I actually made this week's TWD recipe, Honey Wheat cookies, several months ago, when I was trying to use up what was left in the gimormous jar of wheat germ that I purchased for my very first TWD recipe, Granola Grabbers. Wheat germ makers apparently believe that if you eat wheat germ, YOU REALLY EAT WHEAT GERM. You just can't find a small jar of this stuff (at least I can't). I foolishly did not take pictures of these when I made them before, and I almost did not make them again because I did not want to have to buy another monster jar of wheat germ that I later needed to use up. But my husband really liked these when I made them the first time, and I'm trying to be on my best TWD behavior these days -- so I decided to march into that grocery store, hoist that wheat germ into the cart, and go home and make these suckers again.
What I remembered most about these cookies from the first go-round was that they were mighty wheaty, but I remembered nothing about the process. The recipe calls for a full cup of wheat germ, half of which gets mixed in with the flour, and half of which is used to roll the dough balls before baking. This time around, as soon as I dumped the full cup of wheat germ into the flour mixture, it all came flooding back to me - that's EXACTLY what I did last time! I used all of the wheat germ *in* the cookies, rather than saving half of it to go *on* the cookies, which no doubt accounted for their epic wheatiness. This time, I was able to fish most of the excess half cup of wheat germ out of the flour. Repeat disaster averted!
These cookies, when made in accordance with the recipe, have a very pleasant, tangy honey wheat lemon flavor. They're fantastic with a cup of hot tea, but they would also totally work as a "summer" cookie, if you are one to assign seasons to your cookies.
My husband was really excited to see these cookies show up in the cookie jar again --you would have thought they were World Peace Cookies or something -- and seemed to enjoy the cookies as much as he did the last time, even without the excess wheat heat. I enjoyed them much more this time around. And now that I have a bushel of wheat germ in my freezer, I'm sure I'll make them again!
Michelle of Flourchild chose this week's recipe. Michelle has a great blog, and you can find this recipe, along with many other goodies, over there!
28 comments:
Those sound mighty healthy with a full cup! :) I think that means you can eat more, doesn't it? I do that all the time - mostly with sugar, which might even be worse. They look fantastic - and I'm sure taste just as good as they are for you (I think that's a commercial...). Glad they made a second appearance in your home!
They look great, so glad they worked out for you! Love this" "epic wheatiness" hahaha!
Your cookies look fab! So glad you enjoyed them! I loved these! I can see how doubling the wheat germ would be a wheat overload!! :)
I agree that these are a good summer cookie (or for those of use wishing of summer right about now...)
Your cookies look great!
The granola grabbers have wheat germ? I'll have to go back to those (I wasn't a member when those were baked) since I have a big bag of wheat germ that I need to work my way through! Your cookies look great!
I almost put all the nuts (I can't use wheat germ) into the batter, also but for some reason, remembered as I was pouring them in.
Ha! That's exactly what I did! I dumped in the entire amount of wheat germ, then fished a bunch of it out (along with a smattering of other dry ingredients that had already blended in a bit) and rolled the dough in this interesting mixture later. Great bakers err alike. :-)
beautiful, perfect circles. great job!!!
Cathy!!! I've missed you! I've missed your writing! And I've missed your last three posts! The cookies look SO good and I'm glad you made those cookies again (and averted disaster) because they look delicious!
I was lucky--I can buy toasted wheat germ in my grocery store's bulk department, so I didn't have to buy a lifetime supply. =) Glad to see you blogging more again.
Don't you hate it when you make the same mistake twice? I don't know what it's going to take to get me to READ the recipe so I can avert these crises. Yours look absolutely perfect, so it's not a surprise David was excited to see them again.
I did the *exact* same thing - but I didn't bother trying to scoop out the excess wheat germ.
Yum! I bet they would be good with a scoop of honey vanilla ice cream between them!
I keep my wheat germ in the freezer - and put it into my homemade granolas.
These really are a summery cookie. They sure sound like they were a big hit with your husband! Mine was iffy on these, but I know he'll keep eating them.
True - it seems that wheat germ only comes in mega size doses. Glad your hubby liked these - a few other people said hubby wasn't keen.
With all the tea I have drinking, I definitely should make these! I am glad to hear you enjoyed them.
Not real sweet but real tasty. It was a nice break from chocolate. They will probably show up in my cookie jar again too.
My hubby didn't like these, but that just left more for me. Yours look great! Glad you avoided a "disaster" this time. :) I see you are a yankee living in the south...me too. I'm from Rochester NY living outside of Richmond VA.
I haven't tried these yet. I love wheat and honey things so I am sure I will love them!
Mega-wheatiness! I was happy to put my half-empty jar of wheat germ to work, too. Every time someone on P&Q asked where to find it in the supermarket, I kept thinking, how can you miss it? It's in those big huge jars you will never use up! Nice job on the cookies.
You can't go wrong with a rave review. They didn't fare quite as well in my house. But I may try them again with some variations. (I would use the rest of that wheat germ for the granola grabbers - loved those!)
If you're looking for a smaller container of wheat germ, I found a bag of Bob's Red Mill that wasn't too bad. I can't remember where I found it though...
Anyway, your cookies look lovely! Glad you were able to avoid the wheat germ disaster this go round. I didn't think I'd like these, but they surprised me.
I can only find the mega jar of wheat germ, too. I didn't tell any one this, but my cookies had a slightly off flavor, and I'm thinking now that my wheat germ *may* have expired. Shhh...don't tell anyone!
They look great, Cathy!
I ALMOST added it all to the dough also, but caught it just in time. Therefore, mine didn't have the same epic wheatiness as yours!
LOL on the wheat germ disaster...I have done things similar on many an occasion and suddenly a half recipe become whole or a whole one, times two, becomes swim meet offerings! Your cookies look good. I only made a half batch and good thing, too, as I was looking for far too many occasions to have a cup of tea so I could have a cookie with it! I left the lemon ingredient whole on purpose, but you figured that out, I'm sure, without me telling you.
I'm so curious about them!
Your hubby must have been so excited to finally see a non-chocolate TWD dessert this month! Good on ya for making them for him, and way to learn from past mistakes. :)
It's kind of weird how big those jars of wheat germ are; who uses tons of it at a time, anyway? These are really good cookies. We were pleasantly surprised around here.
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