“We need amaretto with these,” my cookie tester opined.

I agreed. So much so that I’d have had it as a shot in my honey-vanilla chamomile as I wrote this. I’m not, though. Because there’s no amaretto in the house. With the holiday season fast approaching, that’s about to be remedied, but even so, I now have two notes to write to myself this morning.

Always have amaretto, Amy Drew.

And, since the years have clearly done a number on your priorities, always have pignoli cookies.

Keep your frostings, fillings and whipped toppings. For me, the pignoli cookie is pretty darn close to perfect. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

I just finished baking a batch, and these sweet, chewy-delicious pine nut cookies — with that beautiful lacquer of toasty pine nuts on top — are the stuff of nonna’s kitchen, which may be tied to the holidays (they’re so festive!) or just baking with her on a Sunday while the sauce is going. Maybe it’s your uncle they remind you of. Or mom. Doesn’t matter. The point is pignoli cookies are evocative of family.

And can you think of a better way to celebrate National Nut Day (Oct. 22) than with a salute to your family?!

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I kid, I kid, but when I heard this food holiday was upon us, my first thought was pignoli cookies. It had been forever since I’d had them, so I made a batch. And while doing so, I wondered whether other people had similarly strong feelings.

“OMG! That is literally my favorite cookie!” Denny Tornatore wrote after I sent him a pic. “I don’t care how much they cost when I am in N.Y.C. I pay the price. Pignoli cookies are the best!”

He agreed to discuss them with me for the price of two cookies. Which, if I were selling them, would be a lot.

Pignoli are expensive little buggers. Tasty, too. And calorically dense. But it’s a good fat. No, seriously, it really is. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Pine nuts are expensive. There are a multitude of reasons why. The types of trees that produce them (a limited number of pine species actually produce edible nuts) don’t do so until they are quite mature. The harvesting process is laborious. Most pine nuts are imported, and because they can spoil, extra prep and care go into their transport. They’re also in very high demand.

“I think the cookies were $24 a pound last time I went to Ferrara in New York,” Tornatore tells me. (They’re currently clocking in at $42.95 a pound via Goldbelly.)

As the chef/owner of Tornatore’s Restaurant in Orlando’s College Park neighborhood, he’s also a regular consumer. Pine nuts are the prime ingredient in pesto, after all, which he has on the menu. “They’ve gone up consistently since COVID,” he says. “Lots of things have started to come back down since then, but not pine nuts.”

It was around the holidays that Tornatore remembers the cookies showing up.

Diamond brand pine nuts are less expensive than these, but sometimes you have to go with what’s in stock. Case in point, there was only one tube of the Odense almond paste on the shelf, so I had to get a Solo-brand box, as well. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

“My nonna would make them and put a little powdered sugar on them, and we’d just eat them warm, oh my god…” he trails off, lost in food memory. I get it. As I type, mine are just about cool. I’ve already had three.

“Pignoli cookies!” Patrick Tramontana replies when I send him the same pic. Again, there’s a similar time warp.

“They make me think of my childhood on Long Island. Going to pick up my mom after school with my dad when she worked at the bakery. She was the cookie lady.”

Erga Italian Bakery was a neighborhood staple in Bethpage, New York, for decades. (It’s since become another bakery, Moscato‘s.) Little did the cookie lady know that one day, her son would be heading up the kitchen at Antonio’s of Maitland before taking the helm at The Mayflower at Winter Park.

Local chef finds work-life balance among the retired

Every time he went, Salvo, the baker, would come out and let him pick whatever he wanted.

“I’d always pick the strawberry eclair because it was the biggest thing they had!” he says, laughing. “My mom would come home with loaves of semolina bread all the time. And every once in a while, and always during Christmas time, she’d come home with pignoli cookies. They’re so delicious! They have this wonderful chewy thing, but they’re also crisp at the same time.”

Yep. It’s a texture thing, courtesy of its prime ingredient — almond paste — that’s at least equal to the rich almond flavor it imparts. There’s a balance of crisp and gooey in these flourless cookies that’s matchless.

