[Sca-cooks] Fig Newtons from God?

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Sat Mar 29 15:21:20 PDT 2008


Aldyth asked:

<<< This morning at work a wonderful older jewish lady brought in a  
care package to say thank you for taking such good care of her  
terrier.? She knows I like to cook.? Her words were, "The little  
basket is full of Fig Newtons from God.?Just for you. Guess what they  
are. They are as old as Abraham"

So, I sampled one.? Very light outside butter cookie dough that was  
rolled out or flattened. Inside one was what I thought would be fig,  
but was poppy seed goo.? Another one was strawberry I think.? The  
edges of the cookie were folded up on the filling, leaving a finger  
print sized hole. Mostly round, or sort of 3 sided. They also had  
been dusted with powdered sugar, (I hope that was what it was).

Surely not a cuskeynole.? Google was helpful with various versions of  
thumbprint cookies. If this is?a period cookie, it would be wonderful  
to include on a dessert sideboard.? Ideas? >>>

No, not a cuskeynole. I'm afraid that there are probably quite a  
number of cookies and variations which match the description you've  
given so far. My guess might be mamouls.

mamouls-msg       (20K)  1/ 9/02    A Middle Eastern date/nut/dried  
fruit filled
                                        cookie embossed with patterns.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/mamouls-msg.html

<<< That's a great new gadget you picked up, but I'm afraid it's NOT  
a couscous mold!  :o) You could certainly use it for that if you  
want, but that's not what it's intended for.  It's actually a cookie  
mold - there's a special kind of cookie made in the Middle East  
called "mamoul," and it's usually made for Easter.  The flavorings  
vary; the dough is unsweetened (butter, flour, rosewater and orange  
blossom water), and it can be filled with a mixture of chopped dates  
and butter, or chopped nuts (walnuts or pistachios) with sugar and  
rosewater.  You take a bit of the dough and flatten it out into a  
cirle, put a spoonful of filling inthe middle, and close the dough  
over it, so it's a little round ball.  You then squish this ball into  
the mold so it's flat, and smash the mold on the table really hard to  
get the cookie to pop out :-)  The cookie has the same pattern as the  
mold, and you use a different mold for each type of filling so you  
can tell what's inside.  After they're baked, you sprinkle powdered  
sugar on top (except for the date ones).  Yum!!  They are wonderfully  
delicious, and tons of fun to make.  I've had these every year for my  
entire life, and can confidently say they are the most scrumptious  
cookies I've ever had :-)  (Making them is also even more fun than  
dyeing Easter eggs!)

Vittoria >>>

For those wondering what a cuskynole is and how it differs from this:
cuskynoles-msg    (44K)  8/21/00    A medieval fruit-filled pasta dish.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/cuskynoles-msg.html

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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