The Perfectly Perfect Chewy Gingersnap Cookie

My favourite cookie is the gingersnap. Not the crunchy kind but the kind that is crispy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. The below recipe makes the perfectly perfect chewy gingersnap cookie. If it was anymore perfect, we'd have to name them Mary Poppins;)

What You'll Need:

• 1 large bowl
• 1 small bowl
• Hand mixer or stand mixer
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup of dark brown sugar
• 2 large room-temperature eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbps wet ginger (I like to use the wet ginger in a jar rather than powdered dry ginger. If you do use powdered ginger, cut back the amount to 2 tsp)
• Additional sugar, for rolling

What You'll Do:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
• Line your baking sheets with parchment paper
• In your large bowl and using your hand mixer (or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment), beat the sugar and butter on high speed until light and creamy
• Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, mixing after each
• Add the molasses and mix until incorporated (a trick I use to ensure the molasses doesn't stick to my measuring cup is to lightly spray the measuring cup with oil. This way the molasses just slides right out)
• In your smaller bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon
• Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture
• Add in your wet ginger
• Mix on low until combined
• Portion your dough using a tablespoon and roll each amount into a perfect ball
• Roll the dough ball in white sugar
• Place the cookie dough on the prepared sheet pan
• Place the sheet pan in the freezer for 10 minutes to chill
• Bake until puffed and edges are set, 9-10 minutes. You do not want to overcook these beauties!
• Let cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool completely
• Enjoy!

These are also great for freezing. This recipe yields a large batch, so I like to freeze portions of them. They are also fabulous cookies for Cookie Swaps and holiday hostess gifts.

The STEWART SCORE:

Appearance: 2

Taste: 2+

Ease: 1.5 (they can be time consuming to make them all the same size and shape, but being meticulous on this step leads to the absolutely perfect little cookie)

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

I have always wanted to try making biscotti. I'm a dunker and there is no more an ultimate dunking cookie than the biscotti.
I had some almonds and cranberries in the house, so this is what I came up with - the Cranberry Almond Biscotti.
They turned out lovely and worked out to be perfect holiday party hostess gifts!

 What You'll Need:

• 1 large bowl
• 1 small bowl
• 1 baking tray
• Hand mixer
• 1 large, sharp knife
• 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose, sifted flour
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 room temperature egg whites
• 2 room temperature medium-sized eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg - optional
• 3/4 cup sliced almonds
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate (for melting over top) - optional
• 1/4 cup flour (for rolling out your dough with)

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat your oven to 325 F
• Combine all your dry ingredients into your large bowl
• In your small bowl, whisk your egg whites and eggs, vanilla extract and spices until just frothy
• Using your hand mixer at a low to medium speed, add your egg mixture to your dry ingredients and mix until just combined, this will create a large batter ball that will be slightly tacky
• Stir in your almonds and cranberries until evenly distributed in the batter
• On a floured surface, divide your mixed batter into two equal parts
• Pat each half into the shape of a log, ideally a 10-14" log
• Place each batter log onto your baking tray (I cover mine with parchment paper, but this isn't necessary though it does provide easy clean-up!)
• Bake for 30 minutes
• Remove from the oven and let cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the baked batter log is cool enough to handle
• Reduce the oven heat to 300F
• Using our large knife, cut the baked log into 1/2" slices
• Once the oven has cooled, place the cut pieces back onto the baking tray, standing up, and spacing them about 1 inch apart

• Bake for an additional 20 minutes
• While they are finishing being baked, melt your dark chocolate
• Prepare a plastic bag to use to drizzle the melted chocolate onto your biscotti by cutting a small hole in the corner of your bag
• Once the chocolate has melted, spoon it into the bag
• Remove your cookies from the oven and drizzle the melted chocolate on top
• Move your cookies to a cooling rack and let sit and cool

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 1.5
Taste: 2
Ease: 1 (they are not really that hard to make, but cutting them without them crumbling is hard to do at first and they take a while to prepare and dress)

Skinny Spaghetti Squash and Spinach Cheese Bake

I have started following the extremely talented Skinnytaste blog - I love her ideas on how to cut down on fats while still keeping flavour.

I just tried her 'Baked Spaghetti Squash and Cheese and my mind, let alone my taste buds were blown.

Here is her recipe.

It was amazing and totally the perfect dish on a crisp Fall day.

The only alterations I made was to cut the skim milk back from two cups to just one, and I eliminated the parmesan topping.

Delicious!

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Fall is in the air, pumpkin is in my belly!

Last year I created a low-fat pumpkin bread recipe that was easy and tasty but this year I thought I would throw in a twist by adding banana!

I just tried a slice of this bread and was so excited by how it turned out, I immediately needed to share it with you all!

