On the third and final day of the Three-Day-Three-Quote challenge I must offer a dessert. Thanks to my good and purple friend Melinda of https://purpleslobinrecovery.wordpress.com/, my husband gets to stuff himself with cookies!
On behalf of my husband, thank you, Melinda!
The rules are:
- Three quotes over three days.
- Three nominees each day (no repetition).
- Thank the person who nominated you.
- Inform the nominees.
My nominees for Day 3 are:
From one of my favorite writers, Paulo Coelho, comes this pithy life lesson. This week is all about choices. Certainly, life is all about choices, but this week, as we were reading about Noach building the Ark and all the specifics of this enormous undertaking, I remembered the question I had when, as a child, I read about it for the first time: why did Noach have to work so hard for 120 years to follow detailed blueprints and specs, when G-d could have just said “Poof!” , and the Ark would’ve appeared? I guess it hadn’t occurred to me that He could’ve also saved Noah with his family and the entire menagerie in some other way, it that were His pleasure.
Rashi tells us that it was done this way in order to give people a choice to make the right decision. The idea was that curious onlookers would mill around this strange vessel (it didn’t look like Carnival cruise ships at all!) and ask questions so that Noach would have a chance to enlighten them and motivate them to mend their ways. Unfortunately, it worked only half-way. People did ask, and Noach did tell them, but to no avail. we all know what happened as a consequence of their decision!
Some decisions are pretty obvious, yet wrong choices are still made by many. Our extremely creative police department is trying to open their eyes. Hopefully, the results will be somewhat better than in Noah’s case!
I had to make my choice of a dessert to make, and I chose these fast and easy, but totally delicious cookies. They are just as nutty as everybody else on South Beach, including the funky police department, and quite healthful, with whole wheat flower, Smart Balance, agave, and organic coffee. I use one egg, but it could be replaced by egg substitute, to make it vegan. I also add a pinch of sea salt, some vanilla extract, and some baking powder.
As soon as you grind your walnuts and mix them with flour, just add all the rest of the stuff, and mix it all together. You can use instant coffee with water, to make liquid coffee, but I prefer real freshly ground coffee, espresso style, diluted with water.
Now get your kids involved to roll little dough balls, about one inch, and plop them on a lightly misted baking sheet about two inches apart. Press your thumb in the middle of each ball and have the kids drop coffee beans into indentations. If you don’t have coffee beans, walnut pieces will do fine.
By the time you make yourself a cup of coffee, your nutty, crumbly, light and healthful cookies will be ready. I think I’ve made the right choice!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup ground walnuts
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2/3 cup agave
- 1/3 cup liquid espresso coffee and some coffee beans for garnish
- 3 tablespoons Smart Balance
- 1 egg or 3/4 cup whisked aquafaba
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- A pinch of salt
PROCEDURE
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Combine all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients, mix thoroughly until well blended.
- Roll dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls, place on lightly misted baking sheet 2 inches (5 cm) apart.
- Press thumb in the center of each ball. Drop coffee beans or walnut pieces into indentations.
- Bake 13 – 15 minutes until set and barely golden on the bottom. Cool on rack.
Enjoy!
koolkosherkitchen 
Delicious recipe! Would love to make it, what can be used instead of egg although? THANKS for sharing.
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Than you so much, dear, I am glad you like it! You can always use unsweetened apple sauce, at the rate of 1/4 cup = 1 egg. If all you can get is sweetened apple sauce, reduce agave. I hope it helps!
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I love how you wove together faith, free will and baking! A delicious combination. ❤️
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Thank you for your kind words!
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Dolly, your story weaving with the cooking is perfectly done!
Love the taxi/police car!
I know! Poor Noah!! At least he kept in good shape!
Do you eat the coffee bean on the cookie??
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Thank you! I love our police dept’s bursts of creativity myself. Of course I eat the coffee bean, if I can get a cookie before my husband finishes them all.
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😀
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Delicious 🙂
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Thank you so much!
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Nice post and your cookies sound very delicious 🙂
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Thank you so much – I am glad you like it!
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wow is that half cab half cop cruiser for real? it’s blowing my mind.
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Yep! All the nutty stuff here is for real – this is South Beach!
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Haha well I really admire Coelho and the quote is strong and good. There are potentialities I don’t care to entertain, but it’s generally best to appraise as many outcomes as possible before making a choice, eh
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True that
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This is one of your funniest posts, Dolly – especially admirable coming as a result of a three-day challenge, which are often a bit perfunctory in execution (never by YOU, of course, which is why you are an award-winning blogger).
“Carnival cruise ships” – “just as nutty” lol. And your police are creative indeed. What a humorous way to get the message across – hopefully, no floods accompanying.
Ditto to Ruth-Anne West’s comment as well — the way you always sift a message into the food.
Do I spy a chocolate coating on the coffee beans pushed into the indents? (um, is this Dolly’s site?)
xx,
mgh
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Thank you so much! There is no chocolate coating on coffee beans – sorry!
