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Simone Appetit: Ginger cookies for allergy relief

Simone Grandmain
Ginger cookies — not crispy like their peers the Gingersnap — but chewy, good, and, with all that fresh ginger, they might distract you from your allergies.
Courtesy Simone Grandmain |

Why, oh why, am I suffering from allergies now when, clearly, it is fall, not spring? The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind, and apparently it is because the sage is blooming.

My response to this was to boycott all recipes containing sage and head to my local drug store for Claritin, Allegra, generics etc. Still, no real relief. Still I was a lovely picture of runny nose, cough, even upset stomach. Don’t even get me started on my beady little pig eyes straight out of Amityville Horror.

Then a friend recommended fresh ginger. Ginger, also known as Zingiber officinale, has been used for hundreds of years as a herbal remedy due to two oils called gingerol and shogaol and is also an excellent source of potassium, magnesium, copper, manganese, and vitamin B6. Whew! Not my first choice of words.



Clearly, due to its healthy simplicity and low economic impact, I had to look this up before I believed my friend. I mean, I have used ginger for stomach upsets, like, when I drive my stick shift or go fishing — but allergies? Apparently it is true. I know it worked for me.

So I buy fresh ginger and put it in my tea. Huge chunks of it. Then I moved on to my smoothies. (Shred it first) Excellent! So refreshing. Then I thought, why not kill two birds with one root? I hate allergies and I love cookies.



This brings us to Ginger Cookies. They are made with fresh ginger, plus the usual Gingersnap cookie ingredients, minus a few. I didn’t call them Gingersnaps because they are not crunchy (unless you cook them an additional 3 minutes) they are chewy and delicious.

If your allergies are very bad, put one cookie on each eye and call your doctor in the morning.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground clove

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

5 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

1⁄3 cup molasses

1 large egg

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

parchment paper

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cardamom, clove and salt.

Place the brown sugar and butter into a separate bowl and beat on low speed until light and fluffy about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the molasses, egg and fresh ginger and beat on medium for 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until well combined.

With a 2-teaspoon sized scoop, drop the dough onto a parchment lined half sheet pan approximately 2-inches apart.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 12 minutes for slightly chewy cookies or 15 minutes for more crisp cookies.

Rotate the pan halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to stay on the sheet pan for 30 seconds before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with all of the dough.

Simone Grandmain is an internationally published travel and food writer who currently calls Truckee-Tahoe home. She welcomes your recipes, kitchen “must-haves” and food news at simonegrandmain@gmail.com.


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