wjsullivan.net

Overloading the Machine

Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

from the Candle Cafe Cookbook, by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza with Barbara Scott-Goodman

Makes about 18 cookies

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup unrefined sugar
1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt (fine-grained)
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 cup soy margarine
1 tbsp egg replacer
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease baking sheets or line them with baking parchment.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and nuts. In another bowl, whisk together the margarine, egg replacer, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and mix well to combine.

Using a tablespoon, drop the batter 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bottoms of the cookies begin to brown.

Notes: I've used the ENER-G egg replacer, and Bob's Egg Replacer. I mix 1 tablespoon of the powdered stuff with water as per the package directions, then add it to the recipe. I'm concerned that Earth Balance margarine maybe doesn't work so well as the dough was very crumbly and I had to add more oil to it.

"Good afternoon, madam. How may I help you?" "Good afternoon. I'd like a FrintArms HandCannon, please." "A--? Oh, now, that's an awfully big gun for such a lovely lady. I mean, not everybody thinks ladies should carry guns at all, though I say they have a right to. But I think... I might... Let's have a look down here. I might have just the thing for you. Yes, here we are! Look at that, isn't it neat? Now that is a FrintArms product as well, but it's what's called a laser -- a light-pistol some people call them. Very small, as you see; fits easily into a pocket or bag; won't spoil the line of a jacket; and you won't feel you're lugging half a tonne of iron around with you. We do a range of matching accessories, including -- if I may say so -- a rather saucy garter holster. Wish I got to do the fitting for that! Ha -- just my little joke. And there's *even*... here we are -- this special presentation pack: gun, charged battery, charging unit, beautiful glider-hide shoulder holster with adjustable fitting and contrast stitching, and a discount on your next battery. Full instructions, of course, and a voucher for free lessons at your local gun club or range. Or there's the *special* presentation pack; it has all the other one's got but with *two* charged batteries and a night-sight, too. Here, feel that -- don't worry, it's a dummy battery -- isn't it neat? Feel how light it is? Smooth, see? No bits to stick out and catch on your clothes, *and* beautifully balanced. And of course the beauty of a laser is, there's no recoil. Because it's shooting light, you see? Beautiful gun, beautiful gun; my wife has one. Really. That's not a line, she really has. Now, I can do you that one -- with a battery and a free charge -- for ninety-five; or the presentation pack on a special offer for one-nineteen; or this, the special presentation pack, for one-forty-nine." "I'll take the special." "Sound choice, madam, *sound* choice. Now, do--?" "And a HandCannon, with the eighty-mill silencer, five GP clips, three six-five AP/wire-fl'echettes clips, two bipropellant HE clips, and a Special Projectile Pack if you have one -- the one with the embedding rounds, not the signalers. I assume the night-sight on this toy is compatible?" "Aah... yes, And how does madam wish to pay?" She slapped her credit card on the counter. "Eventually."

-- Iain M. Banks, "Against a Dark Background"

This page was last modified on 2008 October 05.