"Starry Night" Solstice Cookies

post by maia · 2022-12-17T05:31:47.315Z · LW · GW · 7 comments

Contents

  Ingredients
  Directions
None
8 comments

There are no traditional aspiring-rationalist foods that I know of. Here's a potential candidate for one. I started with a friend's family recipe and adjusted it to be vegan and slightly more thematic.

The white mini chocolate chips symbolize humanity (the light in the world) in the darkness of the universe (the bitter chocolate cookie). The dried cherries can be... nebulae.

Makes around 12 large cookies.

Ingredients

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix instant espresso powder and water in a small bowl, and reserve.

Cream the coconut oil, then add brown sugar and cream together. Add mashed banana and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined. Add reserved espresso/water mixture and beat until combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, then combine with the wet ingredients. (Or if you're lazy like me, put them on top of the wet ingredients and mix the dry ingredients with a fork before mixing fully.) Fully combine until a dough forms.

Mix in chopped dried cherries and mini white chocolate chips.

Form dough into flattened balls and place on cookie sheets. Bake for about 13 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

These taste slightly better the next day; they get a bit chewier.

7 comments

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comment by Said Achmiz (SaidAchmiz) · 2024-12-23T06:43:40.666Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Substitution recommendations for people with allergies to bananas and/or coconut oil?

Replies from: maia
comment by maia · 2024-12-23T20:48:06.242Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The original recipe used eggs instead of banana and butter instead of coconut oil, so those are certainly doable as replacements. For other vegan options, I like chickpea flour as an egg replacer because it's cheap and shelf-stable, though there's also Just Egg or other commercial egg replacers. For the coconut oil, any solid fat will do, e.g. Crisco or any vegan butter (though most of those contain coconut oil).

comment by nick lacombe (nicolas-lacombe) · 2024-12-23T04:46:11.882Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

thanks a lot for this recipe! people loved the cookies in montreal's 2024 solstice :) and they were person-who-doesnt-really-cook friendly :P

comment by nick lacombe (nicolas-lacombe) · 2024-12-20T16:56:26.727Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

@dspeyer [LW · GW] : we were talking about food invented specifically for rationalist rituals at the megameetup, does this count?

Replies from: nicolas-lacombe
comment by nick lacombe (nicolas-lacombe) · 2024-12-20T20:09:50.174Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

@maia [LW · GW] : how many cookies does that make? (this info should probably be in the post)

Replies from: nicolas-lacombe
comment by nick lacombe (nicolas-lacombe) · 2024-12-21T02:43:29.558Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

i followed the recipe and made ~12 cookies. some of them were pretty big so the recipe calls for ~15 cookies id say.

Replies from: maia
comment by maia · 2024-12-23T20:52:14.581Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Thanks, added that to the post! I made double last year and I think it was about 2 dozen, so that sounds about right.