Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1-¼ cup All-purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
1 dash Ginger
½ cups Milk
½ cups Pumpkin Puree
½ cups Ricotta
1 whole Large Egg

Preparation Instructions:

1. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and spices and stir with a fork to combine.
2. Mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, ricotta, and egg in a liquid measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined. (The batter may still have a few lumps—that is okay.)
3. Heat a greased skillet or griddle over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add a 1/3 cup scoop of batter to the pan. Flip when bubbles begin to form on the top surface and cook the second side until golden brown, a couple minutes more.
4. Serve with cinnamon powdered sugar or syrup.

Yield: Makes 9 large cookies
Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. natural (not Dutch-processed) cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. dried ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. ground black cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 3 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (plus extra for rolling the cookies, optional)
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsulfured light molasses

Instructions

1. Sift the flour, cocoa poster, powdered ginger, baking soda, cardamom and pepper into a bowl.
2. Use an electric mixer/beaters to beat the butter and creamed sugar on low speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the sugars and salt and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the molasses and fresh ginger and mix until well combined. Scrap down the sides of the bowl, and then add the flour mixture. Mix on low speed just until uniform in texture.
4. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough out into an airtight container or onto a piece of plastic wrap. Cover the container, or shape dough into a disk in the wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 5 days.
5. Preheat oven 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or lightly grease).
6. Roll 1/4 cup portions of the dough into balls, then roll the balls in sugar (–I skipped this part). Slightly flatten and place on baking sheet, at least 2 inches apart.
7. Bake 11-13 minutes, or until crackly on top but still somewhat soft to the touch, rotating pan midway through.
8. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, and then remove. The surface will get firmer as they cool.

Found On: foodfitnessfreshair.com/2012/12/06/gifts-for-the-coffee-lover-day-2/

Laksa – Spicy curry soup with a twist..

This is a complete recipe I have found to add to the recipe collection:

• 3 tablespoons of oil
• 2 cups of coconut milk
• 100g (3 1/2 oz) of prawns, shelled
• 100g (3 1/2 oz) of squid, cleaned, skinned and sliced
• 6 fresh scallops (optional)
• 6 cakes dried deep-fried beancurd (tau foo pok)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 200g (7 oz) of fresh rice-flour noodles (laksa), blanched in boiling water, or dried rice vermicelli (beehoon), soaked to soften
• 1 cup of beansprouts
• 2 sprigs laksa leaf, chopped roughly
• 6 quail’s eggs or 1 hen’s egg, hard-boiled and peeled
• 2 table spoons of fried shallots

For Spice Paste:
• 12 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 6 candlenuts
• 5 cm (2 inches) ginger
• 4 red chillies
• 2 tablespoons of dried prawns, soaked to soften
• 1 teaspoon of dried shrimp paste (belacan)
• 2 lemon grass, bruised.

How to cook Curry Laksa

Prepare the spice paste. Chop the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, ginger and chillies coarsely and blend or process with the dried prawns and a little of the oil until fine. Then, mix in the curry powder and dried shrimp paste, blend for a few seconds longer, then set aside with the lemon grass.

Heat the remaining oil in a wok or a heavy pan.
Add the spice paste and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes until the paste is fragrant. After that, add coconut milk and chicken stock and bring to the boil, stirring.
Put in all the seafood and the beancurd and simmer until it is cooked.Then, season to taste.
Lastly, to serve, divide the noodles and beansprouts among 4-6 bowls. Top with the coconut milk gravy, eggs and sprinkle with laksa leaf and fried shallots.