Delicious Brainstorm
While pulling cookie ingredients out of the cupboard to make good on my recent promises, I had to shuffle aside some currying supplies on my way to grab the molasses. My hand lit on another dark-colored, viscous substance. I raised an eyebrow and got out two more bowls.
My proof-of-concept batch was promising but unbalanced. kalmialatifolia sampled them, prescribed a spicing that worked, and made batch two. The results were delightful: chewy and satisfying, with a lot of flavor but a light citrus character that keeps them from landing too heavily. For your summer baking pleasure, we give you...
Tamarind Cookies
Cream together: 1 C sugar 1/2 stick unsalted butter 1 egg 2 generous tablespoons tamarind concentrate Juice and zest from 1 key lime (or half a regular lime) 1 tsp finely-grated fresh ginger Mix in a separate bowl: 1 C flour 3 pinches ground black pepper 3/4 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda
Stir the dry and wet ingredients together to make a wet, sticky dough. Drop tablespoonfuls about 2" apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake until they're set but not crispy (8-10 minutes at 375° F). Cool them on a rack or towel and put them in an airtight container as soon as they get to room temperature; if they're left out too long on a humid June evening, they will absorb moisture and turn from chewy to floppy.
Makes about 3 dozen very thin 3" cookies.
A note about the tamarind: I used Tamicon brand concentrate, which is an extremely thick, dark, smooth-textured, very sour goop that looks a lot like molasses (hence my inspiration for this whole project). It comes in an 8-oz plastic jar with a red lid and it costs less than $2 at every Asian or Indian grocery I've checked, so don't rush to order it off the Internet unless that's how you roll anyway. I've also purchased tamarind by the whole pod and by the brick of pressed, unprocessed pulp. It's possible you'd get a slightly fresher tamarind flavor from these, but you're on your own for concentrate⇌pulp conversion factors.