Missing My Mother Pistachio and Rose Water Cookies



Happy birthday to me.

Birthdays make me sad.  Not because it’s a reminder of the dwindling number of heartbeats remaining to me, but because I particularly miss my mother on this day.  

Year after year, decade after decade, Mom made a big hoopla for me.  She’d fix a nice dinner, followed by some elaborate dessert.  Sometimes a big party, other times a small gathering.  It was marvelous.  

I loved my birthday as a child with the trifecta of parties, gifts, and cake.  Funny, I don’t have any specific dessert memories until my 17th when Mom wowed me with Baked-Alaska, which was heavenly.   Her last year, she fixed a three-layer, fabulously gooey, orange sauced vanilla custard cake confection.  Ooooh, that was good.  

Desserts aside, ultimately my birthday seemed like a celebration for the two of us.  After all, we were both there on that auspicious day.  We had a tacit understanding of that sentiment.  (I think the understanding was tacit although we never discussed it; heartfelt tête-à-têtes not our way.  It’s the stoic Post blood.) 

So this birthday I’m making dessert for myself, a bit early to accommodate the possibility of a bout of abject self-pity and consummate pathos.  (Stoicism and drama queen-ism aren’t mutually exclusive in my case.)

Given my current fascination with rose water, here goes:
(I heard rose water ice cream! mentioned on “Girls” a show I watch torn between fascination and horror.  Now there’s a program to remind me of my age.)

Pistachio and Rose Water Cookies
A few bites missing

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoon rose water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon freshly-grated lime zest
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup shelled pistachios, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F, and line baking trays with parchment paper.

Use big mixing bowl and a whisk.  Place sugar, butter, milk, rosewater, vanilla extract, lime juice, and lime zest in bowl.  Whisk thoroughly until well combined.

Add in the cornstarch by tablespoon, whisking until it dissolves. Mix the remaining dry ingredients (not the pistachios – they’re for later) and mix well with the wet ingredients in the bowl.

The mixture will be sticky.  Roll with your fingers into balls, I used a tablespoon for each, then press one side into the pistachios. Place pistachio side up in baking sheet, and press down slightly.

Bake for 13 minutes.  They will be a little soft but will firm up as they cool.
Makes 2-1/2 dozen.


Comments

Catherine said…
I miss her too ... and your dad, and my dad and all the aunts and uncles that made our childhoods truly blessed. We have some unique and wonderful memories from all of them ... not to mention good solid values.
Mon Jul 15, 09:24:00 PM
stephanie said…
I'm with ya on the blessed childhoods. We were well loved.
Thu Jul 18, 09:45:00 AM
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