hailyn's cookies

friday night, somewhere at the tail end of my mangover, dominic, pinch and i had dinner with hailyn, a very lovely young woman visiting the island. she was leaving the next day, so we met for dinner at firefly bistro, and i would say that overall it was a lovely meal. i did document it, sort of, but all the photos came out shaky and funky, so i guess i hadn't completely recovered. i am working on repairing the situation, so hopefully i can post something in the future.

i had planned on sending some cookies off with hailyn for her journey (possibly to appease her because we're complete psychos?) , but when i woke up in the morning, the first thing i was told was that a typhoon was coming, and all thoughts of baking flew out of my head. sorry, miss! i had the dough and everything. luckily, tropical storm lala or tala or tralala is passing without much fanfare, so the cookies i had planned on baking i *did* end up baking tonight: chez panisse's ginger snaps, as found on feeding dexygus, which renee posted for imbb #10: cookie swap (i'd provide a link, but i can't effing figure out where it is on ismyblogburning.com--there are waaaaay too many things going on there, people!). the cookies are getting rave reviews from everyone who has tried them, and i love gingersnaps, so i knew i had to try them.

and so i did. and here they are. hm. i don't have the knife skills to cut the cookies less than 1/8th of an inch as specified, but i came close. the cookies are lovely, crisp, and buttery, and the aroma in the house is wonderful--spicy and warm and holiday cheering. and the taste? well. they are molasses-rich, buttery and the spices certainly have depth but...but...i don't know. they just aren't kicking it for me. ?? i used freshly ground herbs when possible, and a new container of ground ginger, but they're kinda...eeep, i can't believe i'm saying this...sorry renee, sorry alice waters....they are a little weak. maybe my tastebuds are tweaked towards more pika spiciness, but these seem more subtle than i was led to believe. not that subtle is bad, not in the least bit, but i wanted a bit of oomph, baby. i will definitely try these again, but i plan on doubling the spices, and adding freshly grated ginger and possibly even some chopped chilis in it. oooh. ooooh. i'll let you know.