Pepparkakor
Last night Arthur and I were making Pepparkakor* -- Swedish gingerbread, but we didn't roll it out on the floor the way Pippi Longstocking does -- for a Tempest-fundraiser bake sale later this morning. Unfortunately, being an outdoor bake sale, if this rain keeps up it's going to be canceled pretty soon. If it gets canceled, I guess we'll just eat some ourselves (well, we've been doing that already) and then Monday bring the rest to the rehearsal and then afterward to Sam's choir meeting (barring more of this rain, Monday evening they're supposed to be singing on the street downtown).
It's definitely getting to be "that time" for the production of The Tempest Sam and Arthur are in -- next week is "tech week", with rehearsals every day, and then their "Three-Course Elizabethan Feast Shakespeare Dinner Theater" performance will be Saturday evening. At this point it's also looking pretty likely that there will be a second performance on May 8, but it's not totally settled yet, and I don't know whether or not it too will be part of a dinner event.
*This is how I make it, somewhat adapted from a recipe in The Cookie Jar: Cookies From Around The World by the Culinary Arts Institute:
Cream together1 pound butter
3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup cinnamon
8 teaspoons ginger
4 teaspoons ground cloves
Then mix intwo extra-large eggs
Then mix in5 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
Now you can certainly roll the dough out and cut it with cookie cutters, but what I usually do is roll it into balls (walnut sized or so, I guess), set them on the cookie sheet, and then flatten them one by one with the bottom of a large cup or jar dipped in sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees from 5-7 minutes depending on how thick/thin you rolled/pressed them.
Delicious, very fast and easy to make, and your house will smell great.
It's definitely getting to be "that time" for the production of The Tempest Sam and Arthur are in -- next week is "tech week", with rehearsals every day, and then their "Three-Course Elizabethan Feast Shakespeare Dinner Theater" performance will be Saturday evening. At this point it's also looking pretty likely that there will be a second performance on May 8, but it's not totally settled yet, and I don't know whether or not it too will be part of a dinner event.
*This is how I make it, somewhat adapted from a recipe in The Cookie Jar: Cookies From Around The World by the Culinary Arts Institute:
Cream together1 pound butter
3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup cinnamon
8 teaspoons ginger
4 teaspoons ground cloves
Then mix intwo extra-large eggs
Then mix in5 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
Now you can certainly roll the dough out and cut it with cookie cutters, but what I usually do is roll it into balls (walnut sized or so, I guess), set them on the cookie sheet, and then flatten them one by one with the bottom of a large cup or jar dipped in sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees from 5-7 minutes depending on how thick/thin you rolled/pressed them.
Delicious, very fast and easy to make, and your house will smell great.