
“Saffron is scent, colour, and culture distilled into a thread.”
I love using Saffron in recipes. I inherited two boxes of this ancient luxurious spice from my grandmother’s kitchen. One of the tins noted its origin in Spain and the other unopened tin from Morocco. I use it sparingly, so this quantity should last me my lifetime. Saffron always conjures up heady dreams of ancient lands, linages that cast back through history, travels that have come a long way. It reminds me that we are all just nomads passing through a brief window of time. Stardust both as significant as insignificant.
I adapted this recipe from Milk Street Tuesday Nights by Christopher Kimball. Tweaking the spice mix slightly to make it more fragrant and calming with a higher amount of cardamom and saffron versus Ginger. I also added a chocolate drizzle to half the batch. Simplicity and flavour are the foundation of this book. Building the flavour profiles through clever herb and spice combinations.
Saffron – Saffron’s use is ancient. Saffron-based pigments have been found in 50,000-year-old paintings in northwest Iran. It conjures romance, royalty, and delicacy wherever it appears. Alexander the Great bathed in saffron to cure battle wounds. Cultivated saffron emerged in late Bronze Age Crete, bred from its wild precursor by selecting for unusually long stigmas making the plant sterile. Called Kumkum or Kesar in Ayurveda, it also appears as an important medicinal herb in many ancient texts including Ayurveda, Unani, and Chinese Medicine.
In Ayurveda Saffron is noted as a nourishing purifier that invigorates and moves the blood while cooling it. Saffron breaks up blood clots and clears liver stagnation. While most blood movers are heating, saffron is unique among blood movers for its cooling properties. This makes saffron a useful herb for Pitta disorders with blood stagnation, including inflammation, arthritis, and acne.
Eleven randomized trials have found that, overall, saffron benefits mild to moderate depression significantly better than placebo at doses as little as a single pinch a day (30 mg). And half a dozen studies have found that the spice beat out placebo or rivalled medications like Prozac in the treatment of depression.
Yield: 20
Ingredients:
- 4 large egg white
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. saffron threads, crumbled
- 2 tbsp. salted butter
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom
- ½ tsp. ground ginger
- 225g unsweetened shredded coconut
- 50g almond flour
- 134g white sugar
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Method
- Heat the overn to 350F, line two baking trays with parchment paper
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs whites, salt and saffron until the whites turn bright yellow and form peaks, c. 1-2 minutes. let stand for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally to allow the saffron to bloom.
- In a small skillet, combine the butter, cardamom and ginger. Cook stirring occasionally, until the butter begins to sizzle, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the coconut and almond flour to break up any lumps.
- Add the sugar, honey and vanilla into the egg mixture and whisk. Whisk in the butter mixture. Add the coconut mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until evenly covered. Drop 1.5 tbsp. portions of the batter onto the baking sheet, spacing them evenly.
- Bake until golden brown and firm when gently pressed, c. 20 minutes, witching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through.
- Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Cool got another 15 minutes and serve warm.
- Can store them in an airtight container, they will lose their firmness a little but still taste great.