My husband has a boutique cigar company called Senor Solomon Cigars. Those are the boxes you see on the background. It’s the only kosher cigar in the world, and it was doing quite well when it started, but right now it is on hold. Hopefully, he’ll restart it, but meanwhile, he had an idea of combining cigars with coffee, offering kosher, organic, all-natural coffee. That’s why I created several recipes featuring coffee as an ingredient, and that’s why coffee beans are not covered in chocolate – can’t grind chocolate-covered beans, can you?
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You probably could, but why would you? HOWEVER, you could keep a bag just for garnishes (even if you had to coat them yourself). They are yummie!
Great idea, that company – but running any company includes w-o-r-k and I thought you guys retired.
btw- what makes a cigar kosher?
xx,
mgh
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You can call me a cougar, but my husband is 12 years younger than I. He is not retired.
Cigars don’t have to be kosher for every day use, since they are not food. However, for Passover, restrictions include not only food, but everything else in the house. We meticulously clean the furniture from every crumb, cover all surfaces, just in case something has been overlooked, and buy special food (and cat litter) for pets. Cigars fall under the same restrictions. In his research, my husband found a ruling made ab
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You GO girl! Good for both of you. He knew a good thing when he tripped across it, and had the good sense to hang on. Cougar indeed – what a horrid term for any woman who finds life-long love.
Every crumb? Does everyone DO that each year for Passover? What about your vehicles? What if you must go to a place that does not adhere to dietary laws (hospital cafeteria workers come to mind) – or work meetings held during meals?
Your kitties are not outdoor cats, but what about people with indoor/outdoor cats? What happens if one of them drags something inside?
Are there kosher cigarettes as well? I’m sure the smokers don’t quit during that time and I doubt that smoking outside the house makes it okay.
Dolly, I don’t know how you make it through Passover every year – because there’s still all the cooking, the shopping etc. How did you manage it all when you were working full-time?
Are there kosher coaches to help people with ADD/EFD etc. be observant? Kosher home care workers for those who are infirm or have had strokes, etc. and simply couldn’t DO it? Do children learn all these laws as they prepare for bar/bat mitzvahs? How do you keep track of all the rulings? Is there a book?
So many questions. Sorry – don’t mean to be a pest. Remember, I was 19 years old before I laid eyes on my first bagel.
xx,
mgh
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I truly appreciate your interest, and I’ll try to answer one by one:
Yes, we do this every year, and if we must travel or be in the hospital, etc. we request kosher for Passover food. It comes in sealed packages, with its own utensils. Same for work meetings with meals – either request or bring our own.
I don’t know much about outdoor cats, as I have never had one, but there are guidelines for everything.
How we make every year is one of those great mysteries! Preparations start right after Purim, i.e. a month in advance, and we do a little at a time. Some people are lucky to have a separate kosher for Passover kitchen, so the regular kitchen is simply sealed off for 8 days. Most people have two sets of dishes. I used to hire a helper for the last day of cooking. One year, when I broke my ankle and couldn’t do much, we went to a Passover retreat, and I paid for my father and step-mother to join us for Seder. I was invited to lecture there which off-set a nice chunk of the cost. Thereafter, we went every year, until my father couldn’t go any more, so I went back to doing it at home. As I am retired, it is much easier now.
Certainly, there are coaches, lectures, seminars, home care workers, volunteers, and prepared food packages – plenty of all of it! Children learn some of those rules, but there are many books in all languages that have all the guidelines, based on the Main Book – the Torah. There are many internet resources as well, and many rabbis who are always available to answer questions.
As to kosher cigarettes, there is a brand in Israel, but generally, as long as they are not flavored (menthol, etc.), there is no problem smoking them on Passover, since the content and the manufacturing process is quite different from cigars.
BTW, I remember giving a seminar in Lakeland, Fl, with my husband helping me with technology, where some of the attendees approached him and asked (very nicely!) if they could feel his head under the yarmulke to make sure there are no horns. Your bagel at 19 does not stand up to this!
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HORNS? No way! Where did they get the idea that Jewish men wore headcoverings to hide their horns?
RE: process — I’m guessing that it’s like VALID GF products, i.e., no cross-contamination.
No wonder Rabbis must be scholars. I wonder if any stats are available for the rate of dementia in that population. I’ll bet it’s very low.
xx,
mgh
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What do you mean, where? From medieval theology, of course!
It is quite a bit more involved than cross-contamination as it involves no leavening or leavening agents.
No stats that I know of, but by pure observation – you are right!
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But I doubt they were medieval scholars. No Darwin exposure either, clearly. What were they learning in school and home?? SOMEBODY put that idea into their heads.
How did your husband handle their request (besides the obvious, which I KNOW he did not do)?
I’m also guessing that brain autopsy is out of the question, but what about scans? Their brains would be fascinating to get a look at, given all.
xx,
mgh
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They were medieval Christian theologians, and one of their concepts was that Jews were the spawn of devil, ergo that had horns, and that’s why they had to wear those funny little hats. You have to realize that people were illiterate during the Dark Ages. Charlemagne learned to read at the age of 40, which was considered a miracle. When asked if he would also want to learn to write,
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Thanks, Dolly, but I was talking about the girls – I doubt they even knew about medieval scholars. Some adult in their lives put that idea in their heads – unless the girls misunderstood something they heard from an adult.
