Spinach Cookies (Renaissance Cookies)

I was somewhat skeptical about a recipe that called for topping cookies with spinach purée. Then again, most people would probably question adding a bunch of sugar and fruit to ground beef and serving it for dessert as well, and mincemeat is delicious! So maybe dessert spinach would be equally tasty.

Spinach Cookies
1 c. (1/2 lb.) butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1 large egg
1/4 c. white dessert wine (I used this stuff)
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. pastry flour
2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
10 oz. baby spinach, cooked and drained
4 oz. almond paste
1 large egg yolk
1 Tbsp. cream
1-3 Tbsp. sugar, to taste
sugar-coated fennel seeds, to garnish

1. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add egg, wine, and 1/8 tsp. salt.
3. Gradually add flour and stir until just combined. Set dough aside while spinach topping is prepared.
4. Purée spinach (or mince very fine by hand). Add almond paste, egg yolk, and cream. Purée until almond paste dissolves (or use pastry blender to cut in and mix well). Add sugar to taste.
5. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes, until mixture thickens.
6. Roll out the dough to ~1/8" thickness and cut out your cookies.
7. Spread each cookie with some of the spinach purée and top with a smaller dough cut-out.
8. Top with a few sugar-coated fennel seeds and bake at 350F for 12-14 minutes.

These are surprisingly tasty little morsels. The almond flavour in the spinach is really nice. I do wish that that had been carried through in the cookie dough as well though. Next time I think I'd make a cookie that incorporates ground almond in the dough. That seems like it'd be a little more harmonious. The whole wheat flour was a nice touch though. I'll definitely keep that in if I'm making these again.

I didn't have quite enough spinach to top all my cookies. I thought about just baking a few plain cookies, but then I remembered the jar of bacon marmalade in the fridge... So, the last few cookies got a sweet bacon treatment. And that worked quite well too!

Overall a fun and unique recipe. I just wish it didn't make quite so many cookies. I might only make a half portion of the spinach purée next time and try freezing half the dough to use for something else later. It takes way too long to bake that many cookies, especially when you only have one small cookie sheet and have to cook them 12 at a time!