Worried about vampires? No need to, after you have a few of these delectable cookies.  I know!  Garlic!  In cookies!

Absolutely. The garlic is rendered subtle and sweet by a quick boil and a soak in maple syrup. The combination with dark chocolate, a sprinkle of sea salt and a nice buttery cookie is irresistible.

You’ll be picking delectable little bits of sweet garlic out of your teeth for the rest of the night! Except maybe don’t indulge on date night.  Just saying.

Ingredients:

10 cloves of fresh garlic, unpeeled – or more, to taste!

Boiling water

½ cup maple syrup

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup brown sugar – I use dark brown, generally

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 ¼ cups chocolate chips – I like Ghirardelli’s bittersweet

½ cup chopped nuts (totally optional)

Maldon sea salt

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Get a saucepan of water boiling on the stove. Drop your unpeeled garlic cloves into the boiling water for about 5 minutes or until tender.  Remove them from the water – a slotted spoon is your friend, today – and let them cool a little bit, then peel and chop them.

The peel will come off like a dream.   I usually do more of a mince than a big chop on the garlic so there are lots of tiny bits throughout the cookies.  Put the maple syrup into a small bowl and add the garlic.  Soak the garlic in the syrup for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.  In another bowl, combine your dry ingredients: the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture.  Stir in the chocolate chips and any nuts if you are using them.

Drain the garlic from the maple syrup.  A slotted spoon or a nice sieve will work fine.  Add the garlic to the cookie batter and stir it in well.  You can discard the maple syrup at this point: it has done its job.

Drop the cookie batter by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt over each cookie.

Bake at 375F for about 10 minutes until they are lightly browned. Keep an eye on them – in our oven, they take about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on racks.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

I’ve had this recipe forever, so I’m not sure where it came from. It might have been adapted from a Garlic Lover’s Cookbook long ago.  Truly, give this recipe a try: these cookies are unusual and delicious.  I have some borderline alliumphobes in my family and even they love them!