Something Sweet, Something Cheesy

Parmesan Garlic Mounds and Soft Baked Ginger Cookies

I woke up with low energy.  I had to finish some errands in the morning, and by midday I was craving for something easy to do which can fill the need to be, well, sort of  fulfilled.

So that’s how I came to make a batch of  Parmesan Garlic Mounds and three dozens of soft baked Ginger Cookies.

Parmesan Garlic Mounds right off the oven

I adapted the recipe for the Parmesan Garlic Mounds from Smitten Kitchen’s Cheese Straws recipe.  Only, my dough was a bit too grainy to handle so instead of cutting them into long sticks, I made them into mounds.  As always, I made do with what I had in the pantry and substituted grated parmesan for the cheddar cheese. I had no chili flakes so I added some Pizza Seasoning and garlic powder for the flavor.  They turned out pretty good, with a sharp zing of saltiness balanced by the herby flavor of the garlic and the oregano (from the italian seasoning).

Parmesan Garlic Mounds

Making the cheese mounds put me in the groove for cookie making so I perused another old recipe for sweet, fragrant and Christmassy cookies,  soft baked Ginger cookies rich with the flavors of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and ginger.  These cookies do look plain compared to, say, chocolate chip cookies but of all the cookies I’ve baked, these ones always come out great and people are often surprised how such ordinary looking cookies can have  a yummy flavor with a soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture. One  thing about the recipe I use though, it turns out quite a lot of cookies. This batch turned out 3 dozens of  cookies.  Here’s the recipe I use for the soft-baked Ginger Cookies.  I used dark brown sugar in place of molasses. One note about making these cookies though,  after making the dough, you have to refrigerate it for about an hour to make it easier to handle.

Ginger Cookie dough

The scent that permeated the kitchen and the house while I was baking the ginger cookies was amazing! It was spicy, sweet and oh so Christmassy!  This cookies are perfect for the holiday season and best of all, they are so easy to make!

Soft Baked Ginger Cookies