Joy the Baker » nuts

Chocolate Coconut Almond Scones

joythebaker — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:05:59 +0000

14 of the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 thoughts going through my brainscape:

- I’m 30. I can’t shop at Forever 21. First of all, I’m a Large…. and the shorts are still waay too tiny. Secondly, I look much better in Anthropologie clothes.

- I’m worth it.

- Yea. So I just stress-ate a bag of potato chips. At least I just bought the small bag and not the giant bag… even though the giant bag was on sale. I’m alright!

- I wish I had claws so I could scratch my cat back.

- At least I have scissors to give my cat awkward hair cuts when he’s sleeping.

- I can’t sing, unless I’m alone and I’m pretending like I’m Adele… and then I still can’t sing.

- No, sir. Laundromat flirting is not my thing. I see you trying to find an ‘in’. Also… the fact that you’re wearing a bluetooth and that you brought your own wooden hangers to the laundromat makes it clear to me that you’re a serial killer. I’ve seen CSI. I’ve seen Dexter. COME ON!

- Well, if Hoarders weren’t such a mind-bending show, I wouldn’t have to watch it. It’s really not my fault.

- I’ll write that email… but first I’ll eat this cold burrito.

- I’m looking at you and secretly wondering if you’re an extreme couponer.

- Can I deep fry cupcakes? No.

- Some girls cry when they’re sad. I cry when I’m bonkers angry. That must be really creepy to people. Like… killer creepy.

- When did girls start wearing fake hair and fake eyelashes!? Ladies… come on. Can we all just work on the same playing field? Geez. You’re really making my hair look mousy.

- What kind of scones should I make? I know… sweet everything bagels… Everything Scones! I’m a genius.

Toasted coconut is one of my favorite smells.

I wish my hair could smell like this all the time.

Scones. Why not just throw in everything!? By the handful… with buttermilk.

Come on! This is how we should live everyday.

If you don’t think this looks like a blessing from the heavens… we’re not friends.

If you don’t think this looks like a blessing from the heavens… then you’re not a ninja. That’s a problem.

Toasty, buttery, and soft. Studded with almonds, chocolate and coconut. A mouthful of breakfast goodness! Add a big dollop of cherry jam and shut.it.up! The best breakfast everyday.

Chocolate Coconut Almond Scones

makes about 8 to 10 scones

Print this Recipe!

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons raw or granulated sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

1 large egg

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1/3 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

buttermilk and sugar for topping before baking

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place shredded coconut and slivered almonds on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes. Keep your eye on the coconut. It browns quickly. Remove from the oven when toasted and allow to cool. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Toss the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture. Using your hands, quickly work in the butter into the flour mixture, breaking it up with your fingers. Some butter bits will be the size of small pebbles, and some will be the size of oat flakes. Set in the fridge for a few minutes.

Whisk together buttermilk and egg.

Remove the flour and butter mixture from the fridge and add coconut, almonds, and chocolate chips. Whisk together and create a well in the center of the mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture all at once to the well. Use a fork to bring the wet and the dry ingredients together. Mixture will be shaggy. Lightly flour a work surface and dump the shaggy dough mixture out onto the counter. Bring together the dough with your hands into a 1 1/2-inch thick disk . Use a 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits. Flour the biscuit cutter if it starts to stick to the dough.

Place biscuits, about 1 inch apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Brush with a bit of buttermilk and a few pinches of raw or granulated sugar. Bake biscuits for 14-18 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the oven and serve warm, with jam.

Homemade Pistachio Pudding

joythebaker — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:09:34 +0000

Last week I had two cups of milk, two eggs, and twenty minutes. I took to Twitter to ask you what kind of pudding I should make with my perishables and time. You answered: Chocolate. You answered: Butterscotch. One of you mentioned: Pistachio. Sold.

Pistachio pudding is so much more than the pale green, instant box, powdery stuff. Truly.

This pale green Pistachio Pudding is made from homemade pistachio paste. This is totally good news, right!? Pistachio, sugar, and just a touch of water. Stir this paste into warmed milk and eggs, and call it pudding. It’s just about that easy.

Spring pudding. I made it and I want you to also.

Oh wait! I didn’t tell you what this pudding tastes like. Pistachios. … and sugar. Go figure.

Homemade Pistachio Pudding

makes 6 small ramekins

adapted from cooks.com

Print this Recipe!

Pistachio Paste:

1/2 cup salted pistachio nuts

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

Pudding:

2 cups whole milk

2 large egg yolks

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup pistachio nuts, chopped

To make the Pistachio Paste: place pistachios in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are in small bits. Add the sugar and water, and blend until relatively smooth. Easy!

