Last week it seemed that winter had just begun, but this evening a balmy wind blew in from I can’t imagine where, and made me think ahead to when actual winter will be over and gone. I offer this poem that makes reference to that point in the future, metaphorically:
A SHORT TESTAMENT
Whatever harm I may have done In all my life in all your wide creation If I cannot repair it I beg you to repair it,
And then there are all the wounded The poor the deaf the lonely and the old Whom I have roughly dismissed As if I were not one of them. Where I have wronged them by it And cannot make amends I ask you To comfort them to overflowing,
And where there are lives I may have withered around me, Or lives of strangers far or near That I’ve destroyed in blind complicity, And if I cannot find them Or have no way to serve them,
Remember them. I beg you to remember them
When winter is over And all your unimaginable promises Burst into song on death’s bare branches.
Many of us have completed the Twelve Days of Christmas, but I haven’t finished telling about all my activities connected to the Nativity Feast. My fellow Orthodox Christians who are on the traditional Julian calendar have just begun to count the days, however, so if we keep them in mind it won’t seem strange to muse a while longer on Christmas cookies. Plus, they are only Christmas cookies because I bake them at Christmas; you could enjoy them at any season of the year.
These are my favorite because of their chewy texture, the flavors of citrus and almond, and because my friends and family who are gluten-intolerant can fully enjoy them.
Last year I made two batches of this invention, but I wasn’t completely settled on the amounts of a couple of the ingredients. This time I made only one batch (so far), but after my latest tweaks I’m confident that if you try them, you are likely to be happy with the result. There are no grain flours in the recipe, so they are gluten-free.
Dried (sweetened) mandarin oranges
MANDARIN ALMOND COOKIES
7 oz. almond paste, in pieces 4 oz. cold butter, salted or not 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup powdered sugar scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
Combine the above ingredients in a food processor until evenly mixed. Add and process:
4 large egg whites, one at a time.
Remove from processor to a bowl and add:
2 3/4 cups finely ground almond flour 6 oz. package of dried mandarin oranges (found at Trader Joe’s), finely chopped
Put the dough in the refrigerator for an hour.
Put 1/2 cup granulated sugar in one bowl, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar in another bowl.
Drop heaping tablespoonsful of dough into the sugar; gently coat and shape into 1 1/2″ balls. Repeat in powdered sugar.
Set 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until golden or golden brown, at 325 degrees, 22-25 minutes. Remove to racks to cool. Cookies will be crumbly until thoroughly cool. They keep well in the refrigerator or freezer.
The amount of sugar here is a reduction from my original experiment, and I might try cutting back a little more next time, hoping that the chewiness of the cookie won’t be affected too much. The recipe that inspired me was an Italian Orange Fig Cookie that my son had made in 2022. I tried that last year with disappointing results, and created this one instead because I had the mandarin oranges on hand. I hope Trader Joe’s continues to carry that item!
Joshua Passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant – Benjamin West, 1800
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
-Reading from I Corinthians 10 for the Great Blessing of Water, Eve of Theophany
Gladsome Lights 