How to Make Honey Ginger Snaps

Emily Dickinson stopped by the FSU kitchen this week, to improvise a few poems and eat some ginger snaps - her own recipe!

How to Make Honey Ginger Snaps Lisa: Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed to comprehend a nectar requires a sorest need. Not one of all the purple hosts who took the flag today can tell the definition so clear, of victory. As he defeated, dying on whose forbidden ear the distant strains of triumph bursts agonized and clear. I got that know. Hey everyone, welcome to Funny Side Up. I’m Lisa, your host. Today, I’ll be cooking for your favorite poet, Emily Dickinson. Let’s get to know her level. Emily Dickinson was an American poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. She is known for her eccentric and unique style of poetry. She’s one of those classic genius artists who wasn’t totally recognized until after they died. She was really influenced by the Bible, and Shakespeare and also death because she was fascinated/terrified. So she just spend a lot of time writing poetry which included themes like faith, immortality, nature, flowers. Speaking of nature and flowers, poetry wasn’t Emily Dickinson’s only love. She actually also really enjoyed baking and gardening. Roses are red. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet so is baking. She actually has a recipe for ginger cookies and so we will be making a slightly adapted version of Emily Dickinson’s own recipe for ginger cookies, let’s just get started. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. You also want to get two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. So get a bowl and a sifter, into this bowl we will combine four cups of flour and to this, we will add one whole tablespoon of ground ginger. Put that right in, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt, and we’ll just sift this. It’s a mountain of flour we’ll set this aside so that we can take a cream and butter rise. And we get one stick of unsalted butter also known as a half cup of unsalted butter. We’ll cream it with the mixer. Watch and learn. Just like that, the butter is creamed. Now, you’ll add a half a cup of heavy cream which I actually never done in cookie recipes before so, it was like cottage cheesy looking and sure it’s fine. Now, we’ll add the dry ingredients. Wow! This is about the driest mixture I’ve ever seen in my life. I hope when we add the sugar elements it will change, and I think it will because what we’re adding is honey and molasses. Now Emily Dickinson’s original recipe called for one cup of molasses but I also want to change it up a little bit to sort of reference and acknowledge a major theme in her poultry which is nature and I thought honey will be great because we’ll add an extra layer of flavor. There’s a very famous poem of hers that is -- So think about that while I do this. Put half a cup of honey, a half cup of molasses, okay so the last and final step is baking them. You will roll them into little balls, cover them in turbinado sugar and then flatten them. All right and you roll them in turbinado sugar part is something that Emily Dickinson did into but I thought it would update the recipe a little bit. I am sitting here in my kitchen with Emily Dickinson. She’s come by to try my honey ginger snaps. Actually her honey ginger snaps, let’s welcome her to the show. Emily Dickinson: Hello Lisa. Lisa: I’m such a fun of your poetry. Emily Dickinson: I’m very pleased that you invited me here to be on the show. Let’s get ready to the cookies. Lisa: Why don’t you give them a try? Emily Dickinson: Sparkle in a cookie, oh wait it’s ginger. I’ll try it now, and we’ll not linger. The molasses flavor is so strong and powerful. The texture is quite lovely. It is that of a board, a board that you can eat, a board that brings you joy. I’m getting a bit nervous for I don’t like really be around people too much. Lisa: It’s been a pleasure to have you here. Emily Dickinson: Thank you Lisa, thank you ginger and molasses and honey, it’s been a true joy. Well that’s the show folks. I’ll see you next week when we have a very special pumpkin related episode. Make sure to visit the FunnySideOut.com and vote. See you later.