Posted on: Wednesday, July 28, 2004
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Maui-style cookies to munch on
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
Taste memory is a treacherous thing. The difference between Grandma's recipe and yours might just be your joy in being in Grandma's presence.
But it's also possible that ingredients have changed or are no longer available, that the result was influenced by some oddity, such as the shape of Grandma's pan.
Still, we try.
Melissa Iwamuro wrote in answer to Jane Shiveley's plea for melt-in-the-mouth Maui peanut-butter cookies. This recipe for a very crumbly cookie is from Iwamuro's mom, Helen Nojima, "whom I treasure but don't tell her enough." The recipe doesn't call for any salt; you may wish to add a pinch.
Peanut Butter Cookies Nojima
Cream together 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco) until light and fluffy; beat in 1 egg. Sift together dry ingredients: 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda. Scoop dough with teaspoon, form into balls, rolling lightly between your palms. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and press down with fork tines in a cross-hatch pattern. Bake at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes. These cookies burn easily, so watch carefully and remove when lightly browned. Makes four dozen small cookies.
• Per serving: 60 calories, 3.5 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, 6 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g fiber, 3.5 g sugar, 1 g protein.
• • • Another recipe for Jane to try is this one from the Maui Extension Homemakers' Council's "Still Many More of Our Favorite Recipes." Perhaps this recipe, which uses brown sugar and cinnamon and is rolled instead of formed by hand, is the one Jane remembers from Maui school playgrounds:
Maui Rolled Peanut Butter Cookies
Cream together 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Stir in 1 beaten egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon water. Stir together 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and mix into wet ingredients. Refrigerate until well-chilled. On a lightly floured board, roll very thin and use a small cookie cutter or a jigger glass to cut out small cookies. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 6 dozen one-bite cookies.
• Per serving: Approximate nutritional analysis per cookie: 25 calories, 1.5 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 30 mg sodium, 3 g carbohydrates, 0 g fiber, 1.5 g sugar, 1 g protein.
