Berry pomegranate cookie
For my variation of the classic kolche ab-e-dandaan cookie from Afghanistan I used up a bag of mixed dried berries I had lying around. I thought the rich cookie could do with some sour freshness so I chopped up the berries with some almonds into a rough crumb and mixed that through the dough. The mixture worked well, but I still missed zing so I poured in some pomegranate molasses and kneaded that through the mixture. The dough ends up slightly crumbly but can still be rolled out. I cut out little half moons with a cookie cutter and that went really well. After the berry pomegranate had been baked and cooled I spread some molasses on top and pressed on the rest of the berry mixture. You won’t find most of the berries I used for this cookie in the Middle East, but pomegranate molasses is a very popular ingredient in the whole region. It is made by reducing the juice of pomegranates into a sticky, sour-sweet syrup and is used both in sweet and savory dishes. I love the intense taste of the syrup and thought it worked really well with the chewy berry mixture and the crunchy richness of the cookie.
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Berry pomegranate cookie
for about 20 cookies
175 grams (1¼ cups) flour
pinch of salt
80 grams (½ cup) icing sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
80 grams (⅔ cup) of mixed dried berries (I used goji berries, inca berries, mulberries and cranberries)
20 grams almonds
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses + extra to spread over the top
125 milliliter (½ cup) vegetable oil
Mix the flour with the salt, the icing sugar and the baking powder.
Chop the berries and the almonds until the mixture resembles rough crumbs.
Mix half of the berry crumbs with the flour mixture and pour in the oil.
Knead for at least 10 mins. into a soft, slightly crumbly dough.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/340°F.
Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of cling film to about ¼ inch/½ cm. Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter. The dough is crumbly so be careful when you tap them out of the cutter.
Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for 15-20 mins. Take them out of the oven and leave to cool on the cookie sheet.
Spread some pomegranate molasses over the top of the cookies and press on some of the berry crumbs.
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