Gingerbread Cookies & Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

Today was a wet, rainy day in good old Arlington, VA. We got together with Nick's family to belatedly celebrate his birthday at Haandi, one of my favorite Indian Restaurants. After that, we came home and I did a little more Christmas decorating while Nick watched the Redskins game. When I got tired of watching the game, I headed into the kitchen to make gingerbread cookies and peanut butter rice krispy treats. They were both really good!

After dinner, we sat down to watch the Simpsons, and, of course, commercials came on. All of a sudden, I heard a familiar jingle and looked up to see JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE shlepping for Cash Point, a Pay Day/Title Loan business. A few thoughts (1) how bad has Justin Timberlake's career gotten? He needs to schill for a pay day loan company? and (2) more importantly, I hate pay day loan companies! I get irate every time I see their commercials. Since I work for a Legal Services Corporation, a non-profit organization that helps people with low income, we work with a lot of people who are victims of predatory lending, I see the after effects of these places all the time. People who get a $2k loan and end up losing their car, or get a pay check advance and end up owning 20 times the original loan. If you're not familiar with practices of pay day and car title loan places, you should read a little about them. They're ruined a lot of people's lives. Needless to say, Justin Timberlake and I are no longer friends. Not cool, JT. Just not cool. I have plenty of clients that barely speak English, let alone understand all of the intricacies of these loans. They see sports players and famous musicians and actors, and assume that these loans are legit. A year later, their life is ruined. Anyway, sorry to be on my soap box. I have a lot of colleagues working hard to get regulation into these industries, and it infuriates me to see a commercial with some flashy actor, catchy jingle and stacks of cash, without any information about the dangers of these loans - or even their terms!

Anyway, this grumbling clearly has nothing to do with Gingerbread Cookies, but nonetheless, that's what you get to read today. Before I sat down and got all worked up, I was making gingerbread cookies, as well as peanut butter rice krispy treats to submit to Nick (not my husband) over at Peanut Butter Boy. November is apparently Peanut Butter Appreciation Month, so Nick is collecting recipes that highlight the key to his secret culinary super powers - peanut butter. Rice Krispies are insanely easy, but, Nick (my husband) still loves them, so that's what I made. So here are the two recipes:

Gingerbread Cookies


makes 6 dozen cookies (I freeze 1/2 the dough to make & take on Christmas day)

Ingredients

3 1/2 sticks of butter @ room temperature
1 2/3 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
3 tbsp tangerine pomegranate syrup
1/3 + 2 tbsp of molassas
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 3/4 c flour
2 tsp orange zest
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp maple sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
2 1/2 tsp ground clove
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 c flour, for rolling

Sugar Dusting (combine all together in a small bowl)

1/2 c sugar
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 tbsp maple sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground clove
1 tbsp cinnamon sugar

Directions

preheat oven to 350
put a small glass in the freezer
combine butter and sugar in stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy
add eggs, molassas and tangerine pomegranate syrup
sift together all dry ingredients in a separate bowl
reduce mixer speed to low, and slowly incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients
mix until well combined
cover and chill dough in freezer for 20-30 minutes
spread 1/2 c flour onto cutting board
scoop teaspoonfuls of dough onto cutting board, and roll in flour until dough is formed into a ball
coat dough in sugar dusting
lay balls on greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with additional sugar dusting
remove glass from freezer and gently press dough balls until slightly flattened
bake for 12-15 minutes, until crispy and crackled (shorter if you like them more chewy and less crispy)
cool and serve


Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats


Ingredients

16 ounces (1 1/2 bags) of marshmallows
1 c peanut butter
3 tbsp caramel sauce
5 tbsp butter, divided
apx 5 c rice krispies

1 tbsp vanilla sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

In a sauce pan, brown 3 tbsp of butter
in a large bowl, put butter, browned butter, marshmallows, peanut butter and caramel sauce together
microwave at 1 minute intervals until marshmallows are melted and softened
stir all ingredients together until thoroughly incorporated
slowly add rice kripies in until well coated
spoon into a 13x9 pan
sprinkle with 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
press down with spatula until of uniform height
let harden, 15-20 minutes