I went to a community gathering a bit ago, a evening of storytelling, poetry, and song. A cello player was there with his cello. With no apparent effort, he seamlessly joined with all the various musicians and singers. I believe musicians are magical.

This made me think of recipes and beautifully created culinary creations. Those, too, seem magical. Someone thought up the idea and made it happen, right? I don’t have any musical talent. But I do have talent in the kitchen. I know that this magic comes from many trials and tribulations with each recipe. You all get to see the magical result. But behind the scenes, there are often many iterations of each recipe before the magic is shared with the world.

Today’s cookie was the first iteration of what I hope will make the cut for our recipe book. I’ve been contemplating ideas using spruce tips. My imagined biscotti was supposed to be freckled with young spruce needles and flavored with the lemony spruce tip syrup evocative of the forest it comes from. The first try was tasty, but still needs a little work. At least it’s not all the way back to the drawing board.

Does this remind you of a recipe you’ve created or improved over time?

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