I had plenty of fears when I when a kid. Not enough cartoon time. Getting lost in malls. Creepy doctors with needles. However, nothing topped my biggest childhood fears.
Falling into the toilet. Eaten by sharks in the ocean. Getting crappy presents for Ayyam-I-Ha.
Aah, what’s Ayyam-I-ha? It is a festival that the Baha’is (a religion Mr. V and I practice) celebrate which takes place from 26th February over 4-5 days (depending on leap or non leap year). The main theme for this celebration is to give, to be charitable, hospitable and generous.
In my family, we’ve celebrated Ayyam-I-Ha since as young as I can remember. It’s a little like Christmas. All my uncles, aunts and cousins would gather under one roof and we would have incomprehensible amount of food, excessive singing, shouting, laughing, voice losing, super competitive game activities, and most importantly for us kids, presents.
In reality, the presents are symbolic really. But I didn’t get the memo when I was a kid. Obviously, my young brain wouldn’t be able to comprehend the symbolism anyway.
Now that I’m old enough to accept understand the symbolism and I’m fairly certain that I can’t fit in toilets let alone fall into them, there’s only one fear left. And since sharks are allergic to peanuts, I’ll have to fill my bloodstreams with peanuts… Ok fine. Sharks aren’t allergic to peanuts.
I guess I’ll have to face my fears by repeatedly watching Jaws to desensitize myself to sharks. And you know what goes perfectly with a back to back Jaws movie marathon? Cookies. Peanut cookies to be exact. Melt in your mouth, rich, decadent peanut cookies.
Quick Method Makes 55 one-inch cookies
what you need:
8.5 oz all-purpose flour or cake or pastry flour (2 cups scoop and sweep)
10 oz roasted unsalted peanuts, ground (2 cups)
4 oz powdered sugar (about 1 cup)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup – 3/4 cup peanut oil or lard
Peanuts, halved
1 egg + 2 tbs water, beaten for egg wash
directions:
1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, ground peanuts, sugar, baking powder and salt.
2. Pour 1/2 cup oil in and use a spatula to combine (or use a stand mixer).
3. Continue to add oil 1 tablespoon at a time. Once is coming together, use your hands to knead and combine it. The goal is to form a dough that is soft, does not stick to your hands and when compacted, it can hold itself (See notes below).
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
5. Roll and shape the dough into small balls. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cookies will not spread so the gap between the cookies doesn’t have to be wide.
6. Top each ball with half a peanut and gently press it down a little. Carefully brush the top of each cookie with egg wash.
7. Bake them for 20 – 25 minutes and let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Notes:
1. To test if the dough is ready, roll a small piece into a ball. If it doesn’t crumble or stick to your hands, it’s ready. If not, add a little more oil.
2. If the dough spreads or slackens after you’ve roll and put them down, the dough is too wet (too much oil has been added). Balance it by adding some flour or ground peanuts.
3. It’s up to you to use fine or coarse ground peanuts. I use my Vitamix for this.
4. If you want uniformed size cookies, weigh the dough and divide them equally before rolling them.
PS: These peanut cookies are very popular in Malaysia during Chinese New Year and they happen to be my favorite kind. Every host that I visit will be plenty surprised when they find out (after I leave) how I’ve helped wipe out their cookies.
My last post: Braised Soy Vinegar Ribs
What were your childhood fears?
