Oats, Sorghum, Ginger and Cranberry Cookies

January 15, 2015February 7, 2020 ~ Judy's Chickens ~ 13 Comments

My son is leaving town after a nice visit home and I have a need to send him off with his favorite cookies. Will this ever change? He said they are so hearty he eats them for breakfast. I like the way he is thinking; hearty sounds like a meal instead of a dessert. I would have seconds in that scenario.

One of the key ingredients in this recipe is ginger, a spice that imparts heat and sweet at the same time. Usually, I use ground ginger, but since I had fresh ginger root in the fridge, I decided to grate it and see how it affected the taste. The change was mind-blowing. Between the ginger and the sorghum, this is one very flavorful cookie.

Yield: 3 dozen large cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons salt
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons ground ginger or 1½ tablespoons freshly grated ginger
4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sorghum (could substitute honey or molasses)
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1½ cups raisins, Craisins, or dried cherries
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (use sunflower seeds if allergic to nuts)

Topping mixture: you’ll need a small bowl of water, and a little sugar and salt

Prepare oven and baking pans:
Preheat oven to 350º.
Line three baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease pans with canola oil.

Mise en Place:

To melt butter: Place butter in a tempered-glass liquid measuring cup. Melt butter in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. If little flecks of butter remain after melting, that is okay; better to let them melt on their own than risk overheating and causing the butter to separate into fat, water, and milk solids.

To prepare chopped nuts: I won’t dirty the food processor for just one cup of nuts. Instead, place the measured amount of nuts in a baggie and use a meat mallet to crush them into small pieces.

To grate fresh ginger: As a general rule, when substituting fresh spice for a dried amount, use triple the amount of fresh. This recipe calls for 1½ teaspoons of ground ginger; I grated 1½ tablespoons instead. Know that 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon. Also, you can store unpeeled ginger root in the freezer.

First, peel the ginger root and then grate. I used a fine-holed Microplane grater. The ground ginger will be very moist.

To prepare eggs: Always break eggs in a separate bowl before adding to batter and then inspect for tiny broken shells or a foul-smelling yolk.

Measuring the flour: For a refresher course on how to properly measure dry ingredients, check out my post, Home Ec 101. As an FYI, I spooned the flour into the measuring cup and then leveled it off with a knife (or my finger!). If you scoop the measuring cup directly into the flour sack, it packs the flour into the cup. If you do that four times, for the required four cups of flour, you could add as much as one full cup of flour to this recipe.

Finally, make the cookies!
Into a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: the flours, baking soda, salt, sugar, ginger, and oats. Mix on slow speed for about 30 seconds.

Add the liquids: sorghum, melted butter, water, and eggs, and mix on low-medium speed for about one minute.

Turn the machine off and use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the Craisins and nuts and mix on slow speed for another 15 seconds. Over-mixing the flour could result in tough cookies.

Use a tablespoon or a cookie scoop to make golf ball-sized portions of dough.

Place 12 balls of dough on each cookie sheet. Lightly press the balls with a fork placed on the dough in two different directions to create a criss-cross pattern.

Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of each cookie lightly with water followed by a sprinkle of sugar and a touch of salt.

Bake cookies for 8 minutes and then rotate cookie sheets on oven racks. Set a timer. Cook for about 7 more minutes, or until just lightly browned. Best to err on the side of “I think they’re ready,” than “Ugh, too hard” when determining doneness. Place cookies on wire racks to cool. Cookies will harden as they cool.

Other cookie recipes:
3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies!!!
Mary’s Award-Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies
My Favorite Rollout Butter Cookies
Italian Sesame Seed Cookies
Italian Ricotta and Lemon Cookies

Here are a few other recipes that use sorghum:
Sorghum, Oats, and Cranberry Granola
The Biscuit King
Roasted Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, and Cranberries
Raising Sorghum Cane

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Always check my blog for the latest version of a recipe.

How to Peel an Orange (or Grapefruit) Lickity Split

January 12, 2015September 26, 2021 ~ Judy's Chickens ~ 20 Comments

When I was nine years old, my grandmother took her daughter, Rachelle, my cousin, Carol, and me on an airplane trip to Arizona to visit relatives. It was my first plane ride. We flew from Boston to Phoenix on TWA, “Traveling With Angels” I would tell everyone with a proud grin on my face. The flight was memorable for many reasons; chief among them were the perfectly coiffed stewardesses who told us we could write all the letters we wanted, and they would send them for us via “Air Mail.” That struck me as nothing short of amazing. They lavished us with decks of cards, airplane pins, books, and meals so noteworthy, my cousin and I both wrote to my mother to tell her what was served for lunch: steak, carrots, peppers, onions, rice with gravy, a salad with French dressing, a choice of milk or Coke, and a piece of apple pie.

