Polenta-Pine Nut Cookies

These delicious little cookies make a great energy-delivering snack and can be adjusted for the sweet tooth in you. They were very easy to make and introduced me to crystallized ginger, which I'm going to start using all over the place!

I'm still eating these
Pine nut cookies - who'd have thought?
Packed with energy

Ingredients:

• Nonstick Spray
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 1/3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 c polenta
• 3/4 c pine nuts
• 1 Tbsp chopped lemon zest
• 1/2 c minced crystallized ginger (optional)
• Sugar to sprinkle on top.

Preparation time is only 15 minutes, with 15 minutes for baking (more for the two batches that this yields).

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with foil, and spray it generously with nonstick spray.
2. Break the eggs into a medium-sized bowl, and beat until smooth. Stir in the salt, maple syrup, oil, and optional vanilla.
3. Sprinkle in the flour, polenta, pine nuts, lemon zest, and optional ginger. Mix with a wooden spoon until completely blended.
4. Wet your hands, and pick up a small piece of dough, about 2 teaspoons' worth. Roll it into a ball about 1 inch in diameter, then flatten it into a small circle. Place on the prepared baking tray, patting it down to about 1/8 of an inch thick.
5. Bake in the center of the oven for 15 minutes, or until the cookies turn golden brown around the edges and on the bottoms. If you like the cookies sweeter, sprinkle them with additional sugar as soon as they come out of the oven. It will melt into the tops of the cookies to form a sweet crust.
6. Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before eating. (I didn't. I ate one ONE minute after it came out!)

Recipe from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe.

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