Ginger Snaps

I got this recipe from Emily in my ward. I went to her house one day and she was baking these and they smelled so good I kept saying how good they smelled, so I think she felt bad for me and finally just decided to give me some. I then persuaded her to give me her recipe which is actually her mother's recipe. Thanks Emily!

Homemade Ginger Snaps are much better than those store bought rocks. Scott kept eating them last week and at one point said to me, I hope these aren't fattening because I've been eating a lot of them. In our dreams, honey. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Cream together:

1 1/2 cups Shortening
2 cups Sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses

Add:

4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cloves
2 tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

Roll into 1" balls and rolls those in sugar.

Bake at 375 F for 10-15 minutes. (The cookies will turn out a little softer if you cook for 10 minutes or so.

And a little shout out to my favorite store, Costco. This cinnamon smells and tastes amazing! Sadly, it reminds me of cinnamon gum. That sharp, spicy cinnamon flavor that almost burns your mouth when you chew it. I actually had a little bit of cinnamon leftover in an old jar that I wanted to use up before I opened this but I didn't have enough for the recipe so I had to open the Costco cinnamon. It about knocked my socks off! And this giant bottle was only like $3.50. I will always buy Costco spices. They are fantastic tasting and excellent in quality.

heather

Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie

I wanted to use some of the cranberries I just bought but I'm not super creative with them so I just made a simple pie. I don't really like store bought crust, but it was really cheap and it's so much faster, so that's what I used. So, either make 2 crusts or warm a store bought box. Then preheat the oven to 425 F and mix up the filling.

The filling is:
1 Can of Apple Pie Filling
1 20 oz. Can of Light Peach Slices
about 1 cup of Fresh Cranberries
a dash of Nutmeg
and about 1 tsp. of Cinnamon

Mix it all up in a bowl and dump into the bottom crust. Then top with another crust and bake for about 45 minutes. Tadaa! All done.

As you can see, I did a lattice crust. It was my first and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I just sliced the dough with a pizza cutter and then followed my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook directions.

1. Lay crust strips 1 inch apart across pie.

2. Fold every other strip back half way and lay one strip down the middle,
all the way across the pie.
3. Fold strips back over the top of the middle strip.
4. Fold the other half of the strips half way back and lay another strip down the middle.
5. Fold strips back over top.
6. Do this until pie is covered. Then either cut edges to line up with edge of pie pan or leave it about 1/2" over edge and fold over to make a nice crusty edge.
7. Sprinkle some sugar over the top of the crust to make it sweet and a little prettier.

If these directions make absolutely no sense to anyone but myself, click here for great pictures and clearer directions.

The pie turned out well. It was a mix of different flavors because I didn't have enough of either apples or peaches to make a single type. Serve it warm with Vanilla Ice Cream and you can't go wrong!

heather