Recipe: Beeb’s Ginger Cookies

As I mentioned yesterday, Kia invited me to participate in a fun challenge where I would create a recipe inspired by the 2012 Kia Sorento. In addition to test driving the car for a week, Kia also provided me with a gift card to cover my time and expenses whipping up my creation. Since I had the car over Christmas, I wanted to create a dessert that would be perfect for entertaining and gifting. And since the Kia Sorento seats 7 has been recognized by Kelly Blue Book as having the lowest total cost of ownership in 2011, I wanted to create a recipe that would be inexpensive and feed a crowd. I decided to make my own spin on a classic by creating a special, signature cookie recipe that blends American and Korean influences, just like the Kia:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 heaping tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup margarine

1/8 cup cooking sherry

1/8 cup rice vinegar

2 TBSP. vanilla extract

1 TBSP. Molasses

Powdered sugar for topping

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat on low speed for 25 to 30 seconds. Scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula, beat another 1 – 1 1/2 minutes on high until thoroughly mixed.

Pre-heating oven to 300 degrees, roll dough into small balls – roughly 1 1/4″.

Place onto a cookie sheet lined with foil, spacing at least 2″ apart.

Using the bottom of a glass dipped in flour, press the cookies down to flatten them.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Once cooled, dust cookies with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. (Tip: I reuse the foil from the cookie sheets to place beneath the cookie racks. This catches the powdered sugar and makes clean-up easy.)

Yield: 32 cookies (Give or take…I ate one or two before I counted. Whoops! ;))

Inspiration Behind The Recipe:

This recipe is a totally original cookie of my own creation. This is the first time I’ve ever tried to make a baked good on my own with no pre-existing recipe, so it was a fun and interesting challenge. I sat down and wrote out what I thought the right proportions would be, and then cross-referenced that against a sampling of recipes in cookbooks just to make sure I wasn’t way off. The ratio I had come up with looked good, so I then set about baking it. We did thorough testing here in the Contest Corner kitchen to come up with just the right cookie – I made many batches over the last few weeks, tweaking the ingredients and amounts. These started out as gingerbread men, then turned into a drop cookie before I came up with this final version. Jai called on his chemistry knowledge to help me work out the ideal cooking time, writing out charts and setting timers to pull one cookie out of the oven at a time at different intervals, just like a science experiment. 😉 Jai describes the flavor of these cookies as a combination of gingerbread and Animal Crackers, so they make a nice cookie to go with a cup of coffee on a winter day.

My inspiration for this cookie was to create something that would fuse Korean and American influences. The rice vinegar, cooking sherry, ginger, and cinnamon are ingredients used in a variety of cookie recipes that are popular in Korea, combined in a flattened cookie prepared in a fashion that is a traditional standard in the US. Together, they are a perfect fusion of flavors, just like the Kia Sorento is a perfect combination of American and Korean craftsmanship.

If you try these cookies, I would love to hear what you think of them!