Foraged Spice Cookies
- Vince Crotta
- Jan 17
- 2 min read
This recipe is adapted from the Nutmeg cakes recipe from the medieval herbalist St. Hildegard von Bingen. She says:
"Nutmeg has great heat and good moderation in its powers. If a person eats nutmeg, it will open up his heart, make his judgement free from obstruction and give him a good disposition. Take some nutmeg and an equal weight of cinnamon, and a bit of cloves and pulverize them. Then make small cakes with this and fine whole wheat flour and water. Eat them often. It will calm all bitterness of the heart and mind, open your heart and impaired sense and make your mind cheerful. It purifies your senses and diminishes all harmful humors in you. It gives good liquid to your blood and makes you strong.”
As winter in Connecticut is well and truly upon us; this morning it was 18 degrees when I woke up, I thought this would be a fun and practical recipe to try, as it should chase away some of the winter Chill and blues.
This recipe below is adapted from a ginger snap recipe I use often as the recipe from St. Hildegard seems to be a spice cookie and ginger snaps are my favorite spice cookie.
Ingredients:
3 cups--360g, all-purpose flour
3/4 cup--150g, Sugar
1T, ground cinnamon
1 large thumb, of fresh ginger
1 small thumb, of fresh turmeric
3 cloves, ground
3 cardamom pods
3 star anise paddles
3 saffron threads
3 allspice berries, ground
1/2t mastik
6-7 spicebush berries, ground
A pinch of Candied Spruce Needles, chopped
A generous T of wisteria blossoms preserved in sugar
A generous T of spicebush blossoms and twigs preserved in sugar
3/4t, baking soda
1/2t, salt
12T--170g, unsalted butter
3/4 c--255g, molasses
2T, milk
Method:
In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
In a spice grinder, pulverize the whole spices.
Combine spices with dry ingredients.
Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients, you can use a mixed or food processor.
Add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Cut out two large sheets of parchment paper and fold in half creating a pocket
Divide dough in half and scrape into the pockets, using a rolling pin to smooth it out.
Place on baking sheets and freeze until firm (20 to 30 minutes).
Remove from Freezer and bake for 20 mins at 325F.
Remove from oven and leave the cookie sheets on the baking sheets for 15 mins.
Return them to the oven to dry out further and leave in the oven overnight.
The next day remove from the oven and break into pieces.
Enjoy!
Due to the high sugar content and low moisture, these cookies will keep on the counter for quite a while as long as they are kept in an airtight container. They are delicious with some warm milk or crumbled over some ice cream or yogurt with preserved berries!
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