Caribbean Spice Sorrel Cookies

Hi Sweet Treats!!

It’s officially 13 days until Christmas … 13!!

*YA-HOOOOO*

To be honest, it’s kind of sad …in 2 weeks all we’ll be thinking about is what Boxing Day Sale we can score. But that also means, in the next two weeks I have lots to accomplish.

Have I started my christmas shopping? – Nope.

Have I written any of my christmas cards? – Nope.

What have I done then, to kick of the season? I did what any sane person would do…

I

made

cookies!!

This year, I had the privilege and honor to be a part of The Great Foodie Blogger Cookie Swap aka a foodie revolution ( seriously, it was fantastically amazing). Kudos to Lindsay from www.loveandoliveoil.com and Julie from www.thelittlekitchen.net for pulling together such an amazing event. I’m sure it took lots of patients, and tons of time to co-ordinate. But you both did it, and it was SUCH A SUCCESS!!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap honestly took the e-world by storm!! I’m not kidding, twitter was flooded with great ideas, people tossing around potential recipes — it was the cookie monsters christmas dream come through. The whole premise is – you sign up, receive the names and addresses of 3 different foodie bloggers to which you send a dozen cookies to. And in turn, your name and information gets sent to 3 different bloggers and

YOU

GET

SENT

COOKIES

BACK

Sweet Treats, what’s better than being surprised by a box of cookies?!?! – Not much! But this was serious business… I was given three outstanding people to send cookies to: Kirsty from Gastronomicalsovereignty.blogspot.com, Anna from Hiddenponies.com and Kim From strawberryginger.wordpress.com  Have you seen these women?? THEY ARE SUPER-COOL-WICKED!! What in the world would a dinky little self-proclaimed baker like myself send to these serious bakers?!?! The butter and sugar in my brain began to turn. Ideas of chocolate chips, cinnamon, nutmeg and candy canes danced around my sleep … and then I thought – what are the flavours that are tried and true in my household around this time of year. And then it donned on me.

Sorrel.

Sorrel is a holiday Caribbean drink, predominantly found in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s made from the petals of hibiscus flowers that are boiled with cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peels, and nutmeg and then sweetened with sugar and chilled until ice cold. It smells like you jumped into a pool of heaven and the taste is simply out of this world. Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg – – sounds like christmas to me!! And an added bonus, it holds this bright and festive red colour. I knew this was the way I needed to go.

And so Caribbean Spice Sorrel Cookies were born.

I was taking a risk by making these cookies – they certainly weren’t the ordinary chocolate chip, or oatmeal raisin. But – this was it. There was no turning back…*drum roll please* and I now, present to you

Caribbean Spice Sorrel Cookies

4 Cups Flour

1 Cup Shelled Pistachios coarsely chopped

2 Tbsp whole cloves

2 Cups Butter

1/2 Tsp Sea Salt

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 Cup Icing Sugar

1 Tbsp Rose Water Extract

1/2 Cup Sorrel Syrup

3 Tbsp Red Food Coloring

2 Cups White Chocolate Chips

2 Cups Extra Finely grated coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 oc. Lightly grease or line cookie tray with parchment paper.

Over low heat in a small frying pan add pistachios and clove. Allow to toast for 10 minutes, string to prevent the nuts from browning.  Once finished, remove pieces of whole clove and set aside to allow to cool.

Cream butter, icing sugar and sea salt, until light and fluffy. Add Cinnamon and rose-water.

Once evenly incorporated, begin adding the flour 1 cup at a time. After each cup is combined into the dough, repeat until all the flour is used.

Add sorrel syrup to the dough.

Add the red food coloring to the dough and continue to mix. *Warning: this is about the turn an amazing shade of red … you’ve been warned ;)*

Add pistachios and then chill for 30 minuets or over night.

Next, form into a large rectangle and cut into 3 even smaller rectangles.

Slice each third into 12 even squares. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 oc. Once finished, allow to cool.

In the mean time, melt the white chocolate chips over a double broiler (or in the microwave … like I do :)) and place grated coconut in a bowl. When all of the cookies are cooled, dip half of each cookie in the white chocolate and then quickly sprinkle with coconut. Allow to dry.

Then …. it’s the best time of all – – time to try these little wonders 😀

Enjoy my Sweet Hearts

Happy Baking & Stay Sweet xox