— Alice Jenkins

We all think that the finishing touch to any dessert is confection or sugar because it sort of adds a little beauty to it or whatever. So I'm going to sort of demonstrate. I never use machines on a live demo because those noises don't come across very well, and it feels like you're in a time tunnel of some sort. So here I have Magic Joe, you can use any brand. Um, date lady makes a great sugar Trader Joe, uh, maple date lady makes a great date. Sugar Maple Joe makes a very good maple sugar. So does Trader Joe's common small amount. It's very expensive. So the other ingredient is going to be a binding agent, either tapioca flour or perhaps, um, cornstarch. This is tapioca flour. So what I did was I put them into this blender here, and I I would not put them into, uh, your food processor. Even if you have a little food processor, you need something like this that has a small base to it so that when the, um, blades go around, um, there's not a lot of area that they have to cover. So everything will get ground. So you grind up the sugar and, um, add at the end you add some of your, uh, tapioca flour or corn starch. And then what happens is that you get a really good, uh, maybe you can see it coming out of this is a sifting wand. Some people know it as either a sifting wand, I'll let the sugar out for a second. Or you put tea in here and you make a cup of tea with it. And then what happens at the end is you have these really, really pretty cookies. And I put a light dusting of the, uh, maple su confection or sugar on top. You can put it on as heavy as you wish. And speaking of baking, I just thought I'd take a second. Uh, I saw this recipe yesterday online and I thought, I always try a recipe once and make it exactly the way that it is the first time. And then think to myself, what would I like better in this? So this is essentially, um, a cup of walnuts, a cup of hydrated dates, and two tablespoons of a high quality cocoa. And you mix it together and it came out so good raw that it could also be a raw truffle. But then you bake them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and they're absolutely delightful. Some are garnished with dates on top, some are garnished with a little piece of walnut. And then you have to kind of think about children that there might be children who have to eat gluten-free or have special dietary restrictions. And this one is covered with a die free sprinkle. I don't use them for adults because they have palm oil in them, but for a child to eat a cookie that looks familiar to them, and let's see, where is it? Here they are. These are Watkins Sprinkles. You get them at their regular grocery store, jump to go any place special. Um, and they last forever and kids like them. I was telling Patrick, our wonderful producer that, um, one year I did a birthday party for ten four year olds, and the parents were whole food plant-based, no oil, and it is the way that they are raising their family. And I called the mom up and said, will it be okay if I use these sprinkles? And she said, yes, it's his birthday. It's once a year. Thank you so much for calling. Um, I made a birthday cake. Uh, and then the children iced it with a tofu based icing, and then there must have been seven bottles of this on their little thing. So that's the trick to making the date sugar. Let me give you a real ratio in real life, because this was my tester to make sure that it came out okay. You would want to use one cup of, uh, maple sugar or date sugar, and then you would want to use one teaspoon of either corn flour or, um, tapioca flour. And, uh, I mean, I'm sorry, uh, corn starch and, and the tapioca flour. And that should work for you. They make delicious cookies. And I have to say, the little dusting does give the flavor give, give a nice finishing flavor to the cookie. So considering that there isn't any margarine or butter or whatever the cookie came out delightfully, I would cook them about two minutes longer so that they're extra crispy on the outside and then super moist on the inside. So, very good question, just jump into your holiday baking, enjoy it, and remember that a garnish can make a cookie still look familiar. So that is, um, a very good question and I, I think we all enjoy that part of the holidays. Um, you know, baking, there are also just, uh, one last thing. There are many, many barks that people make, uh, using dates on the bottom, a nut butter and then covering with, uh, melted chocolate, letting it, uh, solidify and then cutting it into little squares or whatever. So Google date bar, and you'll find out some great recipes that don't have any oil in them.