fivefeettall: And that's a what?

As a vegetarian and a self-aware produce snob (thanks mom + dad), I feel pretty comfortable in the produce aisle. So last week, when I saw this:

I was kind of like, "WTF?". But knew I had to have one.

It's called a Buddha's Hand. And I took it home and turned to Google. The most common recommendations involved infusing vodka or concocting cocktails. But I wanted to eat this citrus fruit, not drink it.

Slicing into, it has the texture of uncooked eggplant. Mine may have not been entirely ripe, because it didn't taste nearly as fragrant and sweet as it smelled. The smell had been glorious all week, it seemed to infuse the kitchen air, simply by being there. But it's a citrus fruit with an insane amount of rind, which doesn't make eating it easy, or all that desirable*.

So in lieu of simply eating this spongy fruit raw, I baked it into citron shortbread cookies. I didn't follow Erika's recipe exactly— instead I zested the fruit with a microplane and chopped fuller pieces of it with a food processor. I also cut my cookies with a circle cookie cutter and topped them with vanilla bean sugar (I had no raw sugar).

The results were mighty mighty tasty. The flavor the fruit provided the cookies is subtle yet full, and i can see why this would be an excellent candidate for infusing liquor and drinks. But in terms of adding it to the fruit platter, I think I'll stick with bananas and grapes.