Cinnamon Toasted Almonds

Week 337. Fall 2022. I am 39 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like cinnamon and falling leaves and this is my life. This is the life I built.

Tom made his trout on Friday, the way he does every Friday, and the fish was perfect, and the kitchen smelled like lemon and capers, and I sat at the table and ate fish that my partner caught and cooked and served, and the being-served is still a wonder after all these years.

Mason is 11 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 9 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made harvest pasta this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

The harvest pasta was the main event that week, but it was the cinnamon toasted almonds I kept coming back to — that warm smell drifting through the Bench house kitchen, the same smell that has lived in these walls through every chapter. They’re the kind of thing you make with your hands while the pasta water boils, the kind of small, steady act that reminds you the food always continues.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 large egg white
1 tablespoon water
4 cups whole raw almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 325°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the egg white. In a large bowl, whisk the egg white and water until frothy but not stiff.
Coat the almonds. Add the almonds to the egg white mixture and toss until evenly coated.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the coated almonds and toss until well combined.
Spread on the baking sheet. Spread the almonds in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the coating is dry and the almonds are fragrant and golden.
Cool completely. Let the almonds cool on the baking sheet. They will crisp up as they cool. Break apart any clusters and store in an airtight container.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cinnamon Toasted Almonds — The Thread That Connects Every Version of Me