Wild Ginger Snaps & Spice Bush Snickerdoodles

At the Philly Flower Show I offered everyone who bought my book a few cookies, made from some of the foraged ingredients I'd talked about on stage.  I wouldn't call it a bribe exactly, but people lined up to have their books signed, and many asked if the recipes were included in the book.

 (photo courtesy of Ellen Spector Platt)

Alas, they are not.  Both are recent developments, conceived when I realized I'd like to bring small, easy-to-eat-and-transport treats to my book signings and lectures.  To sweeten the deal, as it were.

So here are the recipes.  Warning:  these cookies are dangerous to have around the house if you have a sweet tooth and no will power.  I ought to know.

Spice Bush Snickerdoodles 

(adapted from a recipe from my baking but non-foraging sister, Elizabeth)

Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup softened butter, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 egg, and mix well.  Stir in 1 3/8 cup flour, 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1/4 tsp. baking soda, and 1/8 tsp. salt.  Blend well and roll the dough into a ball.  Refrigerate for at least an hour, then using a small melon baller, scoop out spheres of dough and roll them in a mixture of 1 Tbs. sugar and 1.5 tsp. ground spice bush berries.  Bake for 12 minutes at 350F.

Wild Ginger Snaps

(those are dried stolons in front of the cookies)

Cream together 1 stick unsalted butter and 5/8 cups sugar.  Add 1/4 tsp. vanilla and one egg; beat until fluffy. Add 1/6 cup molasses* and blend well.  Then, add 1.5 cups flour, 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 tsp. ground spice bush berries, 2.5 tsp. ground, dried ginger stolons.  Mix until just combined.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and freeze overnight.  Unwrap and slice as thinly as possible, about 1/8 inch.  Bake for 8 minutes at 350F.

*Blackstrap molasses yields a slightly less but still plenty sweet cookie.