To make the Pudding: Spoon Pistachio Paste into a medium saucepan. Add the milk and whisk over medium heat. Heat milk and pistachio until steamy and hot.

While milk is heating, whisk together granulated sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and pinch of salt. Mixture will be thick. Keep whisking until it’s smooth. Pour about 1/2 cup of the steaming pistachio milk into the sugar and egg mixture. Whisk together. Add another half cup of hot milk and whisk to incorporate. Return the milky egg mixture into the saucepan over medium heat.

Heat pudding mixture over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Whisk almost constantly. You might also want to use a heat-proof spatula to stir the mixture, ensuring that the sides and corners of the pan aren’t burning. Boil for about 1 minute, or until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract, until butter is melted. Pass cooked pudding through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. This will ensure that any cooked egg bits don’t make it into the finished pudding. Press the pudding through the strainer. Add a few of the pistachio nut bits that the strainer catches, back to the pudding if you’d like

Spoon into small ramekins, place plastic wrap over the individual puddings (so the plastic touches the top of the pudding), and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream and chipped pistachios.

Pudding will last, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.

Spicy Roasted Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds

joythebaker — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 02:35:33 +0000

I think people expect me to have, um… food… for them when they drop by my house. Weird.

Don’t they know I eat popcorn for dinner?

I’m learning.

I’m learning that I need to have at least a few staple items on hand for unexpected house guests: a jar of these spiced nuts, a cold bottle of vodka, fresh oranges and an old school juicer.

What a hostess I’m shaping up to be. Dang.

Nuts and spices need a little glue to be friends.

Egg whites. Winner.

These nuts bake up smokey and spicy with a hint of sweetness and lots of crunch. They’re pretty and satisfying.

And! Sealed in a glass jar with a bow, these nuts make a pretty great hostess gift… just sayin’.

Spicy Roasted Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds

Print this Recipe!

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste after baking

3/4 teaspoon dried chili flakes

1 large egg white

plus generous pinches of each of these spices to sprinkle over the top of the nuts just before they go in the oven.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.

Mix together salt, sugar and spices. Set aside.

Whip egg white in a medium bowl until loose and frothy. Add the raw nuts and toss to coat. Add the mixed spices. Toss to coat as evenly as possible.

Spread seasoned nuts in a single layer across the greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle nuts with a bit more seasoning. A generous pinch of each. You can totally eyeball it.

Place nuts in the oven and let bake for 7 minutes. Remove nuts from the oven to toss and flip. Return to the oven for another five minutes. Toss and flip them again and then bake for another 3 minutes. Nuts should be nicely browned. Carefully taste the nuts and add more salt to taste. Cool nuts completely before serving. Store in an airtight container for a week.

Honey and Beer Spice Cake

joythebaker — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:55:49 +0000

I want a hamburger.

with cheese and pickles and too much ketchup.

And chocolate milk.

This is not that… but this is still good.

Why would I crank up my oven and make a spice cake in the middle of summer? I dunno.

Why would I make this cake when what I really want is a giant hamburger and chocolate milk? I dunno.

Why haven’t I gotten my stupid shaggy hair cut yet? Don’t know.

What the heck is going on with Frank on The Bachelorette and why did he has to go all the way to Tahiti to drop bombs? I do not know.

Why the deep V? Why?

We’re going to get to the bottom of this Bachelorette thing. We’re going to talk about it. I really have a few things I need to get off my chest.

Seriously.

This spice cake with beer and honey is from a book called Booze Cakes. Pretty self explainitory, right? It’s a pretty cute book from two Los Angeles based ladies. If you have a sweet tooth for things like Jello Shot Cakes, or if you were just dying to find a way to get tequila into your cakes… this is totally the book for you.

This spice cake is pretty interesting. It’s got a heartwarming combination of spices, and a super moist crumb. This cake stays moist for daaaaays. The recipe called for granulated sugar, brown sugar aaaand honey. That’s a lot of sugar. Even after cutting back on the sugar I thought it was dang sweet. You might be able to cut back on the sugar just a touch more.

Can you taste the beer? Just barely… and it’s not really beer-y. The hoppy beer is a great compliment to the spice and honey. It really rounds everything out.

Can you replace the beer with anything not beer like? No… It’s a Honey and Beeeeer Cake. Just go with it.

If beer offends you, how about Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake? Super yum. Trust.

With barely sweetened cream and salty roasted nuts, I say this cake is pretty swell.

If you have a mega sweet tooth, Cream Cheese Frosting would set this cake over the top!

Honey and Beer Spice Cake

adapted from Booze Cakes
makes one 9×13-inch cake

Print this Recipe!

