Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Florentine Lace Valentine Cookies and Shadows

So… the buzz this week…did the groundhog see his shadow??? Yes…he did. Six more weeks of winter…ummmm….okay. I will try and endure it with all of my hearty genes!!!


I always find the whole Groundhog Day confusing. How is it that a sunny, bright day means more winter and a cloudy, dreary day means spring…it has always seemed odd to me.  But then again…I hadn’t really thought too deeply about it EVER!! This week, I thought about the whole shadow thing. Sometimes seeing my own shadow makes me want to run back and hide too!!!


Maybe the whole winter/spring prediction wasn’t what I was to notice this year! Maybe it was the part about running from the shadow. The story goes that the groundhog after seeing his shadow, runs back into his burrow to hibernate for another 6 weeks. As I thought about it, in order for a shadow to be cast…light must be present. Sometimes light shining on us is just too much. Sometimes what is cast for others to see is too much and we need time to adjust. I felt great love for that little rodent and the new insight I gained from my shadow watching.



In my everyday life, I have always been drawn to the positive space to view: the surfaces, colors, textures, movements, the solid forms of life, but this week…I forced myself to the shadows. The forms created by the shadows. I thought about it as an artist views objects…the dark is what makes the object have form!



Through the front window, a lacy pattern was cast on the carpet…  shadows from our landscape.



It was the beginning inspiration for the recipe this week. I KNOW…BUT… it involves chocolate…so hang with me on this idea!!!! I had been thinking about Valentine’s Day… hearts…LOVE…and all those wonderful images this week. Pair that with my shadow exploration and the two seemed destined for a recipe!!!! The shadow-side of love…think movie plot, opera, or nightly news cast!!! A lacy Florentine heart-shaped cookie with a dark chocolate backside was the cookie for the week. A great treat for my valentine sweet table…or simply a treat to share…a little chocolate indulgence. Yes…we do eat sweets occasionally!!! This little cookie is DELICIOUS!!

Florentine Lace Valentine Cookie Recipe:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Into a small sauce pan over medium high heat place:
½ cup Earth Balance vegan spread
½ cup soy coffee creamer
2/3 cup natural sugar



Stir as the ingredients are heating to dissolve the sugar and incorporate the Earth Balance into the creamer. Bring this to a rolling boil.



Remove saucepan from heat after coming to a boil.

(Grind walnuts in the bowl of food processor)


(You want walnuts to be a fine powder, but not ground to the point of a paste.)

Measure and place into a bowl:
2 cups finely ground walnuts
Into the emptied food processor bowl…no need to clean…measure:
1 cup of dried cranberries
½ cup tapioca flour
(Bob’s Red Mill brand is what I had on hand…flour made from the starchy cassava plant roots…has the texture of corn starch.)



Process the two together until the cranberries are finely chopped. The tapioca flour helps the dried cranberries to grind without becoming gummy.



Place ground cranberries and tapioca flour into bowl with walnuts and add the warm liquid from the saucepan.
Add:
½ tsp. orange extract
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt



Stir until all ingredients are well combined.



Line baking sheets with parchment paper, scoop or measure 1 T. worth of batter per cookie onto the baking sheets.



Place the cookies FAR apart…only 6 cookies at a time per sheet. The batter will spread and it makes it easier to shape after baking if there are only 6 to cut while the next pan is baking.



Once the mounds of batter are on the parchment, place a spoon in a glass of water. 



The wet spoon makes smoothing the mounds into disks easier. Simply flatten the mounds into smooth disks.



The cookies are now ready to be baked in a pre-heated 350 degree oven.



Bake the cookies for 11 minutes. The lacy cookies will be golden around the edges.



Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet (DO NOT REMOVE) for 4 to 5 minutes. They will harden and become firm enough to pick up, yet still be somewhat pliable.

(While the cookies cool ready the next pan of cookies to bake and keep the rotation of baking and shaping going until all the batter has  been baked.)

To form the cookies into a heart shape…I use kitchen scissors. It makes the shaping quick and easy!! Cut into the circle at the top and take out a wedge shaped pie piece…the top of the heart!!



