It Happens to the Best
The cookie jar was just about empty. I pulled one of my grandmother’s recipes for ginger cookies. They have always been a hit.
There were definite issues from the get go. Not enough butter in the house for the 3/4 cup. Hmm. Online, Crisco Coconut solid shortening was said to be good for baking. We would give it a try. All ingredients were on the kitchen counter just as in the days of baking demos for 4-H.
Whipping the shortening with the white and brown sugar . . . we were in it! Adding one egg at a time it began looking promising. Until . . . I looked down and saw that the 1/3 cup measure cup showed that the Crisco had been in it. The quarter cup was as clean as a whistle. I had added a total of a full cup of the shortening. We were at a point of no return. All I could think of was adding an additional 1/4 cup of flour and say a Martha Stewart prayer. This for sure was not a good thing.
I put in a tray with just four rolled out balls of the molasses and spice rich dough to see what would happen. They didn’t run off of the tray. After the allotted ten minutes the dough had not baked out sufficiently. At twelve minutes I pulled them out and let them cool. After cooling they remained extremely soft and left a definite grease mark on the parchment paper.
I went ahead full bore. Worse case, Dennis had better have his coffee cup ready for some dipping action as they did become quite solid as time went on.
The flavor was fantastic, texture . . . not so much. This recipe contains strap molasses, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, a bit of allspice and cinnamon.
I will tackle this recipe again . . . after I have butter on hand and after I hide the 1/3 measure cup. Faux pas happen to the best and I can tell you they will not stay in the cookie jar for long.
Tomorrow is another day and you cannot fail if you don’t at least try. So says the Grammie.