Nana's Ginger Cookies

Every summer at the lake I get an itch to make the ginger cookies that I grew up baking with my grandmother.  It just doesn't seem right to go through a vacation in Glenora without the sweet smell of sugar and spices baking in the oven.  And by week 2 of my time away from the bakement I actually begin to miss baking. 

Part of my love for baking started when I was a young girl, mixing and measuring (and tasting) alongside Nana in the tiny yellow kitchen looking over the lake.  She was a great cook and an especially good baker (or maybe that's all that I cared about) and she was meticulous at everything she created...from the perfect edges of a pie dough crust to the tiny dimples in the ginger cookie dough for holding jelly.  She'd spend hours cooking up delicious meals every afternoon, and when there was something sweet to make, I was right there helping (or at least ready to lick the bowl).

Somehow it makes me feel a little closer to Nana, whom we lost 6 years ago, when I pull out the very handheld mixer she once used. 

Same old tiny kitchen, but things have changed a bit.  No longer looking at Nana's big overstuffed binder of recipes, but instead the indispensable ipad.

The lakeview from the kitchen window.

Add the flour...

Not the normal baking scene for me...measuring cups, tiny bags of sugar and flour and little bowls.  I'm so used to scooping ingredients out of huge bins, then weighing and pouring them into a huge mixing bowl.  Somehow this "old fashioned" way of doing things was trickier and a lot messier!

Now roll them into balls. 

Time for Izzy to join in the fun! 

Crockett never misses out on anything involving food.

Dipping the balls into sugar.

"Want to taste, mommy?"

Yummy!

Now we mash the sugared balls down with a glass.  Nana always used a specific glass with the perfect shape and diameter.  I've since learned that mashing it down with your fingers works just fine, but we were going to do it the proper way.

Then we make dimples in the center with our finger and drop a spoonful of red currant jelly in each dimple.

Isabelle in deep concentration.

Quality control!

Time to bake!

8 minutes later....tada! 

Not quite as pretty as Nana's but just as tasty.

Izzy's first ginger cookie experience.  Crockett nearby, ready for any droppings.

Izzy loves her grandmother as much I loved mine. 

Eating Nana's ginger cookies, overlooking another spectacular evening view of Seneca.  Life is good!

I know Nana was looking down on us with pride and joy.

 

 

As a good role model for my daughter, I've decided to share this special family recipe. 

Isabelle would probaby say, "no, it's mize" (= it's mine), but Nana would want others to enjoy the goodness too, so here ya have it:

 

Nana's Ginger Cookies

 

3/4 cup crisco

1/4 cup dark molasses

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

butter

granulated sugar

currant jelly

 

Cream the crisco, molasses and sugar.

 

Add the beaten egg.

 

Sift the soda, salt and spices into the flour and fold into the the other ingredients.

 

Shape dough into small balls (yields about 36).

 

Roll balls in granulated sugar, and flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been buttered and dipped in sugar.

 

Press lightly to dimple the center of each cookie and put a small amount of currant jelly in each dimple.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes on an ungreased baking sheet.