I thought I had my workout in the gym today. That’s what I thought when I got home and prepared to go for a walk around the hood and admire the changing leaves before they are all on the ground. I was wrong. As I went into the kitchen for a glass of water (the wine would come after the walk) I noticed the hardwood in front of our wine fridge was buckling a bit. No problem, I’ll just pull out the fridge and see what’s going on. I should have waited for JT to get home because clearly I was in the ‘blue job’ territory. But I just couldn’t help myself, I’m like that. I discovered that the fridge didn’t budge; oh no, it must be buckling under it and catching the little feet. Oh no. Now THIS is a challenge. Some brains and some brawn (and some good old fashioned Eastern European sweat) I managed to get the fridge out and the boards cut out (with my handy Dremel tool, which I use about once every four years). BRING ON THE DYI, I’m freakin’ READY! Tomorrow I’m ripping out tiles from the stairs and I’m cladding them in wood!
Fortunately, there was no water or even wetness below, so there is relief because if you’ve ever had a water leak, it’s almost impossible to figure out where it’s coming from. But now the question is, why did the boards buckle? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Doing manual labour like that inspires me to bake. Fortunately, my friend’s (boss, neighbour) daughter’s after school program is having a bake sale and since my friend (Kim) doesn’t bake much, I told her I would bake some cookies for the sale. I ended up making some old fashioned ginger snaps from my recipe from last Christmas, but then I saw a version Zsusza’s delightful cookie and was immediately drawn to it. I loved the way the cookie crackled on top. Well the kid got two batches for the bake sale (maybe a few were set aside!). I made a few alterations to the recipe, so please pop over to Zsuzsa’s blog to see the original recipe, I didn’t have nutmeg handy so I substituted allspice and I also added an extra teaspoon of dry ginger as well as a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger. It makes for a lovely warmly spiced cookie. And baking cookies is a hell of a lot easier than pulling a stuck wine fridge out of its spot.
Old Fashioned Molasses Spice Cookies
Makes about 30-36 cookies (if you don’t sample the cookie dough)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 Tbsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp dry ginger
- 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 tsp allspice
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 large egg
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to (175°C) 350° F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt; set it aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, beat the shortening and sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in the molasses, egg and the freshly grated ginger and beat on low speed until just combined.
- Stir in the flour mixture.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Using a melon baller, form the dough into 19 g balls.
- Place the balls leaving at least 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (baking more will cause the cookies to be hard)
- The cookies will be very soft when you take them out of the oven but they will harden up as they cool, then transfer to a wire rack.
Sorry no insight about the buckling boards, but I’ll offer my personal home service if these cookies and a bottle of wine is offered. 😉
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You’re hired Jed! When may I expect you?
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I’m on the 4:30 from DCA. 🙂
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🙂
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Yum! Your cookies look amazing Eva! Molasses cookies are among my favourites, but I never make them myself (I’m not very good at baking cookies, I wait for a visit with mom or dad to make cookies).
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Thanks Amber, I used to bake with my Mom, it was always such fun. I miss her terribly.
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you will never go wrong with the spice cookies, even they’re old fashioned but they’re always delicious ^^
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Very true. Thanks for dropping by.
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Wow, I actually can’t believe (well, I can because it’s not like you’re lying to us, haha), but it’s incredible that these are home-made?! They have that perfect roundness and crinkliness (?) that only ever seems to come out of mass production (maybe that sounds negative, but I really mean it in the best possible way) – they look amazing. My cookies NEVER end up looking so good. I’m gonna have to try these – thank you so much for sharing.
Did you take a photo of the buckled boards? It’s hard to say from your description, but in case you don’t know – excess moisture from inside the refrigerator will run down through a hole inside the unit and usually pool on a plate on top of the compressor in the back. Because the compressor runs hot the water will evaporate over time, however if there is a *lot* of water, or the outlet was obstructed in some way, water could have flowed over the top on the floor causing the damage and then evaporated away. Sometimes you only need a little water – I left a pair of shoes with a bit of snow on on the floor one year and there’s been a slight bump in the floor ever since
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Thank you Charles, I would never take what you say as insulting, you are most complimentary and I am very flattered that you were so complimentary with the cookies. They sure worked out well!
Yes I took a photo of the floor but decided not to post, I emailed it to you. Your suggestion was fantastic, I checked the drip tray and it was dry as a bone; although I still need to check the one below the big fridge which is directly opposite to the wine fridge. I would have thought oak floors would be difficult to damage, but the water is a powerful agent. I recently stripped old tile glue from the stairs with plain old hot water!
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Eva just to let you know I reposted these cookies and the link to my site regretfully will no longer work. Sorry about the inconvenience this may cause.
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Thanks Zsuzsa, I will try to relink.
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You have made a wonderful job with Zsuzsa’s cookies! Beautifully crackled. She must be proud and happy to see them! I often do such things as moving furniture etc. without anyone’s help (sometimes I get bruises but carry on, stubborn). Fridges are a big mystery to me… so I have no explanation. I hope someone helps you.
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Thanks Sissi, the cookies turned our very well. I’m wishing I had hidden a couple (and I am not much of a cookie eater!). My Mom used to re arrange her furniture on her own.
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These are some of my favorite cookies Eva! Glad there was no water under the fridge. And I’m with you – sometimes I just have to get in there and fix things. For me it was the washing machine. No easy feat to move that thing! I should have made some cookies after that! 🙂
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I love it! Shoe Queens and DYI Queens! Spice cookies seem good for you too!