Now shape the bottom point from the sides…not much will need to come off…just a shearing of the edge to a centered point on both sides of the bottom edge of circle.



A finished heart now cools on rack until completely cool and hardened.



Continue until all hearts have been shaped.

Save all of the crumbs from shaping…these are great snacks, on top of oatmeal for breakfast, on coconut or soy yogurt…etc….yummy!!!



Now for the “shadow” side of the heart!!!

Melt in microwave:
1 ¾ cup dark chocolate (non-dairy) chips

Time the melting process in 30 to 35 second intervals…checking and stirring. The chip will still be visibly whole, but upon stirring in the hot bowl, the chips will  readily melt. This way you won’t burn your chocolate.



Stir and it becomes melted and smooth…shiny….yummy!!!



Turn each lacy heart over, so that the smooth side is up and spread this side with a thin layer of melted chocolate. Spread each cookie until all the hearts have been covered. 





Place the hearts back on the rack…chocolate side up until the chocolate hardens.



Once the chocolate hardens…try not to eat them all, but pack into airtight containers.


Right side up…the dark shadow of chocolate peeks through the lacy heart!




The chocolate adds weight to the cookie and strength. It seems more like a “real” cookie rather than just a fragile, sugary, confection filled with holes. It is yummy without the chocolate, but the chocolate adds substance.

In my shadow watching this week…I thought about how those we love have glimpses of our shadow side. We may not be Jekyll and Hyde, but we each have those parts in us that are shadows of our being that we run from, or avoid, rather than face. Sometimes the glare of the light seems too much, but given time, we return to embrace the light and see those parts of ourselves with the promise of spring…just like Mr. Groundhog. The shadows of our lives give us weight, they bind us to the earth just like those leaves way up in the tree found their way down to the carpet of my living room.



But the beauty is that the shadows in our lives make us whole…real. As I watched the shadows this week, the closer the object was to the light….the larger the shadow… the farther away the object from the light…the smaller the shadow. Shadows get a bad rap, but shadows make life interesting…they make the light visibly more spectacular. The light/shadow contrasts show the qualities of dark and light and all the textural nuances of creation. Without shadow…life would have no depth. What is THERE to be seen…regardless of the light's position…is THERE all the time. It is only experienced and seen in our eyes as the light travels around and above and beside. A revelation of the width, breadth, and height of life.



That is how I see life. The closer I stay to the LIGHT, the more of my own shadow is visible to me and to others…the real me…the earthbound me. My shadows add depth, strength, substance, and dimension to my life. Not to be feared, not to hide, not to send me back into a hole to sleep and avoid. No…the sweet treat of all this shadow study this week is…that as the dark shadows of life are allowed to peek through the holes of our hearts…real and genuine love is shared…imperfect…sometimes misshapen…just like my Florentine cookies, but good and sweet all the same. Don’t be afraid of your shadows…don’t run and hide…embrace the light and celebrate the promise found in the light illuminating the shadows of life. Mr Groundhog…SPRING is welcoming us in it’s light! Love is in the air…..the periwinkle is blooming…the flower of new friendship…fidelity…and spiritual harmony!



Love is in the air….


Will cleans the shadowy depths of his beloved Hope’s ears!!!



Now that is TRUE LOVE!!!

The shadows of clouds only make the light more spectacular…



Thoughtful Living Moment today: 
Allow the shadows of your life to peek through your heart 
and real and genuine love will be your sweet reward!                                                                       




















2 comments:

Gina said...

Hi! My mom is Becky Carli, and she told me to read your blog, so I do. Anyway, your valentine cookie post inspired me to come up with an easy valentine vegan sweet - here is the link to my blog, with a cookie recipe inspired by me reading your post! (They're nothing like the cookies you posted about though. Just valentiney!) http://ginasveganblog.blogspot.com/

Leslie said...

Thanks, Gina...soo great that you are creating vegan cookies too!!! Yeah!!! Have a great Valentine's Day with yummy cookies!!...Leslie ;D