Happy Mole Day!

That’s right, dear readers, Oct. 23 is Mole Day. And no, it’s not an accident that it coincides with National Chemistry Week. Around the C&EN offices, we like to celebrate special days with food. Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief Pam Zurer used to bestow us with her yummy mole cookies (recipe after the jump). Perhaps you might like to whip up some variation of mole sauce. If you’re not of the do-it-yourself type, pick up some Avocado’s Number Guacamole from Trader Joe’s.

As for tchotchkes, you can buy all sorts of goodies from the National Mole Day Foundation or the ACS store (like the fuzzy nanomole above).

So how do you celebrate Mole Day?

You could always celebrate with a debate of the impact (however big or small) the kilogram’s redefinition has on the mole as we know it.

Pam’s Famous Mole Cookies

Dress up old-fashioned peanut butter cookies with Hershey’s kisses for snouts and dots of chocolate for eyes, and you have mole cookies to celebrate with on Oct. 23. To make three dozen cookies, you’ll need the dough recipe below, 3 dozen Hershey’s kisses, and a small tube of imitation chocolate glossy decorating gel.

Peanut butter cookies:

½ cup shortening
½ cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup white sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 ¼ cups white flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Thoroughly mix shortening, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and egg. Blend in dry ingredients. Cover bowl and chill for one hour. Meanwhile, unwrap the kisses. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using hands, shape dough into 1-inch diameter balls. Place three inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until set but not hard. While cookies are still warm, press the flat end of a kiss into each one, slightly off-center so the pointed ends of the kisses stick out to the side, forming the moles’ snouts. Once the cookies are cool, add eyes by squeezing two dabs of chocolate gel onto each cookie, one on either side of the kiss.

karthik