Cookies

I used to consider gingersnap cookies my specialty. I loved making them, almost as  much as I loved eating them. The warmth of the ginger and rich sweetness of molasses and brown sugar were a perfect combination in my opinion. And I could always get them just the way I liked them- a little chewy with beautifully cracked tops.

But about six months before we left for Tanzania I had a string of terrible luck with cookies. My chocolate chip cookies melted all over the pan and my sugar cookies would not hold their shape. Even my fail safe gingersnaps were a disaster. With these experiences behind me, I tackled this cookie recipe with serious hesitation, but they looked too good to pass up and we needed a decent snack for our recent trip to the NCA.

We have a tiny gas oven which has two marked settings- "big red dot" and "small red dot"; our one cookie sheet is, shall we say, well used and usually burns everything on the bottom before cooking the top; and I had never made these cookies before. For so many reasons, these cookies, too, should have been a disaster.

But they were not. They were fabulous. Made without butter, and flavored with olive oil, anise and dates they were subtly sweet and entirely wholesome. I left off the sesame seeds for Tim's sake and left the fennel seed whole since I couldn't get my little food processor to grind them. They look quite different from the originals, but I will make these cookies again (and again and again and again...)
-kjd