One Snowy Wintery Night

Growing up we had no snow, though wintertime never disappointed us. There was much baking to be done. Mother didn't have a lot of money and so throughout the year we were not allowed candies, soda pops, or sugary cereals, but she sure made up for it when she baked pies, cakes, and cookies at the end of every year. It was the cookies that I remember the most. Ginger Cream Cookies with snowy white fluffy frosting. That was my snow! As an adult and mother it became the custom to bake dozens of these thickly cut cookies and frost them all with the help of our children. Now days we get the real snow, and the little chickens have moved on, but at the end of the every year when the Ginger Cream Cookies are baked many memories of my childhood and of our 3 little chickens makes for such a sweet end of another year.

GINGER CREAM COOKIES

Cookies:
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup molasses
2 egg yokes
1/2 cup hot water
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ginger
5-6 cups flour

Heat oven 400 degrees. In a large bowl cream sugar and shortening together. Now mix in each molasses, egg yokes, hot water, baking soda, and ginger. Finally, add a cup at a time flour until cookie mixture is workable as play dough. Lightly dust clean counter surface with flour and roll out cookie dough until flattened to 1/2-inch thick. Using your favorite cookie cutters (lightly dusted with flour) cut cookie shapes and place them on lightly greased cookie sheet (I use non-greased air bake sheet) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Don't let them brown on the edges. They should be raised and soft. Cool completely before frosting

Frosting:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

Beat egg yokes until fluffy set aside. Cook sugar and water together at a soft boil until it forms a ball when you place a drop of it in water, approximately 10 minutes. Be sure to stir constantly. Now slowly add in sugar/water mixture into beaten egg yokes and beat on high until soft white peaks are glistening creamy and white as snow, meringue-like. Use frosting immediately to frost all cookies as it sets up stiff when cooled. Use your favorite sprinkles or decorate cookies as you like.

"Gail, do you like seeee food?"

Those were the words of my stepdaughter, Alissa. She was 12 years old when she asked me this, as she opened her mouth wide to display its contents. Seeee Food! Yes I like seafood, but not that! Our kids always displayed such cheesy humor. They never grew out of it. So it was this fall's soup cooking season that made me think of my Honey Bear's favorite soup: Beer Cheese Soup. Of which I never made, with all the years of souping making to be done on our stove. Am I a bad wife? The summer we married we honeymooned in the McKenzie Bridge area and dined the old Log Cabin Inn. It was a wonderful old place that served up beer cheese soup. So in honor of my big Honey Bear....

HONEY BEAR'S BEER CHEESE SOUP

1/2 cup butter.
1 chopped medium yellow onion.
1/2 cup chopped carrot.
1/2 cup chopped celery.
1 medium Yukon potato, peeled and cubed.
1 cup flour.
2 cups chicken broth.
1 12-ounce bottle of pale ale. (You can drink the 5 other bottles later.)
7-ounce extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded.
7-ounce pasteurized process Swiss cheese. (I use approximately 10 slices out of deli singles package.)
2 cups of half and half.
1-pound smoked sausage ring, cut into pieces.
Salt to taste.
1/2 tsp dry mustard.
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce.
1/2 tsp black pepper.
1 tsp to 1 tbsp of hot sauce. You decide.
5 crispy fried bacon, crumbled for topping.

Melt the butter in a pot and add chopped onion, celery, carrot, and potato. Saute until translucent and slightly softened. Add flour and stir until mixed. Add chicken broth and beer. Cook until soft boil. Slllloooowwwwly add all the cheese until soup is smooth. Add half and half, salt, mustard, pepper, Worcestershire and hot sauce. Reduce heat and cook until veggies are done and soup is thick. In a pan saute sausage pieces and when done remove and blot dry and toss in soup. Ready to eat? Get your bowl and dish it up and toss some crumbled bacon on top.