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (next time I’ll use a combination of all-purpose and white whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon all-spice
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup honey
12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) pale ale beer or honey beer

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9×13-inch (don’t use anything smaller, seriously) pan and set aside.

I a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugars, spices and lemon zest. Mixture may look crumbly, but mix for about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.
Beat in the lemon juice and honey.

Add the flour mixture and beer. Alternating. First add a third of the flour mixture, mix. Add half of the beer, mix. Add the second third of flour, the rest of the beer. Mix. Then finally add the last third of the flour. Beat the batter on high speed for 30 seconds. The batter will be loose and smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake in the upper third of the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve with barely sweetened whipped cream and salty roasted nuts. This cake would also be pretty delicious with a cream cheese frosting.

Rocky Road Brownies

joythebaker — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:00:28 +0000

So… you know that part in Scent of a Woman… yes, hello, 1992…. when blind Al Pacino sniffs out pretty ladies… literally… and somehow worms his way into their good graces? Have you seen Scent of a Woman staring Al Pacino and Chris O’Donnell? Of course you have.

If blind Al Pacino were to sniff me out, I’m pretty sure I’d smell like these brownies. This fact is both troubling and awesome. Now I kinda want to reinact the tango scene.

To quell your puzzled looks, let me answer a few questions. Yes… I just watched Scent of a Woman. Yes… it was amazing. Yes… I questioned my sanity.

I’m going to keep this short. I have to go watch Curly Sue and learn a few card tricks.

These brownies seem like the exact right thing to be doing this time of year.

Super fudgy chocolate with nuts and campfire style toasted marshmallows. Pretty perfect to bring to a summer party. These brownies are an instant friend maker.

I do have a few pro-tips when it comes to this recipe. Can I share them with you?

- So you’ve baked the brownies, loaded the warm brownies up with marshmallows, turned on your broiler and you’re ready to toast your marshmallows? Put them in the oven and stand there. Do. Not. Walk. Away. Your brownies will set on fire before you know it. It’s scary when you have to pull a pan that’s on fire out of the oven. It’s really scary.

- You’re going to need a sharp knife and hot running water to cut through these brownies. The marshmallows might have a tendency to stick to the knife. Run the blade under hot water until it’s clean after every slice you make. That’ll ensure that your marshmallows stay where they belong.

Pro-tips. I got em.

I’ve made a lot of brownie items around here over the last few years.

These be them:

Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting

S’mores Brownies

aaaand.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Now…

Rocky Road Brownies

adapted from Toll House

makes 12 to 16 brownies

Print this Recipe!

1 2/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup butter

2 Tablespoons strong coffee or water

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips (optional but yumtown)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 or 10-inch square baking pan. Set aside

Combine butter and cocoa powder in a small bowl, and place over a pot of simmering water. Make sure that the simmering water down not touch the bottom of the bowl. Add the coffee or water and stir to melt the ingredients.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Add the vanilla extract. When the butter and chocolate have melted and come together, slowly stir the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Fold in the nuts.

Pour the batter in the pan, sprinkle with chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. Bake for 18-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and set the oven to broiler. Sprinkle the top of the hot brownies with miniature marshmallows. Once the broiler is heated, place the brownies on an upper shelf close to the broiler heat. Stand there. Don’t move. The marshmallows will brown within 1 to 2 minutes. I mean quick. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature before cutting.

Use hot running water to clean the knife blade after each slice into the cooled brownie. This should help the marshmallow not stick to the knife blade.

Maple Pecan Muffins

joythebaker — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:07:22 +0000

Today’s Maple Pecan Muffins are dedicated to Tracey.

Tracey, you are dear and darling… and 15, which is equal parts hard and rad, I know.

Let me tell you a little about Tracey. Tracey had her 15th birthday last week. Tracey’s best friend Maggie sent me a pretty precious email asking me if I would send Tracey an autographed picture of myself for her birthday. See, Tracey is a great baker and a huuuuge fan of my site.

I’m not the sort to have pictures of myself to autograph on hand… that would be totally weird, so I sent Tracey a little birthday gift and handwritten note. Easy enough, right? In return Tracey sent me a very long, very excited, exceedingly adorable email to thank me for her birthday present. Seriously friends… this girl is priceless.

After reading Tracey’s email a handful of times (it was packed to the gills with information), here are a few things I want you to know about my new friend:

Tracey makes a mean lemon pound cake with blueberry sauce.

Tracey almost set her house ablaze trying to make these doughnuts.

Tracey is obsessed with muffins… and feeds them to her dog. Let’s all just pretend like that’s normal.

