Gingersnaps

My mother-in-law, who lives nearby in an assisted-living facility (by her own choice), put in a request for gingersnaps recently.  Though I could have bought some, I wanted to make them because I think it's a shame if a person never gets homemade goodies.  I'd never made them before, so I turned to my trusty BHG cookbooks.  I amd currently in possession of three of these cookbooks: a recent one published about five years ago, the 1987 edition which was a wedding gift, and a vintage 1953 edition.  The recent and vintage ones belonged to Dave's mother, but since she never cooks anymore, I'm putting them to good use.  I used the recipe from the vintage edition because, well, just look at this illustration!

How could I resist??  The cover~

And the cookies~

The recipe was easy to follow and resulted in delicious, crispy cookies.  However, I reduced the baking time from fifteen minutes to twelve, and I'm glad I did.  They would have been too brown otherwise.  Here's the recipe~

BHG Old-fashioned Gingersnaps

3/4 c. shortening

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. light molasses (I used dark because I already had some.)

1 beaten egg

2 c. sifted flour (Sift first, then measure.)

2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. cloves

1 t. ginger

     Cream shortening and sugar; add molasses and egg; beat well.  Sift dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture; mix well.

     Roll in small balls; dip into sugar; place 2 inches apart on greased cooky sheet.  Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees) for 15 minutes (I reduced this 12).  Makes four dozen cookies.

I didn't dip mine into sugar because my mother-in-law doesn't like things too sweet.  They are delicious nevertheless!

Recent Hospitality

In the past nine days we have hosted three separate dinners for nine or more people!  The first was our (meaning Wittenberg Door's) twice-monthly Friday night dinner for international students, along with American friends, which features various kinds of American food and English conversation practice.  This week was different, though - in honor of Chinese New Year, we enjoyed traditional Chinese food and activities, led by our Chinese friends.  A fun time was had by all!

We all pitched in to make Chinese dumplings.

There I am, trying my hand at Chinese calligraphy.

The following Sunday we celebrated Dave's birthday with a large family gathering.  His brother and wife moved to town last fall and it's so great to be able to have them join us for family celebrations!

It turns out we didn't take that many pictures, but here's one of Dave and Arane.  (The little ones are so excited about birthday parties, even when they are not their own!)

Arane supervised the gift opening.  She's an expert. :)

Yesterday, my soon-to-be-88-year-old mother and my sister drove an hour and a half to spend the afternoon and evening with us.  They hadn't been here in a long time, so it was wonderful to have them at our house.  Once again, I was too busy enjoying myself to take many pictures, but I really love this of my mother and the little ones watching deer down by the pond.