Almond Raspberry Cookies

The cookies straight out of the oven and....

the finished product with powdered sugar!!

I love almonds.  Almond extract and almond paste, in my opinion, are the best ingredients for baking.  These cookies incorporate almond paste with raspberry jam.  The flavors complement each other in a very unique way and the texture of the cookie also stands out from your typical sugar cookie or chocolate chip.  They are a great cookie for a holiday or special event because the finished project is beautiful and the jam adds a beautiful pop of ruby red.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sliced almonds (slivered almonds work too)

1 7-ounce tube almond paste, lightly crumbled

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup egg whites

Powdered sugar (optional but necessary for a beautiful presentation)

1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

Prep Time: 15 minutes                   Bake Time: 12 minutes    Oven Temp: 350 F

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Spread sliced almonds on sheets.

2. In a food processor, grind almond paste, cinnamon and sugar.  Add egg whites and mix until combined.

3. Transfer dough to large ziplock bag.  Aim for a corner when you pour the dough into the bag so that dough does not stick to the upper sides of the bag.

4. With scissors cut off one of the bottom corners of the bag to from a ½ inch hole.

5. Squeeze dough from bag onto almond sheets in 2 inch strips.  Strips will look like small logs.  Roll the dough logs in the almonds to coat.

6. Transfer dough logs onto prepared baking sheets leaving a generous amount of space between each cookie.  They will spread considerably in the oven.

7. Bake 2 sheets at once for 12 minutes. Rotate the top and bottom sheets half way through the baking time (i.e. after 6 minutes)

8. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Once cooled, sift powdered sugar over cookies.

9. Simmer jam over medium heat in a small sauce pan.  Simmer until bubbles form, between 30 seconds and one minute. Remove jam from heat and spoon onto underside of a cookie.  Use another cookie to from a cookie sandwich with the raspberry jam as the filling.

10. These cookies can turn out very large so feel free to cut them in half to make them a more appropriate serving size.

Slow- Cooker Lemon Rosemary Chicken

I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture of this lovely recipe!

I’m working more hours now so I often don’t have much time to prepare dinner.  I hate coming home hungry and having to cook for 30 minutes before I can relax and have dinner.  The slow cooker is my solution to this dilemma.  I almost always have leftovers from slow cooker recipes which serve as lunch the next day for Dano or I. 

Ingredients
1 Chicken breast, with skin and bone in (it was actually one top half of a chicken.  Basically the chicken without the wings)

1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1/2 lemon
1 wedge of preserved lemon
2 crushed garlic bulbs
¼ cup white wine
½ red onion (julienned)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
a sprinkle of paprika

1. Place chicken in a crock pot.  Squeeze lemon juice over lemons.  Place lemons under the chicken or stuff into rib cage.
2. Pour ¼ cup of white wine into crock pot.
3. Rub rosemary, salt, pepper and paprika into chicken skin.
4. Place onion slices at the bottom of the crock pot, arranging around the chicken.
5. Turn crock pot on low and cook for 5 ½ - 6 hours.

When fully cooked, the chicken will fall off the bone. The drippings can be served in spoonfuls over the chicken or you could use some of the drippings as a gravy base.

Mini Frittatas

Quick and delicious breakfast

It’s a lot easier to eat healthy when good for you options are sitting in your fridge.  To make this a reality in my own kitchen, I (try to) spend time every Sunday deciding what I’ll cook for the week, gathering ingredients, and cooking some stuff ahead of time for quick meals throughout the week.  I went to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning so I’m hoping that my delicious purchases will motivate me to cook a bunch.  Here’s my first prep meal for the week, mini-frittatas. These frittatas are cooked in muffin tins which make them the perfect size for a quick breakfast.  No need to follow this exact recipe, I chose my ingredients based on what I had on hand in my fridge.

