Tis the season for cozy home baking, and while we all love our tried and true traditional holiday cookie recipes, why not try something new this season? If you saw our new blog series last month, thank you so much for coming back to see what this month is like! In our monthly newsletter we have a spice of the month and this blog was started to demonstrate how these wonderful spices can be incorporated into recipes and meals most people are familiar with. 

A spice cookie is certainly not one that is made everyday, however it is perfect for the holiday season with its warm and flavorful profile. It’s incredibly easy to make and yields a cookie that stands out for its ease and unique flavor. The spice of the month for December is Fenugreek. Fenugreek is a common spice in middle eastern cuisine and is usually found in most curries. Although delicious, curry is not a meal most of us cook on a weekly basis. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I could make with this special spice. The smell of it is like warm maple syrup and honey, so I started wondering if it could be used for a baking recipe. When tasted alone it is a bitter spice, but once heated and used in a recipe it brings forth that maple flavor with a hint of a spice that can’t be placed unless you know what it is you’re eating. A spice cookie seemed all too perfect to let this spice blend in but give it a kick that makes it stand out. We also recently started carrying pure sorghum from Middlebury Indiana, so naturally a wonderful cookie recipe started falling into place. 

Ingredients:

¾ Cup room temperature butter

1 Cup brown sugar

1 egg 

¼ cup sorghum (or molasses) 

2 ¼ cup flour (spooned and leveled for best results)

2 tsp soda (omit this if using self rising flour) 

¼ tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground fenugreek

1. Start by grinding down your fenugreek to a powder, with a mortar and pistol this won't take long or just use your food processor or a blender. 
2. Cream together butter, sugar, egg and sorghum until mixed well and slightly fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients and then slowly add in to the wet mixture making sure it is mixed thoroughly. 
3. Place a cover on the dough and let sit in the fridge to chill for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 
4. Roll your dough into 1 ¼ inch balls and dip the tops into sugar of choice before setting onto a baking sheet. 
5. Place into the oven, and set a timer for 6 minutes. Once the timer goes off, turn the baking sheet around so that the cookies that were in the back are now in the front. This promotes even cooking throughout all of the cookies since most ovens are hotter in certain areas. Set the timer for another 6 minutes. 
6. Once done, pull the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies sit for only about 30 seconds on the sheet before carefully transferring them to a wire rack. They may seem like they're gonna fall apart and haven't been cooked long enough, but trust the process here! If done and left to cool completely on the wire rack you’ll end up with the most perfectly soft cookies.

Once the cookies are cool, enjoy! For storage, place them in a container of choice and I always like to add a stray piece of bread into the container to help keep the cookies perfectly soft over the next couple of days!

You’ll end up with a very old fashioned cookie turned into something completely new! Although a very unsuspecting spice that most people aren’t even aware of, the possibilities of ways to use it are endless and this one is totally unique. If you end up giving it a shot let us know how it went by emailing at nks@newkitchenstore.com!

Happy baking and Merry Christmas!