Ginger Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Congratulations to us, Black women, Latinas and everyone who made the Democratic ticket victory possible. Now the truly hard work begins. I have been dealing with the stress of the tedious counting of ballots by overindulging my sweet tooth. Half of the Chocolate Laced Triple Ginger Cookies I made this past week were simply Triple Ginger Cookies. Some of my family members prefer their chocolate on the side. I too enjoy a variety of gastronomic experiences though the chocolate must always be dark. With my nervousness at a dizzying altitude Tuesday night, I lowered my anxiety with Ginger Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches.

I got the Triple Ginger Cookie recipe from Lucy Mitchell, a woman who began a wonderful organic artisanal bakery cooperative in 1974 called Small Planet Bakery. Lucy and her cadre of bakers made everything from a extensive variety of bread loaves, to focaccia, chocolate chip cookies with pecans, pumpkin loaves in the fall and pumpernickel dinner rolls around the holidays. I still don’t understand how her vegan chocolate chip cookies were better than the regular ones. Yet, they were because they stayed soft for days. Small Planet sold their wares to restaurants, at farmer’s markets, and to thirty-six local grocery stores. The closure of the bakery, like Grossman‘s another favorite, is a monumental loss to the community.

With the popularity of veganism and organic food today, it would seem like Small Planet Bakery would be thriving instead of nose diving. Two separate subsequent owners tried but failed to sustain the business seemingly because they did not maintain the quality nor quantity of the original model. The same may be said about democracy in the United States. New management instituted substandard quality control practices while diminishing the amount of goods and services provided to the people – even though we were still paying the same rate.

So, until January I will be taking one scoop of organic vanilla ice cream and placing it between my two cookies. I will then upgrade by enveloping my Ginger Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches in Vegan Caramel Sauce from The Vgn Way and placing them in the freezer for 15 minutes before enjoying.