my latest favorite morsels
Buckwheat Moons
with Coconut and Pistachios
This recipe began as Heidi Swanson's "Animal Cracker" recipe. However, due to my obsession with buckwheat and lack of almonds in the pantry, I made a few adjustments. I loved how these turned out, with the richness of the coconut oil, the slight nuttiness of the buckwheat, and the delicious flavor of pistachios. As Heidi notes in her recipe, "you can make your own walnut (or almond meal) by pulsing almonds in a
food processor until it is the texture of sand--don't go too far or
you'll end up with almond butter" I used mostly pistachios with a few walnuts to make my nut meal.
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 c buckwheat flour
1/4 c walnut/almond/pistachio meal
1/2 c unsweetened finely shredded coconut, very finely minced
1/4 c extra-virgin coconut oil, softened
1/3 c fine-grain natural cane sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
a few tablespoons big-grain turbinado sugar
Whisk the flour, nut meal and shredded coconut together in a
medium bowl. Set aside. In a separate medium bowl, beat the coconut oil
with the sugar and salt until it's smooth and looks a bit like a brown
sugar frosting. Beat in the egg until everything is uniform in
appearance. Add the flour mixture and stir just until
incorporated. Turn the dough out onto the counter-top, knead it once or
twice and gather it into a ball. Cut the dough in half, flatten each
piece, wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F
degrees. Place the racks in the middle and line a couple baking sheets
with parchment paper. On a floured work surface roll the dough out
1/8-inch thick. If the dough cracks, let it sit and warm up for a couple
more minutes. Stamp out shapes with floured cookie cutters and place
the cookies an inch apart on the baking sheets, sprinkle with a bit of
the turbinado sugar. Bake until the cookies are just beginning to color
at the edges, 7-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on
racks. Yields at least 2 dozen, depending on size of cookie cutters.