Candied Ginger, originally uploaded by Live♥Laugh♥Love.

As promised - finally, my candied ginger cookie recipe, which I've invented this holiday season (blame it on the 2 weeks of snow and very low temperatures - the perfect time to perfect one's skills in the kitchen). These turned out so well that I didn’t have a chance to photograph them before they were gone! I will do my best to take a picture next time I bake them before my in-house cookie monster claims them.

In this recipe, I tried to recreate the pleasure I've encountered in Squamish last spring with this decadent take on ginger that almost tasted like mastic and ginger. Of course, a cookie cannot taste like an ice cream but I wanted it to be special and very not gingerbread-like. Something more light and bright.

For the dough you will need:

7oz unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1/4lb. butter, softened at room temperature

1 Tbs. tangerine zest (preferably Murcott) - or orange zest if you can't find tangerines

1 Tbs freshly grated ginger

4 Tbs. chopped candied ginger

1/2 tsp. dry ginger powder

1 Tbs. fresh tangerine (or orange) juice

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the glazing you will need:

1/2 cup icing sugar

Lime juice from 1/2 lime

1 drop organic ginger CO2 extract

Instructions:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt

2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg and keep beating until evenly smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients - spices, citrus zest, juice and vanilla extract

3. Add the candied ginger and stir well.

4. Add the flour gradually until fully blended and start kneading the dough with your hands. Add more flour if required. Dough should be soft but not too sticky.

zest, originally uploaded by ChrisB in SEA.

It seems to be moving in one month intervals with the development of this fragrance. And here comes the third entry for my amber and ginger fascination. Last time I was wishing for more of a dramatic dichotomy between the fuzzy amber and the zesty ginger. The 2nd mod was very close to what I wanted - turning up a little musky, surprisingly. I liked the dry out but wanted to amplify the zing of ginger.

The third mod tries to do just that, and with the addition of a third party, a new element: orange.
Wild orange, to be precise. It’s lively and zingy and mouthwatering. In addition, the candy-like sweetness of Tangerine Murcott and orange peel.

I have also decided to play up the musky qualities with the addition of ambrette seed CO2. And to increase the sweet drama of the amber with some naughtily animalic honey absolute. I have to say that so far I’m pretty happy with the direction, although it’s not finalized yet.

For the next mod, I would like to add some orange juice essence (which I run out of and need to order) and perhaps something floral as well to make it more perfumey and complex. I was thinking about gingerlily but quickly realized it’s the idea of using gingerlily (because of the name) and not the scent itself that is attracting me here. Gingerlily will be too complex and add a musty-earthy spiciness which is what I’m trying to get away from. I want the juiciness of ginger, not the rootiness of it.