Nuts

Maple Tamari Roasted Almonds

April 28, 2015 by joythebaker 47 Comments

I have to find clever ways to NOT buy a bag of potato chips at the grocery store. By ‘clever’ I mean I just don’t go down the chip aisle. It’s my danger zone. I know that if I do, I’ll likely eat potato chips for lunch and dinner that day, and repeat that same process for probably three days straight.

I like salt and crunch. I really like potato chips. More than most. More than many.

I have to find creative ways to satiate my salt-tooth (like a sweet-tooth but different), and that means making my own gobble-able snack.

These salty tamari and maple roasted almonds are all the spicy, salt, sweet, and crunch I need. They’re not potato chips but… well, not even close but dang good, healthy and satisfying.

Did I mention that I really like potato chips? Just checking…

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Gluten-Free and Gluten-Full Zucchini Pistachio Bread

March 4, 2015 by joythebaker 46 Comments

First things first when moving into a new kitchen: figure out where to put your silverware and your stand mixer. Second things second when moving into a new kitchen: make some sort of spiced quick-bread to make the whole house smell exactly like home.

I’m a strong believer in this theory. It’s important to make a house smell like a home, and no amount of banana bread scented candles will do the trick. They would do the opposite of the trick.

Last time I moved: banana bread.

This go’round: zucchini bread two ways, gluten-free and waaay gluten-full. Experiments and good smells all up in this new kitchen!

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Extra Nutty Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies

February 25, 2015 by joythebaker 112 Comments

Hey can I borrow your kitchen? Mine is a mess. It’s half of a mess. I’ve managed to unpack my favorite coffee mugs, my stand mixer, and my mason jars. I’ve basically unpacked everything pretty. The rest? The drudgery? Not interested. Those will stay in a box for a good while until I lose my mind and can’t live without my boring black plastic tongs for another second.

So… I’m going to need to borrow your kitchen. I’ll come in with random bags of baking groceries. I’ll raid your cabinets for mixing bowls and wooden spoons and I’ll make us some brownies.

Working in your kitchen will be much better then unpacking my own. I think they call this avoidance. Really delicious avoidance.

My friend Gabrielle let me use her pretty marble kitchen. I made a mess, but there were brownies in the end. Forgiveness through chocolate.

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All The Citrus and Some Of The Greens Salad

December 30, 2014 by joythebaker 50 Comments

I take my salads very seriously. Similarly, I take my omelettes, sandwiches and daiquiris with equal reverence. I need to know the person making me an omelette and I prefer that they have a big floppy chef hat on (bonus). I need to shake the hand of the person making my sandwich before they put plastic gloves on and add extra black olives to my situation (thank you!). I like to know the middle name of the person making me a daiquiri… a fact I usually learn after the third of fourth daiquiri. All of this to say, I love when people make me food, and I really like to know who they are before I enjoy it.

Salads, though. I like to make my own salads. There’s a delicate balance of fruit and green, cream and crunch and nuts. Let’s try!

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Butter Walnut Cookies

December 5, 2014 by joythebaker 64 Comments

Cookies for the sake of cookies, for the sake of December, for the sake of Christmas, and just so we can stand at the kitchen counter and count how many of these warm, nutty, powdered sugar bites we can shove into our mouths.

The answer is 3.5. That’s how many cookies fit in a mouth. Be careful.

I’m thinking about upcoming holiday parties, possible cookie swap situations, and general winter cookie desires. These buttery walnut bites totally fit the bill. Tender, crumbly, two-bites, powdered sugar clouds.

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Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Krispie Treats

October 19, 2014 by joythebaker 60 Comments

You know my tricks. You know the games I play around here. The more browned butter, sea salt, and chopped pistachios, the better! It’s just that… pistachios are the best, browned butter reigns supreme, and I think good sea salt is my secret weapon in my baking pantry. I’m not wrong.

We’re keeping it simple by shoving all of the good things into one pan of rice krispie treats. Fancy rice krispie treats are totally my go-to party trick. They never disappoint. Also consider Salty and Malty Rice Krispie Treats. So much win.

I’m traveling these next few weeks to meet you and celebrate the release of my cookbook Homemade Decadence. I’m in Philadelphia Tuesday 10/21 and you should totally come say hi! Keep in mind that for some reason I’ve been listening to the Once soundtrack nonstop for the past week, so… just so you know where I’m at and that I’m weird. Ps. Do you know how easy it is to cry to the Once soundtrack? Like crazy easy. I don’t know what’s going on with me. I really am in a happy place, I promise.

I’ve said too much.

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Oatmeal Cookie Granola

September 4, 2014 by joythebaker 40 Comments

I always have the best intentions of making myself some sort of celery and grapefruit juice for breakfast. Maybe a green smoothie… with extra green. A protein powder something-or-other. A green powder this-or-that. Something very Gwyneth Paltrow-y. I have the best of intentions, really. The very best.

Inevitably I end up standing in front of the pantry shoveling a bag of granola into my face by the handful. It’s not pretty but it does feel right. I sweep up after. I’m not a complete heathen.

It feels like we’re making oatmeal cookies and, while I relish the idea of eating cookies for breakfast, we’re taking a slight right turn and making a hearty granola from all of our oatmeal cookie ingredients.

This recipe was inspired by the new and deliciously awesome cookbook by Jessica of How Sweet Eats. She’s the master of tacos and cocktails and adding neon sprinkles to every dang thing. Get yourself a copy of Seriously Delish!

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Weeknight Cobbler For Two

August 11, 2014 by joythebaker 52 Comments

This is a safe place. This is the place you can openly admit to watching Bachelor In Paradise and eating chocolate chips for dinner.

It’s Monday and the sheer fact that we’re making it through the day means that anything goes including chocolate for dinner and super easy crumble cobblers for dessert. It’s as simple as that, really.

Hopefully you have a peach and a few strawberries. Maybe you have a plum and a few cherries. Maybe there are a few blackberries and raspberries in your fridge. Noooo banana… save that for smoothie tomorrow morning.

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Vegan Coconut and Pistachio Ice Cream

June 12, 2014 by joythebaker 52 Comments

This ice cream is the product of a good, old-fashioned, pantry stare. You know… the kind of quality time you spend staring blankly into your pantry trying to will potato chips to appear with your mind? The kind of quality time you spend staring into the pantry wishing that all of the dried pasta, dried, beans, and jarred sauces would magically cook themselves up extra warm and cheesy so you don’t have to move a muscle.

Alas, muscled must be moved.

Luckily, this recipe is supreme in its simplicity! These were all ingredients staring back at me from the pantry! Coconut milk (the light variety), toasted coconut flakes, pistachios (I must have forgotten they were in there because I surely would have snacked on them if I knew), and sugar (of course). We’re going to need an ice cream maker and a freezer, too.

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Spinach and Strawberry Chopped Salad

May 15, 2014 by joythebaker 22 Comments

Sometimes lunch is just lunch.

It’s less about the tiny bowls, and the tenderly placed napkin, and the step-by-step chopping of each and every vegetable.

Sometimes it’s just lunch. I think that’s a relief for all of us… right?

This salad is an extra chopped rendition of most things currently in my refrigerator: romaine and spinach, snap peas and celery, lovely ripe strawberries, bacon left over from the Waffle BLTs, toasted pecans, and goat cheese crumbles.

Happy Friday, friends! Let’s salad easy today.

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Nuts

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