Of Ginger and Lemon and Cream (Cheese) - Part The First

Gingersnaps are perhaps my favorite cookie of all time. I remember occasionally liberating one or two from the pantry late at night when I was a kid (I believe the brand was Archer's but I could be wrong). After I moved to Manhattan, I discovered that Nabisco made a pretty good snap and from time to time I'd buy some and have them with a glass of cold milk. I did this even though I'd gotten from a co-worker a really good gingersnap recipe that I loved to bake. That changed the day I bought a box and noticed something different about them. Gingersnaps are supposed to have cracks in them from the rising during baking and cooling after they're pulled out of the oven. The cookies from the box I'd bought were flat and the cracks were actually stamped into their tops! Well, that was just cheating! I've never bought a box since.

I thought my dalliances with prepackaged snaps was over but then I discovered Newman's Own Ginger-Os! What a delicious cookie! What a wonderfully gingery flavor! What tasty cream filling! What delightful organics! What a staggering price to pay for them! My wallet absolutely refused to cough up the $5.59 plus tax per 16-ounce package.

*Allow me to backtrack just a bit. I enjoy having two cookies as a little lunch dessert. It's a kind of mid-afternoon treat I give myself. ("Congratulations! You've made it through most of your day!") That being the case, I want it to be a good treat and one that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg. This is why Newman's was out. Backtrack complete.*

For a while I settled on an off-brand lemon sandwich cookie from the supermarket across the street from my office. Decent lemon flavor at a good price. I made do with them...until the company started skimping on the filling even as they raised the price. I understand the economics of cookie production and sales, but this was yet another insult to my cookie experience!

There was only one thing for it: bake my own. What could be better than combining the best parts of three different cookies I enjoyed into one simple sandwich cookie? Absolutely nothing better. But simple? Not on my life.

The stage was set for my ginger-lemon cream cookie challenge.

End Part The First