If you like peanut butter cups and ginger, these cookies are for you. These chocolate peanut butter cookies are kissed with candied ginger. I've used a variety of sugars, syrups, and nut butters but one type of each will certainly do. (i.e. use 1/2 cup of a nut butter, 1/4 cup of syrup, 1 1/4 cup of sugar) Use a vegetable shortening in place of butter and all except for the addition of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups these cookies are vegan.

Chocolate Ginger Peanut Butter Cookies
Yield: approximately 3 dozen

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 T dark semisweet cocoa powder

1/2 cup softened organic butter (or vegan shortening)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/8 cup cashew butter
1/8 cup almond butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 cup liquid measure sorghum syrup
1/8 cup liquid measure molasses
1/2 cup soy milk

1 cup raw demerara sugar
1/4 cup sucanat sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped dried ginger
1/2 bag of individually wrapped Reese's Miniature Peanut Butter Cups, chopped coarsely

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl sift together the dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa powder.

Cream the butter and nut butters together in a separate mixing bowl. Add syrups, extract, sugars, and soy milk. Mix thoroughly. Set the mixer on low and gradually add the dry ingredients to form a moist dough. Fold in the chopped ginger and peanut butter cups. You can make the dough in advanced and place the dough into the refrigerator for an hour or two or work with it as it is.

Using a teaspoon, drop dough by rounded spoonfuls onto the baking sheet and bake approximately 10 minutes. Cookies will flatten out as they bake. Rotate sheets if necessary. Cookies are finished when the tops form deep crevices. Cookies burn easily watch them carefully. Upon removing sheet from the oven, let cookies sit on the sheet briefly before moving to a cooling rack. Cookies will harden as they cool. If soft cookies are desired, reduce the baking time or place a piece of bread in the cookie tin or box. Enjoy!

Apple Snitz is everywhere this time of the year.  The apples are harvested in the fall and over winter the slices dry. Apple Snitz or Schnitz, is a Pennsylvania German (Pa Dutch) term for dried apple slices. Last Saturday I took my mom to Central Market in Lancaster and we stocked up on local produce, enjoyed lunch at a middle eastern stand, and enjoyed each other's company. I picked up two bags of apple snitz, one from tart apples the other sweet apples, two large acorn squash, spring onions, red potatoes, dried beans, rolled oats, and more.

While the season is still cold this early March, I thought I'd enjoy one last winter meal  before spring begins. This recipe combines the sweet flavors of dried apples, sugared dried ginger, with the nutty flavors in the bulgur and squash.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Bulgur, Apple Snitz, and Ginger
Serves 2 as a main dish

1 large acorn squash, halved, seeds removed
1 cup bulgur
2 cups water
1/4 generous cup roughly chopped low sugar dried ginger
1/4 generous cup roughly chopped tart apple snitz
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
drizzle of your favorite nut oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add bulgur and cover. Reduce heat. While bulgur is cooking chop ginger and apple snitz. Near to the very end of cooking add chopped ginger, apple snitz, and chipotle pepper to the bulgur. Cover for approximately 5 minutes, stir and fluff with a fork. Reserve to the side. Place squash with their flesh facing towards you in an oven safe pan and using a spoon fill the centers with the bulgur mixture. Fill the bottom of the pan with 1" of water to surround the squash, careful not to splash. Drizzle the smallest amount of walnut oil on top of the filled squash, then cover. Bake for approximately 50 mins or until the squash is fork tender. Remove from oven and serve. 

There's a recipe in Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking for Ginger-Amaranth Shortbread. I switched some of the sugar, added peanut butter, cut them into small square bites and covered them with a ginger icing. These are soft shortbreads, not very dry, and leave a buttery kiss on your tongue.

 Ginger Amaranth Shortbreads
Adapted from Heidi Swanson, Super Natural Cooking

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1 T ground ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened/room temperature
1/3 cup sucanat
1/3 cup natural cane sugar
1 1/2 T low fat creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup (scant) chopped dried sugared ginger

Icing: 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 cup powdered sugar, and soy creamer

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flours, salt and ground ginger.

With a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter until fluffy. Add the sugars, and the peanut butter. Continue to mix and add the dry ingredients. Fold in the chopped ginger. Knead the dough if necessary and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 35-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes or form 1/4" rounds and place onto parchment covered cookie sheet. Freeze the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes before placing into the oven to preserve desired shapes. Bake for 10 minutes more or less depending on the size of the cookie until slightly golden.

Remove and cool. Using a fork, mix together powdered sugar, and teaspoon of ground ginger. Adjust to taste, and spread on top of each cooled cookie. Let cookies rest on the sheet or cooling rack until the icing has hardened.       

 

One of my favorite recipes from the Veganomicon cookbook is for Peanut Ginger Sesame Cookies. I've made them for family on multiple occasions. Now, I'm whipping up a batch for our friends we're going to visit in Germany.

My adaptation makes this recipe not Vegan. I use real butter. My flours and syrups are different as well. I add more ginger and omit the extracts.

Peanut Ginger Sesame Cookies
Adapted from the Veganomicon Cookbook

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1 /2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup super chunky peanut butter
1/8 cup (dry measure) sorghum syrup
1/8 cup (dry measure) baking molasses
1 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup soy milk
4-6oz dried candied ginger, diced into pieces
white and black sesame seeds (if desired) for rolling

Preheat: 350 degrees

In a medium to large mixing bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground ginger and cinnamon together. In a large stand mixing bowl, cream the butter, and add peanut butter, sorghum syrup and molasses, sugar and soy milk. Slowly add the flour mixture to combine. Fold in the chopped ginger.

Roll into walnut sized balls, roll the balls into sesame seeds and bake, 10-15 mins. I like them soft and chewy, so I only bake them for about 10 minutes.