What do I remember about Phoenix? Navel Mary. “Navel Mary” is the name we girls gave to our Great Aunt Louise’s next-door neighbor. Naval Mary had a grove of navel orange trees in her backyard. We visited every day. She taught us how to cut oranges, lickety-split. She probably could cut five of them in under a minute. Obviously, it made a big impression on me because here I am, fifty years later, writing about it. To this day, when my cousins and I talk about that trip, one of us will say, “Remember Navel Mary?”

How to cut an orange the Naval Mary, way:

Works for grapefruits, too!

And, for other citrus fruits!

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Lily’s Red Velvet Cake

December 20, 2014February 11, 2021 ~ Judy's Chickens ~ 4 Comments

I enjoy making special-request cakes for loved ones on their birthdays. I was especially delighted when my son asked me to make a red velvet cake for his girlfriend, Lily, when she turned 21. I browsed through several cookbooks looking for a good recipe. My first three attempts were not pretty. The turning point came when I added strong coffee to the batter. It boosted the chocolate flavor in extraordinary ways. Now I look for reasons to make this cake!

This year, I gussied up the cake for Christmas Eve with pomegranate seeds and rosemary sprigs! So pretty!

While researching red velvet cakes, I learned the Adams Extract Company, maker of food coloring and flavor extracts, is credited with making this cake popular during the Depression. As a marketing strategy, the company placed point-of-sale tear-off Red Velvet Cake recipe cards under the grocery store shelf’s food coloring bottles. The idea took off, and Red Velvet Cakes became all the rage.

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (not low-fat)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
½ cup freshly brewed warm coffee
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Mise en Place:

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350º. Place a cooking rack in the center of the oven.

Prepare Cake Pans with Liners:
Grease two 8 or 9-inch cake pans or a bundt cake pan with cooking spray or butter. Dust insides with flour. Tap pans upside down over a trash can to remove excess flour.

If making a layer cake, line the pans with parchment paper (waxed paper will work) as extra insurance the cake will not stick to the pan. Even when I grease the living daylights out of cake pans, some cakes still want to stick to the bottom. This is one of them. Liners guarantee they will drop out easily.

How to Make Liners for Cake Pans:
Draw an outline of the cake pan on two sheets of parchment. Cut out the paper disks. If you trim to just inside the outline, your disks should fit nicely inside the pans. Place a liner inside each pan.

Make the Cake Batter:
Beat together the oil, sugar, and eggs for three minutes at medium speed.

Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl: buttermilk, vanilla, food coloring, vinegar, and coffee. Mix on medium-low speed for one minute. The batter should appear smooth. Beware, any speed higher than medium-low will cause red batter to spread all over you and your kitchen!

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients with a whisk: the flour, chocolate, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Spoon one-third of this dry mixture at a time into the mixing bowl and stir at low speed until the flour disappears. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula as you mix. Mix until dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the batter.

Pour batter evenly into the two prepared pans.

Place pans on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating pans halfway through cooking. Use a knife to check cake centers for doneness. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is done. If not, set the timer for five more minutes and recheck. Be sure to test each pan. When done, remove pans from oven and cool for 5 minutes.

Next, run a knife around the edges of the pans to release cakes from sides. Turn pans upside down on a cooling rack and peel off the parchment paper. Invert cakes and cool to room temperature. Once cool, store in plastic bags until ready to use or frost them.

Butter and Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 8-ounce bar cream cheese, softened
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3¾ cups (1 pound box) confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions:
Beat butter and cream cheese together in a mixing bowl on medium-high speed until smooth.

Add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add vanilla and beat 30 seconds more. Add milk, one tablespoonful at a time, to thin frosting to desired spreading consistency.

How to Frost a Cake

Line the edges of a cake plate with parchment paper or plastic wrap.

Place the first cake layer down. Scoop up 25% of the frosting and spackle it across the top with a long metal icing spatula.

Place the top cake layer, smooth side up, over the frosted layer. Place the remaining frosting on top and use it to frost the sides and top of the cake.

Remove liners from cake plate. Let frosted cake sit for an hour or two before serving so flavors can meld. I like to serve this cake chilled.

Recently, I needed an elegant cake that would serve twenty. I decided to make a taller version of the cake by preparing one and a half recipes. This gave me three 9-inch layers. I increased the frosting recipe by half. The cake looked beautiful and regal on the dessert buffet. Sadly, I didn’t get a photo.

