Thursday Recipe: Pepper Spice Shortbread

I have this weird craving for cracked black pepper. That sweet spicy hit was perfect the other day in these cookies. It's based off a recipe I found somewhere on the web, but by the time I was done with it, the cookies didn't even resemble the original recipe. It's my usual method. Here's the recipe as close as I can remember.

Pepper Spice Shortbread

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. soda
1 t. fresh-ground black pepper, more if you like a real bite to your cookies
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. anise seeds, as crushed as you can get them without a spice grinder or mortar-n-pestle unit
1 1/2 t. fennel seeds, see above note
1/2 t. ground cloves
2 1/2 c. flour (use whole wheat if you want)

Heat oven to 375°. Spray a 9x13 cake pan and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, salt, soda, and spices. Beat until smooth and creamy, about three minutes on high. Stir in flour until mixed. Dump into cake pan, then even out and pat smooth. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until barely set. Let cool before cutting into bars and enjoying.

Thursday Recipe - Nutmeg Logs

From completewellbeing.com/article/a-nutty-affair/

I've been playing with spices lately. I love the different tastes and smells. These cookies always remind me of Christmases when I was growing up. We would always make a big batch of nutmeg logs and hide them away. They're better after a few days. The hard part was waiting those few days for the spices to blend and mellow.

This post also kicks off another book launch. Poisoned Pawn releases next Thursday! Jasyn, a character introduced in book two Priestess of the Eggstone, loves to cook. She's always playing with spices in the tiny galley of their ship. When I pull out my spices, especially for cookies, it reminds me of her.

So mix up a batch of these goodies and set them aside for a few days. Then enjoy them while you enjoy the latest adventures of Dace.


Nutmeg Logs

1 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 t. nutmeg
1 egg
2 t. rum flavoring
2 t. vanilla
3 c. flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add nutmeg, egg, rum flavoring, and vanilla. Beat until very creamy. Stir in flour, just until mixed. Handle the dough gently or it will get tough and nobody likes tough cookies. Shape into rolls about 3 inches long and about 1/2 inch across. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Frost with Vanilla-Rum frosting.

Vanilla-Rum Frosting

1/4 c. soft butter, use the real stuff
3 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 t. rum flavoring
2 T. cream or milk
nutmeg for sprinkling

Cream butter until very light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and rum flavoring. Stir gently until mixed. Add enough cream to make a soft frosting. Whip for at least 5 minutes to get a light texture.

Spread frosting over cookies. Use a fork to scratch markings down the sides of the rolls, like bark on logs. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Set on racks until frosting hardens and sets.

Store in tightly closed container for 2 or 3 days before devouring. Goes great with egg nog.

Thursday Recipe - Anise Shortbread

I've got a thing for licorice. I love black licorice. Anise seed has a mild licorice flavor. It's a great addition to spice mixes, both sweet and savory. A lot of Middle Eastern and Indian recipes use anise seeds.

This recipe is adapted from a cookie recipe in an old spice cookbook (Spices of the World from McCormick 1964). The poor paperback is falling apart. But it has some fantastic recipes that are worth saving. I updated this to be a bar cookie. I also cut the fat and sugar and added whole wheat flour for a healthier treat. They are still very tasty. If you let them sit for a day or two, it will enhance the anise flavor. My kids devoured them when they were barely cooled.

Anise Shortbread

1/2 c. butter (the real stuff tastes much better in this recipe)
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla
1 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. anise seed
1 c. whole wheat flour
2/3 c. white flour

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, salt, vanilla, baking powder, and anise seed. Beat until very fluffy. Stir in flours just until mixed. It will be crumbly. Spray a 9x13 baking dish. Heat oven to 350°F. Spread crumbs in pan and pat smooth. Bake for 15 minutes, just until very lightly browned and slightly puffed. Let cool. Cut into small bars. Makes about 32 small bars.

Thursday Recipe - Sweet Potato Cookies

There's something about winter that makes you want to hunker down and eat spicy cookies. At least it makes me want to. This recipe, the original version, was included with a bag of sweet potatoes I bought at Costco. My husband has accused me of never being able to make the same thing twice because I tinker with recipes. Here's my version of their cookies. Not too sweet with a good bite of spice, these are similar to pumpkin bread or pumpkin cookies. They are wonderful with some cream cheese.

You can see how we roll at my house - serve them off the cookie sheet with a block of cream cheese straight out of the box. The recipe makes a lot more than this, that's just what's left of a double batch made last night.

They also work on my diet, as long as I don't eat too many of them. Only a dozen or so...

Sweet Potato Cookies

2 c. cooked sweet potatoes or yams (Don't use the canned version. Buy some fresh ones and roast them. Instructions are in this post.)
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. ginger
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. cloves
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. oil
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
2/3 c. oatmeal
1 c. flour (use 1/2 c. whole wheat and 1/2 c. white if you want)

Heat oven to 350°F.

Put sweet potatoes, spices, sugar, salt, oil, egg, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Use a stick blender to whip it smooth. If you don't have a stick blender, use a potato masher or something similar. You want this to be as smooth and creamy as you can get it. Don't use a regular blender, it will be much too thick.

Stir in soda, baking powder, and oatmeal. Add flour and stir just until blended. Generously grease or spray two baking sheets. Drop batter onto pans, leaving plenty of room for spreading. Each drop should be about 2 T. of batter. Bake for 12-18 minutes, just until set (Mine took 15 minutes). Let cool at least 5 minutes before trying to remove from cookie sheet.

Optional add-ins to stir in with the flour:
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips
1 c. dried cranberries or raisins
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
3 T. finely chopped candied ginger or orange peel
1/2 c. shredded carrots for a carrot cake type flavor
1/2 c. crushed pineapple, well drained

Optional fillings or frostings:
Whipped cream cheese, plain or with a sprinkle of cinnamon
Cream cheese spread with pineapple
1/2 c. cream cheese, 1 T. softened butter, 1/3 c. honey or brown sugar - whip all together
Cream cheese frosting
Caramel frosting - Try this to-die-for recipe, just scroll past the goat cheese recipe

Thursday Recipe - Hansen's Vegan Gingersnaps

Voss Foster lives in the middle of the Eastern Washington desert. When pulled away from his keyboard, he can be found reading, cooking, singing, practicing photography, and bellydancing, though normally not all at the same time. More information can be found at http://vossfoster.blogspot.com


He joins us today as a guest chef:

Hansen's Vegan Gingersnaps

I was reading a great book (Equilibrium by Katey Hawthorne) and, in talking with the author (she's a very personable, lovely woman), the subject of one of the character's (Hansen's) favorite cookies, vegan gingersnaps came up. So I set about making them, and came up with the best gingersnaps ever.

1/2 cup applesauce (one single serving container is perfect)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine Applesauce, sugar, and molasses in mixing bowl. With wooden spoon (this dough will absolutely fry an electric mixer. It's too thick), mix in all dry ingredients (except the extra sugar for rolling).
Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Flatten slightly and place 1 1/2 inches apart on lined or greased baking sheet (at this point, you can drip a few drops of water on each cookie to make the surface crackle, if you like). Bake for 11 minutes (They never crisp up. Ever. Really, never.). Cool on wire racks and store in airtight container.

That's it. I dare you to not like these cookies.

Happy munching,
Voss