Ingredients

1 small green bell pepper (diced)

1 cup turkey sausage crumbles

½ red onion (diced)

¾ cup mushroom (chopped)

Handful of spinach (chopped)
4 eggs + 5 egg whites
splash of milk
coconut oil
Cojita cheese (or any kind you prefer with eggs)

1. Saute bell pepper, onion and mushroom in one teaspoon of coconut oil.

2. Meanwhile, cook sausage in a separate pan.

3. When all the ingredients are cooked, set them aside in a bowl to cool. Add chopped spinach.

4. in a medium size bowl combine eggs, egg whites and a splash of milk. Whisk to break up yolks.

5.  Brush muffin tins with coconut oil.  Add egg mixture to tins so that each cup is a little over half full.

6. Spoon in veggie-meat mixture so that each tin is ¾ full.

7.  Cook frittatas for 18 minutes at 350 degrees.

8. 5 minutes before the frittatas are done, remove from oven and sprinkle diced chunks of cheese over each frittata.  Return to oven to finish cooking.

The recipe yields 6 mini frittatas baked in muffin tins.  If you used cupcake tins your recipe will yield more frittatas and they will be smaller. 

Raspberry Chocolate Almond Tart

Dano enjoyed his tart with some soy milk :)

I made this tart last minute for my friend Louie who visited the other night.  It turned out pretty good considering the fact that it’s made completely of leftovers from other baking projects.

Ingredients
1 sheet of puff pastry dough
1/6 cup whipped cream cheese
1/6 whole milk ricotta
½ tube almond paste
7-8 strawberries cut into fourths
¼ a semi-sweet chocolate bar (chopped)
1 egg whipped (for egg glaze)

Prep Time: 20 minutes (Including 10 minutes for crust to defrost)
Bake time: 25 minutes  Oven Temp: 350 F

1. Take out puff pastry dough to dethaw.
2. In a food processor, mix almond paste, ricotta and cream cheese until smooth.
3. Spread almond mixture around the dough, leaving an 1 ½ inch border.
4.  Place strawberries and chopped chocolate on the dough. 
5. Brush egg glaze along the edge of the dough.  Fold the border in an 1 inch all the way around.
6. Bake at 350 F for 25 - 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve plain or with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.  I enjoyed mine plain with a glass of soy milk.  If you make this for a more formal dinner sprinkling powder sugar on top would dress it up a bit. 

Shrimp over Noodles

I made this for a quick dinner the other night.  If you want a hot meal in a hurry, there’s nothing better than shrimp. They cook in about 5 minutes.

Ingredients

2 Zucchinis
¾ pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 lime (for juice)

Garlic salt
coconut oil

Sriracha
toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. Toss shrimp in lime juice of half a lime and garlic salt to taste.
2. Melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add shrimp and cook till pink, turning once.
3. Make Zucchini noodles (recipe show here )
4. Place zucchini noodles in a bowl and spoon over shrimp.  Sprinkle cilantro on top and add sriracha to taste.

Gluten Free Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes

Pancakes for Sunday Brunch!

When I was at Whole Foods the other day to get pastry for my galettes, I came across the gluten free flour section.  I picked up almond meal and flaxseed meal to experiment with and came up with two pancake recipes.  My boyfriend preferred the ricotta version so that’s the recipe I’m posting first. 

Ingredients

¾ cup almond meal
¼ + 1/8 cup Flax seed meal

½ cup whole milk ricotta

4 eggs

½ tsp baking powder

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 – 1 cup blueberries

Prep Time: 10 minutes                   Cook Time: about 6-7 minutes per cake

1.  Measure out all dry ingredients and whisk together in a large bowl.  Add four eggs and whisk to combine. 

2.  Add ricotta and whisk to combine.  Add honey and blueberries and stir.  Heavy whisking will crush the blueberries.

3. Heat a pan or girdle to medium heat.  Melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in the pan. 

4. Drop large spoonfuls onto pan or girdle.  Use the back of the spoon to gently spread out batter. The batter is thick so they do no spread out on their own. 

5.  Cook a few minutes on each side.  Serve hot with a little maple syrup.

As you can see in the picture, the cakes will look pretty dark on the outside-almost burnt.  This happens every time I make pancakes with ricotta but they do not taste burnt so feel free to enjoy your pancakes even though they’re darker than usual.