“Pignoli cookies!” was the universal reply when I sent this pic out. My neighbor said the same when I brought over a plate. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

“I’m a big almond fan. I go crazy for almond desserts,” says Kevin Fonzo, whose La Tavola dinners at the Emeril Lagasse Foundation’s Kitchen House in College Park sell out as fast as he posts them. “But for me, this is a history thing. It’s the feeling of warmth and comfort and love.”

Growing up in upstate New York, Fonzo would regularly visit his grandparents in the Bronx. And though his great aunts made pignoli cookies all the time, they still remind him mostly of the bakery behind their apartment building.

Pulse almond paste for a bit in the food processor before adding the rest of the ingredients. This recipe, by the way, is entirely gluten-free. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

“When we’d spend the weekend with my grandparents, it was a daily stop for us. We’d walk around the corner to this bakery, and there were all these amazing cookies that weren’t chocolate chip or Oreo or things you’d see at the supermarket.”

To date, Fonzo still orders many of his cookies from his favorite places in New York, like Ferrara in Little Italy.

“Every year, I order like for my sister, who is crazy about the pine nut cookies, too, and for the holidays, I’ll get an assorted cookie tray. And I always get pissed off because there’s never enough pignoli cookies.”

That’s why you have to make your own.

Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com, For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.

Pignoli cookies pair nicely with tea, coffee or espresso (with or without Amaretto).

Pignoli Cookies

Recipe by Angela Allison courtesy of This Italian Kitchen (thisitaliankitchen.com/pignoli-cookies)

Some notes: This recipe made 24 cookies. I baked them at 350 degrees instead of 325, and they browned beautifully. Try out a couple of testers and see if the higher setting suits your oven as it did mine. And if you want to stretch your pine nuts farther, which you might when three ounces go for about $13 at Publix, press them into one side of the dough ball instead of rolling the whole thing.

Ingredients

6 ounces pine nuts
14 ounces almond paste (two 7-ounce tubes)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.* Line two baking sheets with parchment; set aside. Place pine nuts in a small bowl; set aside.
Open tubes of almond paste and break into one-inch chunks using your fingers. Place paste into food processor and pulse until the it has broken apart.
Add granulated sugar, powdered sugar and salt to the food processor. Pulse until well combined and mixture forms a crumb. Add in the egg whites and process until a dough forms. (Dough will be slightly sticky).
Use a cookie scoop to measure out equal amounts of dough. Form dough into balls using your hands (wet hands slightly if dough begins to stick). Place the dough ball in the bowl of pine nuts and gently press in the nuts so they stick to the ball.
Place cookies on lined baking sheet, leaving about an inch and half between each (you should be able to fit a dozen cookies on each baking sheet.) Bake on center rack in oven for 15-18 minutes, or until the cookies start to spread and lightly brown.
Remove the cookies from oven and cool on the baking sheet completely before moving. If you move the cookie while warm, you risk it falling apart. Dust cookie with powdered sugar before serving (optional).

A man has died following a stabbing this morning in a residential area of Mattapan.

Boston Police responded to 18 Rugby Road in Mattapan shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday and found a man suffering from a stab wound outside the home at that address, according to BPD Deputy Superintendent Paul McLaughlin, who spoke from the scene in the afternoon.

Boston EMS treated the victim at the scene before transporting him to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, McLaughlin said.

A Honda CR-V crossover SUV was towed from the scene, but McLaughlin did not provide details on how the car may relate to the incident.

While the investigation is in its early stages, McLaughlin said that the suspect — who has not been found — and the victim were known to each other, which he said reduces possible concerns for the safety of other residents of the neighborhood.

This is a developing story.

Michigan’s 52-10 win over the Gophers on Oct. 7 was complete and total domination.

The second-ranked Wolverines allowed Minnesota one touchdown pass and very little else over 60 minutes of game time at Huntington Bank Stadium. The outcome was chalked up to undefeated Michigan being one of the best teams in the country, a favorite to win the Big Ten Conference and reach the College Football Playoff for a third straight season, while Minnesota fell to 3-3 and has continued to struggle with consistency this season.

No one doubts the gulf between the two Big Ten programs, but now that outcome might be controversial or even tainted.

