Here's What Trump's Food Stamp Cuts Will Really Do

[Food for Thought] December 15, 2019 [Food for Thought]( [Here's What Trump's Food Stamp Cuts Will Really Do]( “These are folks who are already living on the edge,” says Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, the executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. "I’ve never witnessed anything like this. It’s a deliberate attack.” ([Mother Jones]() We destroyed the oceans. Now scientists are growing seafood in labs. ([Mother Jones]() One man is trying to fight climate change by mobilizing an unlikely team: Iowa’s farmers. ([Mother Jones]() Warren has the blues. Here's where her new climate and waterways proposal falls short. ([Mother Jones]() New immigration reforms directed at the farm labor shortage. But can they clear Congress? ([Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting]() We will never get sick of politicians sinking their teeth into fried food. ([Eater]() —Advertisement— [The Spirit of Oaxaca]( New From Bite Podcast On the last episode of Eating in Climate Chaos, we explore the brave new world of lab-grown meat. First, we visit a startup called Finless Foods that’s making actual fish—without killing any actual fish. Then, we talk to Ben Wurgaft, author of the new book Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food, about some of the thorny philosophical questions swirling around this food of the future. Hear it on Bite, episode 99: "[This Lab Makes Real Meat—But Not From Animals. Will You Eat It?](" What's Cooking Admit it: You’re bored with “Christmas cookies.” They’re cloyingly sweet, they’re bland, and they can be hard on the eyes, with their “festive” shapes and garish colors. What to make in their place? The holiday season demands a special snack—one that adults can nibble with coffee and kids can inhale as a treat. Biscotti, the famed Italian cookies, aren’t an obvious substitute. They’ve become ubiquitous in coffee shops, and are too often served stale, oversweet, and not worth the often-two-bucks-a-pop price tag. Here’s the thing. Homemade biscotti, nutty and slightly salty, are terrific—and they’re pretty easy to make. And because they get much of their substance from nuts, they’re a more wholesome snack than the usual flour-dominated holiday cookies. And they’re versatile—while they’re best-known in the US as a foil for coffee, the Italians also enjoy them dunked into the famous Tuscan dessert wine vin santo. In her Zuni Cafe Cookbook, from which I learned to make biscotti, the great San Francisco chef-restaurateur Judy Rogers suggests serving them with Champagne. Meaning you might want to bust out a second batch for New Year’s Eve. Sure, the kids may judge them insufficiently sweet. Humbug! That just means more for you. So put down that Santa-shaped cutter and get busy. You’ll be telling me prego when you taste the results. In the below version, I took Rogers’ recipe, which spices the cookies with anise seeds, and amped it up with orange zest, which works well with the licorice flavor of anise and delivers a seasonal edge. And in place of Rogers’ anisette, an anise-flavored liqueur, I tried Cointreau, an orange-flavored one. Feel free to use either—and either can be replaced, in a pinch, with good old vodka. I also used—because it’s what I had on hand—a dark, minimally processed, mollassasy cane sugar. I worried that it might taste too heavy and overshadow the orange and anise flavors. In the end, though, I liked it—it gave the cookies caramel edge that complemented the other ingredients. Lighter sugars will work as well. Rogers writes that biscotti are “best aged a few days before serving”—store them in an airtight container, she advises.—Tom Philpott Orange-Anise Biscotti Inspired by Judy Rogers’ Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Makes about 18 biscotti. Ingredients ¾ cups almonds 4 tablespoons butter, kept out overnight in a cool place A generous ½ cup of whole, minimally processed, dark cane sugar 1 large egg Zest of an entire orange, like a Seville 1 ½ teaspoons Cointreau 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoons salt 1 ½ teaspoons anise seeds Directions Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. On a cookie sheet, toast the almonds for about 15 minutes, until they’re lightly brown and toasty-smelling. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl—that is, whip it with an electric beater or a whisk until it’s lightly fluffy. Add the egg, the orange zest, and the Cointreau and beat until just incorporated. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients—the flour, the baking powder, the salt, and the seeds—and mix well with a fork or a whisk. Now fold in the wet mixture into the dry stuff with a wooden spoon, until well incorporated. Divide the dough into two balls and place on a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, roll each ball out into a rope of 1 inch diameter. Carefully lift the dough ropes onto a cookie sheet. (Most cookbooks, including Rogers’, command you to line the cooking sheet with parchment paper. I forgot to this time, and paid no price.) Bake for 15-20 minutes—”until lightly brown and firm on the surface, but yielding to light pressure,” as Rogers advises. Place the cooked logs on a cutting board. Using a large sharp knife, cut at an angle into ½ inch slices. Carefully move the biscotti back to the warm cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes more so that they lightly brown. Allow them to cool. Enjoy immediately or store them a few days in an airtight container. Hungry for more food news? Follow Mother Jones Food on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](, and find all of our food stories at [www.motherjones.com]( Did someone forward this to you? [Click here]( to sign up to get more Food for Thought in your inbox! [Mother Jones Store]( Food for Thought is brought to you by...you! 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