Christmas Fenugreek Mossy Cookies

I love the aroma of fenugreek, leaves and seeds as well. My mom used it a lot in her baking. Now I like to use it whenever I can get my hands on it. (If fenugreek is new to you, you can learn about its amazing health effects, safety, and side effects here.)

A few years ago, I picked up The Good Cook Cookies and Crackers book from a thrift store. In it, there is a picture of mossy looking cookies and brief description on how to make it. I tried it and failed flat but the cookies tasted good. For me, if I fail at it for the first try, it means I would try again and again until I succeed in achieving the mossy effect. And I did.

This Instructable is my successful attempt of combining my love for fenugreek aroma, interesting mossy look, and classical cookie taste and texture in one cookie. I hope you'll give it a try. If you do, please share with me your experience.

2 tbsp fenugreek leaves, powdered

2 sticks of butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp salt

20 almonds, halved, roasted, and crushed for topping

1 tsp pink peppercorns, crushed for garnish(optional)

Hand mixer

Strainer, a must to shape the cookies

Baking sheet

Silicone spatula or chef's dough cutter

Spoon

Makes about 40 cookies

Cream The Butter And Sugar Together Until Pale And Fluffy

I cubed the butter, placed cubes in a large mixing bowl, and let them sit in room temperature until soft (ideally you can take butter out of fridge the night before or in the morning if you bake in the afternoon).

Beat the butter first, then add sugar in two batches and beat them together until light and fluffy.

Beat In The Egg And Flavoring Extract

Salt can be mixed in the previous step, this step, or next step with flour.

Mix the dry ingredients well with a hand egg beater.

Stir the dry ingredients gradually into the creamed mixture to form a dough.

Place the dough in a bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before shaping the cookies.

Pull off a piece of the dough about the size of a walnut and shape it into a rough ball in your hand.

Place the ball in a strainer and use fingers to force it through the mesh in strands from inside to underside of the strainer(the underside is on top in this case).

Use a silicone spatula or chef dough cutter, scrape the ends of the strands from underside of the strainer and unload the strands from spatula to greased or lined baking sheet using a spoon to help to do the transferring.

If you haven't made mossy cookies before, this could be a challenging step. I actually recorded this step. You can watch the youtube video starting at 06:56 to 08:00 showing this step.

I sprinkled the cookies with finely crushed roasted almonds.

Bake them in a preheated 375F⁰ oven for 12 minutes, or until they are lightly golden on bottom edges.

Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool before serve them.

I shouldn't and I usually don't eat food with added sugar. But this cookie is worth risking my health. The aroma, the look, the texture, and the taste are all perfectly paired and combined in one cookie. I really hope you will give it a try during this holiday season. Let me know if you like it as much as I do. Happy baking, eating and holidays!