During the period of fasting, there always comes a moment when you want something unusual and “forbidden”. This is especially true for sweets or magnificent pastries. At these moments, the housewives are looking for alternatives and successful simple recipes that would make it possible to cook something sweet and tasty from available and allowed in the post products (not of animal origin).
The real lifesaver is a cookie recipe on brine. It is important that you can take any brine: from cucumbers, sauerkraut, tomatoes or salted assorted. To taste, cookies will resemble shortbread, but will be much more aromatic, tastier and easier.
Essential ingredients for making cookies on brine
- 760 g of wheat flour (about 5-6 glasses).
- 180 ml of vegetable oil.
- 260 ml of brine (almost a full glass).
- 180 g of granulated sugar.
- A large pinch of salt.
- Vanilla sugar.
- Half a teaspoon of soda.
Cooking process
Experienced housewives advise you to immediately weigh and set all products before you start making cookies on a brine. Also prepare a convenient mixing bowl in advance.
At the first stage of preparation, liquid products are mixed: vegetable oil and brine. Then granulated sugar and vanillin are added. Sugar will not quickly dissolve in a cold base, so leave the mixture for a while. Do not save time in this moment. It is better to let the sugar dissolve than to eat the cookies and “enjoy” the creak of crystals on the teeth. If there is no waiting time, just replace the granulated sugar with icing.
Slowly mix the sweet oil-brine mixture. In the mixing process, you need to gradually introduce the flour. Do not forget to sift it, so that the cookies on the brine from the cucumbers turned out to be lighter, airy. Together with flour, we add soda. In its consistency and appearance, the dough should be very similar to shortbread.
We cover the dough with a plate or wrap it in a bag and let it rest for half an hour. If the shortbread is necessarily removed in the cold in order to allow the butter to freeze, then the dough on the brine does not need such a long rest. It will be enough 20-25 minutes, during which you successfully preheat the oven and prepare cookie cutters.
We make cookies
When the cookie dough on the brine rests, it will increase in volume and become more magnificent. Note that this is without the addition of yeast and chicken eggs. We divide the piece of dough into two parts and each roll out into a pancake about 1 cm thick. Next comes the turn to show culinary fiction and imagination. Cookie cutters can be used completely different. You can simply, if there is not enough time or there are no forms at hand, cut the dough into squares or rhombuses.
The formed cookies on the brine are laid on a baking sheet, which is pre-covered with baking paper. You can grease the paper with a little vegetable oil or just sprinkle a little flour.
Bake
The oven heats up to 200 degrees. Try to arrange the cookies so that there is enough space between them. During baking, they will expand. Cooking time on cucumber pickle is 12-15 minutes. Do not fry too much, as the cookies will become not crispy and crumbly, but firm and tasteless.
How to serve
It is important to note that many housewives are afraid to cook cookies on brine. It seems to them that the pastries will smell like cucumbers or give sauerkraut. This is a complete fallacy of inexperienced culinary specialists. Cookies do not look like other famous pastries, but they don’t smell like cucumbers. With tea, fruit juice or homemade compote, cookies on the brine (photo attached) will combine perfectly.
Tips & Tricks
If greens, cloves, etc. are found in the used brine, then we advise to strain it before adding it to the dough.
Be sure to check the brine for salinity before adding to the dough. If the marinade, which was filled with cucumbers, is too salty, then add a smaller amount.
Serving cookies is not only possible during Lent. Guests will enjoy it at any time of the year.
It's nice that such cookies remain soft and crisp for a very long time. The term will last even longer if the cookies are placed in a glass container with a well-closing lid.
The dough is thick enough. This is not worth fearing. It is recommended to mix it with a wooden spoon or spatula.
If you like salty pastries more, just reduce the amount of granulated sugar and add a little more brine. In this case, the cookies will turn out to be brackish and will taste like crackers.
Cookies will look like crackers even if you cut the dough during cutting into long thin strips. Whetstones during baking will become more magnificent. After cooking, you can sprinkle them with salt a little. It turns out salty crispy slices, which may well replace bread or crackers.
It will not spoil at all, but, on the contrary, will do good, a spoonful of ground cinnamon, ginger or cocoa added to the dough. You can also add candied fruit, honey instead of sugar and nuts. It is advisable to soak dried fruits and candied fruits before adding to the dough for 10-20 minutes.
A more healthy and low-calorie cookie on the brine will turn out if you replace part of the flour with ordinary oatmeal.
In the dough, you can add the kernels of sunflower seeds (salted or ordinary). They will make baking not only beautiful in appearance, but also incredibly useful. In addition, kernels can replace more nutritious nuts.
If the recipe does not limit fasting or diet, then you can add a little butter, condensed milk, and a couple of spoons of sour cream to the dough. The result will be surprisingly satisfying, incredibly sweet and delicious cookies for the holiday.