Ginger Lemon Islands

Last month, my wife had a dream in which she invented a dessert. I took the basic idea of the dessert from her dream, tweaked it here and there (eg, replaced the clotted cream with whipped cream, changed the blueberry cream to lemon cream, made the whole thing egg and gluten free), and I came up with the following recipe.

I submitted the dessert to a recipe contest but didn't win. That's all right. It's still a good dessert, and I recommend you all try it, particularly if you are looking for something new, different, and gluten free.

Note: I'm not actually going completely gluten free, but I'm working up to the anti-inflammatory diet, and I needed some new recipes. So, here's another. Also, although this recipe is not sugar-free, I have cut the sugar dramatically by using dates. It works. It works well.

GINGER LEMON ISLANDS

Cookie:

• ¾ cup dates
• ¾ cup shortening
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground fresh ginger
• 1½ cup almond flour
• ½ cup coconut flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoons ground ginger
• Extra granulated sugar

Lemon whipped cream:

• 2 cup pasteurized heavy cream
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• Mint leaves for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

Soak dates in hot water for at least 15 minutes. Drain and soak again in hot water for another 15 minutes. Remove liquid and puree dates in a food processor, adding back just enough soaking water to make a thick puree. Add shortening, sugar, molasses, and fresh ginger to the dates in the food processor and pulse to cream ingredients together.

Mix together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to food processor and pulse to mix together. To make each cookie, roll a ball of dough one inch in diameter in granulated sugar to coat completely. Press the ball between two pieces of waxed paper in a tortilla press or with a rolling pin so that the dough is flattened to about three times the original diameter. Carefully remove the cookie from the waxed paper and place on a baking sheet with a piece of baking parchment. Bake cookies for five to six minutes until barely golden brown, flip cookies, and bake another two to three minutes, making sure not to overbake. Once the cookies are baked, let them cool on the baking sheet for five minutes, and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

To make the lemon whipped cream, mix the cream, lemon juice, zest, and two tablespoons of sugar together and beat until the cream makes stiff peaks.

When ready to serve, spread two tablespoons of whipped cream on each cookie and add blueberries and a sprig of mint.

Makes about 32 cookies.