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I had come across these Moroccan cookies at New York Times online edition which in turn were adapted from"Dorie's Cookies" by Dorie Greenspan. These cookies are made with a combination of semolina flour and almond flour and I made them eggless. In case if you don't have almond flour, it can be made at home by grinding the almonds with the skin on if you wish or after drying the blanched and skinned almonds. Semolina flour adds a sandy texture to cookies while the almond flour adds richness. These are a version of crinkle cookies if not for the thumb impression. These cookies though look plain are delicious with a hint of citrus flavor and a lingering aroma of orange blossom water.
I halved the original recipe and gave the measurements below. However I quartered the ingredients from the original recipe for my cookies. (I guess it is not confusing. That means I further halved the ingredients from the below recipe.) I baked them on a lined, large cookie sheet for 16 minutes and got around 16 cookies.
Ingredients: (Yield around 30 cookies)
1 tbsp. flax meal + 3 tbsp. water
3/4 cup + 3 tbsp. semolina flour
1 cup almond flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
Zest from a lemon
2 tbsp. any flavorless oil (I used canola oil.)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange blossom water (optional)
Confectioner's sugar for dredging
Method:
* Combine the flax-meal and water in a small bowl and keep aside for five minutes.
* Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
* Whisk together semolina, almond flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
* Add sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment or to a bowl in which one use a hand mixer. Grate the lemon zest over sugar and rub them together until sugar is moist. Add flax egg and beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Next add oil and continue beating for another 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla and orange blossom water if using. Turn off the mixer. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix them in on low speed. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix only until dry ingredients disappear into the dough, which will be thick.
* Grease your palms and roll out about a tbsp. sized dough between your palms to a ball and coat in confectioners' sugar. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. If your hands get sticky in between rolling the dough balls, wash and grease your palms again and start rolling.
* Place balls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Push down the center of each cookie with thumb, pressing firmly enough to make an indentation and causing the edges to crack.
* Bake until cookies are lightly colored, about 14 to 16 minutes, rotating pans top to bottom and front to back after 8 minutes. They will be golden at the bottom, puffed and cracked and just firm to the touch. Carefully lift the cookies off sheets and onto racks.
* Store them in a covered container.
This goes to Blogging Marathon under 'Recipes from Southern Hemisphere' Theme.
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Wishing all my readers a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. May all your wishes come true this year and hope you get to create a collage of wonderful memories with your near and dear ones.
I have read enough novels set in the Victorian period to know a thing or two about the popular tea tradition and tea rooms of Britain. However I always associated it with the afternoon tea sessions. A ritual which doubled as a light meal and was meant to ward off the hunger pangs between the lunch and dinner periods. A Duchess named Anna Maria, a lifelong friend of queen Victoria is credited with the creation of the afternoon tea ritual, during mid 1840s.
There were only two meals served prior to 18th century - a breakfast and a dinner, the main meal of the day that happened around two or three in the afternoon. Somewhere during the 18th century, dinner was slowly moved to somewhere between six to eight in the evening. During this period, a very light midday meal called 'luncheon' started to get served in wealthy homes, to fill the gap between breakfast and these new fashionably late dinners. However these luncheons were lighter and the long afternoons with no refreshments kept everyone feeling hungry. Anna found that a light meal of tea (usually Darjeeling) and cakes or sandwiches was perfect to beat the hunger pangs before dinner and soon started inviting her friends to join her during the teatime. This post-lunch tea ritual became such a hit that the practice spread in aristocratic circles.
Now, there is another little teatime tradition called 'elevenses' which also happens to be my theme of blogging marathon this week. Elevenses is a short break taken for light refreshments at eleven in the morning, a couple of hours before the midday meal. This is like a second breakfast that comes between a proper breakfast and before lunch. It was not as formal or fancy as the afternoon tea but light snacks which are usually sweet were served with a tea.
I read somewhere that not the fancy kind but simple ones like these ginger biscuits were a norm for the elevenses. I found the perfect recipe here to suit my purpose and tried it. I was baking a small portion and so, rather than running to grocery store, I substituted with the things I had in my kitchen. Golden syrup was replaced by honey and maple syrup combo, margarine by butter and self rising flour by a combo of all purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Also I baked them a couple of minutes more and left them in the oven for a few minutes. The extra time in the oven makes them perfect 'dunkers' for tea or coffee.
I was taking care of hundred other things while baking this and kind of messed up with my liquid measurement and so, I might have added more flour than needed. I am guessing that's why my cookies were thicker and did not spread as thinner as the original one. However they taste really good in spite of all the substitutions. As I mentioned above, I made them a little on the harder side to use them to dunk in tea / coffee.
Ingredients: (Yield about 30 - 32)
110 g / 4 oz margarine
110 g / 4 oz caster sugar
110 g / 4 oz golden syrup
225 g / 8 oz self rising flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
Directions:
* Preheat the oven to 180 c / 350 deg F. Grease a baking sheet.
* Melt the margarine, sugar and golden syrup in a pan over medium heat. Remove the pan from heat as soon as the contents are melted and allow it cool slightly. Add the flour and ginger and mix to form a dough.
* Once the dough is cool enough to handle, roll the dough into about 30 small balls with floured hands. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet with space in between to allow them to expand while baking. Mark the top of each ball with a fork.
* Bake them until the biscuits are golden brown, about 10 minutes. (Mine were not done at 10 minutes. However remember that they harden a little, while cooling.)
* Remove from the oven, let them cool down a bit and transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air tight container.
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Initially I had planned to participate in the 'baking' themed April mega marathon and I had diligently prepared the list. I even baked some when it dawned on me that I was the one who was going to end up eating all those goodies if I made it through the list. The kid who supposedly was to devour them and share the calories with me was away from the home and the kid who was at home wouldn't look at the sweet stuff unless it is laden with chocolate. And so, I finally gave up the idea of baking marathon though I ended up baking a few dishes for the first time.
These simple, sweet cornmeal cookies from Ivory Coast was one of them and they would be a great pick for a picnic menu. I actually tried these cookie two times, halving the recipe both times. The first time, I tried to shape the cookies by patting the dough into perfect circles and they spread like crazy while baking though they held the shape. The second time, I dropped dough by spoonful and they were chubby (as shown in the pictures) while the first batch ones were thinner and bigger. These crispy, crunchy cookies fall under the easier to prepare variety cookies.
Source: Here
Ingredients: (Yield 50)
1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
5 to 6 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup + 2tbsp. sugar
1 flax egg or 1 egg substitute
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Method:
* Mix 1 tbsp. flax meal and 3 tbsp. warm water in a small bowl and keep aside for five minutes.
* Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper / aluminum foil and keep aside.
* Combine flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
* Beat butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg substitute and vanilla and beat again. Slowly add the dry ingredients from the above step and mix well.
* Drop dough in spoonful onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until they are done.
This goes to Blogging marathon #76, under the theme 'Picnic Recipes'. Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.
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