Gingersnaps for a Tasty Tuesday

Years ago, when I was a wee one, Mom would make all sorts of cookies. One of my favorites were what the C&H Sugar Co. called gingersnaps. I suppose they would snap if you cooked them long enough, but regardless, these are chewy, spicy, yumilicious. I did a little experiment with the recipe because well, I just wanted to. So I traded flaxseed meal for the egg, and added 3 T. water. The texture was wonderful, and Nature Guy says they are "too" good, probably because we are both trying to shed a few pounds and cookies are not a diet food. That's okay, we just need to not inhale the whole batch in one sitting right? So I will give  you two versions of the recipe and you can decide which you like better. The mixing and baking is the same for both recipes.

Gingersnaps    Bake at 350 degrees   Yield 4 dozen

1#  Original Recipe
3/4 c. shortening       1 c. sugar        1/4 c. molasses        1 egg          2 t. ginger      1 t. cinnamon           1/4 t. salt        2 t. baking soda      2 c. flour  

#2  My Recipe
1/4 c. coconut oil       1/2 c. butter       1 c. sugar         1/3 c. molasses       1 T. flaxseed meal+ 3 T. water     1 T. ginger        2 t. cinnamon       1/4 t. ground cloves       1/4 t. salt        2 t. baking soda
1/2 c. whole wheat flour        1 1/2 + 1/3 c. flour    

 In a medium size bowl cream fats, sugar and molasses until light and fluffy. Add egg or substitute (flaxseed meal and water) and blend well. Sift together dry ingredients and stir in until well mixed. Chill for one hour. In a flat bowl add about 1/2 sugar. Pinch off part of dough to make a quarter size ball and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Enjoy!                                                                

Multi Grain Rye Bread for Autumn

Look at all that whole grain goodness, side by side with rich molasses and yummy sweet honey! Flaxseed meal, corn meal and whole oats were the start of what turned out to be a great bread for sandwiches as well as a great dunking bread for soup.

 The not so secret ingredient is rye flour, which rounds out the flavor in this dense but soft and filling bread.

I experimented by using coconut oil in place of canola oil. I always cut my oil measurement in half by adding applesauce, which has pectin that helps the dough rise and be soft and moist. This recipe will make two, and if you need to you can freeze one for later. 

Multi Grain Rye Bread

2 1/2 c. potato water, or tap water warmed up to about 100 degrees

2 T. yeast

1 c whole oats

1/4 c each corn meal, flaxseed meal and honey

3 T each coconut oil, applesauce, and molasses ( you can use 1/3 c oil in place of coconut oil and applesauce)

1 1/2 t. salt 

2 c rye flour

3 c each whole wheat and white flour

In a large bowl combine the warm water, yeast, oats, cornmeal, flaxseed meal, honey and molasses. Stir lightly and let sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast starts to foam. 

Add the coconut oil, applesauce, molasses, salt and rye flour. Stir and then add 1 cup each of the whole wheat and white flour.  Stir again and then add the rest of the flour a half of a cup at a time, kneading as you go, until you get a nice smooth dough, about 10 minutes. Place back in the large bowl and then let rise until double in bulk. Punch down and form into two loaves. Place into large bread pans and let rise again until about an inch above the edge of the pans. Bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees. Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday - Butternut Squash Bread

So I get a little crazy sometimes, and got a wild hair to put some squash in my bread. I've not made bread for a bit because of family stuff going on. Anyhew, let's get to the recipe because it turned out so awesomely wonderful, and even Nature Guy loved it so much he was asking for more.

Butternut Squash Bread


1 cup butternut squash, cooked and mashed
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup honey
2 T. molasses
3 T. each applesauce, and oil
2 T. yeast
1 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 1/2 t. salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
4-5 cups white flour

In a large bowl combine the warm water, honey, molasses, yeast, oatmeal and flaxseed meal. Let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes. Add the oil, applesauce and salt. Then add the whole wheat flour plus 1 cup of white flour. Stir well, then start adding flour a half a cup at a time, and when the dough starts pulling away from the side of the bowl put on a well floured counter, and start kneading. Knead for about 10 minutes until dough is no longer sticky and it forms a nice bounce ball. Let rise for about an hour and a half or until doubled in size. Divide in half to make two large loaves or make two medium size loaves and one small one. I turned the small loaf into cinnamon raisin bread, which is sooooo yummy. Grease your pans and form your loaves. Let rise until dough reaches the top of the pans and even an inch above. Bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes for smaller loaves and 40 for larger loaves. Enjoy!