Friday, May 2, 2008

Mo' Cookies, Mo' Pie...

You know my whole cookie test post a few days back, where I said I had one more cookie to test out for the bakery? Well, this isn't it. And I actually have 2 more Oatmeal Raisin cookies to try, thanks to a handy hint from Veghead (AKA the Village Vegan) pointing me to David Liebovitz' adaptation of Nick Malgieri's Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe. Whew, that was one heck of a journey for some cookies, wasn't it? So, two more batches of cookies to be baked and devoured. But that's not the cookie goodness I'm sharing today.

Lassy Mays are!

**Cue "huh?" response**. Okay, let me explain for anyone not in the Canadian cookie loop. According to President's Choice (a Canadian company that mass-distributes these): in early Atlantic Canada, the "lassy mog" was a classic home-baked treat. Its charming name is derived from the local dialect for the region's widely used sweetener, molasses ("lassy") and a small, low-rising cake ("mog"). These are lauded by pretty much everyone I know who's tried one, and there is even a mention of them (with the best PC products, no less) in the ChowHound boards!

Notice that I didn't name the cookies Lassy Mogs, though. Why? Well, take a look at the packaging ingredients: Enriched wheat flour, butter, brown sugar, dates (coated with dextrose), raisins (coated with hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oil), fancy molasses, pecans, dried whole egg, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, sodium propionate, ammonium bicarbonate, cloves.

Mine, well, let's just say it's slightly different. I do have another version of these cookies too, which is probably closer to the package contents, but Andrew loved these cookies right off the tray (I don't know if any made it overnight!) so I know this is a keeper. If you like molasses and raisins, you will definitely like these cookies. I know I did as a kid - stealing them from the bag on our sailboat whenever I could - and these are definitely not what I think of when it comes to "kid food"! Come to think of it though, if my kids (when and if) eat my version of the cookies rather than the processed ones I'm happy! Who needs extra hydrogenated coatings and preservatives anyways? I don't think humans are designed with a 500 year shelf life in mind!

I'm not entirely sure where this recipe came from, but I know it can live on in cyberspace as long as this blog is running! I made some alterations (putting in some yummy barley flour instead of all white, swapping black strap for fancy molasses), but I would keep doing it that way. Better for you and all - cause we all know cookies are the gods of the health realm LOL!

Lassy Mays
Makes 3o(ish)
1 1/4 cups barley flour
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup black strap molasses
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
zest of two oranges
1/2 cup dark (Thompson) raisins, soaked and drained

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
  2. Combine flours, spices, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
  3. In another large bowl, cream the shortening and brown sugar.
  4. Beat in the egg, followed by the molasses, orange juice and zest.
  5. Gradually blend the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
  6. Fold in the raisins.
  7. Drop the dough by spoonfuls 3 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
  8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly coloured but still looking a bit underdone.
  9. Let cool on sheets.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 96.4
Total Fat: 3.6 g
Cholesterol: 9.0 mg
Sodium: 6.9 mg
Total Carbs: 14.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.1 g
Protein: 1.2 g

These cookies brought me right back to my childhood adventures with my family on the shores of Lake Huron during the summers when I was growing up. I found out about the Tastes to Remember event going on at Homemade Experiences in the Kitchen, so I thought I'd send these cookies Sarah's way. The deadline's May 23rd, so check her site for the roundup!

As for the whole "pie" component of this post, I actually didn't get a chance to take any decent photos of what I did with the remaining pastry dough from the Redwall Pasties from Wednesday. I'll tell you what I did, though, and you can check out Smitten's photo for a rough estimate of what my Strawberry hand-pies looked like.

All I did was roll out the dough (which by the way is NOT fun to work with a day later... I don't think I'll chill it again), divide it and fill the centre of each strip with chopped up strawberries and a few rich, dark chocolate chips. Into the oven they went (375F for 25 min) and though they oozed a mess everywhere they smelled GREAT! I liked the combo of smells from the olive oil and sweet berries, and I'm sure that the taste isn't that bad, either!

2 comments :

  1. Mmm...with the molasses and orange zest, I'm sure these really hit the spot! Thanks for sharing these in the Tastes To Remember event! I'll be back to this blog for sure! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Always love a healthy cookie recipe, thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!