Tracey got a “Tracey the Baker” apron for her birthday. Clearly I have competition.

By sharing loads homemade cookies, Tracey is well on her way to becoming the most popular girl in school. Don’t get too popular Tracey… it might be overrated.

Tracey giggles a lot… not in emails, but this is just something I’ve surmised from being 15 and eating a lot of sugar once upon a time.

Tracey? Is that Jesus peeking over your shoulder on your fridge there? If so… awesome. If not… awkward.

Tracey these muffins are my little shout out to you because it seems like you get as excited about eggs and butter and sugar and flour as I do. That makes me happy. Thank you.

Oooh Maple Pecan Muffins. Holy smokes these muffins are good.

Here’s the trick with these muffins: use real maple syrup. Don’t even think about using the pancake syrup you might have hiding in your fridge. No way friend-o!

These muffins are moist, sweet, drenched in maple flavor and just lovely for Autumn. The pecans round out the sweetness and add just the right crunch. Weekend breakfast? Heck yes! You win!

Maple Pecan Muffins

adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

makes 12-16 cupcakes

Print this Recipe!

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1/2 vanilla bean scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 Tablespoons browned butter (start with 6 tablespoons and melt it down just over 5 Tablespoons)

3/4 cup maple syrup, divided

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, plus 12 pecan haves (or the largest pecan pieces of the bunch for topping the muffins)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt 6 tablespoons of butter over medium flame. Butter should crackle and foam and then produce little brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Turn flame to low, scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan (that’s where all the flavor is hiding) and remove from heat to cook a bit before using.

In a large bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl whisk together buttermilk, egg and vanilla bean or extract.

Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients and stir with a large spoon until just incorporated. Add melted butter and carefully mix until incorporated. Add the chopped nuts and half of the maple syrup (you can eyeball half of 3/4 cup) and fold until evenly dispersed throughout the batter.

Fill the muffin cups until about two thirds full (I was able to make 16 cupcakes). Place a large pecan piece on top of each unbaked muffin and drizzle all of the muffins with the remaining maple syrup.

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a metal skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes before removing to serve.

Sweet and Spicy Almonds

joythebaker — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:43:54 +0000

Here’s a fun thing to do! Take a few minutes to close your eyes and imagine yourself as an old person. I’m not talking about late sixties. That’s not old yet. I’m talking about great great grandmother old.. pushing the mid-nineties.

Sounds crazy? Why would you spend time picturing white hair in bobby pins, shuffling feet and rocking chairs? I feel like getting old is a luxury. Not everyone gets to do it, so why not sit and enjoy the thought a bit?

I imagine that I’m the kind of old lady that talks to her over fed cats, and yells across the house to her practically deaf husband. I hope I’m the kind of old lady who has a piano in the house just so my grandchildren can come over and practice their scales while I shuffle around the kitchen baking them cookies.

I want to be the kind of old lady that always thinks a glass of champagne is a good idea.

I want to be the kind of old lady who always has something out on the living room table for that unexpected guest. Maybe it’s those soft chalky mints. Maybe a freshly baked pie. Maybe it’s these Sweet and Spicy Baked Almonds. These nuts, my friends, have me daydreaming of old lady times somehow… with a smile on my face.

So, you might be thinking… really Joy? Nuts? That’s all you’ve got for me today? My answer to that… yes. Nuts. Live a little.

These nuts are simply almonds sprinkled in magic, aka fennel seeds. They’re sweet. They’re spicy. They’re salty and crunchy. They make a super yumtastic snack to have around the house, a snazzy hostess gift, or they’re great to bring to a cocktail party. All around winners, that’s what these almonds are.

Sweet and Spicy Baked Almonds

from Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes

Print this Recipe!

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon fennel seeds

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 cups raw almonds

2 Tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix sugar, fennel, salt and pepper flakes in a medium sized bowl. Add the almonds and water and stir until coated. Pour onto the foil lined baking sheet and spread out evenly.

Bake the almonds for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir almonds around. Return to the oven and bake for another 17 minutes, checking and stirring the almonds 2 to 3 more times. Almonds will turn beautifully dark brown. Remove from the oven and separate with a fork. Cool and remove from the pan to a serving bowl or an airtight container for storage.

How To Make Homemade Peanut Butter

joythebaker — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:47:25 +0000

Some things in the world are just too too easy. Peanut butter is one of those things.

I suppose those easy things work to compliment the tasks in life that are far too complicated for their own good. These complicated tasks include, but are not limited to, matching your socks fresh out of the dryer, finding your other slipper in a closet full of shoes, and emptying your vacuum bag and finding replacements of the same size and shape… seriously, why is that so hard!?

