It seems as if I hadn’t seen the sun in days before yesterday afternoon. My work schedule has me getting up reasonably early, taking the train into the city and then spending my day in an area of the office without any windows. By the time I leave the sun has gone away and I’m left to a cool evening trek back home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but with the grey, wintry short days the notion of spending time out in the warm sunshine is the furthest thing from my mind…until I was on the train platform waiting for the 11:04.
The sky was clear and blue, the breeze, which has been plaguing us decided to take a hike and the sun was beaming down brightly. It occurred to me in that moment I had been missing it. It’s a funny thing to take something for granted then all at once become aware of its absence.
I went into work for a couple of hours to take care of a few things, but then was left with the day to do what I wanted. Rarely am I in the city on a Saturday afternoon with nothing planned. It seems my life is often planned out to an extreme degree and it’s such a delightful thing to discover an expanse of free time. As I started to walk toward the subway I again had the feeling of taking something for granted, but this time it was New York.
When you live so close to such a place as New York City, are in fact in it everyday trying to get “business as usual” accomplished it starts to become part of the routine of life as well as part of the background noise…”I wish these people would get out of my way, stop being so loud, would pay attention to what they are doing” can become a constant through line in your head as you try to make it from A to B on a day to day basis.
It was now around 2:30pm and the sun was displaying its full glory. Granted the temperature outside was certainly cold, but not unbearable, and I decided to go for a walk around. Strolling through the city aimlessly can be exhilarating. Not rushing to get anywhere opens up a world of possibilities. The architecture that you usually blow by on a weekday morning suddenly can look amazing in broad daylight. Restaurants are all lit up with people having late lunch or early brunch, boutiques and bodegas are full of families shopping at a more relaxed pace, and with the sun shining brightly the disposition of everyone seems pretty fair instead of the usual stressed out frown.
I decided to walk up from Greenwich Village into Chelsea and over near where I used to work when I first moved to Manhattan. My first job was right near Union Square and the year round farmer’s market was still in full swing. The items there are considerably limited compared to other times of the year, but there were still plenty of stalls full of baked goods, apples, potatoes, honey and preserves…all the things that are still “in season” here in the northeast. After a quick breeze around the market I wandered up to 18th St and over to City Bakery. I haven’t been there in years it seems, not since I took my parents there a couple of years ago. The reason I went was for their hot chocolate. I can honestly say with a straight face that a more rich and beautiful creation couldn’t exist anywhere else on the face of the Earth. This beverage (if one can call it that) is pure luxury, creamy, dark and flavorful, a taste sensation that borders on erotic and even that doesn’t do it justice…you can imagine why I would stop by for cup. It was just as good as I remembered and melted away the chill from my lengthy walk-about.
I decided when I got home that I would like a little more sunshine in my life and began to search for a dessert to fit such a warming and pleasant day. Although I did something citrus-y last week it still seemed the appropriate way to go, so I went on the hunt for something “orange”. Orange is not a flavor I’m normally drawn to, though I do like it with chocolate from time to time, but maybe there was some psychic connection happening between me and all the light I was exposed to during the day. It just sounded good.
I pulled out a not often used tome called The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics. I was looking for something reasonably quick because it had been such a busy week and I wanted just a taste of something yummy. In the cookie section I found a delicious little ditty called “Chewy Orange Almond Cookies”. Reading through the recipe I was shocked on two accounts. A) The recipe called for crushed anise seed…a.k.a. licorice flavor. B) There is no butter!!!!!!!! How could I possibly make a reasonable and respectable dessert without any butter??? It didn’t seem possible, but I decided to put my suspicions aside and give it a whirl…plus I had all the ingredients in the house and that was a plus. The recipe is as follows:
4 1/2 ounces sliced almonds (about 1 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4-cup all-purpose flour
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges (about 1/4 cup)
1-teaspoon anise seed, crushed.
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4-teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
This is very simple. Just put a cup of the almonds in the food processor along with 1/2 cup granulated sugar and anise seeds (I used fennel seed). Grind it up fine and put it in a medium sized bowl. Add the orange zest and flour.
In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the egg whites, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and salt. Using the whisk attachment, mix on medium high for several minutes until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the almond/flour mixture.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
On 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper scoop out level tablespoons of batter onto the sheets…you can get a dozen per sheet…and this recipe only makes 2 dozen, so it’s fast. Now you take the reserved almonds and artfully place 3 onto each cookie and sift the confectioner’s sugar all over the tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just golden. That’s it!
When they were all done, the cookies made me think of sand dollars. They are very pretty and the confectioner’s sugar really stuck to the almonds during the baking process. It’s a clean and attractive cookie, and one that is FULL of flavor. I couldn’t really believe it, but they pack quite a punch. The anise flavor is very subtle and in the background, a nice spicy back note, but the star of the show is the orange zest; very strong and full of citrus flavor. You know what I don’t miss? The butter. The egg whites made these cookies light and airy without any thought of my missing golden pats of fatty goodness. The outsides are crisp and the insides are unbelievably moist, something I think you should try if you are feeling adventurous and don’t have a lot of time on your hands. These cookies seem deeply Italian somehow, and I can imagine the ingredients lending themselves to a great biscotti recipe.I think the cookies were a great approximation of the day: bright, airy, crisp and so sinfully delicious. As for taking things for granted, I will think of oranges differently from now on, not to mention licorice. Who knew the two could come together to pull off such an interesting combination of flavors? The combination is a little like New York City and the people walking through the concrete jungle; sometimes dreary and bleak, but often friendly, beautiful and unexpected…like the sun coming out from behind the clouds.
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