Lunitari (Red Moon) Cookies

Join me as I make Lunitari (Red Moon) Cookies – From Tika’s Cookbook for the first time! This is a recipe from Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home sourcebook, originally released in 1987. The recipes are compiled by Tika Waylan Majere. You can buy Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home here: https://amzn.to/3FOuL2J

Tika’s Cookie Jar

Festival of the Eye

This tradition undoubtedly had its origins back
in the days when magic-users honored the moons
which gave them power. It takes place during the
rare time when all three moons are in alignment,
forming what appears to be a great eye in the sky.

According to ancient legend, on this night wizards
went from door to door, offering their services
in the performance of minor magics without
charge. They were given food and small gifts in
return. When wizards fell into ill repute in the
days before the Cataclysm, this custom ceased.
But now children go from door co door, pretending
co be wizards and performing tricks. In return,
the children are given their choice of these

cookies.

From Tika’s Cookbook
Lunitari (Red Moon) Cookies

Batter:

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup wheat germ
¾ cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
¾ cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon orange peel (optional)

Topping:

2 tablespoons sugar mixed with ½
teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons milk

Blend dry batter ingredients together. Cut butter
in with pastry cutter until mixture resembles a
course meal. Add orange peel (optional).
Moisten the mixture with the eggs, milk, and
Butter. Dough will be sticky, and soft. Place on
well-floured board and knead very gently, just
Enough to make the dough easier to roll.

Roll out dough ½ inch thick; cut into 2-inch
circles. Place on greased cookie sheet about 2
inches apart. Brush top of each cookie with a dab
of milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

Bake at 400 degrees for 1O minutes. Cookies
should be golden brown. Cool on racks until hard
enough to hold shape. These are best sened
fresh, especially warm. Makes 3 dozen.

Transcript

Cold Open

I don’t know what to say… I expected more red.

Intro

Today I am making Lunitari (Red Moon) Cookies from Tika’s Cookbook in Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home. If you have made this recipe, share your thoughts in the comments below!

Discussion

After the disastrous experience making the Solinari cookies, I decided to use a food processor with these. Work smarter people, not harder.This recipe is much bigger than the last, and it is split between the batter, and minimal toppings. The batter consists of three cups flour, one cup sugar, two teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon salt, one-fourth cup wheat germ, three-fourths cup butter, two eggs, three-fourths cup buttermilk, one teaspoon vanilla, and one tablespoon orange peel. I interpreted this as orange zest, and I discovered I am incapable of zesting an orange without making a mess, and then, I couldn’t collect the mushy zest at all. It was a total failure.

The toppings are very simple, consisting of two tablespoons sugar mixed with one-half teaspoon cinnamon, and two tablespoons milk. Like every recipe ever, you begin by mixing the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients, then blending them together. I chose to ignore this as I was still emotionally raw from last week, and I used the food processor to mix the butter, some flour, sugar, wheat germ and salt before mixing them all together in a bowl. After mixing it all together thoroughly, you will need to roll it out on a heavily floured cutting board. I used my mini pizza board. I decided to make this at night, and the light was wanting in my dining room where I traditionally do this.

After a light kneading, I roll it out to on or around one-half an inch, and using the same circle cookie cutter from last week, cut out the cookies and placed them on a greased pan. I use the dull side of aluminum foil and mist it with olive oil.. You bake them at four hundred degrees for approximately ten minutes. They should be golden brown. I never let mine get that dark, I was worried about them getting too hard. After they cooled on the rack, you can dive in. They are a mix between a biscuit and a snickerdoodle. They are very strange, but lightly sweet. They would have been great with the orange peel, and the introduction of just a touch of red food coloring. I’d like to think Lunuitari would be more pleased with an actual red cookie.