Fall Cookie Week Finale! Persian Love Whoopie Pies

Cooking!

Yes, Persian Love Whoopie Pies. You know, like Persian Love Cake. Only, in the delightfully American format of the Whoopie Pie (which, really, is basically a cookie and therefore eligible for Fall Cookie Week). For those of you unfamiliar with this delightful cake, Persian Love Cake is a tasty blend of rose, cardamum, saffron, lemon, and pistachio flavors. I have no idea about the history behind it, but it tastes delicious.

The Whoopie Pie is a pleasingly soft cookie sandwich, traditionally chocolate, with a sweet butter cream, traditionally marshmallow in the middle. I decided to use the Whoopie Pie format for my Persian Love flavors because a friend gave me a book a long time ago devoted to exploring the wonders of the Whoopie Pie (exclusively! that is all that is in the cookbook!) and I haven't used it.


Persian Love Whoopie Pie
(makes 15 pies/cookies/whatever)

Beat in a stand mixer, until fluffy:
1 stick butter
3/4 sugar
3/4 brown sugar

Mix in:
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest

In a separate bowl, sift:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cardamom (you can use 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg instead, if need be)



Alternate adding the flour mixture into the mixer with adding:
1 cup buttermilk

as well. Remember, you can make a cup of buttermilk by putting 1 tsp lemon juice in a cup measurement, filling it the rest of the way with milk, and waiting five minutes. Kitchen chemistry! Mix everything until just combined.

Finally, mix in:
3/4 cup ground pistachios

Now take an ice cream scoop or a large spoon and scoop globs of dough on to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Try to make them uniform and relatively roundish, as you will need to pair them off to make your sandwiches. Put them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

While those bake, you can make the cream. As you make already know, I am not a fan of buttercream. Way too sweet. For the filling, I used my standby vanilla cream with a bit of rose water and pink food coloring.


Rosey Saffron Cream Filling
(fills 15 pies)

Pour into the mixing bowl:
1 tbsp vanilla pudding powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Beat on low for a couple minutes, then scrape the bowl and add:
1 tsp rose water (available in Indian groceries stores)
1 tsp vanilla extract
A good pinch of saffron (if you live near a World Market, it's pretty affordable there)
1-2 drops of red food coloring if needed

Continue to beat until filling begins to stiffen and leave the side of the bowl. When the cookies are done baking,
let them cool for 5 minutes on the pan and fully off the pan before assembling (leave the filling in the fridge during this time). For perfect little puffs of filling, you can use a pastry bag, or you can just spread the filling on with a spatula. Enjoy!

Hilarious pictures of the goofy humans on my bookshelf
rejecting my delicious cookies 

Reading!

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

I know my book reviews have been rather few and far between lately, but unfortunately, school is pretty time-consuming and, since I am now studying teaching rather than studying literature, my readings are a lot drier and a lot less novel-y.

However, I did just finish Margaret Atwood's little novel The Penelopiad, which is Penelope's point of view on the whole clever, adventuring Odysseus story. It took me a little bit to get into the story, probably because I am a huge fan of the Greeks and Trojans and their antics and have therefore read a lot of fiction revolving around that time period, which causes me to find some choices that a lot of authors make rather tired after awhile.

An example: Helen is a self-absorbed, man-killing snob. What else is new? Helen is always a self-absorbed, man-killing snob. Just once, I'd like to read a story that explores Book VI in The Illiad, when she deplores of Paris's cowardice, flirts with Hector, and refers to herself as a "bitch" and "slut" (seriously, in the Fagels translation in my Norton!). Now that would be an interesting character exploration!

Anyway, my irritation with Helen's portrayal aside, I enjoyed The Penelopiad. A big theme (as usual with Ms. Atwood) was gender politics and inequality. She explores Penelope's marriage, her 20 years of waiting and fending off suitors, her reputation as the ideal, patient wife (often compared in the Odyssey with the murderous Clytemnestra, especially by a cranky Agamemnon in the underworld).

Another theme was the subjectivity of history and the impossibility of knowing with certainty the full story. Penelope's narration is not entirely reliable, as she admits, and the chorus of the 12 maids (who are killed by Odysseus for having sex with the suitors) often elaborates on, confused, or outright contradicts Penelope's account. In fact, the maids are probably the most interesting characters, in either of these themes.

In short, don't let a two-dimensional Helen distract you from the unique perspective that is Atwood's Penelopiad.