Note: There is a super exciting announcement at the end of this post! So please read till the end…
Oh my goodness gracious. It is fall. Glorious, chilly, wonderful, boots and scarves and leggings and knits fall. Spices and pumpkins and apples and leaves fall. I know there will be some people who will be angry at me for ushering in the cold. And I do appreciate wearing flip flops all the time, believe me. But I just love really, really love cold weather. (I know: it is a good thing I live in Wisconsin.) These 90 degree days are not for me, and you know what else? They are not for baking. (Although, admittedly, I have had quite a fun time experimenting with lemons and herbs.)
But there is something about the first chilly week of fall. Even though fall is currently in the running for shortest season ever in Wisconsin (it’s neck and neck with spring), I still love it. I love not wearing a coat but wearing a sweater, wearing boots but not snow boots. I love baking with spices and especially baking with cinnamon. I love telling myself I’m going to go to eight apple orchards and live off of nothing but apples, applesauce, apple pie and cinnamon even though I never can get it together to actually go. And did I mention I love cinnamon? Because I’m pretty sure that that is the primary reason why I love cold weather.
This week. This week it is fall. So I did a weird thing. I baked on a weeknight. I baked on a weeknight when the light was poor and I have work tomorrow. I baked when I just got back from a trip to Pittsburgh, my hometown, and my awesome mom sent me home with enough food to feed an army. I am not kidding: I brought back five different kinds of cheeses (thank you Penn Mac), a bag of parmesan garlic popcorn (thank you Pittsburgh Popcorn Company), a stack of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted (thank you Rococo Chocolates), and heck, somehow I even came back with cookies and crack pie from Momofuku Milk Bar! (Thank you, thank you, thank you, little sister.)
But tonight, even though it is not an optimal time to bake, even though I have a ridiculous amount of food in the fridge, I baked. After all, it is fall. And I wanted something spicy and cinnamony and warm. And snickerdoodles were it. Fluffy and soft and accidentally-but-not-disastrously undercooked.
I also did something a little crazy to them. I chopped up crystallized ginger and snuck them in the dough. That was a good decision. It’s not overwhelming, but adds a zing and a little more chewiness. A good fall celebration all in one little pillow of a cookie.
And now, the exciting news…
Tasting Tuesdays at Anthropologie!
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m baking once a month for my local Anthropologie store in Milwaukee, WI! Every month, I’ll bake a recipe from a cookbook sold at Anthropologie. The treats will be on display for you to try–that’s right: goodies from my blog not on your computer screen, but actually in your stomach. Yum. And I’ll be there, too, of course, camera in hand! The featured recipe and photos of the event will be posted here afterwards.
The first one is September 20 at 10 AM and I’ll be baking from the Miette cookbook. RSVP on Facebook right here. I would LOVE to meet you and have you try my baking in person, so please come! And, if you’re feeling really social (har, har), feel free to “like” this blog on Facebook for instant updates, or follow me on Twitter for musings on baking and other things I love.
Snickerdoodles with Crystallized Ginger
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies
Makes about 15 cookes
1 cup plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
Just under 1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
Sugar coating: 2 tsp cinnamon + 2 tablespoons sugar mixed together
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, on medium speed in a standing mixer. Beat in egg; scrape sides. Mix in flour mixture in two additions on low speed until combined. Stir in crystallized ginger.
Create sugar coating (see above). Use a small cookie scoop to create tablspoon-sized balls of dough, rolling them in the sugar coating. Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets (give them room; the cookies spread).
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on your preference of underdoneness in a cookie, until edges are golden. They keep for three days in an airtight container.
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