Monday, September 25, 2006

Mondays with Maida - Wild-Honey and Ginger Cookies


Page 161 in the old book / page 199 in the new book

These may look much like last week's cookies, but they're quite different in both taste and texture. They have a full cup of honey in them which probably accounts for the almost orange color. I think it also accounts for their texture, which is crisp, but more of a dull crisp rather than a crunchy crisp.

The dough goes together very easily, but is different from most cookie doughs in that the butter is melted with the honey rather than creamed. The hot butter and honey mixture is then mixed into the dry ingredients. Maida recommends wrapping the dough in oiled foil, which I did. I had a little problem with the edge of the foil getting embedded in the dough and bits tearing off. Perhaps parchment would work better.

The ratings for these Wild-Honey and Ginger Cookies were all over the map. There were those who really liked them, but I wasn't crazy about them. Much as I like honey, I just didn't enjoy the flavor of these cookies. I think part of it is that the only spice in them is ginger. Last week's Whole-Wheat Honey Wafers had both ginger and cinnamon, and had a warmer, rounder taste.

Here's the panel...

Suzanne: "The cookie was crunchy, but tasted like there was absolutely no sugar in the ingredients. The only flavor I could taste was the ginger and I’m not a big ginger fan. Rating - 1.0"

Herman: "These are GREAT … 5/5 for me because I love honey and ginger!! Rating - 5.0"

Laura: "Crunchy cookie with a delicate touch of ginger. Yummy! Rating - 4.0"

Terri: "The 'honey' flavor is stronger than the 'ginger' spice flavor - but this is an interesting combination. Reminds me of a flat vanilla wafer. Very tasty with tea! Rating - 3.0"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.3

Next Week - Honey Graham Crackers

Nutrition Facts

6 comments:

Joycelyn said...

hi cathy, how is it that your cookies always emerge so perfect and round? gorgeous! you've really got me thinking here; i have a whole assortment of honeys and it would be interesting to do an array flavoured with different honeys...hmm...

Liz said...

Greetings from Bethesda!

Yum. Those cookies say "fall" with their little cookie mouths. Ginger is one of my new favorite things to cook with- pungent, spicey and delicious. Can't wait to try this out.

Rowena said...

I'm just wondering if these cookies would make good "ends" for an icecream cookie sandwich. Maybe vanilla icecream? Cinnamon? Pumpkin pie?

Oh, and regarding your comment on eating the garlic raw...haha! I haven't gotten to that point yet!

Rowena said...

I'm getting a kick out of the reaction to the choco-garlic gelato. To tell the truth, I am still not convinced although my husband is. I think the problem is that with the candy bars you bite it and whatever melts on your tongue is what you'll taste. With the gelato, the whole thing dissolves in your mouth and the garlic makes a bigger impact.

Jeez it reeks around here!

Cathy said...

Hi Jocelyn - Thanks, but this time it's probably because of the cookie cutter ;) I agree - it would be interesting to try these with different honeys and maybe vary the spicing a little as well.

Hi Liz! How is it I have never run across your blog before? Maryland bloggers seem to be few and far between. I'll be following your blog in the future - it looks great!

Hi Rowena! You know I think they are probably a good texture for that - though they do go soft pretty quickly, so they might lose their crispness when frozen and/or up close with ice cream. I thought that smoked garlic sounded really interesting, though it'd be a shame if the smokiness was always imperceptible after cooking. I may have to try that chocolate-garlic combo just to figure it out!

Anonymous said...

This sound and look gorgeous. Going to have and try and make some myself.