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bachelor chow and a molasses cookie recipe
How did the beginning of the week feel like we were still so far away from the holidays, but now that we’re at Friday, they seem frighteningly close? How does the passage of time work? I can’t remember the last time I still had shopping to do on the weekend before Christmas, and I have to say that I am regretful of my actions this year… shopping locally to avoid shipping and supply chain issues seemed like such a good idea! Last Sunday my mom and I spent several hours at Coquitlam Centre hating every other shopper in there and wondering why on earth a mall of that size doesn’t have a bar and a coat check, but managing to get a good number of stocking stuffers and gifts out of the way. Afterwards we met Jeff, my stepdad, and my sister at the pub, where we devoured a plate of tater tots almost as soon as we sat down.
Jeff and I also checked out the Shipyards Artisan Market this past weekend, and it was a little overwhelming with so many vendors in a relatively small space, but there were some interesting booths and I got a couple of little gifts. I meant to go back and get a mushroom-growing kit for myself but forgot— I’ve been wanting to try growing mushrooms for ages. And against my better judgement, I bought a bottle of The Woods’ Chiaro Amaro: it’s fabulously tasty and complex, but my low tolerance for hard alcohol combined with my laziness at home means that I rarely make drinks involving anything more than opening a bottle of wine or a can of beer. I did make a pretty nice negroni this week, though… with a half-ounce of each liquor instead of a full ounce. Cheers.
When your partner is lactose-intolerant and you yourself are not, there are some things you lovingly resign yourself to only having when you’re eating alone. Cream-based soups. Soft cheeses. Pizza with white sauce. Much of what we cook at home is vegan so I don’t think about it too much, but there are definitely things I relish the opportunity to eat. So when Jeff texted me to let me know he’d be staying after work for someone’s going-away party, I excitedly started considering what dairy-laden meal to make myself for dinner. Although I have a few very good vegan recipes for it now, I still love the comfort of a traditional mac & cheese.
I didn’t use a recipe to make it (although The Kitchenista’s version comes highly recommended and looks delicious), I just pulled from what I knew I wanted it to taste like, and what I generally use in making my usual vegan version. Outside of onion and garlic there were no vegetables to speak of because I wanted it to feel as decadent as possible, but I used lots of dry mustard, ground pepper, cayenne, and dijon mustard in the bechamel sauce to bring up the acidity and spice. I had 4 good cheeses in my fridge: cheddar, parmesan, comté, and mozzarella. Cheddar made up the bulk of it, with small cubes of mozza getting stirred in just before baking so that instead of becoming part of the sauce, they melt into cheesy little bites that get nicely brown and crisp where they touch the pan.
The 30 minutes it spent in the oven to make sure the sauce was thickened and the breadcrumbs and cheese on top got good and brown was the perfect time to wash all of the dishes this created (still a fair few despite making the sauce in a cast iron pan for easy oven transferring). It was worth it though for a pan full of creamy, cheesy noodles with lovely crisp edges that I knew I’d get to eat all to myself— I put half in the freezer for another time. While four cheeses make it seem fancy, eating it in front of the tv also makes it bachelor chow. Was it perfectly delicious as is? Yes. Did I douse my bowl of it in hot sauce? Also yes.
I made another pizza crust with my sourdough starter this week, and it was the best one yet. The previous crusts have had good flavour but came out of the oven less risen and a little drier than I might have hoped, but with a few changes to the process I was really happy with it. This time, I tried an overnight rise in the fridge, taking the dough out about an hour before I wanted to start cooking, and preheated the pizza stone for about an hour too (previously I’ve only used pizza pans). The recipe also recommends 450°F for this crust, and since I didn’t bother reading the rest of the instructions after the dough ingredients until now, I’d been cooking at 500° like usual. This crust came out crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, which is the way all pizza crusts should be, and I’m thrilled to have achieved such a satisfying result in my cheap, conventional oven. The only downside is that every time I make this dough my brain won’t stop repeating “sourdough pizza crust” to the tune of the Samurai Pizza Cats theme song.
