Day 2: Ginger Stars...well sort-of......

I am sure this is a good recipe, but it did not work very well for me. The recipe calls for fresh ginger; of which I had none......Glitch number 1. So over to the computer to locate the conversion of fresh ginger to powdered ginger. Easy enough for every 1 teaspoons of fresh - use 1/2 teaspoon of powdered. I must confess here....I am not sure how long I have had this ginger, but it smells like ginger so I move forward. Everything else I had to finish making the cookie dough. Dumped the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and molded into a rectangle and into the refrigerator for 20 minutes to chill. Insert final jeopardy music here..dodododo.......20 minutes later I am rolling out the dough on the counter. Next step - star shaped cookie cutter and lay out on parchment lined cookie sheet.

Easter egg cutter, dinosaur cutter, lobster cutter, clam cutter, tree cutter, fish cutter, sprinkles, ....where in the heck is the star cutter?!? I have one - don't I??? Everyone has a star cookie cutter except me??? Glitch number 2. I pondered for a minute whether I should run to Wal-Mart and get a star cookie cutter and then said to myself, "heck with that crap." I cut out lobsters, clams, trees, a dinosaur, a large fish, an arrow and smiley face cookies. Brush with an egg wash and covered with sugar. Who says you can't have Christmas lobster, clam or fish cookies???

15 minutes later the first batch of cookies are done - pull them out of the oven and Glitch 3. Pot holder in not in my hand.....string of expletives starting with sh*t, damn, and then h*ll rolled out of my mouth as if the holy spirit had entered my body. Holy Spirit gone and hand only slightly stinging AND with potholder in hand, I pull the cookies from the oven. I think to myself, "these have promise." Second batch goes in. This batch is thicker than the first batch so I cook them a little longer. And then a little longer yet - they looked cooked on the sides but the middle still looked doughy. By now the first batch as cooled so I try a lobster.....they taste like plain old sugar cookies. What?? Where is the ginger??? Maybe it was me so I had Chris try one. He says, "Yup, I can't taste any ginger - they taste like a sugar cookie." By now I pull out the second batch since the edges were brown, but the middle still looked under-cooked. With the first batch tasting bland, I decided while this batch was still warm I would dust them with powdered ginger.

I had Mason try this batch. This turns out to be a bad idea. He gets a thick cookie and promptly tells me, "These aren't even done in the middle." He pokes his finger into the cookie, makes a pocket and declares, "These are Hot Pocket Cookies." He then brings me the hollowed-out cookie, sets the cookie on the computer, laughs, and says, "Keep this for inspiration."

My take away with this recipe is:
1. Must use fresh ginger
2. Must use potholder when pulling things from the oven
3. Must roll out cookies in uniform thickness so they bake evenly
4. Must never, ever, ever dust cookies with powdered ginger - dry ginger tastes like dry ginger and it coats the tongue in a distasteful sort of way.

Last, but not least - even a crappy cookie can look good in a photo!!!