Fight holiday withdrawal! Gingerbread-champagne sandwich cookies

January is such a grey month of blech.  After all of the excitement of the string of holidays from Halloween, through Thanksgiving, and December, and New Year's, January always feels like such a let-down to me.  But, to perk up these short days that feel so ridiculously long and that have been giving me an early case of bad spring fever, I decided to bring back some of the tastes of the holidays.

Gingerbread-champagne sandwich cookies

And yes, the sandwich cookie craze continues.  I mean, what else are you supposed to do with leftover gingerbread men dough?

It was nice to have a bit of holiday-nostalgia with these cookies, and the combination of ginger and champagne just works so well.  I think I was on a ginger-champagne kick that weekend, since I also whipped up my ginger-champagne pancakes with poached pears a few days later.

These sandwich cookies were a bit different from the shortbread-based ones I've been whipping up lately in that the gingerbread is really more chewy than crunchy.  But, the textures were still nice!  I did make the mistake of over-filling these a bit, so they did turn out a little difficult to eat, but the mess was definitely worth it when you get the powerful taste of brut rose complimented by the spicy kick of the ginger.

Anyways, looking forward to this long weekend we've got coming up--maybe I can finally get some time to escape and stretch my winter-cramped legs.  :-)

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Happy 2010! Ginger-champagne pancakes with champagne-poached pears

[last Pancake of the Week: Buckwheat almond pancakes with cider-poached apples and Icelandic skyr]

Happy 2010!  This year is barely three days old, and it's already a whirlwind.  I spent NYE's alternatively baking cupcakes for a cupcake order this weekend and working on stuff for my 'day job.'  As such, I didn't get much celebrating of the new year in, but I did make sure to make some time on New Year's morning for some champagne-infused pancakes!

Ginger-brut rose pancakes

with champagne-poached Bosc pear,

champagne syrup, and dark chocolate

Okay, fine. Technically not champagne.  Technically brut rose.  But it's sparkly and celebratory, so it counts, okay?

The gentle hint of ginger with the champagne/rose was so fragrant, especially when echoed in the poached pear and syrup.  And, for a bit of extra celebratory, New Year's resolution-killing, a bit of melted dark chocolate drizzled on top.  I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions.  So there.  :-)

If you're looking for more ways to kick off your 2010 mornings, here are my three favorite pancake recipes from the past year.  I haven't been around blogging for so long as to have a whole round-up post, but I couldn't just let 2009 go without highlighting at least a few of these Pancakes of the Week.

 

from left to right:

Banana pancakes with fried, spiced banana, brown sugar, and raw cacao nibs

Rosemary pancakes with poached pears

Pumpkin sage pancakes with blackberry reduction sauce

Here's wishing everyone a yum-filled and  not-as-hectically-busy-as-mine year 2010!

Read on for recipe...