There are two places imprinted forever on my bones... the original Honey Bear Bakery near Greenlake in Seattle and Grey Dog on Carmine in the West Village.
Both places offered sanctuary in the form of worn wood tables, deep dark coffee, and perfectly over-large chewy oatmeal cookies that I would forever remember as the perfect balm for anything that ailed me & a worthy treat when something was worth celebrating. A cookie by which all other cookies thereafter would be judged, these were the kind of food you planned your life around. Shift your route, move appointments, go alone so you do not have to share.
Through the years I've come close to replicating that texture, taste, feel-of-a-perfect-coffeehouse-bakery-used bookstore-bistro-on-a-rainy-day cookie with a deep, dark cup of coffee... but not yet landed on one perfect recipe.
This is my latest exploration and quite unexpectedly, it's got carrots in it and it's vegan. Stay with me... I've made it twice now, and so far so good. It even evoked Kai's favorite oatmeal cookie memories...
By the way, I adapted this from a recipe I stumbled upon in the Montana edible magazine - if you are so fortunate to have an edible magazine in your area, you'll find them free in all sorts of local small businesses around town...
carrot cake cookies
grate enough carrots on the second smallest hole-size of a good old fashioned box grater to equal 1 1/2 cups.
Mix together 1 c. oats with 1 c. flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, pinch of cardamom, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 c. toasted walnuts. Mix in the finely grated carrots.
heat together 1/4 c. honey, 1/4 c. maple syrup, and scant 1/4 c. coconut oil until melted.
pour over dry ingredients and mix together. add in 1/2 c. dried cranberries - or our favorite, a handful of dried blueberries and a handful of dried cranberries...
Scoop into balls on a silpat or parchment lined pan and put in fridge while you heat the oven at around 360-degrees-ish (depending on how your oven runs). Slightly flatten the dough balls before putting them in the oven and baking for about 15-18 minutes. They should be lightly browned. Cool on the tray.
These are chewy and moist - so if you keep them in an airtight container, they'll get soft and I just cannot recommend that. We keep the cookie jar cracked - and pretty much eat them in two days, so I can't say how long they'll last...
always in motion,
fia
I say, again you should write a cookbook. Even if “…the real reason we are here is to ..eat each others cooking…” is no longer in your inventory, there are many stories to go with recipes. Because you have nothing else to do,right? Anyway,I love you both more than you can imagine. You are one of my lights.