General

This is part 1 of 2 posts for the weekend. While the second took place on our block, this first one had us venturing outside of our zip code to a place that uses a reverse osmosis water system – Waukesha!

Some friends of ours are raising adorably cute TWIN 6-month-old boys and had us over for dinner and game night. Dinner was served on a raclette, which was a first for me and the Mister. It’s a great tool for dinner parties, and since we were playing a board game while eating, it was perfect for small plate dining as well. If you’ve never eaten off a raclette before, it’s like a two-in-one grill oven. The grill on top cooks your meat, while the trays below the are heated to cook vegetables and melt cheese. Our busy parents/hosts had a tasty spread of seasoned meats, vegetables, cheeses, breads, AND cilantro. It was fun, and must have spurred the Mister onto his Settlers victory (or was that the pin on his lapel?).

We brought along some of my favorite cookies. They are more or less adapted from a traditional oatmeal cookie recipe, but rather than adding chocolate, nuts or raisins, I added chopped pistachios, dried sugared ginger, and cardamom. The exotic smoky spice adds an amazing twist that never ceases to delight those that enjoy them. But, I have to tell you that these cookies almost didn’t happen. My sister shared this recipe with me several years ago, but sometime in the last year I seemed to have misplaced it. She was out of town when I called, but luckily her sweet fella was able to provide me with the recipe. Disaster averted! Another interesting tidbit for these tasty morsels – the cardamom and ginger were taken from a wedding gift we received last year. It was part of a spice gift box from the local Spice House, and they may have gone bad had it not been for these cookies.

There are easier ways to go about these cookies (like buying the ingredients pre-ground and chopped), but the prep for this batch was a time suck – the Mister even had time to make a loaf of bread while I finished  the chopping and grinding. Not only did I need to shell the pistachios, but I also needed to crack open the dried cardamom pods to get the seeds. I wasn’t sure if these were past their prime, but once I used the mortar and pestle to grind the seeds, their potent smell that permeated the downstairs area of our house had me think differently.

Cardamom, Pistachio, Ginger, and Oatmeal Cookies
Mix the following 5 ingredients together
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
In a separate bowl, mix the following 6 ingredients
1-1/2 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2-3 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Once combined, stir in 3/4 to 1 cup pistachios, 1/2 to 3/4 cup dried sugared ginger and 1 cup old-fashioned oats
Form dough into small balls, place on greased sheet (or use a Silpat!), and bake at 350 for 20-23 minutes until surface of the cookie is still soft. These tend to get hard quickly, so I usually put them in a container with a piece of soft bread.