you say goodbye, i say hello

>> August 26, 2009

the past week has been a giant tornado of suitcases, boxes, plastic bags, unpacking, repacking, unpacking again, unloading, stairs, elevators, sticky-tack, and 4 thousand trips to wegmans/target/bookstore. moving back to campus early, staying with a friend for 3 days (sleeping on the floor, may i add -- thanks for no cot there, shc), and then moving into a new apartment is stressful. i'm still stressed. and i still can't find my gray tanktop.

but, the beacon of light in the middle of all of this mess:

20090817-005
carrot cake cookies with white chocolate chips and candied ginger

on tuesday night, after a very long day of packing for 2 separate move-ins (one set of luggage for the dorm stay and another room-full of luggage/boxes/bags/uhauls/spaceships/ufos... for the apartment move-in), i needed a release.

i have four therapy options that range on a spectrum of health effects:
healthiest: gym/running and a solid round of stretching/pilates/yoga to cool down
slightly less healthy: baking (health level varies by product, ingredients, amount of raw input consumed, and amount of baked output consumed)
not at all healthy: lemon-drop martinis washed down with whiskey sours.
effect unknown: assuming slug position on the couch.

i'd already gone to the gym, and i needed to run 400 errands between 8am and 2pm on wednesday, so the not at all healthy option was out of the picture. not wanting to resort to being a complete waste of life, i chose to bake. i really wanted to make carrot cake, but transporting it up to school would be hard with icing, and seriously, what's the point of carrot cake if you can't go into a sugar-coma from the cream cheese frosting? none. that's right.

i browsed through my macgourmet files and found a recipe for carrot cake cookies from gourmet magazine. my roommate is adamantly opposed to raisins, and i don't like walnuts in my carrot cake... so i had to adapt. i still had some candied ginger left over from the nyc trip and the ginger cookies, and i found a bag of white chocolate chips from god knows when in the pantry. awesome.

they kind of stuck together in the box because i didn't use wax paper between the layers, but i assume that the sticky crumbs and pieces left in the box are a testament to their fabulousness. i'm all about self-promotion. i'm a damn good cookie maker.

tommorow there will be bare feet.. and pizza! yum.

carrot cake cookies
adapted from gourmet
makes about 30 cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
2-3 medium carrots, peeled
1/4 cup candied ginger, whole pieces
3 ounces white chocolate chips

Using a food processor (or a grater, if you feel like being manual), finely chop the carrots and ginger together. The ginger is sticky, and trying to chop it by hand or alone in the food pro is an absolute mess. I don't know how grating it would work, so let me know.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar for 1 minute, then add egg and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the carrot/ginger mixture and mix to combine. Working in batches, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until a sticky dough forms. Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Place the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes while you preheat the over to 375* (you can skip this step and just preheat the oven before you start). Using a scoop or 2 spoons, drop the dough in roughyl 1 tbls mounds onto prepared baking sheets (I love my mom's silpat). Don't try to squeeze more than 12 onto one regular-sized sheet; they spread a bit.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, turning halfway through and switching racks if necessary, until the edges are browned and they're springy when you touch them. Cool on sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a baking rack to cool all the way. Eat immediately, but if you want to be civil... store in an air-tight container with wax paper between the layers to avoid the mess I ended up with.


ciao,
J

1 comments:

Brittany (HeCooksSheCooks.net) December 15, 2009 at 2:50 PM  

Candied ginger sounds soo much better than raisins or walnuts!

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