My ideal Christmas cookie box

A collection of cookie recipes that represent my ideal festive season

Bringing to life three generations of baking

I never thought I would be sharing cookie recipes. For a long time, I thought that gene had skipped over me. My grandmother raised her children as a baker in a small village in the Ashanti region of Ghana. She used the money to take them to school, to feed her children and community during the 1983 famine, and to build a reputation as a respected businesswoman in her village. Each day, they baked bread, fried bofrot, and on special occasions, made tart. Not tart as we know it, but sweet flaky butter cookies. These cookies were never frosted or intricately designed, just simple and very delicious. While my grandmother no longer bakes, baking still lives within our family. My sister has a micro-baking business where cookies are her main thing; my mum bakes cakes and pastries for her church choir. But for me, I always thought my skills lay in savoury treats. Until a month ago.

In the middle of a church sermon, my mind was suddenly hyper-fixated on cookie recipes. Maybe it was God finally revealing to me a gift I thought I never had. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though; I am nowhere close to a cookie master but very excited to be working on baked goods now.

Heads up: this is a bit of a long post with 6 cookie recipes. I will not be usually doing a collection like this. I am just in the Christmas spirit.

My Cookie Boxes

It is not an Eat with Afia recipe without a tie to traditional/indigenous Ghanaian/West African food practices. I want to highlight flavours that you do not hear about beyond the region or flavours non-West Africans would not typically associate with Ghana/West Africa. I am talking moringa, fermented locust beans, chocolate, tamarind, roasted millet, and indigenous spices. I have come up with six cookies for my box that embody all these flavours; let’s get into the flavour breakdown.

1. Moringa Lemon Cookies 2. Grains of Paradise Orange

Moringa Lemon Butter Cookies

Moringa is a tree you find across West Africa and across the continent. While the popular cultivar (moringa oleifera) is a product of India, the botanical roots of moringa are on the African continent, which houses the most number of moringa cultivars (13/14). I love moringa not because of the health benefits (which there are many of ) but because of its taste. It is grassy with a slight sour flavour. This is why I pair it with lemon, as they complement each other. You can purchase moringa at many local health food stores or any online retailer.

Orange Grains of Paradise Cookies

While they look like peppercorns, grains of paradise are actually in the same family as ginger and cardamom. In Ghana, we call them efom wisa but they go by other names such as alligator pepper, melegueta pepper, ataare (yoruba) etc. These “peppercorns” offer a pungent, pepper-ish flavour that lingers at the back of your tongue. While we have been consuming them for centuries for food, drinks, medicines and cultural events, they started appearing in Europe by the 13th century. They were also a popular alternative to the black peppercorn in Europe, used to flavour alcohol and meats. By the 18th century, their use significantly declined after legislatures were passed to reduce imports, taste preferences had changed, and black peppercorn had become much easier to access. Grains of Paradise is still used as a botanical for several popular gins.

Where to purchase: (Your local African store), MyChopChop (US/Canada), Spice Merchant (Canada), Silk Road Spice Merchant (Canada), The Spice House (US), Serious Eats has a few American options. Please do not purchase the Burlap and Barrel version, it is not the right grains of paradise for this recipe. You can also use black pepper as an alternative.

1. Dawa Dawa Chocolate 2. Spiced Tamarind Sandwich Cookie

Dawa Dawa Chocolate Cookies

Fermented Locust beans, more broadly, fermented oil seeds, are an incredible part of West African cooking. It goes by many names across West Africa — iru, ogiri okpei, soumbala/soumbara, netetou, nere. These alkaline fermented condiments are packed with glutamate that adds richness to our soups and stews. In addition, the locust bean is in the carob family and its funkiness works well with chocolate. Sometimes, when you smell it, there are hints of chocolate. So it was a no-brainer to combine the two.

Besides African stores, you can purchase dawa dawa online at Burlap and Barrel (US and Canada), MyChopChop (Canada) or on Etsy (US).

Spiced Tamarind Sandwich Cookies

Spices and tamarind are my match made in heaven. The spice blend combines indigenous and earthy spices like grains of selim, calabash nutmeg, grains of paradise and ginger, which together make a West African alternative to any warm spice mix. The warm spices complement the sweet and tart flavour of the fruit. You do not need to use this same blend; it is the principles that matter. We want a spice blend that is warm and comforting. Great alternative spice blends include your favourite pumpkin pie spice mix or even a chai masala. Tamarind pulp can be found at any Asian, or Caribbean store or online retailer like Amazon.

1. Double Chocolate Roasted Millet Cookies. 2. Peanut and Roasted Millet Cookies

Double Chocolate Roasted Millet Cookies

My double chocolate teff cookies are my favourite cookies to make. Recognizing that some might not be able to eat peanuts, I wanted a cookie that utilized the same earthy flavours of millet but in a nut-free cookie. So I swapped out the teff and used roasted millet flour. Roasting the flour partially cooks it, so I have made a minor adjustment to the original double chocolate teff cookie.

Roasted Millet and Peanut Cookies

My flavour of the year has been roasted grains. We roast many grains and legumes for drinks, porridge, and even pottages. Millet, corn, beans, and many more are roasted to expand the cooking options. They offer such a nutty flavour that they replace the need for spices. Coincidentally, this cookie is a cookie version of the popular peanut snack adakwa, which is a spicy peanut ball made with lots of peanuts, pepper, spices, and roasted corn flour. If you love peanuts, this is a recipe for you. If you know anything about me, I am all about promoting indigenous West African grains, so millets and sorghums sit at the top of my list instead of corn. For this cookie, you just need to roast the millet flour in a metal/stainless steel pan until it turns a little darker and smells like popcorn. You can use millet and sorghum interchangeably for this recipe. Pearl millet flour is also known as bajri/bajra in India and available at your local Indian grocery store.

If you want to make the last two recipes together, I suggest roasting about 2 cups of millet flour as they both use the same roasting method.

Yes, there are 6 cookies in here. This is not going to be my normal compilation of recipes, but I am glad I put together this series.