The best part about coming home for the holidays for me has always been, and will always be the delicious cookies my mom makes. Over time the exact selection has changed, occasionally including Tom Thumbs, Lemon Drops and Italian Wedding Cookies, but no matter what the spread, she always knocks each and every one out of the park.
This year, she was kind enough to omit butter and milk from a few of them due to my recent, health-related dietary restrictions... but I was amazed how much you just don't even need dairy to make a good cookie. The dairy industrial complex here in the US makes us believe that we need to add 3 sticks of butter, a pound of cheese or two cups of milk to any and every recipe, but being dairy-free has made me realize that you can achieve pretty much the same thing with (usually half as much) vegetable oil, shortening or margarine.
I might do a post about my diet at some point, but I'm curious - anyone else out there have dietary restrictions, either for health, religious or ethical reasons? Have you ever been surprised at how much unnecessary sugar, salt, dairy fat, etc. is often called for in recipes that are (in many cases) better without them?
(The actual cookies above are [L-R] Mocha Balls, Chocolate-Vanilla Swirls, Chocolate-dipped Sugar cookies, Walnut Crescents and Molasses biscuits)
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