Since I didn’t have enough starter to make 2 pizzas, I roasted some brussels sprouts as a side. I’d intended to make them into some sort of warm salad, but none of the leftover dressings in the fridge seemed right and I didn’t feel like making a new one to add to the collection. I made these miso-honey roasted sprouts instead, and they were fantastic and low-effort: just miso paste, honey, olive oil, and salt. I roasted for 25 minutes at 425° while heating up the pizza stone (both for a faster cooking time and more browned bits), and used hot honey. I didn’t find them to be very spicy so I think adding a bit of sriracha or gochujang would be good, too. To keep the flavour from departing too much from the prosciutto-pineapple-mushroom pizza, I skipped the almonds and used lemon juice to finish instead of lime. They were just lightly sweet with lots of umami flavour, and I kept grabbing extras off the baking pan while cleaning up after dinner.
Also this week I made the Hungarian mushroom soup again, because I had way too many mushrooms and I never get tired of eating it. And I was gifted a locally-made barbecue sauce for my birthday, which is motivating me to use up the last of our old bottle of Stubb’s. We made a pound of baked wings with chicken from Two Rivers and ate them with a salad much like the kale and persimmon salad of a couple of weeks ago, which made for a meal that was satisfyingly filling without being too meat-heavy. I’m going to get some jackfruit to make BBQ sandwiches and use up the rest of the sauce, because I’m excited to be able to try the new one!
The trouble with holiday baking is that there are the favourites you simply must make every year, but then there are always new recipes you want to try, and then you end up with way too many baked goods again. There are two cookies I make yearly that maybe aren’t as classically beloved as my mom’s lemon squares, but which my family has come to expect at the dessert table. Last year I shared my lavender snickerdoodles, which are a popular choice, and this year I’m sharing my other perennial favourite, ginger-molasses cookies. These were borne out of a desire years ago to recreate the Starbucks version, and I ended up with something even better.
The recipes I found online in my initial search stated firmly that blackstrap molasses is too strong to be a good fit here, but because it was all I had in the cupboard at the time, and because as a fire sign, being told not to do something often only strengthens my resolve to do it, I used it. I also was surprised to see no fresh ginger anywhere, so I added a little in addition to the powdered version. The result was a cookie with a dark intensity and fragrant ginger that counter the sugar while still feeling festive, making it a welcome addition to a tray full of chocolates and butter tarts and Nanaimo bars and the other sweet holiday treats we love.
I like to make big café-style cookies and cut them into quarters for serving, but you could always scoop them out at half the size to make a more standard cookie instead. I haven’t yet tested a vegan version of this recipe, but as the dough is quite sturdy, I think you could safely sub in a flax egg, and some refined coconut oil or vegan butter for a similar result, maybe refrigerating before baking to account for the lower melting point of the oil.
GINGER MOLASSES COOKIES
2 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine sea salt (or ½ tsp kosher salt)
1 tsp each ground ginger and cinnamon, plus a pinch of allspice
¾ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp finely grated ginger
¼ cup molasses (I use blackstrap; regular or fancy can be used for a lighter flavour)
granulated sugar, for coating
Preheat the oven to 375°F and line two baking sheets with parchment or silpats. Sift together the dry ingredients, and in a separate bowl or a stand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg, grated ginger, and molasses, and beat on medium-high (or whisk like mad, if mixing by hand) until the mixture stops looking curdled.
Gently mix in the dry ingredients in two batches, at the lowest speed if using a stand mixer (the batter will be quite stiff). Put 3-4 tablespoons granulated sugar into a shallow bowl or a rimmed plate. Roll ¼-cup scoops of the dough into balls and coat with the sugar, then space out evenly on the baking sheets— you should get about 12 very big cookies. With damp fingers, flatten the tops slightly.
Bake 12-14 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies have spread out and brown but look slightly underdone in the centre. Leave them on the sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before cutting them into quarters for cute serving sizes, but make sure to eat a piece yourself while they’re still warm, you know, for quality control purposes.
Thanks for reading— if you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with someone new! I like providing this to you for free, but it does still involve time and effort, so donations I can use towards cookbooks or future treats are much appreciated. I’ll be taking a break next week and possibly the week after as well, so if you don’t see me in your inbox on New Year’s Eve, I wish you all a safe and joyful holiday and a cautiously optimistic New Year.
Finally, as Kellogg’s workers in the US are still striking and we are reminded of what products not to buy to avoid crossing the picket line, I was pleased to learn possibly the only fact that could make me love Canadian treasure, Hawkins Cheezies, even more.
I've always used Blackstrap!!! It is not too strong at all!