Dark Chocolate Gingersnaps

    Over Thai food one night last week, my friend Kim and I were discussing food.  Now I should mention that Kim loves food, but doesn't cook very well.  I should also mention that we've been friends for years and I've never made her anything, which normally doesn't happen and I'm not sure how it did manage to happen.  I guess I can only blame it on us knowing each other during our undergraduate years when it was hard to bake cookies without an oven and the heating pipes didn't really get hot enough to cook anything.  So poor Kim is one of my few friends to gets to hear all about my great cooking but has yet to taste anything I've made.  Well, that ended this past week.  As we sat savoring our Thai, Mee Ka Ti for me and Pad Thai for her, we began discussing cookies.  Our conversation went a bit like this:
  Kim: I like hard cookies
  Me: what?!?!
  Kim: I like hard cookies; cookies that are hard, rock solid, crunchy.  I HATE soft cookies, their texture creeps me out.
  Me: Really? followed by a shocked look
  Kim: Yeah, so now what kind of cookies are you going to make me?
From that point on our discussion consisted of what kind of cookies constituted hard cookies.  She mentioned molasses cookies that her mom would leave in the oven a little long and then let set out all night as one of her favorite kinds.  Super crisp gingersnaps also ranked up there, as did overly done and left out chocolate chip cookies.  I was stunned, but figured why not, it would be a cookie challenge for me to invent something that was crisp, delicious and as close to a rock as humanly possible. 

   I went home that night and started racking my brain for cookie recipes that would work.  That night, in my sleep (no kidding, sometimes I dream up recipes in my sleep) I decided on chocolate gingersnap cookies.  The next morning just happened to be my morning off and so I decided to play around with one of my gingersnap cookie recipes, figuring that it might take me three or four tries to make something edible.  As I was mixing up the batter, I went to grab the cocoa powder out of my pantry, I was suddenly struck by the idea to use dark chocolate cocoa powder instead of milk chocolate cocoa powder.  I figured that the dark, sweet chocolate would be a wonderful foil for the spicy, clove, cinnamon foil of the gingersnap cookie.  With no idea how much to add or what other adjustments to make, I began playing about with proportions and spice ratios.  The recipe that emerges is a chocolaty, spicy, cookie with a lot of snap.  Kim was delighted and ate six within the first ten minutes of receiving them.  Needless to say, give these a shot, I'm sure your family will love them.  Also, they make your house smell AMAZING, so I highly advise baking them when you have friends coming over or just need the house to smell like chocolate and spice.  If you're not into hard cookie, I would not squash them flat with a glass and I would also cook them for less time.  Either way you like your cookies, these are definitely a winner in my book and will become a cookie regular. 

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
2 Tablespoons of dark cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, dark cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and molasses on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until smooth and combined. Add flour mixture, and beat on low until just combined. Transfer dough to a bowl and wrap in plastic; refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, with racks in the center and lower third. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl; roll balls in sugar until completely coated, and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets and then smash with the flat end of a glass until they are 1/3 inch thick or to your desired thickness.

Bake until cookies are deep golden all over and centers are firm, 15-18 but for the crispier cookies I baked for 20 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Eggplant Parmesan

     So the first  two weeks of school have flown by without me realizing it and suddenly I find that I have an abundance of food pictures on my phone and very few blog updates to go with those pictures.  This morning then, my goal is to catch my blog up and hopefully deliver some delicious recipes that you guys will be sure to try. 
      At my home in Ohio, we have a huge garden where we plant just about everything.  This year we planted tomatoes,  green bell peppers, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, onions, beets, green beans, corn, cucumbers, jalapenos, watermelon, radishes and eggplant.  My mom and I can salsa, tomato sauce, pickles, beets, green beans and anything that we can't use right away.  However, eggplant is one of my favorites and never goes to waste.  With the start of school on the 27th of August my access to the garden is now limited to weekends that I go home.  On my last weekend home I went out the garden and picked myself an eggplant with the desire to make eggplant parmesan. 
    I personally love eggplant parmesan; there is nothing like crunch eggplant, sweet and tangy tomato sauce and ooey, gooey melted cheese topping off the piping hot dish of love.  Speaking of love, eggplant parmesan in my mind is also a labor of love because I HATE breading things.  I think that there is nothing worse than the feel of flour, bread crumbs and eggs stuck to every surface of my fingers.  I don't care what Paula Deen says, it is not possible for me to use only one hand for the wet ingredients and one hand for the dry ingredients, even with my ambidextrous nature.  I always end up with egg, flour and bread crumbs coating my hands and fingers.... deep fried fingers anyone?  Ugh, not funny or tasty, sorry. 
    So when I decide to make eggplant parmesan, I batten down the hatches and make a lot of eggplant.  This time I made two giant eggplants, they last me about two weeks and were utterly delicious.  I followed the recipe that I found in my Taste of Home magazine for Olive Garden's Makeover Eggplant Parmesan.  The taste was wonderful and I literally felt like I was eating out without ever having to leave my couch.  I made a few changes though, instead of using their sauce recipe, I used my fresh canned tomato sauce and added some bacon.  Everything really is better with bacon, unless your a vegetarian or your religion prohibits it.   So below follows my recipe for Eggplant Parmesan, which is pretty much the original recipe in Taste of Home with just some sauce changes. 
    I also did not assemble my eggplant until I was ready to eat it.  I made all the breaded eggplant and stored it in a cake pan in the refrigerator until I was ready to eat.  Then when I was ready to eat it, I would reheat the eggplant under the broiler in the oven so it would retain its crispiness, heating the sauce in the microwave, then I would assemble the dish and heat it in the microwave long enough to melt the cheese.  It sounds like a time intensive process, but in reality it only took about 6/7 minutes to have a steaming, crispy, gooey, delicious, plate of eggplant parmesan sitting on my table.  Also, feel free to serve it with pasta, I simply didn't feel like pasta, so I just had eggplant, sauce and cheese.  Either way you choose to serve it, this is a treat for the entire family. 

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 lb of bacon, minced and sauteed, leaving 1 1/2 tsps of bacon fat in the bottom of the pan
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 quart  or so of homemade tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 tsp dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 4 Tbs Italian seasoning
• anything else that makes your sauce taste delicious

Eggplant

• 1-3/4 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 9 ounces uncooked multigrain spaghetti
• 6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, saute bacon until crispy.  Drain out most of the grease until you have 1 1/2 tsps of bacon drippings left in the pan.  Add the onion and saute until translucent.   Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the tomato sauce wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper, sugar, 4 Tbs of Italian seasoning and any other spices which you desire . Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, in shallow bowl, whisk eggs and water. Place flour in a separate shallow bowl. In another bowl, combine the bread crumbs, salt, pepper and remaining Italian seasoning. Dip eggplant slices into flour then in egg mixture; coat with crumb mixture. Place on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until tender and golden brown, turning once. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to package directions.
• Spoon 2 cups sauce over eggplants; top with cheeses. Bake 4-5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
• Drain spaghetti. Serve remaining sauce over spaghetti; top with eggplant slices. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 6 servings.

Nutritional Facts 1 serving equals 505 calories, 13 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 96 mg cholesterol, 716 mg sodium, 74 g carbohydrate, 13 g fiber, 24 g protein.