You’ve already handled it in how you answered my former question – you turned them around for life, I’m sure.
I wasn’t aware that Charlemagne lived so long and THEN learned to read. You must be having computer problems still (sorry), because the comment got sent before you let me know how he regarded writing. My curiosity is peaked.
xx,
mgh
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Those were not “girls,” but experienced teachers and administrators – that’s the worst part.
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I’m back to my original comment – NO WAY.
xx, mgh
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Have you ever traveled through the Bible Belt?
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Oh yeah – lots to love about it, but not the most open-minded place on the planet.
xx,
mgh
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Exactly.
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Just found part-2. Something must be a tad screwy with with my comments dropdown – second time today they were posted out of order.
xx,
mgh
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This laptop harks back to Stone Age, I am sure, so it plays tricks sometimes.
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lol – my laptop aged out – so I’m back to a desktop (with a huge monitor and a real keyboard!). It’s getting long in the tooth as well, but it’s an Apple, and they tend to last longer than PCs.
xx, mgh
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I don’t do Apples. My loss, I am sure, my I am altogether a technical ignoramus.
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I changed to Apple at the dawn of Windows because I didn’t want to have to spend so much time “under the hood.” I wanted a more stable platform.
Once I got to the other side of the transition (which is NOT as “intuitive” as people say), I didn’t need nearly as much tech knowledge to drive the darned thing.
If only software were as elegantly designed I could just use my computer as a tool and stop having to trouble shoot.
xx, mgh
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Terms like “stable platform” sound Chinese to me, therefore I spend no time “under the hood.” When things go sideways, I simply scream for help.
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That would have been my first preference, actually, but no one was close enough to hear me. So I had no choice but to dig in – at least not at first. “stable platform” means it doesn’t crash much – no spinning wheel of death. 🙂
xx,
mgh
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I guess I have been lucky all my life in that I have very early understood that nobody is able to do everything, and I am no exception. Therefore, I have to a) do the best I can doing what I can do, and b) find people who are good at what I can’t do. It’s a very helpful policy, believe me!
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Ah – finding those “b”s has usually been my tripping point. 🙂
xx,
mgh
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I will make a guess that it is convincing yourself that they exist, and exist for your benefit, that has been the barrier.
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Quite possibly, Dolly. “Oldest child syndrome” lol.
xx,
mgh
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I have it, too, but as I said, I’ve learned quite early to access resources rather than waste time and effort.
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I need to learn to attract more from that paradigm. Thanks for the reminder.
xx, mgh
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At this point, my husband would refill your glass. Cheers!
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And I would LOVE him for that!
xx,
mgh
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Everybody loves him, and not only for that!
P.S. The little kitty is a girl.
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He had to be pretty darned lovable for YOU to decide to spend your life with him.
Aw – a little girl kitty. Thanks for sharing that.
xx,
mgh
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You have no idea – he is a charmer.
BTW, I promised “faces,” and here they are, from Beatles to Brezhnev:
https://koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/the-inevitability-of-change-sambar/
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…he declined as he feared that it would be considered work of a devil. Jews were literate – we are the People of the Book, after all, and kids start learning to read at the age of 4, so to the general populace it was proof positive of the “dark side” connections.
My husband actually did let them see and feel his head, which generated the next question: then why the hat? The answer is, to remind us that the A-might is above us. For people who remove their hats in church, it was a hard one to understand. Eventually, we parted great friends. Openness and sincerity always wins over ignorance and bigotry.
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I was telling your story tonight to a caterer who does a lot of kosher events. She asked the same question.
I said, “I haven’t gotten a response yet, but elegantly, I’m sure. Everything she does is always elegant.”
Thanks for proving me right!
xx,
mgh
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Thank you for yet another compliment! But how do you know, really?
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From your blog and every single interaction – with me and with others in your comments. I also have a bit of an intuitive sense. You’re welcome, always, but it was more an acknowledgement than a compliment.
xx,
mgh
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I still have to learn to follow Miss Manners’ advice to accept it graciously, whatever it is… And thank you again!
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You are MOST welcome. It’s an honor to know you.
xx,
mgh
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Likewise!
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Thank you, Dolly.
xx, mgh
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🙂
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this computer is driving me nuts today – sorry!
A ruling was made 500 years ago in Spain, when cigars were first becoming popular, that Passover restrictions have to apply to them. Then it was forgotten. Now my husband has found it and set up a manufacturing process that applies those restrictions.
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My sympathies. Had a bit of that last nite and finally felt forced to decide to give up and wait ’til today to go back to the group articles I was working on.
I can’t believe that no one ever thought of “koshering” the manufacturing process before. It’s a vertical market, of course – at least initially. A great cigar is a great cigar, however. I’ll bet the marketing is tricky. And pricing. Interesting business mind.
xx, mgh
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When an ADHD person has a business mind, it’s always interesting!
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To say the least – just ask their “facilitators.” Admin ain’t our thang. 🙂
xx,
mgh
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Don’t I know it!
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lol Good thing he has lots of other talents — especially behind the bar!
xx,
mgh
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Lots, and not only behind the bar!
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lol 😉
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