Cookies, Cranberries, Ginger and Truffles

My semi-regular Friday roundup of articles, websites or videos from across the world wide web that caught my attention.

For me, the first half of December is all about baking and cooking. It started with baking goodies for fundraising bake tables at craft fairs and community concerts, and will end later this month when many creations are given away as gifts. So, in this web roundup I share with you some baking treats I’ve been bookmarking to make this season:

• Salted Orange Toffee Crisps from Christie’s Corner. Reprinted from Back to Baking: 200 Timeless Recipes to Bake, Share and Enjoy, Charmian Christie says, “They’ve got orange, toffee and salt all in an icebox cookie. Life is complete.” I agree. Use organic oranges if you can to avoid grating orange dye and pesticide residue into your cookies.
• Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies from Recipes to Riches. As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it! Ever since, I’ve been looking for the “Nature’s Path Organic Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise Cereal”. I haven’t found it yet. If anyone has a lead, please share! I’m about to launch into a substitute. I can’t resist. These look delicious.
• Pickled Cranberries from Food in Jars. Yes, you read that correctly. Cranberries. Pickled. I see all sorts of possibilities. Cranberries are a major crop in Quebec and you should still be able to get some fresh ones. I’m looking forward to trying this one.
• Iced Ginger Bars from The Healthy Green Kitchen. I’m a sucker for ginger in anything. And this one is gluten-free to boot! Although it does give us the option of making the bars with regular unbleached flour if being gluten-free isn’t a concern. The blog post is also full of cookie porn from the NYC Cookie Swap. Some looked so delicious I went hunting for recipes…
• Ginger Snowdrops from The Hungry Rabbit. I went looking for the Bourbon Cherry Brownie Cookies I saw pictured in the cookie swap post, and found these instead. More ginger. How canI resist? (The bourbon cookie recipe isn’t up yet. You’ll bet I’ll be checking back!) Wholesome Sweeteners makes a fair trade icing sugar that is available in many natural food shops.
• Café-au-lait Espresso Truffles from The Ultimate Chocolate Blog. Mmmm. Truffles. They are a bit fiddly and time consuming, but oh so worth it. And these ones are made with Camino Fair Trade Espresso-flavoured chocolate, which is readily available across the city and often competitively priced with other fine chocolate bars. I’m not sure these are even going to make it out of the house.

The cookies in photo on the top of the post are Cardamom Butter Cookies. These are a staple of mine. I make them every year along with Peppernut Coookies. Both are always a hit.

If you’re looking for ethically-sourced spices, try Epices de Cru in Jean Talon Market. They’re a bit more expensive but worth it. Their spices are fresh and sourced directly from smaller plantations. They also have weird and wonderful spices to explore, and a knowledgeable staff to help you on your journey. Another option is Ten Thousand Villages, which often has fair trade spices.

Do you have favourite holiday baking recipes or sources for holiday baking ingredients? Share them with me! I’d love to hear about them.