Ginger Molasses Cookie Magic Monday

"Never mind gold, let's make cookies."

Every once in a while life events warrant a nice, soft, chewy cookie. But do we buy cookies? Certainly not - it is too easy, inexpensive, and fun to transmute them yourself in your very own laboratory.

I was feeling my cookie creativity stirring over the weekend, and decided to indulge in some baking magic. It made me think that the alchemists were on the wrong track.

They shouldn't have been trying to transmute base elements into gold - they should have been turning them into cookies. Cookies!

I love how all the separate ingredients in my alchemy lab (also known as "the kitchen") combine to make wonderful food gold unlike any of the component parts. It is sumptuous synergy.

Especially when making cookies.

I was all geared up for action when I discovered I didn't have any eggs. No problem, since discovering a suitable (vegan) egg substitute back when I first started to buy ground flax seed. It works great, and the fact that flax is a concentrated source of essential omega-3 fatty acids is an added bonus.

Substituting Flax For Eggs (per egg)

3 Tablespoons warm water
1 Tablespoon ground flax

Mix water and flax together till liquid thickens, use in place of eggs in recipe.

Now that I had all my ingredients, all I needed was for Linda to choose what kind of cookie she would like.

"Ginger/molasses cookies, please," was her quick reply. "Cookies make everything right in the world," she added. Who wouldn't want a bit of that magic?

I went to my lab and got down to business.

Ginger/Molasses Cookie Magic

Base Elements

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg or ground flax replacement (see above)
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses

Directions For Transmutation

1. Preheat transformation chamber (oven) to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg/flax, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized nuggets. Place the nuggets 2 inches apart on an un-greased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Transform in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow gold cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Try not to eat all the cookies at once, and have a magical Monday.

We can talk about transforming the rest of the world later...