What You'll Need:

• Loaf pan
• One medium bowl and one large bowl
• Electric hand mixer
• Light baking spray
• 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
• 2 tbsp room-temperature butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, unpacked
• 1 large egg white
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

What You'll Do:

• Preheat your oven to 325°
• Spray your loaf pan with oil
• In a medium-sized bowl, sift your flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt with a wire whisk and set aside 
• In your large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter and sugar with an electric mixer
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg white, whole egg, ripe bananas, pumpkin puree and vanilla
• Beat at medium speed until fully combined
• Scrape down sides of the bowl then add the flour mix
• Stir in until combined
• Pour your mixture into your greased loaf pan and bake on the center rack for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean 
• Let the pan cool at least 20 minutes before you remove the bread from the pan
• Slice and enjoy! I topped my slice with a non-fat cream cheese spread...delicious!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 1 (nothing too exciting to be seen here)
Taste: 2
Ease: 2

Down Home Cornbread

Fall is here and I love making a good, spicy chili to keep things toasty. What is the perfect accoutrement to chili - cornbread!

This is a family recipe we got from a distinguished Southern gal nearly 20 years ago, whilst camping in the US.

I love this recipe as it is easy, fool proof, light and airy, and you can mix it up by adding spices or cheese making it the piece de resistance, if you aren't pairing it with a spicy chili.

What You'll Need:

• One small bowl, one medium bowl 
• One 9 x9 square pan (or a 12-seater muffin tin)
• 3/4 cup of cornmeal (I like using the grainy version so the bread has some nice texture)
• 1 1/4 cup of skim milk
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour (you can also sub for whole wheat flour for a denser bread)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup of sugar (I substitute this for a xylitol-based product, like Ideal, to cut back the calories)
• 1 slightly beaten egg
• 1/4 cup of oil (not olive oil;)

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat your oven to 350 if you are making a pan of bread, 400 if you are making muffins
• Grease your pan of choice (I do this with butter as it gives the bread that extra 'down home' taste)
• In your small bowl, mix together your cornmeal and milk and set aside to saturate
• In your larger bowl, sift together your flour, baking powder, salt and sugar (if you were spicing this recipe up, this is where you would add your chili powder, cayenne pepper, etc)
• Stir a slightly beaten egg and your oil into the wet, cornmeal mixture
• Add your wet mixture into your sifted, dry mixture and stir until just combined - don't beat it
• Bake your pan of cornbread for 25 minutes - or until the edges are a golden colour and the centre springs back when you lightly touch it
• Bake your tray of muffins for 15-20 minutes, using the same visual indicators as above

If you are wanting some cheese added to the bread, what I like to do is grate my cheese (a nice spicy havarti is great) and, when pouring your batter into its tray, fill it only halfway. Then, sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over top and continue to top up the tray with the rest of the batter. This gives the bread a nice, cheese infusion. Delicious!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2 (such a lovely yellow colour)
Taste: 2
Ease: 2 (for a quick bread, this cornbread couldn't be quicker)

Cilantro Lime Dressing With A Sweet Kick

I love Mexican and dinner tonight is pulled chicken tacos. To make them a bit more interesting, I created a tangy multi-purpose dressing sauce. It was so easy and it so super tasty I want to eat it with a spoon. But I won't for fear of judgement from my Martha.

What You'll Need:

• Food processor or blender
• 1 healthy, fresh bunch of cilantro
• 2 Tbps of honey (always nice to use local honey - support your local producers!)
• 2 Tbps extra virgin olive oil
• Juice from one fresh lime
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 Tsp of your favourite chili sauce
• 2 Tbps fat free Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbps of tahini (this is optional, but it adds a nice, nutty depth to the flavour)
• Salt and twists of fresh black pepper to taste

What You'll Do

• Take the bottom of the stems off your cilantro, add to your processor
• Add in all the other ingredients
• Blend until combined

That's it! Super easy.

You can also use this dressing as a dip for a veggie tray, or try it on grilled white fish. I think the tangy kick of this cilantro lime dressing with go with so many things!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 1 (its green...nothing special)
Taste: 2
Ease: 2

Sweet Potato Hummus

I am on a hummus kick. This paired with an excess of the most delicious little sweet potatoes, I created a delicious, easy, tasty, healthy sweet potato hummus I will definitely make again!

What You'll Need:

• Blender (or food processor)
• Large pot
• 3-4 small sweet potatoes
• 1/2 large lemon (or one small one)
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1/4 cup of tahini
• 1 crushed clove of garlic
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt
• Plenty twists of fresh black pepper
• 1/2 tsp tumeric powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 cup filtered water

What You'll Do:

• Boil your water
• Peel your potatoes
• Chop your potatoes into smaller cubes so they boil quickly
• Once boiling, place your potato pieces into the boiling water and cook until very tender
• When the potatoes are boiling, get your blender (or food processor) ready
• Rinse and drain your chickpeas then add into your blender
• Squeeze the juice of your lemon into the chickpeas
• Pour in the tahini and extra virgin olive oil
• Add in your crushed garlic 
• Sprinkle in your tumeric, coriander powder, chili powder, sea salt and ground pepper
• Your boiling potatoes should be ready by now
• Drain them and then add into your blender
• Blend until smooth
• I had to add a little filtered water to ensure it had a nice and creamy texture
• That's it!

Hummus doesn't just act as a dip, though a delicious one, you can also use it as a sandwich spread.
If you are a dipper, I love to dip raw veggies into hummus, corn chips, and whole-wheat pitas.

If you like things with a kick - add more chili and make this hummus nice and spicy.

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 1 (it looks like orange sludge...not overly attractive, but you can fancy it up by topping it with fresh basil or chopped green onions)
Taste: 2
Ease: 2