My contribution for the 12th day of Christmas gluttony.

Whole Wheat Ginger Snaps

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup molasses
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 1 cup white sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar until smooth. Mix in the eggs, and then the molasses. Combine the whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice, heaping the measures if you like a lot of spice. Stir the dry ingredients into the molasses mixture just until blended.
3. Roll the dough into small balls, and dip the top of each ball into the remaining white sugar. Place the cookies about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops are cracked. Bake longer for crispy cookies, less time for chewy cookies. Cool on wire racks.

(From allrecipes.com)

Very restless. Also very unproductive. And very aimless. I think I actually went on Facebook 7 or 8 times, for like 6 seconds. More or less.

Well there’s that old saying: When in distress, make brownies.
I also make stuff up when I’m distressed.

But not distressed enough to not try a new recipe:

Deep Dish Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a pan.
2. In a large bowl, blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually blend into the egg mixture. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
   

   Obviously ignoring the deep-dishery of it.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let brownies cool, then cut into squares.

Nice thin sheets of brownies.

Results: I think this is the first time I’ve baked something that didn’t end up being too sweet.  In fact it’s hardly sweet at all.  It smelled great from the oven but I can’t tolerate brownies tasting like Brownies Zero.  Either this recipe is a bust or I don’t have the capability to bake when I’m feeling agitated.