Our Ginger Bread Woman
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Gifted and talented are the words that come to mind when Gigi Greene's name is mentioned. She's a skilled performer and sings, dances and acts. She's also a professional baker. We turn cartwheels when Gigi signs up to host coffee hour after church on Sundays.
Gigi’s Famous, Award-Winning Triple Ginger Cookies
I have been making this recipe for at least 25 years. Around 20 years ago, I entered them in a very small local contest, in which I won first place, so I’ve called them “award-winning” ever since! I make them every year at the holidays, and have ramped up production over the years from a few dozen to 10 dozen to 40 dozen, and more… Finally, I started selling them, since I was making them in commercial quantities anyway. I have always been happy to share the recipe. Here I have noted the specific brands I use so that I have consistent results, but they may not be available everywhere. One other “extra” thing I do is that I have an old coffee grinder that I use for spices, and grind my own cinnamon and cloves, but you can use regular ground spices, of course. If you can’t find ginger preserves, you can chop up some crystallized (candied) ginger instead. Be sure that when you measure the spices, you really mound them up as high as you can on the measuring spoon.
Makes about 3 dozen.
1 ¼ cups + 1 cup King Arthur unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup Imperial dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping teaspoon ground ginger
1 heaping teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
½ heaping teaspoon freshly ground cloves
1 ½ stick (12 Tablespoons) Falfurrias salted butter, room temperature
¼ cup Grandma’s molasses
1 large egg
1 heaping teaspoon peeled, grated fresh ginger root, room temperature
1 heaping teaspoon ginger preserves
½ cup granulated or turbinado sugar, for rolling
In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, put 1 ¼ cups flour and all the rest of the ingredients (except for the granulated sugar for rolling). Beat until thoroughly combined.
Add the remaining cup of flour and beat in.
For best results, cover the bowl and let this mixture sit overnight at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Scoop the dough into 1 inch balls (a 1 oz food portioner/scoop is ideal!).
Roll each ball in granulated or turbinado sugar and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350F on top rack for 7-10 minutes, or until set and tops are crackled.
Allow to cool on pans for a few minutes, then transfer to racks to finish cooling.
This recipe doubles easily.
Recipe from Gigi Greene, The Ginger Bread Woman & Verve Traditional Cooking
I have been making this recipe for at least 25 years. Around 20 years ago, I entered them in a very small local contest, in which I won first place, so I’ve called them “award-winning” ever since! I make them every year at the holidays, and have ramped up production over the years from a few dozen to 10 dozen to 40 dozen, and more… Finally, I started selling them, since I was making them in commercial quantities anyway. I have always been happy to share the recipe. Here I have noted the specific brands I use so that I have consistent results, but they may not be available everywhere. One other “extra” thing I do is that I have an old coffee grinder that I use for spices, and grind my own cinnamon and cloves, but you can use regular ground spices, of course. If you can’t find ginger preserves, you can chop up some crystallized (candied) ginger instead. Be sure that when you measure the spices, you really mound them up as high as you can on the measuring spoon.
Makes about 3 dozen.
1 ¼ cups + 1 cup King Arthur unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup Imperial dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping teaspoon ground ginger
1 heaping teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
½ heaping teaspoon freshly ground cloves
1 ½ stick (12 Tablespoons) Falfurrias salted butter, room temperature
¼ cup Grandma’s molasses
1 large egg
1 heaping teaspoon peeled, grated fresh ginger root, room temperature
1 heaping teaspoon ginger preserves
½ cup granulated or turbinado sugar, for rolling
In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, put 1 ¼ cups flour and all the rest of the ingredients (except for the granulated sugar for rolling). Beat until thoroughly combined.
Add the remaining cup of flour and beat in.
For best results, cover the bowl and let this mixture sit overnight at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Scoop the dough into 1 inch balls (a 1 oz food portioner/scoop is ideal!).
Roll each ball in granulated or turbinado sugar and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350F on top rack for 7-10 minutes, or until set and tops are crackled.
Allow to cool on pans for a few minutes, then transfer to racks to finish cooling.
This recipe doubles easily.
Recipe from Gigi Greene, The Ginger Bread Woman & Verve Traditional Cooking
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| Oven-Fried Chicken (Gluten-Free) |
When I was in college, in the mid-1980s, I signed up to help make dinner for Canterbury, the Episcopal Student Center. The adult in charge of that day’s dinner took me to the grocery store where we bought, among other supplies, a whole chicken. Back at the student center, I was given the job of unwrapping and rinsing the chicken. (Yes, now they tell us not to rinse it, but that was the conventional wisdom at the time.) Holding it under the stream of water, I was fascinated and a little weirded out by the feeling of holding a mostly-whole dead animal – I guess before that, I had only ever handled chicken pieces that had already been cut up at the grocery store.