Yahoo Sports reported Thursday the Michigan football program is under investigation for violating rules prohibiting in-person scouting of future opponents.

The Athletic said there was “credible evidence” the Wolverines have successfully stolen signs from opposing teams this season.

Yahoo pointed out sign stealing is not technically prohibited, while scouting opponents in person has been prohibited since 1994.

Yahoo added at least two of Michigan’s opponents this season became aware that Michigan knew their play signs. Besides Minnesota, the Wolverines (7-0) have beaten Indiana, Nebraska, Rutgers, Bowling Green, UNLV and East Carolina this season. Michigan next plays Michigan State on Saturday.

The Big Ten issued this statement Thursday:

“Late Wednesday afternoon, the Big Ten Conference and University of Michigan were notified by the NCAA that the NCAA was investigating allegations of sign stealing by the University of Michigan football program. The Big Ten Conference has notified Michigan State University and future opponents. The Big Ten Conference considers the integrity of competition to be of utmost importance and will continue to monitor the investigation. The Conference will have no further comment at this time.”

A Big Ten spokesman declined to provide more details to the Pioneer Press on whether the Gophers were one of two teams mentioned in the Yahoo report.

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A therapy session with Patricia Brown starts like any other. She leads her clients into a peaceful, quiet room, draped in beige and generic, calming artwork.

Then her clients lie down, close their eyes, put on a blindfold and headphones, and trip for six hours on psilocybin, the psychoactive chemical found in magic mushrooms.

Brown is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and head of clinical operations at CNS Healthcare. CNS in Thornton Park and APG Research near the Central Business District are two global clinical trial sites testing whether microdoses of psychedelics — typically about one-tenth of a recreational dose — can help people with depression and anxiety.

A growing number of clinical trials suggest single doses of psychedelics can have long-lasting impacts on the brain, leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue “breakthrough therapy” designations to these drugs beginning in 2017.

These treatments could have untapped potential for helping the estimated one in three people with treatment-resistant depression, meaning they have tried at least two different antidepressants that haven’t worked, said Brown. The clinical trial she’s working on right now targets this group.

“This is the opportunity for us to take treatment for depression and anxiety to the next level,” Brown said.

The rebound in psychedelics’ popularity isn’t without controversy, however. A potentially troubling trend is emerging. From 2018 to 2021, a survey published in the scientific journal Addiction indicates a doubling of recreational psychedelic use in the U.S., with 8% of young adults having tried hallucinogens as of 2021. This is the highest number seen since the 1980s.

Recreational use sparks concern

This isn’t the first time these drugs have been studied for therapeutic benefits. These investigations have taken place since the 1940s, though research halted in the 1970s when the federal government classified these drugs as Schedule 1 due to their potential for abuse.

Over the last few decades, there’s been a resurgence in promising scientific research, continuing the work of 50 years ago. But it’s dangerous to use these drugs outside a medical setting, especially without a guide, said Dr. Robert Molpus, a psychiatrist and addiction researcher.

Molpus leads the CNS Healthcare location of a clinical trial of small doses of LSD on people with anxiety. The study is run by Mind Medicine, a biotech pharmaceutical company seeking approval for its proprietary form of LSD.

“What we have here is pharmaceutical-grade medication produced under very strict tolerances and standards,” said Molpus. “Whatever you buy on the street, it’s not pharmaceutical grade and you actually have no idea what’s in it or what the dose is.”

Psychedelics theoretically alleviate mental illnesses by creating new connections in the brain, according to the National Institutes of Health. Negative connections can be created just as easily as positive ones, Molpus warned.

“The idea is that things are connected wrong because of experience or trauma. And so, what you want to do, is get them reconnected; you want to break this bad connection,” Molpus said. “You don’t want a different set of bad connections. That’s where the therapy piece comes in.”

Licensed mental health counselor Elizabeth Lindell Mendez says recreational psychedelics worsened pre-existing mental illnesses and addiction issues in some of her clients. She worked for six years in community mental health residential and day treatment programs before moving to Thriveworks Counseling & Psychiatry in Maitland a few months ago.

