Dune: Sand Tarts
Dune recipe #4
Before even cracking open the book, I knew I wanted to make Sand Tarts. They are the only food with sand in the title that I can think of… except for perhaps pecan sandies, which I just thought of… maybe I will make those later on (?)…
Anyway — for every family Thanksgiving and Easter as far back as I can remember, my great aunt Lany would make a huge batch of these cookies and I would end up eating far too many. Whenever anyone asks her for the recipe though, she says something like “Well if I gave you that, you wouldn’t need ME anymore…” so I had to do some research and piece this recipe together. It came out just right, so don’t worry. And yes, we still need you Aunt Lany.
What made me think of these cookies was, of course, the dry desert landscape of the planet Arrakis, aka Dune.
There had been so many things to learn. Arrakis would be a place so different from Caladan that Paul’s mind whirled with the new knowledge. Arrakis — Dune —Desert Planet… - Dune, Book 1
Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegan butter, softened
1.25 cup sugar
4 Tbsp aquafaba (aka the liquid from a can of chickpeas)
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (plain or vanilla)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream together vegan butter and sugar.
Add aquafaba and mix until incorporated.
Slowly add in flour and baking powder until incorporated. This should look very crumbly and sandy.
Slowly mix in the almond milk until a soft dough is formed.
Cover dough and place in the refrigerator to chill for 2.5 hours.
Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and line some baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of wax paper, until 1/8 inch thick. If it sticks too much to the wax paper, dust the dough with flour until it is less sticky!
Using a round glass or cookie cutters, cut out cookies and place on lined baking sheets.
In a small bowl, mix 2 Tbsp sugar with 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Using a spoon, sprinkle onto cookies.
Bake for about 35 minutes until cookies are lightly browned and crisp.
Let cool - the cookies crisp up even more when they have cooled off (or eat them hot, whichever you prefer!).
Enjoy!
