Chris' counterfeit Amazon book is starting to really affect Tolkien's story, Gollum eats all the spies and the gang consumes the fellowships bodies.

This week we discuss book 2, chapter 2, "The Council of Elrond", from The Fellowship of the Ring.

Today's "Food For Thought": The (Gingerbread) Council of Elrond

This recipe is from https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/best-gingerbread-cookies/#tasty-recipes-71005 and it was wonderful as is!

3.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
10 tbsp softened, unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup dark molasses
1 large egg at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together dry ingredients. Using a mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add brown sugar and molasses and beat until well-combined. Add egg and vanilla and continue to beat for 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients (slowly or you'll have a mess) and beat on low speed until just combined. Divide dough in half and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F.
Flour your work surface and roll out dough into 1/4 inch sheet. Cut into shapes and re-roll dough as needed.
Place cutouts 1" apart on a cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake 8 minutes for smaller cutouts and 11 minutes for larger cutouts (4" or more). They should look dry and puffed, but not browned on the edges.
Cool for 5 minutes on the sheet and then transfer to cooling rack.

If you want to decorate your cookies with an icing that will harden, you'll need to make royal icing. I use the Wilton recipe using meringue powder and powdered sugar (https://wilton.com/royal-icing-with-meringue-powder/wlrecip-50/), and I cut it in half though I still had A TON of icing leftover from 13 cookies. It takes some practice to find the right consistency (amount of water) for cookie piping.

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Hi! Welcome to Fool of a Took Podcast, a show about friends reading the Lord of the Rings together. Here's the catch - 2 of the 4 hosts have never read the books before! Pat and Rj help their spouses Chris and Laura read the Lord of the Rings for the first time in a weekly podcast that discusses each chapter along the way.

With chapter snacks, fresh grog, and plenty of tongue wagging, you can be sure we’ll all be “cracked” by the end.

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