Saints, Feast, Family
- Traditions passed down with Cooking, Crafting, & Caring -
November 27
St. James Intercisus
Patron Saint of lost vocations and torture victims.
St. James Intercisus
A soldier and courtier to King Yezdigerd I of Persia in the early fifth century, James was a Christian who, during Yezdigerd’s persecution of Christians, renounced his faith for fear of death. His family, who had not apostacized, contacted James upon the death of the king, and thus the end of the persecution, and chastised him for having renounced his Heavenly King before the worldy king of Persia. Upon hearing the rebukes of his family for the denial of his faith, James was thrown into a deep crisis of conscience, and he went through a true, deep conversion, uniting and conforming himself to the living God. Wanting to make amends, he professed his faith before the new king, Bahram and was condemned to death. He is referred to as ‘Intercisus’ because the name literally means ‘hacked to pieces,’ and this name was given to him documenting the manner of his death. He was hung from a beam and slowly cut into 28 pieces, beginning with his fingers and then his toes, hands, and so forth until his beheading, the final cut. Even though the crowd, made up of many Christians, urged him to renounce his faith and worship the sun because they could not bear to see him suffer such excruciating torture, he never renounced his faith. Instead, he made every piece cut from his body an offering to the Living God, and won the crown of martyrdom. James Intercisus is the patron saint of lost vocations and torture victims.
https://www.catholicforlife.com/st-james-intercisus/
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-james-intercisus-400
Prayer:
Visit:
Reliquary of St James Intercisus
Zadar, Croatia
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Recipe:
Rose Cardamom Cookies
Ingredients
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1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
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1/2 cup (60g) confectioner's sugar
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Zest of 1 lemon
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1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Rose Water
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1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
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2 ¼ cup (306g) all purpose flour
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1/4 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt
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1/2 teaspoon Ground Cardamom Seeds
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½ cup (57g) chopped pistachios
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1 cup (170g) white chocolate chips or wafers
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Chopped pistachios, for sprinkling
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Dried rose petals, for sprinkling
Directions:
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the softened butter, confectioners sugar and beat together on medium speed until creamy and combined.
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Beat in the lemon zest, and then the vanilla and rose water.
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Reduce the mixer speed to low. Flour, salt, cardamom and pistachios are added to the butter/sugar mixture and beaten until just combined. Don’t over mix as this will make the cookies tough.
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Turn the dough out onto some cling film. Press the dough together, forming a disc shape, about an inch in height. Wrap the dough with the cling film and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. The dough needs to chill to relax the gluten. This will make them easier to roll out.
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Dust your work surface with flour. Roll out your cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the desired shapes and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches in between the cookies.
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Place the cooking sheets into the refrigerator to chill for 30-45 minutes.
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Preheat the oven to 350F while the cookies are chilling.
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Once the cookies are properly chilled, bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn a light golden brown.
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Let cool completely on the cookie sheets or on a cooling rack.
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Place the white chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.
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Melt the chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave until the chocolate has melted.
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Dip the cookies into the white chocolate.
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Before the chocolate is set, sprinkle with chopped pistachios and top with edible rose petals. Let the chocolate dry, then serve.