Triple Decker Cake Ingredients List
(I’ve done the math for you –and for me)

3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon baking powder
1½ teaspoon baking soda
4½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups sugar
1½ cup canola oil
3 large eggs, room temperature
1½ cup buttermilk, room temperature (not low-fat)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ ounce red food coloring
1½ teaspoon white distilled vinegar
¾ cup freshly brewed, plain, warm coffee

I LOVE when readers send photos of their creations from the blog. Here’s one from our friends-who-are-family, Markham and Cati, who made red velvet cupcakes for Valentine’s Day. I couldn’t love them more!

Other Great Cakes
Chocolate Birthday or Valentine’s Day Cake

A Cake for All Seasons

Mom’s Monkey Bread, circa 1970

Marion’s Crazy Good Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips

Old-Timey Vanilla Bunny Cake

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Always check my blog for the latest version of a recipe.

Italian Ricotta and Lemon Cookies

December 10, 2014December 10, 2025 ~ Judy's Chickens ~ 32 Comments

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love that the sweet equals the tart.
I love the cakey center and the crunchy crust.
You are irresistible and please the crowds.
You are Italian, so you are a cookie after my own heart.
You gladden the heart of my brother, Charles, too.
For that, I will continue to make you all the days of my life.

RECIPE TIPS

Mise en Place:
There is a fancy cooking term called, mise en place (me-zahn-plahs). It means to “put into place” which in the kitchen means to measure all the ingredients ahead of time so they are ready to go when you start cooking. I’m frequently in a rush and don’t bother to do this extra step, but today, I decided to give it a try. It was so calming! I plan to make this a regular practice.

How to Zest and Juice a Lemon for your Mise en Place:
As part of my mise en place strategy, I did all the prep work on my lemons first. I used a fine-holed Microplane grater to zest the lemon peel. Adding lemon zest to batter is a great way to add intense flavor to whatever you are making. Be careful not to grate past the yellow peel as the white pith below it is bitter.

Next, slice the lemons in half and squeeze the juices out using a lemon squeezer.

You could make your own ricotta using this recipe: How to Make Whole Milk Ricotta. It is surprisingly easy.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Yield: 4 dozen

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs (a large egg equals 2 ounces, do not use xl eggs)
15-ounces whole milk ricotta cheese, room temperature
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (juice of one 4-5 oz lemon)

Glaze:
1½ cup powdered sugar
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (juice of one 4-5 oz lemon)

Mise en Place:

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 375º

2) Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper, lightly grease the baking sheets with canola oil.

3). In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed for two minutes. Beat for two full minutes as this will incorporate air into the batter which will make for a lighter cookie.

4) Add eggs and beat for 30 seconds.

5) Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and ricotta and beat for one minute on medium speed. Be sure to use a spatula to incorporate the ingredients that have settled onto the bottom of the mixing bowl into the batter.

6) Add the flour, baking powder and salt mixture and stir (the lowest speed on a mixer) for a minute. Do not overmix or whip. We don’t want to awaken the gluten in the flour, so the batter becomes elasticky. We want the cookies to have a cake-like texture.

7) Use a tablespoon to drop the cookie dough onto the pan. Use about one heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie.

8) Bake for 15-20 minutes. After 10 minutes of cooking, rotate your cookie sheets in the oven. Cookies are done when the bottom edges just start to darken.

Leave cookies on the pan to cool for 10 minutes. Peel cookies off the parchment paper and place directly on a wire cooling rack so the bottoms can air dry and become crisp.

Mise en Place for Glaze:

1) Mix together powdered sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small bowl and stir.

2) When cookies are cool, use a knife to spread a thin layer of glaze over each one. Let glaze harden for at least three hours before stacking.

Most Popular Holiday Recipes:

Grandma’s Italian Fried Cauliflower

Baked Ziti with Eggplant

Cranberry and Hot Pepper Jelly Brie Bites

Mrs. Walker’s Cranberry Nut Pie

Italian Sesame Seed Cookies

My Favorite Rollout Butter Cookies

Mary’s Award-Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies

How to Fold A Tree-Shaped Napkin

Check out Holiday on the MENU for more recipes.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with a friend and become a follower. When signing up, be sure to confirm the subscription on the follow-up letter that will be sent to your email.

Follow Judy’s Chickens on Instagram and Pinterest @JudysChickens.

Always check my blog for the latest version of a recipe.

@judyschickens

Italian style meals, sustainable gardening tips, and lots of segues in between

How to Peel an Orange (or Grapefruit) Lickity Split

Lily’s Red Velvet Cake

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