Cookies are something I have a weakness for.  Many moons ago, when I was entered into the Miss Chinatown beauty contest, I was about 10 pounds heavier than I wanted to be, so I went on a 5-day-liquids-only fast.  On day 4 of this fast, a friend left a pear in my sight and I felt like Eve beholding the forbidden fruit.  I held the pear in my hands as if it was a new-born baby.  I brought it up to my nose and inhaled its intoxicating, heady “pearfume”.  I was playing with fire!  Before I knew it, I brought this devil fruit to my lips and almost sunk my teeth into its flesh….then I came to my senses.  Close call!  When I made it to the end of the five days, can you guess how I broke this fast?  Not with a delicious juicy pear, no, it was with a Chip Ahoy cookie, and then another, and then another, until I had polished off several.   It was not the proudest moment of my life.  And neither was the actual pageant, but I will save that for another post.

I was humming with excitement to bake the best cookies in the world.  How can a cookie qualify as the “best”?  If a restaurant has been voted #1 restaurant on the planet for 5 years in a row, and that chef has a recipe for a cookie, then it could arguably be the best cookie in the world.  The chef is Ferran Adrià and his legendary restaurant is El Bulli; but sadly, it closed.  We have Chef Ferran to thank for inventing molecular gastronomy.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, molecular cuisine is a style of cooking that focuses on the structural and chemical transformations of the food.  For example, you are served an item that looks like an egg, but when you crack the shell, you may find a mango custard yolk  in a puddle of lichee jelly emulsion.  Doesn’t that sound super yummy?   OK, I just totally made that up, but if I was into molecular gastronomy then that is what I would make.  Because of I love cookies, I will first make the best cookie in the world, that is – based on Chef Ferran’s recipe.  When I attempted his recipe, I had to make a few adjustments as it didn’t work out – the batter was quite runny.  Then I upped the ante and made ice cream sandwiches with the cookies.  Consequently, they could be considered the best ice cream sandwich in the world!

Superfoods in this recipe:
Dark Chocolate – High in vitamin B’s and magnesium, both of which supports the nervous system. It also has phenylethylamine, which stirs up happy feelings, and releases stress. Cacao has an even higher amount of antioxidants than blueberries. It is best to eat cocoa with a content of 70% or higher, or in the raw form, which is quite bitter. Adding milk to the cocoa counteracts the benefits, so milk chocolate would not be considered a superfood.
5 spice powder –   The spices in it are Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, fennel and cloves.  Each of these spices have their own special set of health benefits, but combined they offer up even more antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties.  This is a combination of spices that the Chinese  traditionally use for soy sauce chicken, so when I see it as an ingredient in sweet recipes it blows my mind.  A friend of mine put it in a blueberry pie and it gave the pie a depth of flavour that was surprisingly delicious.
Vanilla bean–  Vanilla seeds/powder that comes from the bean has vanillin, which is a powerful antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties.  Though realistically in a recipe like this, not too much is used; but you could definitely add a ½ teaspoon to a smoothie, coffee, or a hot chocolate.  Beware of artificial vanilla as it can come from the waste material of the paper and wood-pulp industry or from the castor sacs of mature beavers.
Coconut Palm Sugar – It is not a superfood per se,  but a sweetener.  Compared to other sweeteners (such as white sugar, honey, or agave nectar) coconut palm sugar is the best option.  It is low on the glycemic index (measures how fast a carbohydrate turns into sugar) with a score of 35, giving you slow and steady energy.  Anything under 55 is considered low. In comparison, honey is around 55 and white sugar 68 on the index.  Another bonus is that coconut palm sugar contains minerals.
Eggs – Nature’s near perfect food. Contains a wide range of vitamins, such as vitamins A, D, E, choline, B12, as well as protein, lutein and zea-xanthin. Try to purchase Omega 3 eggs, to make it a bigger superfood.

Chocolate Cookie makes 30 cookie or 15 ice cream sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. Dark Chocolate
• 1 oz. White Chocolate
• ¾ cups spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp 5-spice powder
• 1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla powder)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp instant coffee, ground

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350˚F.
• Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a sharp knife.  Set aside.
• Beat the sugar and the eggs together for 1 minute, add the vanilla seeds, continue beating this mixture for 5 minutes until thick and creamy.
• In a double boiler, melt the butter and 2/3 of the dark chocolate, or melt in a microwave.
• Coarsely chop the white chocolate and the rest of the dark chocolate.  Set aside.
• Pour the melted chocolate and butter mixture into the egg and sugar mixture, then beat until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour, 5 spice and the coffee, then fold into the wet ingredients.  Lastly, fold in the chopped chocolate.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and for each cookie use two tablespoonfuls of dough.  Leave 2 inches of space in between cookie dough.  Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are firm to the touch.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• If making ice cream sandwiches, then make sure the cookies are completely cooled, then take your ice cream out of the freezer to let the it soften a little, enough so that you place a scoop of it in between two cookies.  That is it!! Top them with crystallized ginger as an optional finishing touch.

Eat superfoods, live a super life!  {Kake}