Joey Cakes

Let’s take a break from knitting and make some cookies.

My grandma used to make these cookies for St Joseph’s Day.  They were always my favorite, though I never really knew what they were.  I just remember them as those tasty ravioli cookies with the chocolate filling.

A few years ago, I went on a massive Google search to find a recipe for the cookies.  And, lo and behold, I found one – and you know what that tasty chocolate filling is?  Well, chocolate, of course, sugar, garbanzo beans, dates, and walnuts.

Sounds weird right?  I followed the recipe, and was amazed at how close to my grandma’s cookies these were!

I haven’t made these in a few years, and I’m not a great baker, so I made a substitution in these that I wasn’t crazy about – I used whole wheat flour instead of white.  If you make them, I’d recommend going with white, and making sure you roll your dough nice and thin – this’ll give you the best cookie.

All of the ingredients: salt, eggs, shortening, chickpeas, semi-sweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, dates, walnuts, flour, sugar.

The chocolate, pre-melting.

I didn’t take pictures of the pureeing, because my food processor is very small and kind of scary.  This is a cup of pureed drained canned chickpeas.

They were joined with a cup of white sugar.

And 3/4 cup of very finely chopped walnuts.

And 1/4 cup of pureed dates (I usually buy whole dried dates – these were chopped, and I got more of a finely chopped texture than a puree texture, but it still worked well).

Hey, chocolate.  You look good and melty.

Mix the chickpea/sugar/date/walnut mixture well – I mashed it a little with the back of the spoon, to make sure everything was really well incorporated.  It calls for cinnamon, too, but I couldn’t find mine.. so my cookies are cinnamon-less.

Pour in the chocolate, once it has cooled a bit.

And mix very well.

Mmm.. so good.  You have to lick the spoon.

And then wash it, stick it back in, and cover and chill the filling while you make the sough.

Three eggs in a bowl.

Beat till frothy.

Melt 1/4 cup of shortening.

Then add to the eggs, and sift in about 2 cups of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, a teaspoon of salt.  Then get rid of the whisk, because a whisk is just pointless at this point.

Take the rings off.  You’re getting into the dough.

It’s a little crumbly at first, but just work it together.

Soon you’ll have a nice little ball.  Feel free to add more flour if it’s too wet.  Put it on your very clean counter to roll out.

I don’t own a rolling pin.

My rice wine vinegar feels so useful!  I never roll these quite thin.

Ikea wine glass, you’re the perfect size to cut into little rounds!

I’m not too good at this part.. I rolled out the dough again and cut some more rounds.

Mmm, scrap dough.

Ready to be filled!  Let’s get the filling from the fridge!

And add about a teaspoon to the center.  Fold over, and pinch well to close, like a little wonton!

Repeat a few dozen times.

Ready to be fried!

Melt your shortening in a large pan.. (Crisco is so creepy!)

Extra dough and extra filling mixed together and eaten raw? A tasty, tasty snack.

But don’t eat it all.. I save some scraps to test the oil for frying.

When you drop a teeny scrap in, and it immediately sizzles, like this – it’s ready for some cookies!

Don’t crowd your pan – I put six to eight in each time.  Let them cook for about a minute or two per side, until golden brown.

Like this.

Drain on paper towels.  Sprinkle with sugar.

Then pack them in a shoebox and send them to your best friend two states away.

• 4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
• 1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups shortening for frying
• 1 cup garbanzo beans, drained and pureed
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup pureed dates
• 3/4 cup ground walnuts
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup melted shortening
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a bowl in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool. Heat the 2 cups shortening in a large, heavy skillet or deep fryer.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the pureed garbanzo beans, sugar, and cinnamon. Stir in the dates and nuts. Blend with the cooled chocolate. Chill while you make the dough.
3. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy. Stir in the 1/4 cup melted shortening. Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt, and fold into the egg mixture. Add extra flour if necessary to make the dough easy to handle.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch circles using a cookie cutter or a large drinking glass. Place 1 teaspoon of the chocolate filling mixture onto the center of each cookie, fold over into a half circle, and pinch to seal.
5. Fry cookies in 1 1/2 inches of hot oil, turning once. Cookies should be light brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Refrigerate when cool. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Recipe from AllRecipes.com.