“When you actively hallucinate, the more you do it, the less likely you might be to come back, especially if you have a hereditary predisposition that you’re unaware of,” she said. “It can actually increase and exacerbate symptoms.”

She emphasized that she hasn’t seen any clients who took these drugs within a controlled medical setting.

The American Psychiatric Association released a statement in 2022 calling preliminary research into psychedelics “promising” but cautioned about a lack of evidence.

“There is currently inadequate scientific evidence for endorsing the use of psychedelics to treat any psychiatric disorder except within the context of approved investigational studies,” the statement read.

Studies combat stigma

Brown is confident that current clinical trials are not dangerous.

“I think there really is a stigma that we have to overcome,” she said.

The ongoing trials at CNS are regulated by the FDA and don’t allow people with psychotic and personality disorders to participate. People with other mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder and people who would take other psychiatric medications during the study can’t participate either.

Brown is working on a randomized clinical trial testing the impact of a single dose of psilocybin. The study, conducted by biotech company COMPASS Pathways, will include therapy before the psilocybin dose, a therapist present for the eight-hour period a patient is high, and additional therapy afterward to process what the participant has experienced and help them integrate what they’ve learned.

Another point to keep in mind is that psychedelics do not typically lead to addiction, said Molpus.

“Can you overuse it? Absolutely, you can. But it’s actually not all that common,” Molpus said. “It can happen, and it does happen, but it’s not like meth or heroin that can really capture and trap people in addiction.”

Decades of research back up that assertion, according to the National Institutes of Health.

A push to roll back restrictions

The FDA labels psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, peyote and MDMA (ecstasy) as having “high abuse potential” and no recognized medical use, hence their Schedule 1 classification.

This designation is theoretically reserved for the most dangerous and addictive drugs in the U.S. In recent years, advocates have questioned it. Molpus labeled psychedelics’ classification “more political than medical.”

Marijuana, too, is Schedule 1, despite decades of evidence of its potential therapeutic benefits. The majority of states, including Florida, have legalized it for medical use.

Amid mounting arguments that these drugs should be more accessible, a handful of countries and U.S. locations like Oregon have decriminalized or legalized MDMA and mushrooms.

In 2021 and 2022, Florida lawmakers introduced legislation that would have ordered state-funded research into the therapeutic applications of psilocybin, ketamine and MDMA for treating conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain and migraines. The bills failed to achieve widespread support.

Nationally, more than 60% of U.S. voters support legalizing psychedelic therapy, a 2023 poll done by the University of California, Berkeley, found.

The future of psychedelics

A potential roadmap for magic mushrooms and LSD can be seen with ketamine, another drug with hallucinogenic or psychoactive properties.

Ketamine ‘saved my life’: Depressed, anxious Floridians turn to unregulated psychedelics

The FDA approved a derivative of ketamine called esketamine — manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceuticals and sold as a patented nasal spray called Spravato — in 2018.

It’s only available for people with treatment-resistant depression through a restricted distribution system with strict guidelines.

Ketamine differs from traditional psychedelics, however, because it has been used in medical settings for decades and is not as tightly regulated. Physicians who don’t want to jump through federal government hurdles or work with insurance companies are allowed to prescribe traditional ketamine off-label as a treatment for mental health conditions.

Meanwhile, the only foray into selling mushrooms commercially in Florida so far was unsuccessful.

In 2022, Ybor City’s Chillum Mushroom Hemp Dispensary briefly bypassed Florida’s restrictions by selling psychedelic mushrooms that didn’t contain the banned ingredient of psilocybin. It advertised itself as the first magic mushroom dispensary in the U.S., and was so successful it opened a second St. Petersburg location.

Even though the mushrooms technically didn’t include any banned ingredients, they were not approved to be sold as food. The store tried out a loophole, labeling them as intended “only for education or spiritual purposes,” not for consumption.

This wasn’t enough to stop the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services from shutting down Chillum Mushroom Hemp Dispensary’s sales.

The dispensary reluctantly stopped offering the mushroom in August, according to a statement on its website.

Ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com; @CECatherman Twitter

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the American Psychiatric Association.