Armenian Gingerbread Cookies

Marks and Spencer has free shipping to the U.S.  I saw on their website reindeer cookie cutters and thought of little buster. It was on Christmas Eve, that we were patiently awaiting for his arrival. Then on Christmas day, early in the morning, he arrived. When I first looked at him he looked like an indigent fairy. He must have come from Santa's workshop and did not know who we were. But all I know is we got the best Christmas present ever!

So how befitting, that on my grandson's birthday, we will make cookies of Santa's wheels.

1/4 cup of shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup of mild molasses
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar
1 1/4 cups of flour

Mild molasses is very hard to find. But to do this recipe justice it must be used. Full strength molasses is to strong a flavor for these delicate cookies.

Mix the above ingredients in a mixer until they just come together. Shape into a flat disk and refrigerate overnight. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough into 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Bake for eight minutes until they are a light golden brown around the edges.

The smell of gingerbread is so wonderful and brings to us the holiday spirit. To decorate the cookies I used purchase icing and little candies for the toppings of the cookies.

Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis. He left Nicopolis Pompeii, to live in Fance, near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there for seven years, and taught gingerbread baking to French Christians.

Saffron Poached Pears

I was patiently waiting for some pears to come to the perfect point for poaching. You want them to be just shy of the point at which you would eat them. At this point, the absorption of the poaching liquid is perfect. They will also not fall apart.
You can poach them whole, but it is easier to half them. I use a measuring teaspoon to scoop out the seeds.

 The liquid is eight cups of water and three and one third cups of sugar. For the spices you will need one split vanilla bean, two thin slices of fresh ginger, three star anise, several alspice berries, several cloves, one cinnamon stick, one lemon sliced in half, a few black peppercorns and a good pinch of saffron.

 Bring the syrup to a low simmer and add your peeled and seed pears. Put a plate on top of the pears to keep them submerged. Poach for fifteen minutes and then turn off the heat. Let the pears cool in the syrup. If not eating right away, store them in the refrigerator for up to five days.