OmniVeggie

It is easy to feel poor in New York. Impoverished, inferior, inadequate, and unhealthy are all words that come to mind to describe what I frequently feel in this city.

Circumstances that are completely unrelated to this blog took me to Bloomingdale's in a last minute attempt at finding a dress that I should have purchased months ago for a wedding I had known about for quite some time. As Matthias and I stood paralyzed on the escalators, unable to ascend past the fifth floor, for fear of being accosted and interrogated based entirely upon our ragamuffin appearances, he turned to me and said, 'Do you know what else has 9 levels? Hell.'

Ordinarily, I would be hard pressed to find an inkling of truth in Dante, but I found myself wishing that people that purchased merchandise from the 9th (and presumably, the most expensive) floor should be frozen in ice for all of perpetuity like the other great giants and evil doers of the Divine Comedy, although I am inclined to assume that surely their hearts must be already.

As we stepped off of the escalator to make one final and desperate sweep through the fourth floor, I said to Matthias, 'The only thing that could make me feel better right now is a chocolate hazelnut cookie.' And truly, they are so rich that you will forget all about how senseless it seems to spend so much money on a dress that may be worn only twice (I do love it, so it will probably get more wear than that, but to be completely frivolous, it had two intended uses, both for weddings).

The good people at Gourmet gave me the most precious gift in their April issue: pages upon pages filled with recipes, photographs, and anecdotes on Italy. I will wax on and on about my deep and abiding love for the time I spent there and how I yearn to return in a different post, because this is about feeling rich when you're not, about escaping into flavors, and about knowing that no matter how poor and destitute and alone you may feel, it is the best feeling in the world to know that even if you don't have someone wonderful to stand at your side and make literary references, you will always have these perfectly simple, but simultaneously overwhelming cookies.



Chocolate Hazelnut Spiced Cookies
adapted from Gourmet, April 2008

Ingredients
1.5 cups hazelnuts, toasted whole
.75 cups sugar (organic and fairly traded, please)
.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
.5 cups unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process, and same request as sugar)
1 tsp. baking soda
.75 tsp. salt
.5 tsp. cinnamon
.125 tsp. ground cloves
3 tbsp. cold, organic unsalted butter
1 tbsp. orange zest
3 tbsp. orange juice
.5 tbsp. pure vanilla extract*
.5 tbsp. Kahlua*

For Icing (yes, there is icing! But I am not convinced that it is entirely necessary. These cookies are jaw-droppingly rich without it. But if you're feeling particularly indulgent or impecunious, please ice them. You won't regret it)
.5 cups confectioner's sugar
.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tbsp. water
.5 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
.5 tbsp. Kahlua

Procedure
Toast hazelnuts at 325 for about 10-15 minutes and maintain 325 degrees for the cookies
Lightly butter a baking sheet
When they have cooled, rub the skins off of the hazelnuts with a kitchen towel
Pulse nuts in the food processor until they have reached a medium-fine consistency
Combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves
Add hazelnuts to mixture and combine with wooden spoon
Add the cold, cubed butter and the orange zest and mash with a fork or pastry cutter until the butter is broken into pea-sized lumps
Add the orange juice and liqueur(s) and mix with the wooden spoon until just combined
Form into teaspoon sized balls (you really will be satisfied with a cookie this size. I would strongly caution against making them larger).
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are cracked and slightly crisp to the touch. They will firm up on the cooling rack.

While cookies cool, wisk together ingredients for the icing and dip the tops of the cookies into it (or spoon it on with a teaspoon, if you want to make less of a mess)
Allow iced cookies to rest 1 hour**
Keep, layered between parchment or wax paper in an airtight container for about 4 days and are best enjoyed with milk.



*The original recipe calls for 1 tbsp. of Frangelico liqueur, but we are not really cocktail enthusiasts and I really could not justify buying a special bottle for cookies, so I used what we had and it worked quite well.
**These cookies really do get better with time. We liked them better the second and third days better than that first night. We wish the same for the marriages that spawned my dress buying panic.