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You easily burned enough calories to eat two batches between the gym, the fretting and the manual labor. These look wonderful.
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Thanks Greg! That’s encouraging.
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Good luck with your DIY and well done for doing it yourself! I’m terrible when it comes to those sorts of things that I often just leave it to someone else 😀
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Thanks Lorraine, necessity is the mother of invention. You do what you gotta do!
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High 5 for tackling the job yourself. I’m not a princess but I know my limitations. Sadly, John knows his too and we’d have had to call in an expert.
These cookies are not my grandmother’s dry molasses cookies that I could only eat if they were hot out of the oven, otherwise they were like eating a bite of the Sahara.
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Hi Maureen, truth be told we had a similar issue about two years ago and because the job was so small no one would do it! We had a quote which was ridiculous for the amount of work and we were willing to pay it but the guy never returned our calls! We have had a real boom in renovations for the last ten years.
I’ve had them go hard too, the trick is not to bake the too long.
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SO perfectly crackled! I love ginger cookies…and a double dose of ginger is THE BEST!!!! I’ll be trying your version!!!
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Thanks Liz, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did, I mean the few that were held back ;)!
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Mmmm those cookies look yummy!
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Welcome to my blog Ilan and thank you for the lovely compliment. I stopped by your blog and really liked what I saw. I’m looking forward to reading your mainly sweet recipes.
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Our wood floor is buckling too but that’s from the fridge leaking water. I guess there was a flood in the kitchen from the previous homeowner, so I’ve heard from our neighbors. Wish I had your enthusiasm with DIY project, if you have time come on over to my house and you can do my kitchen floors! LOL
This cookie recipe sounds wonderful, wish I had some right about now! 🙂
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Makes me think I might have an opportunity to start a small business!
Welcome to my blog. Thanks for leaving a comment. I’m checking for a leaking fridge today, another BB (blogging buddy) gave me this great tip too.
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The buckling… could your fridge be leaking?
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Eva, I don’t know why my cookies deflate. Yours turned out just the way I wanted mine to be, but after 2 tries I am still not there. And to think Jim HATES anything with molasses. The gulls in the dump have been feasting on cookies a few times now.
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When you said the floor was buckling, I thought the worst. Around here, these things end up needing major repair work. Glad to read you dodged that bullet.
These cookies sound really addictive. Don’t eat the cookie dough? You’re kidding right? So long as I get 2 dozen out of the recipe, I’ll be happy. Besides, when I eat them all, the dough eaten during the preparation doesn’t count. I think I read that on the Weight Watchers website. 🙂
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I love any cookie with a crackle top.. these look yummy and will be checking out your friend’s blog too:) Our hardwood went buckly in a spot where we had spilt some floor cleaner.. and once when we had the humidity set wrong.. you’re amazing.. I didn’t know you were so handy too!!
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Thanks Barbara, I’ve never really been one to wait around for JT to come home for this type of thing. I like to get right into it.
I wish we had spilt something because then we would know for sure. I’m going to check the big fridge tonight as someone suggested it, it’s really close to where the floor buckled.
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I made the traditional crackle/gingersnap cookies at the end of last month. The ones you roll in granulated or icing sugar. You might want to check out the post.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/110750.html
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I sure will!!
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I had a mysterious leak some years back. Ended up having to replace the fridge but since it was over 25yrs old, no biggie. Love soft versions of these cookies but the crispy ones are good too. Molasses and spice are good things in general in a cookie. 🙂
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I will pull out the big fridge as it’s in close proximity to the wine fridge to see if there is any wetness under it, great tip, thanks.
Yes, I agree, Maria, molasses and spice are wonderful combos in any cookie, but particularly this time of year.
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There’s a draining tray underneath some fridges, I believe. I ended up having to bail out the bottom of my fridge due to the backup/clog in the tubing somewhere inside.
Just did a quick check to see if you had seen/commented on the gingersnap cookies I did last month (9/25). I actually liked the look of yours a bit better than mine.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/110750.html
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Molasses cookies are a family favorite. I was going to ask you how you got the beautiful cracks in the cookies. Maybe it is a mystery!
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Thanks Michael. I suspect it’s a chemical reaction that makes the crackle top (one site said it was baking soda) it’s petty cool though isn’t it?
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I’m sure your cookies will sell fast at the bake sale…they look delicious.
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Thanks Karen, they were apparently a big hit; in fact my friend may have held back a bag or two for herself!
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Hope your buckled floor is not a major fix. Those molasses cookies sure look great.
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Thanks Norma, it’s a small area but a pain non-the-less. It’s too small a job for a contractor to come in and do so it will be a DYI. I just wish I can figure out where the leak is coming from.
The cookies were delicious, in fact I’m craving them now!
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Your cookies look so perfect, Eva. And molasses and spice? These must be gorgeous. I was worried you were going to say you broke a pipe and flooded your kitchen! xx
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Thanks Charlie, we still can’t figure out why the floor buckled which is rather disconcerting because it means it will happen again.
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These molasses cookies are definitely a must-bake for the coming holidays!
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So soft and chewy with the perfect mix of warming spices, thanks Angie.
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Will this recipe make the Christmas cookie list Eva?
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Very likely Barbie! Very likely!
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Haha nothing like some good old DIY to get your blood running and stomach growling – these are the perfect treat 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU!
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