The first book I read as soon as school was out was The House of the Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer. Matt starts off his life locked in a shack in a poppy field. The only person he interacts with is Celia. She works as a cook at the big house on the farm, and she is like a mother to Matt. He soon discovers that he is a clone of the owner of the farm, El Patrón. However Matt does not know that El Patrón is a drug lord, and that he will eventually use Matt for parts to extend his already lengthy life. Even with the help of Celia and Tam Lin, a body guard determined to help Matt escape, it becomes doubtful that Matt will live past his fourteenth birthday.
As the majority of the story is set on a poppy farm, I decided I wanted to bake something containing poppy seeds. When I mentioned this to my grandma, she immediately exclaimed that she had a recipe for poppy seed cookies. My grandma is an incredible cook, so I implicitly trust any recipe she puts in my hands. She also told me that she received the recipe from Shirley Edelman, who is a gourmet cook. So I had no reservations about these cookies.
As I was putting in 3 1/2 cups of flour, a lot more than I've used for any other cookie recipe, and a whole 2 ounces of poppy seeds, I just kept reminding myself that this was the work of a gourmet chef. I'm glad I trusted the recipe because they turned out wonderfully fluffy with just a slight taste of lemon.
Poppy Seed Cookies
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 ounces poppy seeds
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 tablespoons milk
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat.
Stir in flavorings, vanilla and lemon extract, and milk.
Sift together the dry ingredients, including the poppy seeds. Blend the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
Chill the dough until it can be handled easily, about 2 hours in the refrigerator. Form into 4 rolls about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. I estimated the diameter by making the rolls as wide as two of my fingers. I roughly formed the rolls with my hands and then evened them out by rolling them on the counter in waxed paper. Wrap individually. Keep the rolls chilled until you are ready to cut them.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice each roll into 1/4 inch rounds. Each roll will yield about a dozen rounds. Place the rounds on a greased or non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for about 10- 12 minutes until the bottoms are just browning.
The individual rolls of dough can be frozen and thawed if you would like to bake only a dozen or two at a time.
