The Rose Garden

Ingredients:

• 1 ⅓ cups × Spelt, flour, freshly milled
• 1 cup × Butter, slightly melted
• ¾ cups × Maple syrup
• 2 ⅓ cup × Mesquite/Gleditsia sp., pulp, dried, powdered
• 1 tsp × Baking soda
• ½ tsp × Salt
  • Or, a suitably salty dried/powdered Atriplex species
• 5 tsp Spice mix

Spice Mix:

(The ratio is what's important, but make enough to have 5 tsp for the cookies.)

• 4 parts Spicebush/Lindera benzoin, berries, seed and flesh, dried, picked while red
• 3 parts Anise Hyssop/Agastache foeniculum, leaves, dried
• 3 parts Eastern White Pine/Pinus strobus, needles, dry roasted
• 2 part Chiltepin/Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum, fruit, dried
• 2 part Sweetfern/Comptonia peregrina, catkins, dried
• 1 part Bog Labrador Tea/Rhododendron groenlandicum, leaves, dried

Spice cookie/cake recipes generally call for “warming” spices, i.e. nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. The categorization of warming spices is a little fuzzy, not to mention Eastern Agricultural Complex ingredients have never been properly indexed in that way, unfortunately. Some I have tasted and am fairly confident would be considered “warming”, while for others I'm relying on descriptions. Either way, these are what I had on hand, and certainly not the optimal blend.

Steps:

1. Using a molcajete or similar crushing/grinding mechanism, grind the whole spices until powdered.
   • Some spices have enough natural oil to become gummy rather than truly powder, or are too fibrous. Mortar & pestle style grinding can exacerbate this, so try other mechanisms either instead, or in conjunction with it. I used a mlcajete for everything and then forced it all through a tammy/sieve.
2. Heat oven to 350 F.
3. Whisk together the spelt, mesquite, spices, salt, and baking powder, set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter and maple syrup.
5. Mix the wet and dry ingredients only as much as necessary for them to be consistent.
6. Hand roll small balls of this dough, and space apart on a baking sheet.
7. Bake until golden and crispy at edges.