by Cleo Coyle
½ cup powdered sugar
1/8 cup honey (mild, such as clover)
2 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour
Powdered sugar (for dusting)
Parchment paper
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. First prepare your almonds. Blanche whole, raw almonds by dropping into boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain the almonds and rinse under cold water. Spread on a paper towel. When dry, squeeze each almond between your fingers so that the clean almond pops out of its dark skin. Repeat until all the almonds are skinned, then dry the almonds with a paper towel. Spread these blanched almonds in a single layer in a baking pan. Bake about 20 to 30 minutes—stir a few times throughout the baking process. Let cool. Place these almonds into a food processor. Grind them into a powder. Add the granulated and powdered sugars, then add the honey, egg whites, and vanilla; process these ingredients until they are well mixed. Add flour. If you do not have a food processer, use a blender to grind the nuts, then transfer to a bowl and use a hand mixer to mix in the other ingredients. A soft dough will form. If too soft, add a bit more flour—but do not create a stiff dough. Dough should be soft without being runny. Sprinkle a large cutting board generously with powdered sugar. Drop rounded teaspoons of dough into powdered sugar. Roll each piece of dough into a small ball. Drop ball onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten into a circle with back of spoon and, if you like, shape into the traditional diamond shape. Dust unbaked cookies with powdered sugar (use a sieve or sifter for even dusting). Bake until cookies are set but not brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Dust again with powdered sugar as soon as they come out of the oven. When completely cool, store in an airtight container.
The Village Blend’s
Guide to Roasting Terms
LIGHT
Cinnamon
Half city
MEDIUM
Full city
American
Regular
Breakfast
DARK
Continental
New Orleans
Vienna
DARKEST
French
Italian
Espresso
Don’t Miss the Next
Coffeehouse Mystery
MURDER MOST FROTHY
For many Greenwich Village residents, summer in the city means weekends in the Hamptons. With a coffeehouse to run, Clare Cosi has never spent much time at the fabled collection of exclusive seaside towns. Then her new friend David Mintzer makes an offer Clare can’t refuse—train the barista staff at his new Hamptons restaurant and enjoy sun, sand, and surf at his fabulous mansion. Clare accepts, packs up her daughter, Joy, her well-connected former mother-in-law, Madame, and the Village Blend’s recipes for frothy iced coffee drinks, and heads for ocean breezes. After she arrives, however, more than the coffee gets iced. At the end of David’s fabulous July Fourth bash, a body is found, shot through the head, and Clare immediately begins to scrutinize possible suspects. What she uncovers are so many long brewing resentments among the volatile blend of new money wannabes, old guard blue bloods, summering Hollywood celebrities, and aggressive, stressed-out Manhattan weekenders that she quickly realizes the real question isn’t why the first victim was shot, but when the next one will be.
