A Cookie for Rookies

As I baked cookies tonight, I remembered Cookie Monster and his switch to eating cookies only "sometimes” now.

Right. I know we have an obesity epidemic, more people have diabetes than ever before, and kids eat too much sugar.

But to hell with this. He is the Cookie Monster. Not the Legumes Monster, the Calcium Supplement Monster, the Flaxseed Monster.

Maybe what Sesame Street needs is more fusion cookies: snacks with figs, nuts, seeds, fruits, (vegetables even?).

A friend asked me today why I named this blog No Animals Lots of Carbs instead of No Animals Lots of Veggies. Two reasons:

a) I don’t really eat lots of veggies. I eat lots of carbs.

b) Carbs get such a bad rap. Bread is not the enemy! Neither are cookies.

So tonight, in an attempt to use dried apricots before they harden and hurt my teeth – the teeth of a much older and wiser woman – I baked apricot and walnut cookies.

The recipe was quite easy. Mix 1 and ½ c of flour with ½ t cinnamon, ¼ t salt, ¾ c butter, a bit over ¼ sugar, ½ t of orange zest (I used a tangerine), ½ c walnuts, 1/3 c sliced dried apricots.

Then divide the dough in two, shaping it into one or two logs, wrapping it in plastic and then the hard part: letting the dough chill (for at least 2 hours!). I always want to bake and/or cook something in one visit to the kitchen, not 2 or 3.

Finally, after you wait around for the dough to chill out (I went to a pilates class and then graded a few final exams, which surprised me in that they were beautifully written – two brought me near to tears. Such a crybaby), you pop the dough out of the fridge or freezer, brush it with one beaten egg and roll it in lovely raw sugar before baking at 350 for 15 minutes. Turn them over halfway through baking time!

Pretty pretty.