Foraged Pine & Birch Shortbread Cookies

There are few plants I wait to harvest until winter. White pine is one of those plants. I have a kindred relationship with this tree of peace. When you think of a pine tree, you may think of a rigid prickly tree. But white pine is not that at all, she is soft and billowy, a complete contradiction. Before you harvest your pine, take time to see which one calls to you. More than likely, you have many species of pine growing in your area. There may be one in particular that you will benefit from most.

Birch is another unique winter medicine. It is a symbol throughout many cultures as a protector of the woods and its people. Its slender white silhouette floats hauntingly in an otherwise dark forest. The bark I used for these cookies actually came from a tree that fell over naturally in the fall. We cut it up into segments that were a few feet long and stored them in our warm dry crawl space. Once winter came I then brought the segments up one by one to harvest the bark.

If you’re new to foraging, I go over a couple defining characteristics to look for before you harvest below, though I highly recommend finding a local guide book or plant person to assist you in the beginning.

Harvesting Pine

  • Identify a pine from other evergreens by looking at its needle formation. Pine needles come in “packets” of 2 to 8 needles whereas other evergreens have the needles growing directly on the branch

  • Pine needles are a traditional winter food full of vitamin C and other nutrients, meaning not only do they make these cookies a bit more nutritious, but they’re also delightfully nourishing in tea as well

  • First look for recently fallen branches to harvest before harvesting from a live tree

  • You only need a couple of pine boughs to produce enough material for these cookies

  • Cut the needles in half before adding to a coffee grinder to macerate them more easily

  • You can use any species of pine for these cookies, though be sure it is a TRUE pine. Some lookalikes such as yew are poisonous.

Harvesting Birch

  • Birch trees can be similar in appearance to aspen, the giveaway though is that all birches have bark that peels off in sheets

  • Any type of birch can be used for these cookies and medicine, though they’re flavor will vary from species to species. This recipe uses paper birch or Betula papyrifera

  • As with any tree, never harvest bark from the trunk of a live tree. Only harvest from the branches or from a tree that has recently fallen

  • Birch bark can be a bit trickier than most trees to harvest. You’ll have to peel back the papery outer bark first to reveal the thicker inner bark below. The inner bark doesn’t come off in sheets like most trees. The easiest way I’ve found is rather to use a sharp knife at an angle to shave it off instead. Big chunks will come off sometimes, but the shaving method is the most effective

  • You’ll notice birch has a mild wintergreen scent and flavor to it which is much like the sap it produces in the spring. Both its bark and sap are wonderful cleansing tonics, perfect to keep the body in check in the long winter months

Pine Shortbread Cookies (Paleo)

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups almond flour

  • 1/4 cup arrowroot powder

  • 1/4 tsp sea salt

  • 1/4 cup freshly ground pine needles

  • 1 TB orange zest

  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

  • 1 tsp Huntress Bitters *optional*

  • 1/3 cup ghee (or organic grass fed butter)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F

  2. Mix flour, arrowroot powder, and sea salt in a standing mixer

  3. Grind pine needles in a coffee grinder or food processor

  4. Add in ground pine needles, orange zest, maple syrup, and Huntress Bitters to mixer and combine

  5. Add ghee or butter in intervals until you have a gooey ball (you may have to knead by hand if it isn't forming on its own)

  6. Put the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to flatten to a 1/2 inch thickness

  7. Use cookie cutters to cut out your shapes and bake for 14-16 minutes

Birch Shortbread Cookies (Paleo)

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups almond flour

  • 1/4 cup arrowroot powder

  • 1/4 tsp sea salt

  • 3/4 cup dry ground inner birch bark

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1 tsp Huntress Bitters *optional*

  • 1/4 cup maple syrup or birch syrup

  • 1/3 cup ghee or organic grass fed butter

Directions:

  1. Follow the same directions as the pine shortbread cookies above, except replace the pine needles and orange zest with the birch bark and vanilla extract

Valerie Alcorn