Many years ago, my mother made a particular cookie for Christmas. All I could remember was that it had walnuts and a chocolate kiss. Unfortunately, she no longer had the recipe, and she didn't even remember the cookie at first. So it was up to me to come up with something. This is what I developed, combining "Hershey Kiss cookie" recipes with some Persian traditional recipes. Why Persian? Because I was convinced that this cookie had no flour. Blame faulty childhood memories. Nevertheless, I persisted, and I made it work. I cannot find anything quite like it online.
| Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| Egg Yolks | 12 |
| Sugar | 1 1/2 cup |
| Vanilla | 1/2 teaspoon |
| Cardamom | 1 1/2 teaspoon |
| Cinnamon | 1 1/2 teaspoon |
| Coriander | 1 1/2 teaspoon |
| Ginger | 1 1/2 teaspoon |
| Allspice | 1 1/2 teaspoon |
| Walnuts (or walnut meal) | 18-20 oz |
| Hershey's Kisses, "Special Dark" | around 90, more or less may be needed |
| Confectioner's sugar | as needed for coating |
If you haven't found walnut meal, grind walnuts to a cornmeal-like consistency and set aside. You can use a blender or a spare coffee grinder. Be careful, if you grind too much, you will get walnut butter. Even if done properly, it will be sticky. Or you could just go buy walnut meal. When I came up with this recipe, I had no idea the stuff was available. I recommend you use the walnut meal it if you can get it fresh. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together until similar to pudding in texture. Add vanilla and spices and whisk together. Add ground walnuts (or walnut meal) and mix with a spoon or spatula. This is your dough.
Unwrap the kisses! (If you have little kids helping you, it is important to make this step clear.) Grab a kiss. Grab a roughly equal amount of the dough. Roll then both together between your hands until it comes together as a smooth ball. Do this over the bowl of dough, you will probably drop dough. You want it to be about 1 1/4 inches across, but you don't have to be fussy. Don't press too hard or the kiss will poke out. Once in a while, you'll have enough dough stuck to your hands to just pick up a kiss and roll a cookie. Go ahead and do that.
 |
| Unbaked Cookies |
 |
| Baked and Awaiting Powder |
 |
| Powdered in Christmas Style |
Bake on cookie sheets (with parchment paper, if you like) at 350°F for 10 minutes, then turn sheet around and bake another 5-10 minutes. It depends on how "done" you want them. I prefer 10 minutes followed by 10 minutes. If using two sheets on different oven racks, switch the sheets on the racks when turning them around. Remove from oven and cool briefly on sheet. Cookies will spread and may rise somewhat. Coat with powdered sugar. I like to use a zip-lock bag and shake the cookies in the sugar. Cool on a rack and coat again with powdered sugar once cooled. This step matters. Using milk chocolate kisses would make this more child friendly.
