Thursday, August 21, 2008

Anything But Ordinary

Sometimes, when I get requests for baked goods from either friends or family, the specific details make be laugh. It isn't often that I even get requests for my cooking, since three quarters of the time I'm way ahead of the game as far as that goes (I mean, come on - I made the PBJ Cupkins, these cookies and the forthcoming Korovas without being asked!), but it does happen!

Like the lemony cookies I'm detailing today, for example. Andrew (my life's muse) and I had been talking about cravings, and the random ones that would pop into our heads for no reason other than to torture us. For me, it was a desire to make cookies of any kind, or to try my hand at making hard pretzels like the Goldfish crackers Andrew fell in love with last week in Niagara Falls (why the heck don't we get any of the good stuff up here?).

After I mentioned my hankering for cookie-making, Andrew offered up his services as an indulger taster, provided that the cookies I made "were normal, without anything weird added in...".
"Weird... like what?"
"You know, like tofu or anything... different. Like if you're making lemon-poppyseed cookies, make them with normal ingredients."

Sigh. Okay, Andrew, I'll make them without any tofu. Seeded lemon cookies it is.

Notice I didn't specify what kind of seed I was using. Therein lay the critical turning point. I did, after all, have an overstocked pantry to clean out! Poppy seeds gave way to something a little more eclectic and - dare I say, nutritious - a mix of hulled hemp hearts and chia seeds! I'd written about these before when I made my West-Coast muffins, and I threw some of the leftovers into this batch of otherwise basic lemony sugar cookie dough. I doubt that Andrew can tell the difference if he doesn't read this blog before having a cookie! It's not like I lied, after all... there isn't a speck of tofu in sight!

Lemon - Seed Cookies
Makes 12 large cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp lemon zest
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp hemp hearts
1 tbsp chia seeds
  1. Preheat oven to 375F, and line a cookie sheet (I used the Silpat Andrew gave me).
  2. Cream together shortening and sugar.
  3. Beat in egg, extract and zest.
  4. Gently stir in the dry ingredients.
  5. Drop 2" apart on sheets.
  6. Bake 10 minutes.
  7. Cool 5 minutes on sheets before removing to a wire rack.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 160.8
Total Fat: 9.4 g
Cholesterol: 17.7 mg
Sodium: 5.5 mg
Total Carbs: 16.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.7 g
Protein: 2.2 g

1 comment :

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