“I Wonder What’s Gone Wrong”

“I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered,” Paul Simon sings in “American Tune.” “I don’t have a friend who feels at ease.” I can’t think of a better way to describe this year. An article in The Los Angeles Times, back in 2019, wrote that the song is “the anthem for our troubled nation.”

We’re reflecting, rather than blogging today. Our next blog will return with the holiday spirit. It will be DAMN good, Andy assures me. But for now we just want to share this gorgeous song, first released in 1973, as we reflect on 2023. 

Lyrics to "American Tune": 

Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I’m all right, I’m all right
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
Oh, but it’s all right, it’s all right
For lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
We’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

Oh, we come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
And sing an American tune
Oh, it’s all right, it’s all right
It’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all I’m trying to get some rest

© 1973 Words and Music by Paul Simon

The perfect recipe as this year draws to a close is one we’ve already published. It’s from Dorrie Greenspan, and here’s what she had to say about the name, World Peace Cookies: “The difference in the dough each time you make it is teaching us to be patient and accepting.  If we do that, everything turns out right in the end, just as the cookies do.”

World Peace Cookies

  • Servings: makes about 36 cookies
  • Print
Dorie Greenspan’s recipe is meticulously detailed; I’ve tried to simplify it all a bit so it doesn’t seem quite so intimidating.  But beware, the recipe’s famously annoying traits may still exist – that is, crumbling instead of sticking together as you try to blend the ingredients and dough.  Just be accepting.  And patient.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 c all purpose flour
  • 1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably not Dutch process)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 stick plus 3 T butter at room temperature (11 T total)
  • 2/3 c packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 c sugar
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 c mini chocolate chips – definitely “mini”  Don’t even think about using regular sized – or you’ll not be a patient, happy person when you see the outcome.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Measure the flour by spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling it with something straight-edged like a spatula.

In a medium bowl, put the flour, cocoa, and baking soda and mix it together well with a whisk.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft, then add the brown sugar, white sugar, salt, and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.  Using a rubber spatula, carefully blend in the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda.).  Then beat again with the mixer for about 30 seconds.  You don’t want to overbeat.  Add the chocolate chips and mix in well with the spatula.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, gather it together into a ball, and divide it in half.  Shape each half into a log, about 1 1/2 ” in diameter.  It may be crumbly.  Be calm and carry on, pushing the crumbs back into the log as necessary.  Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours (or freeze them for later).  When you’re ready to bake, with a sharp knife (yes!) slice the logs into rounds which are about 1/2″ thick.  (Note: this is where my patience was tried.  The chocolate chips seemed to make the cutting difficult and I had lots of pieces of dough everywhere, rather than nice round slices.  As Greenspan suggested, I just gathered up the pieces and squeezed them back into something resembling a cookie.  I was at peace.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Arrange the cookies so there is about 1″ between them.  If you want to bake the whole batch of cookies at once, use two baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes (or 13 if your cookies were and still are frozen).  Put the baking sheet on a cooling rack and let the cookies cool until lukewarm before removing them.

Be prepared to eat more of them than you know you should.  We had to freeze ours quickly to make us stop snitching – and I don’t even like chocolate that much.  On top of that, we discovered they’re really delish when you sneak one out and eat it frozen!
Recipe brought to you by BigLittleMeals.com and Andy and Ann.

4 thoughts on ““I Wonder What’s Gone Wrong””

  1. Anonymous

    Chocolate is one of the four essential food groups. Perfectly appropriate at this dark time of the year to have something sweet and upbeat. ThanX!
    Bob Carleton

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