The key to great gingerbread is rum-soaked raisins and candied ginger minced super fine. Lots of people only use ginger powder and it makes for anemic gingerbread.The next morning’s weather reassured me that I wouldn’t be needed at work— the snow had fallen all night long and there was at least a foot and half on the ground. It was the perfect morning for enjoying omelets and coffee and for me to teach Alex some of my favorite cookie recipes. If you don’t care for baking, you might want to move on to Chapter 5.I loaded the CD player with Johnny Mathis and Perry Como and began setting out ingredients. I also had a stern talk with the stove. It is old and cantankerous. Being gas rather than electric it often hisses and sputters and sometimes refuses to light until someone is dumb enough to lean down and look through the glass window where they can be startled by a flying fireball. That morning it was feeling cooperative and started without protest. Perhaps it knew that it was being used for the highest of purposes: Christmas baking.The first two recipes are family favorites; Aunt Crystal’s Almond Crescent Cookies and my Grandpa Mac’s Prettiest Sugar Cookies.
