It’s hard to see the spinkles in this photo, but they’re there, I swear. The kids are super excited about them.

*We’ve been out of vanilla for a while, so I keep subbing in various zests. These cookies are lovely with orange, but I’d bet they’d be great with lemon, almond or vanilla.

Chewy Oatmeal Cutouts from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking via Shiny Cooking

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temp
• 2 Tsp orange zest (or lemon, or vanilla extract, or 1/2 tsp almond extract)1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 c (10 oz)flour (could probably replace more of it with whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup (2 1/4 oz) of regular or white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats (4 oz) lightly ground in the blender (blending makes the cookies much easier to cut and give them a finer texture)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/ tsp salt
• egg white for egg wash, if desired

Cream butter, sugar and zest (if using) until light and fluffy, scraping down occasionally to make sure butter and sugar are fully incorporated (3 min.). Beat in extract (if using) eggs one at a time (1 min.) again, scraping down for full incorporation.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture and beat at a low speed until dough forms a ball. Press dough into 2 disks, wrap in a cereal bag (or cellophane or whatnot)  and refrigerate at least a half hour, 1 or more is better. Preheat oven to 350*. Roll out one disk a scant 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes. Transfer cookies to baking sheets (I put silpat on mine, but I’m not sure it’s necessary). If desired, whisk egg white with 1 tsp of water. Brush a thin coat of egg wash on the cookies and decorate as desired (SPRINKLES!!!!). Bake for 9-11 minutes. Gather scraps and re-refridgerate. Repeat rolling process for second disk. Re-roll scraps, and repeat cut-out process, or cut into diamonds. Remember, rolling cookie dough more than twice may result in tough cookies.

I recalled an unusual little cookie, a recipe I had seen many times in my mom’s wonderful collected cookbook. She actually has several of these binders, each labeled with it’s major food category, filled with newspaper clippings, recipes pulled off the back of boxes, and note cards from friends. I admit, the only one I’ve ever actually opened is the one labeled “Cookies, Pies, Cakes and Treats.” Now, the problem with this particular cookie recipe is that I could only recall the image of it, not the recipe itself, along with a very vague memory of this unusual, delightful cookie. An Almond-Sesame Cookie. Not recalling her recipe, and not wanting to call her to give me the recipe over the phone, I scanned the internet. I sat in front of the computer disappointed. None of the recipes offered what I was looking for, either lacking almond or sesame punch.

What’s a girl to do with a little bowl of extract and no recipes to suit her fancy? Make something up. When served the cookies for dessert, Tom looked up and said, “This is a keeper.” The next day we were at my mom’s house, so I pulled out her sweets binder. It felt good to see all those recipes I had looked at so many times as a kid, all in their proper places.  I quickly found her  ”Chinese Almond Cookie” recipe, written out in her hand. The ingredient list was almost the same (her’s had cornmeal which gave it an interesting texture as I recall), but the proportions were significantly different. So here’s my version.

Almond Sesame Cookies

Use the greater quantity of sugar if you’re looking for something very cookie like. The smaller quantity has a sweetness similar to a store bought granola bar: plenty sweet for me. One website included instructions to shape the dough into ovals about 2 inches in length. I think I’ll try that next time for a more interesting look. *Also, I might try moistening my hands when shaping the dough to improve sesame seed adhesion.

•            3/4 cup sesame seeds

•            1 1/4cups all-purpose flour

•            3/4 cup almond meal

•            1/2 to 3/4 cup turbinado (or light brown) sugar, depending on desired sweetness

•            5 tablespoons butter, softened/melted (doesn’t really matter!)

•            2 tablespoons water

•            1 teaspoon baking powder

•            1 teaspoon almond extract

•            1/4 teaspoon salt

•            1 egg

Preheat oven to 350°. On a cookie sheet while the oven preheats, toast sesame seeds until golden brown, about 15 min, or until preheat is complete. Set aside. Measure remaining ingredients into a large mixing bowl. With hand-held or stand mixer at low speed, beat until well blended, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in a generous 1/4 cup sesame seeds.

Using a scant 2 teaspoons of dough for each cookie, roll into a ball and press into remaining toasted sesame seeds*. Place cookies about 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove cookies to wire racks to cool. Store in tightly covered container for up to 1 week.

I’ve got 3 recipes up my sleeve, but life is short, so let’s talk dessert first: peach pie.

Who doesn’t like peach pie? If you’re rasing your hand, you’re off the team. We loved this one (there may have been plate licking) and it was just as delicious for first breakfast the next morning. This one has a faux lattice crust**, but would be just as delicious with a solid top, a few scrap cut-outs, or no top at all. The filling for this particular pie has a gingery punch that would also make a lovely crumble or cobbler base, but I think it really shines in pie, without any other complications to compete with it’s clean, gingery goodness. And if it’s too hot to bake, just toss the filling ingredients together, minus the cornstarch, and serve it over vanilla ice cream, maybe with a nice almond cookie. Or a ginger snap.

Another note, this might be a great way to bring life to canned peaches. If you give it a try, please let me know how it goes.

Ginger Peach Pie
A double crust of your choosing, but I must say, I’ve been making mine with “white whole wheat” and we love it. Earthy, but not overpowering.

Filling:
3 lbs. peaches, sliced*
2 Tbsp. turbinado (raw) sugar, failing that, light brown sugar (more if your peaches aren’t very sweet)
2 Tbsp. corn starch (less if your peaches aren’t beautifully ripe, more if you don’t like any run to your pie)
Pinch of salt
2 scant Tbsp. fresh grated ginger

Heat oven to 375 and grease and flour a 9″ pie pan. Roll out the bottom crust, place in pan and finish the edges. Pierce with a fork and bake 20 min, or until crust begins to turn golden.
While crust bakes, combine sugar, salt and cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir into the peaches. Add a little of the juice back into the small bowl. Add the ginger to the juice and stir it enough to loosen up the ginger so it spreads throughout the pie. Gently stir juice and ginger mixture into the peaches.
Roll out remaining crust and cut into thin strips. When the crust is done, pour the peach mixture into the crust and top with a lattice** and bake about 20 minutes, until the peaches are bubbly and crust is golden.

*A lot of people remove the skin. I like some skin, for texture and color, so I just sort of tug of bits of skin away as I go, and leave some of it on. The kids love to eat the bits I tug off.

**For the lattice: Roll out the remaining pastry. Cut into strips. Using 2 long strips, make an X across the middle of the pie. Parallel to the lines of the X, lay strips in alternating directions and area of the pie (middle pieces, far left in one direction, far right in the other direction, far right in the first direction, far left in the other one, etc.) until it’s done. You could get adventurous and lift an arm of one that’s toward the bottom to cover one that is at the top, but I doubt anyone will notice. I hope the directions are clear. Let me know if you have any questions.