While I grew up all over, for the first six years of my life our family lived in a tiny coastal town on a small isthmus in Northwestern British Columbia, only accessible by boat like so many of the little communities in that area. It was a beautiful place to spend one's romper years in and I have nothing but fond memories of traipsing through the woods all day with my brothers (this was back the days when parents shoved their children outside as soon as breakfast was done and expected not to see them until dusk, with no worries about kidnapping or disembowelment-by-black-bear.)
I wanted to make something special for this momentous occasion and one of the most dear treats from my childhood was the snacks that mother nature provided for us as we adventured through her - saskatoons, blueberries, fiddleheads, crabgrass, salmonberries, apples, and best of all, huckleberries. Oh what afternoons we would have, traipsing along through the brush with whole huckleberry branches clutched in our grimy hands, greedily popping in the tart red berries as we went along our way.
As coincidence would have it, I had a jar of huckleberry preserves in my pantry (them being so scarce here in Hawaii and all) and so, with the help of another distinctly Canadian flavour, these little suckers were born:
Look at them lined up so patriotically on their little red stage!
Maple Sugar Huckleberry Kisses with Great White North Chocolate Ganache
For the cookies:
2/3 cup softened butter (I used Earth Balance)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
4 tsp real maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups all purpose flour (I used a mixture of whole wheat and white)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
huckleberry preserves
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
On a greased (or parchment paper covered) cookie sheet, drop spoonfuls of the dough and use your thumb to make dents in the middles. Spoon huckleberry preserves into the depressions. Bake until the cookies are golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies (mine were GINORMOUS so they took about 12 minutes)
Cool completely on a wire rack (and look out for the jam middles - they will be piping hot!)
For the Ganache:
2 packages white chocolate morsels
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Cook chocolate morsels and cream in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until all the chocolate is melted. Chill for about thirty minutes in the fridge; you want it to thicken up but not so much that it's spoonable. Then give it a brisk stir until it's pliant enough to drizzle over the (completely cooled) cookies.
Though I did not eat any myself (I'm avoiding stuff like this), I have it on good authority (four preteen boys and one rascally brother of mine who flew in last night <3) that they were awesome. There were just shy of three dozen when they came out of the oven; now there are sixteen.
While I refrained from the cookies, I did have many delightful things to eat today! Such as:
A pretty, pretty edible arrangement; apples'n'cinnamon, cucumber'n'pepper, and celery 'vines'.
Two almond meal muffins with Earth Balance and a side of RLS (ridiculously large salad) - I'm of the opinion that Greek salads are unrivaled. Anything with olives, red onion, and real feta is just fantastic.
The most amazing snack to ever enter my mouth. No, seriously, you guys. I had this yesterday and it was so orgasmic that I had to have it again. A handful of frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and marionberries) and chopped fresh strawberries, greek yogurt, almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, cacao powder (unsweetened), and fresh grated coconut. By the time I was ready to eat it, the frozen berries had thawed and all the sweet juices blended with the yogurt into this creamy heaven, interspersed with crunchy, earthy nuts. Oh goodness. It was obscene.
And leftovers from last night's dinner again for tonight's dinner; flash-steamed collard greens, sauteed in coconut oil and curry with red onion, mushrooms, asparagus and yellow pepper (it's hiding) and sprinkled with coconut shavings. Yummeh.
Phew. Now it's time for bed. But before I go...
Today I am grateful for: My body. Even though it has it's problems that sometimes frustrate me to the point of tears, it is resilient and allows me to face each and every day with enough strength. Maybe it doesn't work right, but it can still do some pretty awesome things - like succeed at new, challenging yoga poses (even if they aren't the prettiest attempts ever.)
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