In college I worked at a video store and had to wear this really ugly red polo shirt that proudly declared me an employee of the Movie Gallery. An awful screener tape of movie previews would come in once a month from corporate and we were forced to play it over and over throughout our shifts. Needless to say this was total torture. When The Family Man was released on DVD the Talking Heads Song “Once in a Lifetime” played in the commercial. Whenever that segment would queue up my fellow unhappy co-workers of the day and I would yell out, “how did I get here!” along with the television.

That loop of new releases was maddening and eventually everything would begin to look like absolutely fascinating cinema. When Dude, Where’s my Car starts to look like an appealing rental you have to get a little suspicious about the potential of possible subliminal marketing ploys…

There was one perk to my nightly “your DVD is late” calls and re-shelving drudgery — we received a lot of advanced screener copies of films before they were released to the public. Once upon a time one of the movies I took home was Ginger Snaps. I’d categorize it as a coming-of-age anxiety film with werewolves. It’s dark but actually pretty clever for a horror film. In fact, one of the professors I work with just showed it in a class, which is how the memory of this little film (and my video store stint) was initially jogged in my mind.

Obviously the film Ginger Snaps has nothing to do with the cookies called Gingersnaps. My personal gingersnaps memories are mostly of eating them out of the brown paper bag packaging that they came in at the grocery store. Those cookies are always hard as rocks though and since I’m a chewy cookie girl I opted to under cook these a bit for a softer texture. My favorite part of this recipe is that it calls for white pepper which is a spice I love and sadly rarely use. The flavor it gives these cookies is off the charts! So go watch that scary movie (it’s available on iTunes) and eat a plate of sassy snacks. Tis the season.

Gingersnaps (makes about 5 1/2 dozen cookies)
Originally Published In: A Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
Extra sugar for rolling

Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium speed for several minutes until smooth, light, and fluffy. Add spices and mixed until combined.

Add egg and mix to combine. Add molasses and mix to combine.

Add flour mixture and mix to just combine.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 12-inch log and wrap in parchment or plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until firm enough to slice. Dough may be refrigerated up to 2 days or stored in the freezer, wrapped airtight, for two weeks (thaw in refrigerator overnight before using).

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease several cookie sheets. Fill a small bowl with the sugar reserved for rolling.

Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut slices 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Coat slices in sugar and place on sheets about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 6-10 minutes; for chewy cookies, remove from oven when each cookie is just holding its shape when nudged. For crispy cookies, bake until edges are set and center is slightly soft. Cool sheets on wire racks for a couple of minutes before transferring cookies directly ontp wire racks with a spatula to finish cooling.

A few weeks ago Sarah, of Sweets by Sarah, posted about making Amish Friendship Bread. I’d never heard of this cinnamon baked good before. In all honestly I was also a bit dubious about the chain letter aspect of the baking experiment, not to mention the frequent directive to “mash the bag” of starter mix that is bestowed upon you.

As fate would have it, a few days later my friend Courtney brought in a ziploc baggie of the yeastie concoction to the office for me to try. I dutifully followed the marathon list of instructions (a commitment of 10 days) and was pleasantly surprised to have two enormous loaves of seriously delicious cinnamon bread at the end of the process. For an extra zing I added a cup of cranberries to the batter. Now four of my friends and co-workers have been given batches of their own to try. Hopefully one of them will give me back a bag so I can make it again! Hint. Hint.

Update: The contest is now closed and we have a winner!

Who could possibly pass up the chance to immerse themselves in a veritable sea of chocolate chip recipes? If you thought the Melting Moments looked heavenly just wait until thursday. In the meatime, I’m giving you the chance to win a copy of Elinor Klivans’s The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook published by Chronicle Books. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post (one comment per person please). A winner will be selected via the nifty random number generator this Friday (June 13th) at noon and than I’ll promptly ship the cookbook to your home. Friday the 13th totally doesn’t have to be a scary day now…Chips ahoy! Or…Good Luck!

During the holidays my uncle’s girlfriend makes these amazing brown sugar shortbread cookies that she rolls out and ices. Unfortunately, she wont give me the recipe. I have searched all over the place for a recipe that tastes like her cookies and I’ve never been able to find one. Perhaps this public plea will make her more sympathetic to my cause?

