J.R. Johnson

Things change, including tastes. Once upon a time, lo in the darkness of the long ago past, I hated brie.

The flavor, the texture, everything about it struck me as wrong. I have a particularly strong memory of sitting on the wooden steps overlooking the grassy hill leading down to the stream, parental units laughing as I grimaced around a mouth full of bitter cheese. 

Reader, I am here to tell you that I got over it.

That’s not the only taste that has changed over the years. I used to avoid almonds in general (dry slices! annoyingly sharp slivers!) and almond flavoring specifically. Too strong, too cloying, too whatever. It was on my list of no thank yous. 

Then we started watching The Great British Baking Show and came across frangipane. It seemed quick, easy, versatile, but still, ugh, almond.

Eventually I decided to give it a try despite my almond aversion.

Reader, I am here to tell you that I got over it:)

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The world is going through a lot of changes right now, many with decidedly negative outcomes. (Looking at you, climate change!) But not all of those changes are bad.

My tastes have evolved and I’m happier for it. Staying openminded, staying flexible, those are good things. (Not for my cholesterol, obviously, but baby steps amirite?)

I recently tried out this recipe for Raspberry Puff Turnovers. And heck, while I was at it, why not add a layer of frangipane?

Nothing about my version should have worked. It was my first shot at making puff pastry. It came out of the freezer too cold and was a pain to work. Mr Man offered to help and it was only after he finished beating it into submission that I remembered one should probably treat pastry with more delicacy. It refused to roll out to size and I had to peel it off the silicone mat with a spatula. 

Surely, I thought, this is a disaster in the making. But I made the raspberry filling with a bit of lemon and Fiori di Sicilia and the frangipane is all made so let’s just give it a go.

Rolling, sizing, cutting, sealing, bake times, all very much an adventure. 

And yet somehow, it worked. 

The pastry was shatteringly crisp. The raspberry filling mellowed into sweet and tangy perfection. And the frangipane melted into a creamy layer of subtle flavor that complemented the lot.

So hooray, but that’s only partly why I decided to tell you this story.

It turns out that, if you have leftover frangipane and berry filling, you have all the makings of a quick and easy cookie. (The classic “quick” frangipane dessert is a French-toast adjacent toasted bread called Bostock, but I was out of both time and bread.) 

A scoop of frangipane with a dot of jam in the center, baked on parchment paper in the toaster oven at 350F (six minutes for me, maybe more if your cookies are bigger), and voila. I learned something new and got delicious, delicately almond-flavored cookies.

An unexpected bonus, and a reminder that change can be for the better, too.

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