brown sugar and spice pound cake

I have a favorite holiday tradition with a dear friend who lives nearby.  For years we've gathered on a Saturday in December to bake and catch up on the year.  

Usually cookies, but not always.  Sometimes it's sugar cookies from the roll or from scratch. Sometimes the recipes turn out great; sometimes utter disasters (like my caramels that never set up-- soft ball candy thermometer-watching is probably not the best to do while gabbing and distracted). Sometimes a family recipe, like my great-grandmother's pecan balls, which came out a little lot dry.  Sometimes something goofy. 

Sometimes it snows and it's magic.  

This year, this morning, we met at my house and I picked the most low-stakes recipe I could think of:  dog cookies.  We are tired.  And it wasn't snowing.  It was 70 degrees outside.  Maybe not the most holiday spirit we've enjoyed on our baking day.  But it was special to be together and going through the motions just the same, because we always do, because we are friends, because it's Christmas. 

My dog cookies turned out fine, or at least our dogs think so.  And they are great for gifting in mason jars tied up with string.  I'll share the recipe with you below. 

Saturday morning went by fast and we were on to the errands and routines of the day.  But I paused, while the kitchen was covered with flour and my apron was on, and baked a while longer by myself.  I was grateful for the reminder that we are still friends ten years later, still healthy, still able, with more days and experiences to connect us now. 

My neighbors will be the beneficiaries of this meditative project-- miniature brown sugar and spice pound cakes.  But the recipe bakes well in a full-size tube pan or two loaf pans, if that's what you prefer.  They are dense and moist like a pound cake should be, with bright lemon and cardamom flavor.  

Share them with a friend you haven't seen in a while.  Enjoy a quiet moment in the kitchen by yourself. Maybe start a new tradition. 

The recipes for giftable dog cookies and brown sugar and spice pound cake (for humans) are after the jump.

Brown Sugar and Spice Pound Cake

Adapted from Mama Dip's Brown Sugar Pound Cake

1 sticks butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening (preferably non-hydrogenated)

2 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed (1 box)

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, shortening, and brown sugar for 10 minutes until very light in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add eggs one a time, stirring to combine after each addition. 

In a separate bowl, sift togehter flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cardamom.  

Stir in vanilla and lemon zest to wet ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing well after each addition.  

Spread the batter into a greased and floured tube pan, 2 loaf pans, or 5 mini loaf pans.  Bake until golden brown, cracked on top, and a tester comes out clean.  This will take over an hour for the tube pan, about an hour for the loaf pans, and about 35 minutes for the mini loaf pans.   

Homemade Dog Cookies

Adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

1 tablespoon cooled bacon drippings (dogs love) or virgin coconut oil (good for dogs)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 banana, mashed with a fork 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Whisk together bacon drippings, peanut butter, honey, banana, and chicken broth in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, whole wheat flour.  Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and stir just until combined. 

Press out the mixture onto a floured surface until about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch thick.  Use a bone-shaped cookie cutter to cut out shapes or use a knife to cut into small squares.  You can reuse and reroll leftover scraps of dough.  

Bake on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper for 14-16 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack, then transfer to jars for gifting.