If you had told me 2 hours ago that I could love a cookie without butter, or sugar, or chocolate, or butter, I would have taken you by the hand and, in a pitying tone, explained how you can’t have cookies without butter. How cookies were invented, essentially, as a way to consume more butter. Why even eat a cookie without butter? What am I, vegan? But then I found myself having finished dinner early, craving something sweet, and realizing that these cookies had just one brief paragraph of instructions and baked for 20 minutes. There was nothing to lose.
And they are crazy good. I ate one after another, trying to wrap my head around the enigma of The Delicious Albeit Butter-less/sugar-less/chocolate-less Cookie. My husband liked them, my daughter liked them, and her friends liked them. And when I Googled them (to try to find the recipe for you) I learned that every food blogger who has made them likes them. A lot.
These magical cookies are nothing more than barley flour (and I could not find any so I used Gwyneth’s acceptable substitute: good old fashioned white flour), ground up almonds, canola oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and jam of your choice. You just stir it all up in a bowl, form into balls, indent and add the jam. Bake for 20 minutes. Beginning to end it will take you 30 minutes.
The cookies are from the Martin children’s “Lalo,” which is what you are called if you’re one of those women who don’t want to be called “Grandma” or anything like it for reasons best left unexamined. And you know who you are. (Don’t look away Goldie Hawn, I’m talking to you.) So thank you, Blythe Danner, for an amazing little treat.
And here is someone who kindly copied out the recipe for you with her own lovely photos.
“It’s the syrup, baby!”
(Hannah Teeter, Olympic Snowboarder, Vermont syrup lover)
I just made this and they are indeed wonderful (and I am not a big GP fan). I halved the recipe and the dough was dry so I had to add a bit more oil and syrup (I used Canadian maple syrup which I am sure is just as good!) plkus a bit of water. Thanks for the review. Not sure I will buy the book but I am impressed.
I still hear her holier than thou voice in my head when I read her writing…..
I would call this heresy, but I need a vegan treat for our office party so I’ll forgive this transgression. We have one lonely (skinny) vegan in our office who NEVER gets any treats, so I’ll make these for him (if you can send me the ingredients). Thanks, and keep up the good work!
But couldn’t you make them with a dark chocolate Hershey Kiss in the middle?
Thanks, Kate! I’m going to make these and take them to mamas-play-group this morning. They’re perfect, since a friend can’t tolerate dairy. I know! NO butter. Egads!
These look very interesting and I have some barley flour to use, although I wouldn’t agree with GP that canola oil is necessarily any healthier than butter – but I won’t go there since different opinions on nutrition seem to be the newest can’t agree topic along with politics and religion!