Hello! Anyone listening? I guess I’ve been pretty neglectful of cookworm these days. Although I can’t claim to have scampered off to some exotic venue, it’s true that my cooking and baking has taken a real nosedive in recent weeks. One of the main reasons is work — honestly, the bloggers who manage an engaging full-time job on top of regular posts have my undying admiration. How the heck do you do it? The second reason is that, frankly, it’s easy to find oneself in a rut when you live alone. I don’t know about you, but I find it much more exciting to cook for other people than just myself. And if that weren’t enough, August has had a way of prying me from the computer with its taunts of rare Pittsburgh sunshine and endless fresh peaches that are simply too good out of hand to bother fussing with.
A very nice thing happened, though, while I was off daydreaming of green valleys and wiping peach juice off my face. I was given a Creative Blogger award from Lori of Lucious. She even called Pittsburgh “lovely” — which it IS, by the way — so how could I not like her? Thank you so much, Lori! Do check out her blog if you haven’t yet - she’s got some very tasty recipes in there. The gorgonzola sauce and chopped pork sandwiches in particular had me drooling like nobody’s business.
Meanwhile, I think we can all agree that the presence of a rut does not erase the need for cookies. Somewhere in the beginning of it, I made a batch while on the upswing of a hardcore ginger craving, and they’ve fortified me since. The recipe is from Cooking Light, so they are definitely on the “lighter” end of desserts, but I suspect you wouldn’t guess this unless told outright. There’s a lot of crystallized ginger in here, so it’s definitely for ginger fans, but it’s worth noting that someone who is very ginger-ambivalent absolutely loved these. I think they’re well-suited for summer, since the lemon-ginger combination goes so well with seasonal fruits, and they’re sturdy enough to travel to picnics with ease.
I rolled them in some large-crystalled decorating sugar which gives them a charming jewel-like appearance (and a satisfying crunch). You could also regular granulated sugar or a large-grain sugar like Demerara (which I bet would taste fantastic). They keep well for several days in a container and freeze beautifully for a month — I’ve been just popping one in the microwave for a few seconds each time I get the urge, which is quite often indeed.