.
Why whole spices?
They have a superior flavor! If you want excellent results, then always start with whole spices. It isn’t any harder than grinding your morning coffee.
Chickpea Gingerbread Cookies
Makes 7-10 averaged sized gingerbread people
Rollable dough made without grains or added starches. Delicious, but you will need a Vitamix to grind the flour.
Ingredients
Dry
½ cup pre-washed quinoa, heaping
⅓ cup raw chickpeas
½ cup raw buckwheat groats
2 tablespoons flax meal
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup coconut sugar
Spices
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 whole cloves
¼ teaspoon allspice berries
½ teaspoon coriander seed
½ teaspoon fennel seed
¼ teaspoon whole peppercorns
¼ teaspoon decorticated cardamom (taken out of pods)
1 ½ teaspoons powdered ginger
Wet
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick) cut into small pieces
½ cup black strap molasses
Directions
Using a Vitamix or high-powered blender, grind all the dry ingredients, including into a flour. I run the machine at the highest speed for 1 minute.
Sift through a sieve over a large mixing bowl.
Return the flour to the Vitamix. Add the butter pieces and pour in the molasses. I make a small well into the top of the flour. Mix at a medium high speed until a soft dough forms.
Remove the dough. Break into two even balls and form into flat disks. Chill the dough for 20 minutes.
Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes. This dough also makes molded shapes and raised forms well. Gather cookie cutters, rolling pin, chopsticks, pastry wheel... anything you can find that will make interesting textures or impressions.
Have baking sheets ready. Preheat the oven to 350 F/175C.
Work on small pieces of parchment and lift the parchment to the baking sheet. Cookies will need to be a similar thickness to bake evenly. Dough rolled ¼ inch/6.5mm thick is great.
Bake for 7-9 minutes. Cookies will be soft when hot and firm up as they cool.
Gingerbread
Makes a 9-inch round bread
Ingredients
Dry
½ cup raw pre-washed quinoa
¼ cup raw buckwheat groats
¼ cup raw chickpeas
¼ cup flax seeds
¼ cup carob powder
1 tablespoon psyllium seed husk powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
4 whole green cardamom pods
½ teaspoon allspice berries
3 whole cloves
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seed
Wet
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
½ cup melted butter or olive oil
1 cups soy or whole dairy milk
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup unsulfured blackstrap molasses
½ cup pitted dates
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
Directions
Line a nine-inch cake pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350℉.
Using a high-powered blender at high speed for 1 minute, grind the dry ingredients into a flour. Sift into a mixing bowl and regrind any larger pieces.
Puree the wet ingredients until creamy (about ½ a minute). Using a rubber spatula, blend into the flour. Level the batter into the cake pan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200℉ Invert it onto a plate and allow it to cool before slicing.
