Good things come from liquor stores. Besides the liquor, I mean.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, LCBO, regulates the sale of alcoholic beverages in Ontario, Canada. Here in California, unlike many other places, all you need is a permit to sell liquor and you can purchase it just about any time at the market or corner store. But corner store does not have a wonderful publication put out several times a year by the LCBO. A very good (Canadian) friend of mine first turned me on to Food&Drink, which is filled with amazing photographs, wonderful recipes and very useful drink pairing suggestions. This is far and away the best marketing plan they could have devised, in my estimation. If I picked out a recipe, I would be likely to purchase whatever they recommended to accompany it. And how else would I know what pairs well with these cookies?
The answer is more cookies.
These Spiced Up Ginger Cookies are really good. Certainly the best in recent memory, if not the best chewy ginger cookies I’ve ever had. They have a lot of spice. They have nice crispy edges when they’re freshly baked. They use oil instead of butter so they remain very chewy, even after a few days!
I’m reprinting the recipe here. I added a pinch of salt and rolled the cookies in sugar before baking. The rolling could certainly be omitted, but I love the way it looks.
Spiced Up Ginger Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp each ground cardamom and black pepper
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger
1/4 cup coarse sugar, for rolling
Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in egg and molasses until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until well combined, then add in candied ginger.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls, roll in coarse sugar and place on baking sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes until very lightly browned.
Let cookies cool for 3-5 minutes on cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack until cool.
Makes 3 dozen.
Stephanie
July 20, 2005I’ve been getting F&W for about a year and I love it. I’ve found so many amazing recipes in it.
Of course, we don’t drink so the ‘wine’ part of it is kind of useless to us…
Nic
July 20, 2005Stephanie – This publication isn’t the same as the magazine Food&Wine, though I love that magazine. It was a typo on my part. The magazine is called Food and Drink!
Nic
July 20, 2005They also have a big selection of non-alcoholic drinks on their website here: http://www.lcbo.com/fooddrink/mocktailssearch.shtml
Zarah Maria
July 21, 2005I think I can smell those from here…:-)
Clare Eats
July 21, 2005My Dad would love these! thanks 🙂 I like the sugar effect too
Cathy
July 21, 2005I recognize those cookies! They were delicious!
Ana
July 21, 2005I just love Food and Drink Magazine. Their website is wonderful too.
Kristi
July 21, 2005mmm… these look delicious! Can you come to my house and make them for me? LOL.
Stephanie
July 21, 2005Oh; oh, well!
We actually have a moctail cookbook…but it’s good to know there are more resources out there. Thanks.
Nic
July 21, 2005Thanks everyone.
Kristi – If you sign up for our next round of Blogging By Mail, you might just get some!
Anonymous
July 21, 2005Hi Nic,
You’ve got a *wonderful* blog. I especially love all your interesting cookie recipes…
Living in Toronto, I pick up the latest F&D when I’m in the liquor store… I agree that it is a nicely- produced magazine — but then being a monopoly helps the LCBO defray such expenses…
Would your Blogging By Mail be open to Canadians? I’d really like to join it.
Dena
Nic
July 21, 2005Dena – Blogging By Mail is an international event. In fact, several Canadians participated in this round! I’ll be announcing the next round sometime in the next few weeks, after the roundup from the first one.
Anonymous
July 21, 2005OK Thanks. I’m looking forward to it.
Dena
Kristi
July 25, 2005oohhh… blogging by mail! How and where do I sign up?
cookiecrumb
August 14, 2005They look just like ginger cookies! All cracked like a dry river bed, but softer (and yummier).
found your blog via DMBLGIT?
Kelly
August 15, 2005Hi Nic, these biscuits – uh, cookies – look great! Out of interest, what booze did the magazine say goes with cookies?!
Nic
August 16, 2005Kelly – You know, I can’t recall. It was probably some sort of mixed drink. Personally, I would recommend red wine if you want something with alcohol, but my standard has to be a cup of good coffee.
Randi
August 16, 2005im going to try these cookies. i go to lcbo to buy the food and drink. i saw a black forest cake i wanted to make and bought kirsch because of it. I miss california!!
hakucho
September 8, 2006Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I just made them and they are delicious! I have a recipe that is similar, but yours has the candied ginger, which I just love how chewy it makes them! YUM 🙂
Anastasia
August 29, 2007I made these today with a few small modification because I was out of some ingredients (cardamom, crystallized ginger). They were perfect and delicious, my go-to ginger cookies from now on.
Debra
December 27, 2007Nicole-
I baked these up for Christmas and they were sooo good! Nice & chewy, just like you promised. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Happy Holidays.
Victoria Challalncin
December 22, 2010Thank you so much for this recipe! I found it on the Pithy and Cleaver blog, who found it here. I wrote about them and both of you as well. Wonderful Christmas cookie! Thanks for sharing.
Amber
March 22, 2014Thank you Nic for sharing this recipe. I made these delicious cookies years ago from the F&D early summer 2003 issue. I was thinking about these cookies today and began a search through issues collected over the years, then it occurred to me…Pinterest! Thank you again for shortening my search.