I hung around with Dad today as he conducted his last minute Christmas shopping, a time-honored tradition for him. As he explains it, it’s less stressful to purchase gifts a day or two before Christmas because he’s more or less stuck with whatever’s left in stock at the store, so there’s not a lot of aimless fretting about to find particular items. We went to Best Buy, Borders and the local mall, where he was able to knock off the majority of his purchases.
Back home, I made a batch of cookies from a recipe I’d saved from the December 4 issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine. The recipe is standard for ginger cookies with one major difference—instead of oil, butter or margarine, you use bacon fat, three-quarters of a cup. No, the cookies did not taste like meat. They were in fact savory in their rich scrumptiousness. I think the kosher salt may have even made a difference, pleasantly offsetting the sharp tang of the ginger.
Here’s a sample plate of Christmas cookies: the ginger ones are in the foreground; the rest are new varieties and traditional favorites Mom made.
Swedish Ginger Cookies
- 3/4 cup bacon fat, cooled (from 1 1/2 to 2 pounds Oscar Mayer bacon)
- 1 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup for dusting the cookies
- 4 tablespoons dark molasses
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- In a mixer or food processor, combine all ingredients and blend until dough forms. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Form the dough into 1-tablespoon balls and roll in sugar. Press the balls flat with fingers and space 2 inches apart on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes until dark brown. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to baking racks to finish cooling. Yield about 40 cookies.