In the interim though I’ve found a substitute that almost tastes right, but not quite. I used an itty bitty shamrock cookie cutter to make cute shapes and drizzled the tops with green icing and sparkly sprinkles. In literally minutes you’ll have dozens of cookies to share with the little leprechauns in your life.

Shamrock Shortbread (Inspired by the Brown Sugar Shortbread recipe originally published in the April 2007 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray)

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Using an electric mixer, combine the flour, butter and sugar. Press the dough into a ball and roll out on a lightly floured counter. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes. Place the cookies onto a well greased baking sheet or silpat.

Bake until just slightly golden around the edges, 8-10 minutes. Note: Do not overcook or you’ll have mini shortbread hockey pucks. Let the shortbread cool and decorate as desired with your favorite icing and sugar sprinkles.

Coconut made quite a few guest appearances in my childhood. In 2nd grade, my teacher brought in a coconut, a hammer, and a nail and proceeded to mercilessly beat on the poor things shell until it cracked open. Let me tell you, that was quite a lesson. By the time it was finally opened we were all slightly traumatized and quietly ate our samples of fresh coconut in silence. Then we proceeded to behave like perfect angels for the rest of the day. No one dared to break rank in case the new punishment for getting your name on the board involved carpentry tools.

We rarely baked with coconut when I was growing up, with the exception of using bags of it to cover our annual Easter Bunny Cake. I’m sure I promptly and very indiscreetly scraped the coconut off my slice of bunny, because coconut was”weird” and “gross” and looked pretty but it couldn’t compare to purple sprinkles or jelly beans so “get it away from me!”

I did eventually learn to like coconut thanks to a samples person at Shaw’s Supermarket who gave me a Dixie Cup full of Bacardi Mixers Pina Colada mix (obviously without the rum). Now that was tasty! I bugged my mother all through the frozen foods aisle until she agreed to buy some. I suppose that was my first “cocktail.” I definitely thought I was totally posh drinking what was essentilly a Pina Colada flavored sugar filled milkshake. Ahh…to be 11 again. I would have been much better off had someone just made me some of these addictive mini coconut laden treats.

Coconut Sandwich Cookies (Originally published in the December 2007 issue of Everyday Food: A Martha Stewart Magazine)

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (7 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut (about 2 1/4 cups)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Creamy Vanilla Filling (see below)

Preheat oven to 350, with racks set in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Place 1/2 cup coconut into a small bowl; set aside. Place remaining coconut in a food processor; pulse until coarsely ground. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and ground coconut; mix just until combined.

Drop dough by level tablespoons onto two baking sheets, 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dividing evenly, spread filling on flat side of half the cookies; sandwich with remaining cookies. Roll edges in reserved coconut, and chill until ready to serve.

Creamy Vanilla Filling

Using an electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup (1 stick) room-temperature unsalted butter until light and fluffy. With mixer on medium, beat in 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Note: I also added 1 tablespoon milk); increase speed to high, and beat until filling is light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Makes about 1 cup.

When I was a kid I would get so excited if the bunch of bananas my mother brought home from the grocery store had a Chiquita Banana sticker. I’d quickly pluck it off the fruit and pat it proudly onto my shirt. Unfortunately these days my bananas always tend to go bad. Even so, I continue to buy them almost weekly, and inevitably after eating one from the bunch the rest sit on the counter until the skins turn. Then I either make banana bread, throw them out, or stash them in the freezer (well wrapped of course) until I feel the urge for muffins.

Today when I noticed that my once perky yellow bunch had become a little too brown for for my taste I decided it was time to break out of the banana bread and muffin rut and update my overripe repertoire. A hunt for a recipe to use ensued and as per usual the internet didn’t let me down. This recipe yields a moist, fluffy, and sweet cake that goes perfectly with cream cheese frosting, while a dusting of chopped walnuts adds a nice crunch. Even though cake isn’t supposedly a suitable breakfast item I’m certain we’ll be sneaking bites with our morning pot of coffee. This recipe also proves that a “boring old sheet cake” can actually be mighty impressive if given the chance.

Got Bananas?	Mash
Pour & Bake	Eat Bananas Every Day!

Best Ever Banana Cake (Slightly altered (See items in bold below). The original recipe may be found at Recipezaar)
3/4 cup butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 275.°
Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, spices, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
Stir in banana mixture.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour (Note: My cake took almost 90 minutes to bake) or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Beat in 1 tsp vanilla.
Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
Spread on cooled cake. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired.