Sweet Thoughts of Africa

Artful Cookies Give Kids Something to Chew On

After vacationing in South Africa, dance teacher Heather McCartney was so inspired to share her experiences with friends and students that she came home and — in an inspired moment —turned on her oven. She baked and decorated batches of cookies shaped like African artifacts. Everyone liked them so much they begged for more.

Today, Ethnic Edibles, McCartney's Bronx-based business, not only sells the painstakingly decorated, colorful cookies with their African themes, but also a baking kit that includes four large tin cookie cutters, a pouch of chocolate cookie mix, an icing bag and assorted recipes and decorating ideas.

"When I first started out two years ago, people didn't want to eat my cookies because they were so pretty," recalls McCartney, who teaches at the Beacon School on the upper West Side. "They liked that they were so unusual. I liked the cultural aspect of the cookies and the fact that they were unique."

McCartney started out using cookie cutters that she found in a baking-supply store and bent into the shapes she wanted. But as the cookies became more popular, she began having the cutters manufactured. A goblet-shaped drum popular in West Africa is one of the four cutters in her set, along with a mask, an Ndebele (pronounced en-day-belly) doll inspired by the handsewn beaded dolls of South Africa, and a map of Africa.

"When I started researching, I couldn't find very much that spoke to the creation of Africa, so I made up my own story," McCartney explains. "Each kit includes the story of my version of the creation." In African culture, masks have a very important role, she says. "Masks are used in many ceremonies, and some of the designs are very intricate," she explains. Another cutter represents the djembe (pronounced jim-bay) drum, which is prevalent in West Africa and is used in dance ceremonies.

Decorating instructions in the kit allow home bakers to get into as much or as little detail as they want. The recipes let cooks bake plain, chocolate or spice cookies, depending upon the color they want the finished cookies to be.

"This is such a great family activity," McCartney says. "Plus, kids are learning something when they bake these cookies. That's the teacher in me, I guess. I want kids to learn something a little different."

Kits, and occasionally cookies, are available at The Harlem Collective, 2533 Frederick Douglas Blvd., (212) 368 0520; Exotiqa, 284 Columbus Ave., near 74th St., (212) 721-4394, and the Brooklyn Women's Exchange, 65 Pierrepont St. between Hicks and Henry Sts., (718) 624-3435. For a complete list of stores, call Ethnic Edibles at (718) 320-0147.

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