Cold Weather Fighting Cookies
The cold grip continues in Manitoba and when we say that we are colder than Mars we are not just using a figure of speech. Overnight temperatures (with the wind chill) have been in the -50 range. Because I work from home I am one of the fortunate ones. It is simply treacherous for our eldest who uses a motorized wheelchair to go outside. My beautiful grand-babies can’t get to school because of frozen vehicles (their Daddy, our son has been walking to work). Our 2nd son (son in law) works on the front lines at Siloam Mission and I can only imagine what they are trying to cope in this weather crisis.
Anyhoo…I was trying to decide on a stew or soup that would keep us warm tonight and I came upon a top ten list of foods that, for various reasons, will keep you warm: cinnamon, dried fruits, eggs, ginger, honey, pepper, saffron, sesame seeds, turmeric and hot soups. The latter being an obvious. This didn’t sound like a soup concoction but it did sound like a spice cookie recipe! I started with a recipe from the Middle East and modified it to incorporate more of the list. It already covered off cinnamon, dried fruits, eggs and ginger. I added honey, pepper and sesame seeds and I swapped whole what flour for white flour, vanilla whiskey for brandy and raisins for currants.I couldn’t find a way to incorporate turmeric or saffron. Drat.
The result?
An unusual tasting but satisfying cookie.
- ¾ c raisins
- 2 T vanilla whiskey
- 2 c whole wheat flour
- 1½ t cocoa
- ½ t baking powder
- ¼ t baking soda
- ½ t each cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg
- ¼ t salt
- 1 quick grind of pepper
- coarsely grated chocolate to taste
- ½ canola margarine
- ⅓ c icing sugar
- ⅓ c liquid honey
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 t grated orange zest
- 1 egg
- ¼ c sesame seeds
- Soak the raisins for 10 minutes in the whiskey.
- Use hand whisk or stand mixer whisk to combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt and grated chocolate.
- If using a stand mixer, remove to a second bowl.
- Place butter, sugar, honey, vanilla, orange zest and mix with the beater attachment for 1 minute.
- With mixer running add the egg, then dry ingredients, followed by raisins and whiskey mixture.
- Drop by teaspoons on a parchment covered baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool.
So now you can go off of your January diet and have a really good excuse to eat cookies!
Kath’s quote: “C is for Cookie, that’s good enough for me.”-Cookie Monster
Love never fails.
