Cathy Katin-Grazzini
Cathy’s Kitchen Prescription LLC
www.cathyskitchenprescription.com
Sweet Nothings
A little whole grain flour, a little yeast, a little fruit and voilá ~ you have delectable light pastries, without butter or fats, filled with a whipped grape fat-free mousse. Enjoy these holiday cookies for a snack with warm winter drinks. To better manage your time, make the date paste, grape mousse, and apple glaze in advance.
Prep 1 hour to prep, roll and cut out dough, plus about 2 passive hours for dough to rise
Bake 20 minutes
Makes: 20 to 30 sandwich cookies, depending on size
Dough
2 cups warm spring (untreated) water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 ¼ cups date paste from 1 ⅔ cups whole pitted dates, any variety
6 to 7 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
Filling
3 cups red grapes
Glaze
1 carton frozen apple juice concentrate
1. In a nonmetallic bowl cover dates with water and microwave 2 minutes to rehydrate. Cool. Purée in a food processor, scraping down sides, until very smooth and uniform. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl add warm water and sprinkle yeast over the surface. After 10 minutes, add date paste, stirring to dissolve. Begin adding flour, stirring with a wooden spoon or silicon spatula, and switch to your hand as it become too heavy and thick for the spoon. Add only enough flour until the dough is very sticky and dense, somewhat stiff (about 6 cups). Continue to knead in the bowl with your hand for 8 minutes, adding a little flour, as needed, to work the dough.
3. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid cover. Place in a warm, draft-free spot, oven or warming drawer set at 100°F for about 2 hours or until doubled in size.
4. Place the grapes in a saucepan and cook, covered, over a very low flame for 20 minutes or until fruit is completely softened. Cool. Purée in a high-speed blender for a gorgeous mauve fluffy mousse.
5. Empty the apple concentrate into a saucepan and simmer for about 15 minutes or until juice has reduced enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. As the glaze cools, it will continue to thicken. If it becomes too thick to easily spread with a pastry brush, add a tiny bit of water.
6. Preheat oven to 375°F
7. Turn the dough onto a board, lightly floured. Gently stretch the dough and fold it in thirds. Rotate 90°, and repeat 4 times. Divide dough in half, keeping the remaining half covered in wrap to prevent drying. With a rolling pin, roll to ½-inch thickness. It the dough is too sticky to roll, sprinkle a bit more flour on top. roll and flip the dough as you go. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out holiday shapes.
8. Transfer each cookie to a baking sheet, lined with parchment.
9. Brush apple glaze over the surface and sides.
10. Set the sheet aside in a warm, draft-free corner, oven or warming drawer no hotter than 100°F for up to 30 minutes or until puffed.
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
12. Transfer to baked cookies to a cooling rack. Spread on a thick layer of grape purée on half the dough cutouts and cover with its matching shape.
13. Brush with apple glaze one final time.