Fast forward 30 years, and I am buying whole chickens at the Farmer’s Market from a Regenerative Agriculture farmer, which is the most economical way to buy them. A roast chicken is lovely, but sometimes you want to cook it in pieces, so I had to learn how to cut it up myself! I found a really great tutorial on YouTube from the New York Times cooking section: https://youtu.be/GSvzRyu2h5g Every time I need to cut up a chicken I go watch it again to refresh my memory.
When I’m not buying chicken from the Farmer’s Market, there is a brand we like at the grocery store, but since the COVID-19 quarantine, we have not been able to find it, so now we’ve been buying whole chickens at the store as well. I’m enjoying my new skill, and as she points out in the video, the bonus in cutting up your own chicken is that you get the back and you can make stock!
I’ll do another whole post on the how and WHY of stock and broth, but for now, here’s what I do in this case: As I cut up the chicken, I toss the back and the wing-tips into a dutch oven and cover it with water. I put it on the stove and start it heating while we prepare the rest of the chicken for the oven. Once that’s done, the water will be boiling and some foam will have risen to the surface. I reduce the heat and skim the foam, and add a quarter of an onion, a clove or two of garlic, a few peppercorns, a single clove, and a couple of carrots in large pieces. Optional: a teaspoon or so of black seed (Nigella Sativa), some pieces of ginger, which makes it taste kind of Chinese, maybe half of star anise, which makes it taste Vietnamese! I let that simmer while the rest of the chicken bakes, and we eat supper. After supper, I turn it off and let it cool for a while. Before going to bed, I strain it and put the stock into the refrigerator. Easy!
Now whether you buy the pieces or cut them yourself, make this delicious, oven “fried” chicken! This recipe calls for lard. I’m that crazy person rendering her lard from pigs raised on pasture, but if you don’t have it or can’t deal with it, you can use expeller-pressed or refined coconut oil, or any neutral oil that you have on hand. This recipe also calls for arrowroot or tapioca starch, which are staples in my pantry. If you don’t care about gluten, you can certainly use all-purpose flour, but the starches give a lovely light crust that we love. I also recommend Kerrygold or another European style high butterfat butter for this recipe.
Fast forward 30 years, and I am buying whole chickens at the Farmer’s Market from a Regenerative Agriculture farmer, which is the most economical way to buy them. A roast chicken is lovely, but sometimes you want to cook it in pieces, so I had to learn how to cut it up myself! I found a really great tutorial on YouTube from the New York Times cooking section: https://youtu.be/GSvzRyu2h5g Every time I need to cut up a chicken I go watch it again to refresh my memory.
When I’m not buying chicken from the Farmer’s Market, there is a brand we like at the grocery store, but since the COVID-19 quarantine, we have not been able to find it, so now we’ve been buying whole chickens at the store as well. I’m enjoying my new skill, and as she points out in the video, the bonus in cutting up your own chicken is that you get the back and you can make stock!
I’ll do another whole post on the how and WHY of stock and broth, but for now, here’s what I do in this case: As I cut up the chicken, I toss the back and the wing-tips into a dutch oven and cover it with water. I put it on the stove and start it heating while we prepare the rest of the chicken for the oven. Once that’s done, the water will be boiling and some foam will have risen to the surface. I reduce the heat and skim the foam, and add a quarter of an onion, a clove or two of garlic, a few peppercorns, a single clove, and a couple of carrots in large pieces. Optional: a teaspoon or so of black seed (Nigella Sativa), some pieces of ginger, which makes it taste kind of Chinese, maybe half of star anise, which makes it taste Vietnamese! I let that simmer while the rest of the chicken bakes, and we eat supper. After supper, I turn it off and let it cool for a while. Before going to bed, I strain it and put the stock into the refrigerator. Easy!
Now whether you buy the pieces or cut them yourself, make this delicious, oven “fried” chicken! This recipe calls for lard. I’m that crazy person rendering her lard from pigs raised on pasture, but if you don’t have it or can’t deal with it, you can use expeller-pressed or refined coconut oil, or any neutral oil that you have on hand. This recipe also calls for arrowroot or tapioca starch, which are staples in my pantry. If you don’t care about gluten, you can certainly use all-purpose flour, but the starches give a lovely light crust that we love. I also recommend Kerrygold or another European style high butterfat butter for this recipe.
Oven-Fried Chicken (Gluten-Free)
1/3 cup lard or oil
1/3 cup butter
1 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch, or all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano or marjoram
8-10 chicken pieces
Oven 375°F, convection if you have the option.
Place the lard and butter in a shallow cooking pan and place into the oven to melt.
In a large paper sack, combine the dry ingredients.
Roll the chicken pieces, three at a time, in the butter and lard, then drop into the sack and shake to coat them in the flour mixture. Place the pieces on a plate until all of them are coated.
Leave any excess butter and lard in the pan.
Place the chicken pieces in the pan, skin side down.
Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.
Turn the pieces over and bake for 10 minutes longer, until the crust is nice and bubbly.
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