fervent love | ginger brownie cookies
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Have you ever met someone and just thought, wow, you are so plastic. Like you can just see right into them, the mass of veins and nerves and a heart that pumps nothing but blood. It’s like that’s all they are. There’s nothing else there, no deep, intense passion bubbling inside them, about something abstract, obscure. They just absorb whatever it is that’s in the air, whatever is going around, and it never gets deeper than the skin. Surface passion, at best, and it’s difficult to ignite.
But there are people who have it. A fervent love somewhere, buried under a skin that’s just like everyone else’s. When they talk about this - their passion, the ignition, you know they’re in their element. You can see them come alive. It’s like you strike a match and light up the whole room, they’re not just a shell anymore, they’re a warm blooded person with stories to tell. And you might not know what the stories are. You can’t see into where it is they keep their spirit, but at times it will burst through, given the right conditions. Perhaps someone like minded, someone curious, another dreamer, another believer, another fan. Fire doesn’t start without fuel.
I always admire people who have that - such a deep passion. People who’ve given their lives to obscure causes. I saw a documentary with a team that devoted its time to studying prairie dog behavior, people who spend their lives restoring classic Land Rovers, divers who dedicate each trip into the ocean to search for Atlantis. They have something. They must get up each day and think, this is my thing.
I guess that’s the deepest level. People for whom each cell in their body is filled with passion. But maybe there are other levels too. The bloodstream intensity, for people who can talk for ages about a topic. Perhaps not one they love per se, but something that triggers feelings. Impassioned rants of passive aggression, peppered with emotive anecdotes, enough to get you thinking. Because they care so much and it’s so tangible. They have something too. They can get up each morning and say, I can make someone think, make someone feel different. Those people, they all have nerves and veins and hearts that pump blood. But theirs are filled with much more, they overflow, there’s a side to them that is their own, that makes them so much more than what you see.
“Now she went blossoming in her blood, and her blood went rushing deep beneath her”
Rainer Maria Rilke
First I would like to say this post was for mum for her birthday. She’s one of those kind of passive-aggressive but inspiring people. It’s probably what makes her such a good teacher, and so nice to be around.
Transition to cookies. These cookies are quite special - a bit soft with under-baked centers, like brownies, but with a bunch of warm spices that works so well together.
The method may come across as a little finicky but it’s all easier than it sounds and totally worth it.
Love and cookies to you. Who knows, they may just become your passion.
xx
ginger brownie cookies
makes around 12 medium cookies
1/2c coconut oil, melted
1 large free range egg
1/2c coconut sugar
1/4c turbinado sugar (or pure cane sugar)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2c brown rice flour
1/2c oat flour
1/2c almond meal
1/3c natural cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Optional: 100g / 4oz chopped dark chocolate
Preheat the oven to 180c, 350f and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl combine the flours, baking powder/soda, salt and spices. Sift in the cocoa and stir to combine.
In another bowl, beat together the oil and egg - make sure your egg is room temp or the oil with harden if it meets anything cold.
Add the sugars and vanilla and combine until the mixture comes together.
Add the wet mix to the dry and stir until evenly combined.
Refrigerate the dough for about 15 minutes (in the bowl is fine, the chilling will make it easier to scoop).
Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out balls of dough into the cookie sheet leaving room to spread.
The cookies need in total about 10-12 minutes to bake. Halfway through baking (5-6 minutes) take the tray out of the oven and use the back of a spoon to flatten the tops of the cookies slightly - the tops of the cookies will look quite cracked.
Bake for the remaining time. Allow a few minutes to cool on the pan before gently transferring to a rack: they will be fragile and a little puffy, brownie style.
The cookies will keep a few days at room temp and you can also freeze the cookie dough.
