Sage Apricot Black Pepper Cornmeal Cookies

It's funny, while eating these I kept trying to remember how I normally had sage as a child and I struggled.  Sage is strong, bitter, earthy, lemony and dominating - and it's perhaps hard to find ingredients that stand up to this robust flavor.  In this country, pork and apple are the standard flavor affiliates with sage, but I didn't grow up with this. Often, certain flavors just hit me and they're evocative of a time and place and emotion but I couldn't quite put my finger on sage.

Perhaps it was in ravioli and saltimbocca.  In saltimbocca you get these whole sage leaves stuck to the prosciutto and the veal and they're fried till golden and crispy.  In ravioli, well, it's just the standard sage butter that goes with all ravioli dishes in Italy - foam up some butter add a bit of sage, let that infuse and toss with your favorite ravioli - preferably with something equally earthy like pumpkin and pork.

But I wanted to do something sweet with it, as I was talking about sage and apple in desserts and so I did some googling on sage cookies and found something on Lottie and Loof and adapted it and voila.  These are pretty damn good.  My friends said they're some of the best cookies I've made and I make a hell of a lot of cookies. 

They're like a sensory bombardment with the sage - and they're chewy and buttery and sweet and delicate and just plain heavenly.   


Recipe adapted from here
Ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp sage, finely chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1 tsp black pepper
113g (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
3/4 cup flour

Method
Preheat oven to 180C.

Beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Beat in the egg until well combined. 

In a separate bowl, mix the salt, flour, baking powder and pepper.  Then mix in the apricots and sage and tip everything into the butter mixture.  Mix well.

Scoot out 1/2 tbsp bits and place on greased baking sheet, quite far apart (like an inch) because they will spread.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned.