{"id":682,"date":"2010-12-04T09:20:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-04T09:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2010\/12\/04\/wade-way-in"},"modified":"2016-01-07T18:29:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T23:29:01","slug":"wade-way-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2010\/12\/wade-way-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Wade way in"},"content":{"rendered":"

November was nice, but what happened to it? Hi.<\/p>\n

Our visit to the East Coast was good and long and involved a lot of sleeping and pizza research, the common themes of our days off since Delancey<\/a> came along. I wrote a story about stuffing for this fine newspaper<\/a> – you know that it\u2019s not just for Thanksgiving, right? You can eat stuffing whenever you want – and now I\u2019m working on a story for this fine magazine<\/a>. But lately, my head is very full of Possible Future Book. I want you to know that I thought long and hard before I typed that last sentence. Because now it means that I can\u2019t chicken out.<\/p>\n

The idea of writing another book has been percolating for a while, but to be honest, I wasn\u2019t ready. And to be even more honest, though I know approximately what the story is, I still don\u2019t know what precise path that story will take. I\u2019m the kind of person who has to write for a while, wade way in and splash around, before I can see where I\u2019m going. (I write everything that way, including this blog post.) But I\u2019m ready for that slog. I\u2019m excited for it. Winter was made for projects, I think. So I\u2019m going to write a book proposal and see what I\u2019ve got. Who knows. But I wanted you to know what I\u2019ve been up to, and what I\u2019ll be up to for some time to come. Knowing you\u2019re here makes me feel braver.<\/p>\n

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Knowing there\u2019s a tin of butter cookies with cacao nibs<\/a> on the kitchen counter makes me feel braver, too. You should try it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a little wary of posting this recipe, because it\u2019s a close cousin of this one<\/a>, and because it uses whole wheat, which we\u2019ve been talking about a lot here recently, and I don\u2019t want to beat you over the head with it. But the truth is, if you made those whole wheat chocolate chip cookies<\/a> – and I know a lot of you did, you excellent people – you\u2019ve probably got some whole wheat flour around, and maybe you might like another place to use it? Like the chocolate chip cookies before them, these butter cookies combine the flavor of whole wheat and chocolate, but in a more subtle, delicate, refined way. If the natural habitat of a chocolate chip cookie is a lunchbox, say, the natural habitat of these cookies is the saucer of a teacup. And they\u2019re even quicker to make, which is noteworthy, because chocolate chip cookies aren\u2019t exactly slow and laborious. They also make a handsome gift, if you can stay out of them.<\/p>\n

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This recipe comes from the brand-new book<\/a> by Alice Medrich, she of so many great sweets, and I\u2019ve already baked four batches of them. (Admittedly, two and a half of those were for an event to celebrate her book. Another half batch went into my mouth. And the last batch is for gifting, if they survive the weekend.) There\u2019s a lot of talk these days about using whole grain flours for flavor as opposed to using them for reasons of health, and while the latter is certainly admirable, I\u2019m on board for flavor. Let\u2019s be clear about that. These cookies would probably be very nice with white flour, but what makes them work, really work<\/i>, is the whole wheat flour. I fed them to my friend Olaiya, and she told me she would have never known that the flavor she was tasting was wheat. She thought it was some sort of warm, nutty mystery spice. Whole wheat flour is also a smart tweak, texture-wise: a sabl\u00e9 cookie should have a crumbly, pleasantly sandy feel – sable<\/i> is French for \u201csand\u201d – and the natural coarseness of whole wheat accentuates that. They crumble almost instantly, and then they start to melt, and the cacao nibs kick in with exactly the right amount of crunch. Would it be weird to say that these cookies feel nice between my teeth? I\u2019m all for weird. They feel nice between my teeth.<\/p>\n\n

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Recipe<\/div>\n

Whole Wheat Sabl\u00e9s with Cacao Nibs<\/h2>\n

From Alice Medrich\u2019s Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies<\/a><\/i><\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n
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