It’s been a little while, but here I am, comin’ at you with another THEMED MONTH!!! In case it’s not blatantly obvious, this one is cookies inspired by beloved cocktails. I figured I would start with the “craziest” sounding idea, and make some Caesar (aka Bloody Mary since I’m obviously not using Clamato juice here) shortbread cookies. Toss in some celery seed and cayenne pepper, drizzle copious amounts of a brown sugar-Worcestershire glaze and Bob’s your uncle! (how did I know? Just psychic I guess 😉 ).
Ok, I know you’re thinking these sound terrible. Even while making them, I kind of thought the end result would be virtually inedible, but I actually weirdly liked them. Envision these cookie bars more in the category of salty-sweet desserts and maybe the concept won’t seem so insanity peppers to you (don’t worry, no insanity peppers are included in the ingredient list 😉 ).
Did I mention the glaze? Because it was super delicious. In the same kind of way as barbecue sauce and brown sugar if you can picture that (but way less acidic-y, so….you know, better and more dessert appropriate 🙂 ).
Also, just look at them! They’re practically made to be a fall dessert – they look like pumpkin cookies/ bars! In fact, you could totally feel free to be a jack-a-hole and don’t tell people what they really are, so they’ll just think they’re maple-glazed pumpkin cookies or something and then BLAMO!!!! Shock, awe and amazement. The trifecta of hoped for dessert reactions.
Now you bloody well better get on making these, especially if your name is Mary. I’m not here for my health people (and if I was, boy did I miss the mark and/ or obviously missed the “healthy eating” day during health class 😉 ), I do this for you 😉 (ummm…and also me…OK, you’re right…mostly me 😉 .
Yield: 16 bar cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cane sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- pinch celery seed/salt
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter, chilled in the freezer for 1 hour (or longer)
- ¼ cup coconut oil, chilled
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/8 teaspoon celery salt (or combine celery seed with coarse sea salt)
- Worcestershire glaze:
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vodka
- 1 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons icing sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300F and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper for easier removal after (or grease).
- (You can also do the following steps in a mixing bowl, but in order to allow the butter and coconut oil to stay as cold as possible, I recommend and used a food processor). Add flour, cornstarch, both sugars, celery seed and salt to food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Add vegan butter and coconut oil in chunks, pulse a few times until butter and coconut oil pieces are no bigger than pea sized crumbs. Add tomato paste and pulse very briefly to mix in.
- Press mixture firmly into the bottom of baking dish (using the greased and flour dusted glass to help you press it down as flat as possible).
- Bake cookies 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Slice and return to the oven on a baking sheet this time and bake an additional 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a plate or cooling rack.
- Make Worcestershire glaze by whisking together in a small bowl the Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, vodka, and brown sugar. Mix in icing sugar until achieve slightly runny (but not too liquidy) consistency.
- Drizzle glaze on top and sprinkle with more celery salt.
0 Comments