Raspberry almond cookies

And natto trials

So somehow, it is the middle of September and summer is gone. I understand the cliche, but where did summer go? I have a reservation next weekend to go apple picking! Which signals peak fall for me.

Possibly because of my aversion to sand and heat in preference of snow (to ski!) and cold (to bake) I have never thought much of summer, but the longer one works and lives in NYC, the longer one appreciates the slowdown that accompanies the heat.

This summer, spent a week in Europe (eating too many Belgian truffles and seeing Taylor in Amsterdam), fermenting everything in my kitchen, and some time in the Berkshires. Before anything, I am hardly the first person to say, but Pierre Marcolini for chocolate. Full stop. But also, Brussels is a city of chocolate. You cannot go wrong.

Like many other people, I am also waiting with bated breath for the Robert Caro exhibit at the New York Historical Society. At 3/4 of the way through the Power Broker and finally a mention of food, with a snippet from Robert Moses about some hours d’ouevres at Tavern-on-the-Green, with “cows eyes on mushrooms, squid in its own ink, pastry costume jewelry, mounted dog food, mayonnaise rococo and gaudy gook.” (p. 825).

I also, after too many styrofoam sqeaks too many - have started to try to make natto on my own. For those (like my mother) with a non-fluorescent oven light that does heat your oven to +100 degrees Fahrenheit, that is absolutely the way to go. Boil your soybeans until you can easily crush them against a spoon, add some natto or some starter, and let sit in your oven-lit oven for 24 hours. Chill. Eat. I also wrote about this previously in my detail on Serious Eats.

If you (like me) have an oven whose oven light does not in fact, raise the temperature of your oven, follow along as I experiment. I tried to use the “keep warm” function of my oven, but it shuts down after some time, leaving me with natto with appropriate white-funk, but not the stringiness (I’m eating it anyway - cut with blanched okra to impart its neba-neba). Onwards!

This is all a lot of blather to get to what might be the recipe that I want to preserve and to share, even if the structure of it is already saved by Justine Doiron.

Another post for another time, but New York is awash with bakeries. One of my (and the city’s) favorites is Librae, which I love but never get down to in time to pick thing sup before they inevitably sell out. Having said that - halvah croissant and focaccia - never fail here, and reading on Instagram that they have a raspberry and marzipan cookie, I needed to recreate it for myself (knowing that I would never get there before it sold out. Here is the recipe - adapted (heavily) from Justine’s blueberry cookie. I have also made a variety of this with 2 tablespoons of hojicha powder and 100g of white chocolate.

Raspberry marzipan white chocolate cookies

• 113 grams salted butter, 1/2 cup

• 110 grams granulated sugar, 1/2 cup

• 70 grams dark brown sugar, about 1/3 cup

• 1 large egg*

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• 150 grams all-purpose flour

• 120 grams raspberries (I used frozen)

• 60g (about 1/3 tube) almond paste

• 50g white chocolate, chopped (or chips)

1. Melt butter until browned and chill (either in fridge - if you are patient), or over an ice bath

2. Whip butter with salt, baking powder, vanilla, sugars. When smooth, add egg and whip until aerated.

3. Fold in cubed almond paste, chocolate chips, and raspberries.

4. Chill the dough while you preheat oven to 375.

5. Portion your dough into 12-16 cookies (depending on preference). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden on the edges.

I imagine the Librae cookies are delicious, but these are perfection. Especially if you, too, cannot make it to Librae before they sell out.

*I have since subbed this for 1 tablespoon of ground flax and ~30g water. I feel that they spread less, but this could also be from the addition of 20g rolled oats. A version of these cookies with 1 teaspoon each of fennel and orange is also delicious.

Summer notes:

Also this summer, many pies from the Petee’s Pie cookbook - this one is blueberry and blackberry.

Black forest and strawberry gelatos from SOMA, Toronto.

German breakfast is the best breakfast, this one from Hotel Schoenburg.

And Japanese antiquities that somehow I had never noticed at Mundy’s in Stockbridge, MA. I also found another restaurant in the Berkshires that is perfefct for pre-Tanglewood (not to be a buzzkill but not the strongest for restaurants) - it’s Frankie’s. I did a deep dive into the calamari.

Some gorgeous fig leaves from Lani’s at the Carroll Gardens greenmarket. What do you do with these?

Wedding registration forms from Yamato Koriyama. Next on the to do list - get stamps!