This Halloween, I expect I’ll accompany my sons, Oliver and Alexander, to a party at the home of their school friends and maybe even to a few neighborhood houses to ring the doorbell and yell, “Trick-or-treat!” Lots of candy will be involved, of course, and maybe my boys will even indulge their papa’s sweet tooth just a little bit.
I have to admit, though, that even after living in America for so long, Halloween still seems to me very different from the way we observed All Souls’ Week in Austria. The only holiday foods I was aware of as a boy were the pieces of bread we’d leave on the kitchen table at bedtime, in case wandering spirits who happened by needed some nourishment.
I felt a little sad that those lost souls weren’t getting anything really good to eat. But I was also happy that we didn’t have to share any of the wonderful baked goods my mother and grandmother were beginning to prepare. With the holiday season fast approaching, our house seemed permanently perfumed with sugar and sweet spices.
Among my favorites were my mother’s traditional lebkuchen, or ginger cookies. Everybody in our little town considered them the very best and hoped my mother would offer them some. Chances were good that she would, as she baked batch after batch, storing them away in airtight containers to serve to visitors and offer as holiday gifts. Rich with the flavors of autumn, those ginger cookies would also be perfect for a Halloween party.
Though my mother shared her cookies generously, she usually didn’t share her recipe. But I’m happy to reveal her secrets here. For one thing, she always ground her own spices, though you can also use good-quality ground spices from the store. She flavored the cookies with a mixture of both fresh and dried ginger to develop an even more complex flavor. And for the same reason, she also used three different sweeteners: granulated white sugar, dark-brown sugar and blackstrap molasses. Fortunately, those ingredients are even easier to find in any modern supermarket than they were in our village.
I like to add my own little extra touch to my mother’s cookies with a simple, tart-sweet lemon icing. If you like, mix it up when your party guests arrive, offering them the chance to decorate their own cookies as jack-o’-lanterns, scary ghost faces or anything else they like. As the season continues, just change the style of decoration to make these cookies a treat you can go on enjoying through Thanksgiving to Christmas and on into the new year.
SPICY GINGER COOKIES
Makes 4 to 5 dozen
Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 large cage-free egg
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoon peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Icing:
2 large cage-free egg whites
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more as needed
Food coloring (optional for designs)
Directions:
In a heavy-duty stand mixer at medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt until blended and light, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Gradually add in the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ground ginger, egg, molasses and fresh ginger.
Sift the flour and baking soda onto a large sheet of parchment paper. With the mixer at low speed, gradually pour the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, and continue beating just until fully incorporated and smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape down the bowl and the beater.
Empty half the dough from the mixing bowl onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and pat it into a flat rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap up securely. Repeat with the second half. Chill in the refrigerator until cold and firm, at least 2 hours and up to one day.
For the icing, put the egg whites in a medium bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest, and whisk until blended. Gradually whisk in the confectioners’ sugar, 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time, until the icing is smooth and thick but still fluid. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees. With a sharp knife, cut a rectangle of dough into 1-inch cubes. Roll each cube between your palms to form even balls, placing them 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet; or use a scoop 1 inch in diameter to form the balls.
Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until nicely puffed on top, well browned on the bottom and firm to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes. Leave on the baking sheets to cool briefly before decorating.
Fill a disposable plastic pastry-decorating bag or a sealable plastic sandwich bag with the icing, and snip off a corner. Gently squeeze the bag to pipe the icing over the warm cookies in any design you like. If desired, add food coloring to some of the icing to make skeletons, pumpkins and any other designs for Halloween. Leave the cookies on the sheets to cool completely before serving.