Where these little bits of life are difficult, some things, like homemade peanut butter, are easy peasy. Thank goodness for the little things.

This recipe is so easy that I almost feel bad typing it out for you. In essence, if you throw shelled peanuts into a food processor, with or without a pinch of salt, whirl it up for several minutes, you’ll have the magic of peanut butter in your kitchen. It’s really that easy, and you skip all the dirty hydrogenated oils that sometimes complicate our food.

Peanut butter…. make it.

Homemade Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

Print this Recipe!

makes just over 1 cup of peanut butter

1 1/2 cups honey roasted peanuts (you can also used roasted unsalted peanuts, or roasted and salted peanuts, adjusting the salt to taste)

pinch of salt

Place shelled peanuts in the bowl of a food processor with blade. Make sure the lid is on tight and turn on the food processor. Nuts will move from course to finely ground then begin to form a paste. Feel free to stop the food processor once the paste begins to form to scrape the sides of the bowl. Turn on food processor again until the peanuts resemble a thick, but mostly smooth, and shiny (from the peanut oil) peanut butter. This took me about 4 minutes of food processing

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Place in a warm water bath or in a low microwave for 30-45 seconds to soften and spread. Delicious!

Almond Banana Bread

joythebaker — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:27:18 +0000

I remember when I was a kid, I used to entice my little sister into the kitchen to cook with me. That sounds sweet and cozy, right? Well… I had slightly more selfish intentions. I had plans for my sister once we hit the kitchen: I would do all the fun stuff like measuring out sugar and chocolate, and she would do all of the not so fun stuff, like getting the flour containers out of the pantry, reaching for bowls, and doing all the dirty dishes. Baking always seemed like more fun if I had someone to do all the grunt work for me.

That sort of fun in the kitchen with my sister didn’t last long. Lauren very quickly caught on to my tricks, and before long we were sharing the dirty dish responsibilities.

Since then, I’d like to think I’ve become a much more accommodating kitchen partner. Ask Simon. You know Simon, he’s that crazy kid from Foodproof. We made Almond Banana Bread together. It went swimmingly, and I don’t think I made him do the dishes.

This banana bread was an excuse to accomplish two things: to watch Simon use a spatula and to experiment with Almond Oil. Do you bake with nut oils? I was surprised at how mild, if nonexistent the nut flavor was. We used a bit of oil, and a bit of melted butter. The oil definitely made for a more dense and moist banana bread experience. Tossed together with toasted, coarsely chopped almonds, this nutty banana bread was pretty delicious.

Almond Banana Bread

thank you to SmittenKitchen who thanks SimplyRecipes

Print this Recipe!

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter (or in a 1/3 measuring cup measure out half almond oil and half melted butter)
3/4-1 cup light brown sugar, depending on the level of sweetness you prefer
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

3/4 cup coursely chopped almonds

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter and almond oil into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, mix. Add the almonds, and stir until just incorporated. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

joythebaker — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:45:12 +0000

I have birds.

Living in Los Angeles is like living in a jungle. Instead of dense tropical trees and dangerous pumas, Los Angeles has obnoxious cars and… actors. There is very little visible animal life besides dogs on leashes, squirrels rummaging through the trash bins and pigeons just walking around being pretty gross.

But I have birds. I call them my Midnight Song Birds. They live in the tree outside my bedroom window and sing to one another all night long. All night! Sometimes I’ll be up until 1 in the morning and the birds are still going at it. They keep up the chatter all night long.

I’ve come to love sound of these birds chirping as I fall asleep. It helps erase the occasional helicopter or paramedic siren. My birds sound beautiful. And though they sound completely out of place at 1 in the morning, they remind me to be thankful for the little things- like the simple joy of chirping birds, or chewy chocolate cookies.

How about some cookie adventures? Follow me.

I’m convinced that these cookies are actually brownies in disguise. They’re super soft, full of chocolate, and my favorite part- they have that brownie crackled skin on top. I think it’s the slightly flaky chocolate top and soft center that won my heart.

Topped with darling chocolate covered sunflower seeds, these cookies are perfect to snack on with a glass of cold milk sitting in front of the TV watching dvds of Big Love… or maybe that’s just me.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

recipe from King Arthur Flour

Print this Recipe!

yields 26 cookies without chips, 30 cookies with chips

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped or in chips)

3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. You don’t need a mixer, just do it in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you’re using them. Refrigerate the batter like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.

Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2″ between the dough balls, as they’ll spread as they bake.

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’re done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a bittersweet chocolate wafer, or a chocolate covered sunflower seed. Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.