Passover Fruit & Nut Cookies

Some times you just need a little sweet, and this is a great way to get through the eight long days of Passover. It is a cookie with a nice crisp outside but soft middle. Filled with an enticing hint of salt and sweet.

This is a recipe I cut out of a magazine many years ago, that I have tweaked and transformed into one of my traditional Passover treats . It also happen's to be one of my Mom's favorite's. Use what ever dried fruits and nuts you like, but I think a good balance is 3 dried fruits and 1 nut. They would be good prepared with dates, dried mango, golden raisins, pistachios, pecans or macadamia nuts the combinations are endless. I make them with margarine so they are parve, but they would be delish with butter too. This is how I made them this year.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups cake meal

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup margarine room temperature

1 cup brown sugar packed

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut flakes

3/4 cup dried Turkish apricots chopped

3/4 cup dried cranberries chopped

3/4 cup dried pears chopped

1 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper. This way you can have two in the oven while you are scooping the dough for the other two sheets.

In a medium bowl mix together the cake meal, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl with a stand up mixer or a hand held mixer to the margarine add the brown sugar and white sugar on medium speed till smooth, gradually add eggs mix till smooth. while you are mixing add in the flour mixture on low speed till it is totally blended. Mix in the coconut , apricots, cranberries, pears and almonds.

With a spoon drop the cookies about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. These cookies don't raise much from when when they bake, so pretty much how you drop them is how they will look They are a rustic looking cookie treat.

Bake 13-15 minutes till they are a nice golden brown.

Makes about 54 cookies. Have a Zissen Pesach!!

Enjoy!!