Spices for the spicy
Tuesday, May 10th, 2016 06:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serai.
Made my mom some Chocolate Garam Masala Gingerbread cookies for Mother's day.
Garam masala is a spice mixture from India, and the thing about is that there is no set recipe. Every family has its version, a bit more of this or less of that, adjustments to location, etc. You can buy it premade, but there are many recipes on the web. I use Madhur Jaffrey's.
Chocolate Garam Masala Gingerbread Cookies
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1½ tbsps unsalted butter
3 tbsps corn syrup
3 tbsps water
3 cups all purpose flour, plus for dusting
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp fine salt
1½ tsps garam masala
12 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature (1½ sticks)
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup molasses
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp garam masala (or more to taste)
1½ tbsps egg white powder
3 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tbsps water
Toasted fennel seed, dried rose petals and gold or silver dragees, for garnish
Combine the chocolate, butter, corn syrup, and water in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and cook until the chocolate melts, about 1½ minutes. Stir to smooth out and combine. Set aside.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and garam masala in a large bowl. Set aside.
Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Beat on medium-high speed until the butter is smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and ginger; continue to beat over medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the egg until fully incorporated. Add the molasses and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Add the flour in 2 batches and mix on low until combined and forms a sticky dough. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and pat into two ½"-thick rectangles. Chill for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Adjust racks to the bottom and top half of the oven. Line 3 to 4 baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour.
Mix the sugar and garam masala in a small bowl. Set aside.
Spread parchment on the work surface and flour it. Roll each portion of the dough into a ¼" thick rectangle. (If the dough becomes soft, chill for a bit in the refrigerator.) Once the dough is rolled out, give it a layer of flour, cover it with parchment, and flip it over. Then cut the dough with 3" cookie cutters, lay on the prepared baking sheets about 1" apart, and sprinkle with the sugar mixture to your taste. Chill the cookies in the fridge for 10 minutes. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Combine the egg white powder, sugar, and water in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer over medium-high speed until it forms thick and glossy peaks, about 6 minutes.
Decorate as desired, with the chocolate glaze and/or the egg white icing. Garnish with toasted fennel seeds, dried rose petals, or silver dragees.
Makes 3 dozen 3" cookies
This dough is very soft and sticky at room temperature, so once it unchills, you have to dust it a lot with flour. That's okay, because it sucks up the flour easily. Make sure your parchment is floured evenly, with just a bit more flour than you think you need. (You can always brush the excess off the back of the cookies.) Another thing that helps is flouring your hands whenever you're handling the dough.
Also, not terribly happy with the chocolate glaze. It tastes wonderful, but it takes a long time to set up, and even then, it easily sticks if you press on it too hard. I think there's a bit too much butter and not quite enough corn syrup, which acts as a hardener. Next time, I'll change it a bit and see what happens. You might want to do so, as well.
But the result is wonderful. I cut the cookies with two cutters, a star shape and a circle. Some I left just plain. The stars and some of the circles got a full glaze on top, and the rest of the circles I dipped partially to create half-moons. I decorated them with red coarse sugar, red sprinkles and silver stars made of sugar paper. (That's a thing now, did you know?) They were seriously pretty. The cookies are not really sweet, rather they achieve a nice balance between sweet and spicy. They're firm but with a nice softness, and seem like they'll dry to a pleasing crunch. If it weren't for the stickiness of the glaze, which makes them kinda difficult to store (but does keep hold of the decorations quite well), they'd be near perfect.
Enjoy!
Made my mom some Chocolate Garam Masala Gingerbread cookies for Mother's day.
Garam masala is a spice mixture from India, and the thing about is that there is no set recipe. Every family has its version, a bit more of this or less of that, adjustments to location, etc. You can buy it premade, but there are many recipes on the web. I use Madhur Jaffrey's.
Chocolate Garam Masala Gingerbread Cookies
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1½ tbsps unsalted butter
3 tbsps corn syrup
3 tbsps water
3 cups all purpose flour, plus for dusting
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp fine salt
1½ tsps garam masala
12 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature (1½ sticks)
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup molasses
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp garam masala (or more to taste)
1½ tbsps egg white powder
3 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tbsps water
Toasted fennel seed, dried rose petals and gold or silver dragees, for garnish
Combine the chocolate, butter, corn syrup, and water in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and cook until the chocolate melts, about 1½ minutes. Stir to smooth out and combine. Set aside.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and garam masala in a large bowl. Set aside.
Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Beat on medium-high speed until the butter is smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and ginger; continue to beat over medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the egg until fully incorporated. Add the molasses and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Add the flour in 2 batches and mix on low until combined and forms a sticky dough. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and pat into two ½"-thick rectangles. Chill for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Adjust racks to the bottom and top half of the oven. Line 3 to 4 baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour.
Mix the sugar and garam masala in a small bowl. Set aside.
Spread parchment on the work surface and flour it. Roll each portion of the dough into a ¼" thick rectangle. (If the dough becomes soft, chill for a bit in the refrigerator.) Once the dough is rolled out, give it a layer of flour, cover it with parchment, and flip it over. Then cut the dough with 3" cookie cutters, lay on the prepared baking sheets about 1" apart, and sprinkle with the sugar mixture to your taste. Chill the cookies in the fridge for 10 minutes. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Combine the egg white powder, sugar, and water in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer over medium-high speed until it forms thick and glossy peaks, about 6 minutes.
Decorate as desired, with the chocolate glaze and/or the egg white icing. Garnish with toasted fennel seeds, dried rose petals, or silver dragees.
Makes 3 dozen 3" cookies
This dough is very soft and sticky at room temperature, so once it unchills, you have to dust it a lot with flour. That's okay, because it sucks up the flour easily. Make sure your parchment is floured evenly, with just a bit more flour than you think you need. (You can always brush the excess off the back of the cookies.) Another thing that helps is flouring your hands whenever you're handling the dough.
Also, not terribly happy with the chocolate glaze. It tastes wonderful, but it takes a long time to set up, and even then, it easily sticks if you press on it too hard. I think there's a bit too much butter and not quite enough corn syrup, which acts as a hardener. Next time, I'll change it a bit and see what happens. You might want to do so, as well.
But the result is wonderful. I cut the cookies with two cutters, a star shape and a circle. Some I left just plain. The stars and some of the circles got a full glaze on top, and the rest of the circles I dipped partially to create half-moons. I decorated them with red coarse sugar, red sprinkles and silver stars made of sugar paper. (That's a thing now, did you know?) They were seriously pretty. The cookies are not really sweet, rather they achieve a nice balance between sweet and spicy. They're firm but with a nice softness, and seem like they'll dry to a pleasing crunch. If it weren't for the stickiness of the glaze, which makes them kinda difficult to store (but does keep hold of the decorations quite well), they'd be near perfect.
Enjoy!
