Tag: cookies

Cashew Curry Cookies

On By Rob GIn Close to Home, RecipeLeave a comment

I’ve made these cookies a couple of times. The batch I made yesterday included a lot more butter (1 stick more) than usual, but I think that it worked well and I wanted to share.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 1/2 sticks (20 Tablespoons) softened butter

1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup corn starch

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 cup roughly chopped cashews (unsalted, raw is preferred)

Preheat the oven to 300. Mix the powdered sugar, butter, sugar and salt until the mixture is creamed and fluffy. Sift in the flour, corn starch and curry powder. Knead together in the bowl until a ball of dough forms. FYI, this is going to be a very sticky dough. If the dough is dry, add a couple of drops of water until all of the dry mixture is incorporated. Add in the chopped cashews and mix together (I put whole, raw, unsalted cashews in a lightly sealed bag and use a rolling pin to get it to be a rough chop). Place by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper).

When they are all on the cookie sheet, you can form them or make them into shapes if you would like. Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes, rotating once halfway through.

There should be a nice brown coating along the bottom edges of the cookies.

This cookie is very rich and flavorful. You have the rich buttery flavor, the subtle curry flavor, and the smooth flavor of the cashews, with a little bit of a crunch. The cookies will break apart easily, but they almost melt in your mouth. Even though this has 2 teaspoons of curry powder, it’s not an overbearing flavor. This is a sweet cookie with hints of savory. Since it breaks apart, the cashews help hold it together, and they also add a nice combination of flavor with the curry.

I’ve made the South American version of Alfajores before, and the corn starch and flour combination give those cookies their texture. That is the reason I wanted to have some corn starch in these cookies. If you would prefer to do without, just make sure to adjust the recipe and add an additional 1/4 cup flour instead of the corn starch.

I had two bonuses with this batch. The first was the parchment paper after the cookies were removed. There were little brown butter crumbs which had an extra layer of flavor. The other bonus was the aroma. I enjoy the smell of curry, and it was all over the house. And when you are getting ready to bite into these cookies, the slight smell of curry goes into the nose and invites an extra layer of sensory enjoyment. It’s easy to stay positive when eating these!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

On By Rob GIn Close to Home, Recipe2 Comments

I have been making these cookies for 15 years or so and they never disappoint.

When I would bring these in to work in the past, they went quickly. I had to start making double and triple batches, since these are tough to stop at just one.

Here are the basic ingredients:

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until well blended. I wanted to share the picture above because there are not a lot of ingredients to this, and the preparation for this will not take a lot of time.

Once the mixture is blended, it should look similar to the above picture.

Roll into small balls and place on an uncreased cookie sheet (or using parchment paper or silpat liners). I use a medium cookie scoop for this. It should yield anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 dozen cookies.

Next step is to press down with a fork to get the traditional peanut butter cookie look. Once the oven is ready, bake the cookies for 16-20 minutes (I rotate once half-way through).

Once cooled, these cookies are ready to eat.

I’ve always had a lot of fun making these cookies. They smell great while they are cooking and when they are sitting around waiting to be eaten. They aren’t a seasonal cookie, so they can be made year round. The recipe is pretty simple and it is not time consuming.

I made and brought these cookies to a few different companies I worked for, and they were always a hit. Not everyone likes peanut butter, but the people who like these cookies REALLY like these cookies.

I once overcooked a batch – they weren’t burned, but they were very crispy. I was telling my co-workers about the batch, since I didn’t bring them in, and one of my co-workers requested them. When I brought them in, he devoured them. He loved crispy cookies, so they were right down his alley. I share this story for one simple reason: Even though you may not like something you’ve made or tried to make, it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t like it. My co-worker would have been deprived of those had I not shared the story of my mistake with him. And when I made future batches, I would leave a handful of cookies in the oven an extra minute or two, just so he could have them the way he preferred.

Enjoy!