Sunday, March 19, 2006

Mondays with Maida - Aspen Date-Nut Fingers


Page 115 in the old book / page 153 in the new book

I am certain that Suzanne has now become conditioned to fear all cookies shrouded in confectioner's sugar. The moment I approached her with these she recoiled. She ate one - reluctantly - but I'm afraid the score was fixed in her mind before her first bite. A big fat zero. Honestly though, I liked them, as did others.

These cookies actually were very similar to last week's. They had smaller amounts of dates and nuts, and had some healthy additions: whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and oatmeal. The other important difference was that they had pecans rather than walnuts. The texture was very much the same, but I think the flavor was better. Once again these cookies had no butter in them - which makes for quite a different date bar than I'm accustomed to. They have a firm texture and are not overly sweet.

Here's the panel...

Suzanne: "I didn't think it was possible, but these date bars are even dryer and chewier than last week's bar. They just don't live up to Cathy's standard of excellence. Rating - 0"

Denny: "Excellent! 4.9 only because of no chocolate. Rating - 4.9"

Laura: "Crunchy, nutty, tasty, ... and good for me, too! Rating - 4.0"

Phil: "Seemed like just the right ingredient mix for the granola eating, birkenstock wearing, tree hugging, kumbaya-singing, bongo playing set. While the dates once again shined through and powdered sugar added a nice esthetic and touch of additional sweetener, the total cookie seemed a bit dry and dense. Rating - 2.0"

Overall rating by the panel - 2.7

Next week - Viennese Linzer Cookies

Nutrition Facts

No comments: