Elements » almonds

Chocolate Almond Fudge Truffles

Sheila — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 07:33:02 +0000

Kemal has been wanting chocolate almond fudge, so I made him some tonight. But instead of the usual square pieces, I formed them into balls and rolled some of them in cocoa powder and some of them in powdered sugar.

I’m not sure if the round shape and the powder on the outside makes them truffles or not, but since they look like truffles and taste like fudge, I’m calling them fudge truffles.

They tasted fantastic, and they don’t take hardly any time at all to make.

Chocolate Almond Fudge Truffles

Yield: 9 large truffles

Ingredients:

3/4 cups milk chocolate chips (you can substitute with semi-sweet chocolate chips if you like)
1/2 cup almond, finely chopped
2 tbsp. butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup powdered sugar + extra for rolling
cocoa powdered for rolling

Instructions:

Line a small dish with wax paper. (I used a 4 inch x 4 inch square ramekin that was 1 1/2 inches deep.)
Spray the wax paper with vegetable oil or grease the wax paper with butter.
Fill a medium sized pot with about a quart of water. Place a smaller pot inside the larger pot, making sure that the water isn’t touching the bottom of the smaller pot. If it is, just remove some of the water. This will be your make-shift double boiler. (If you have a double boiler, then you can just use it.) Here’s a picture of my make-shift double boiler so you can see what it looks like.

Melt the chocolate, butter, and oil on low heat in the small pot. Don’t be tempted to increase the heat. Let it melt slowly. When melting chocolate, I’ve found that you get much better results when you don’t let the chocolate get too hot. Melt it nice and slow on low…that’s my motto.
When the chocolate and butter start melting a little, stir it a little from time to time.
When the chocolate and butter have completely melted, stir in the finely chopped almonds and powdered sugar.
After the sugar has dissolved, pour the fudge into your prepared pan.
Refrigerate until the fudge cools and hardens.
After the fudge has hardened and cooled down, use a butter knife dipped in a little vegetable oil to remove the fudge from the ramekin.
Remove the wax paper, and then cut the fudge into 9 square pieces.
Pour a little cocoa powder on a small plate, and then sprinkle a little powdered sugar on another plate.
Roll each fudge square into a ball and then roll them cocoa powder and/or powdered sugar.
Place in a mini paper cupcake holder.
Refrigerate in a plastic container with a lid until you’re ready to serve it.

Chocolate-Dipped Figs with Almonds

Sheila — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:22:34 +0000

Dress up your dried figs for the holidays with this super-quick and festive dessert.

It took me less than 10 minutes to make them, so if you need to bring something to a holiday gathering or potluck, this would be a great choice if you’re short on time. They’re so cute, and they taste fantastic!!

I’ve also made them with pistachios instead of almonds, but unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the ones with pistachios. I love them with both kinds of nuts!

I actually find these adorable dipped figs more appealing than cakes, pies, puddings, or other such desserts. They’re simply exquisite!

Chocolate-Dipped Figs with Almonds

Recipe Source: Whole Foods Market

Homemade Nutty Bran Flakes with Raisins

Sheila — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:00:28 +0000

Want to make your own bran cereal with raisins? It’s really easy, and it tastes fantastic! I like it better than the store-bought stuff.

There’s really nothing to it. If you can chop some almonds and then throw them in the blender, then you can make these nutty bran flakes. After that, you just mix together the ingredients…roll out the dough…bake…tear the bran flakes…bake some more…let ‘em cool…toss in raisins…pour ‘em in a bowl…add milk…and enjoy every nutty, yummy bite!

Give it a try one of these days and see for yourself just how fun and satisfying it is to make your own cereal.

Homemade Nutty Bran Flakes with Raisins

Slightly Adapted from: Willow Bird Baking

Cabbage Crunch

Sheila — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:50:29 +0000

About once a week we have lunch at our local Whole Foods Market, and one of my favorite items on the salad bar is cabbage crunch. It’s also easy and convenient to make at home any time I’m in the mood for it since I always have seeds and nuts on hand.

The cabbage crunch that’s on Whole Foods’ salad bar doesn’t have tomatoes or grapes in it…that’s my addition…and the dressing they use is also different than what I put on mine. But I just love combining sweet and spicy which is why I add tomatoes and grapes and then use the Latin Lemonaise which gives it a bit of kick in terms of spiciness. But if you prefer a vinaigrette, mayonnaise, or some other salad dressing, go for it.

You’ll notice I didn’t put any measurements on my ingredient list, and that’s because when I make cabbage salads, I usually just dice, shred, sprinkle, and chop…throwing everything into a bowl without measuring, and then mixing it up. You can do the same.

The mixture you see in the photo below is shredded cabbage, cherry tomatoes, black grapes, green onions, poppy seeds, slivered almonds, flax seeds and the Latin Lemonaise.

Try it one day. Hope you enjoy every crunchy bite! I know I did!

Cabbage Crunch

Adapted from: Whole Foods Market

Making Homemade Granola

Sheila — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:36:15 +0000

Making homemade granola is really easy to do.

The recipe is also flexible and open, giving you the ability to mix and match ingredients based on your preferences and what you have available in your pantry at any given moment.

Don’t have almonds or maybe you don’t like them all that much? No problem. Use walnuts, hazelnuts, macademia nuts, pistachios, or cashews.

Don’t have flax seeds on hand? Throw in some pumpkin or poppy seeds instead.

Don’t have agave nectar in your pantry? Use molasses, honey, or maple syrup.

Don’t use safflower oil in your house? Try canola.

You’re not big on papaya? Use raisins, dried mangoes, or dried cranberries.

Add cinnamon if you want. Maybe use a rum extract instead of vanilla.

You get the idea. Change the recipe however you want.

Another perk is that your house will also smell like homemade oatmeal cookies, and that’s such a warm and inviting aroma, isn’t it. Who can resist!?

Even Kemal who’s never eaten the first bite of any kind of cereal in all the years I’ve known him was all over this granola as soon as it came out of the oven. He loved it and had some this morning with milk and honey! He’s even going to have some on sprinkled on some Greek yogurt tonight for dessert!

I keep asking myself why in the world I waited all these years to make my own granola!? But one thing’s for sure…I’m never buying it again! It’s SO much better than what you buy in the store!

And best of all, you will have made a wholesome breakfast for yourself or your loved ones, and when they enjoy your granola for breakfast, they’ll not only appreciate your efforts, but you’ll also feel a sense of satisfaction as well.

Homemade granola also makes a great homemade gift. Keep some for yourself, and then give some away to friends and family to enjoy. Trust me, they will!!

Making Homemade Granola

Adapted from: Willow Bird Baking

Flourless-No Bake Honey Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Sheila — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:32:57 +0000

What can I say? They’re freakin’ awesome!!! They’re so yummy you wouldn’t believe it. Seriously…this is one helluva cookie!!! And guess what? You don’t need to bake it and you don’t need to cook it. How cool is that??!!

Flourless-No Bake Honey Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Yield: 9 cookies

Ingredients:

1/3 cup freshly ground almond butter
3 tbsp. raw honey
1 individual package of instant maple oatmeal (or you can substitute with 1/2 cup raw oats)
9 whole almonds

Instructions:

Grind your almond butter. (I used the grinder they had at Whole Foods to grind mine, but you can grind them in your food processor if you want. Just add a tbsp. of oil to the nuts while grinding them.)
In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 cup of almond butter, 3 tbsp. of raw honey, and oatmeal.
Make walnut sized balls, and then place the dough balls on a piece of parchment paper.
Press the dough ball down so it flattens out.
Place one whole almond in the center of the cookie.
Refrigerate whatever you don’t eat.

Hazelnut Semolina Cake

Sheila — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:46:55 +0000

I really love Greek semolina cakes, but I’ve never made one with hazelnuts before. It tasted great, but I thought it was just a little too dry for me. Next time I’ll make more syrup to pour over top it.

The cake is very sweet and the nuts make it rich, so a very small piece is all that’s necessary for it to be satisfying.

Hazelnut Semolina Cake

Adapted From: “Tastes of the Mediterranean“, page 105 (Halvas Fourno)

Chiles en Nogada (Chiles in Walnut Sauce)

Sheila — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:16:13 +0000

Have you ever seen the film, “Like Water for Chocolate”? It’s a foreign film that was released in the early 1990’s, and if you’re passionate about food and cooking and enjoy a good love story, I’d highly recommend this film. Throughout the entire movie, the heroine is cooking all kinds of wonderful meals that affect the people who eat it. Certainly food can have a powerful affect on people. For example, some foods are considered to be aphrodisiacs while other foods are calming, and soothing. But in this film, the heroine seems to possess a magical power in regard to her cooking.

Anyway, it’s a beautiful film, and we also bought the book which is wonderful as well. And of course, Kemal and I, who are both passionate about food and cooking, couldn’t help but want to try to make some of the meals the heroine was preparing in the story. Kemal said of all meals that were featured in the film and the book, the one that he really wanted to try more than any of the others was the chiles in nogada, (chiles in walnut sauce) which was served for guests at a wedding feast.

We did make some changes with the recipe, but perhaps the next time we make it we’ll do so by not deviating from the recipe. We changed how the peppers are prepared, and Kemal was a little disappointed that the changes he made resulted in the peppers being firmer. Poblano peppers apparently have a tougher skin than bell or Cubanelle peppers because when we stuff bell peppers or Cubanelle peppers, the skin becomes very soft. Personally, I didn’t mind that the poblanos were firm, but Kemal said he likes them better softer, and for that reason, next time he’ll make the peppers according to recipe.

As far as the taste of this meal is concerned, I have to say it’s exquisite. The contrasting textures and colors was perfect. There was crunchiness of the pomegranate seeeds and almonds, the slightly chewiness of the peppers, and the soft creaminess of the sauce. The red, green, and white colors were festive, and the mixing of sweet, tangy, and salty made for a perfect combination. There was also just a hint of heat from the peppers which were mild but just a little warmer than bell peppers.

Each bite was heavenly, and the meal was oh-so satisfying. We will definitely make this again and again.

Chiles en Nogada (Chiles in Walnut Sauce)

Adapted from: “Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel

and from The Hungry Engineer’s adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s recipe

Clementine Cake

Sheila — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:30:09 +0000

Kemal bought me a bag of clementines last week, and I’ve really been enjoying them. They’re so incredibly sweet and juicy, and I couldn’t help but wonder how they would taste in a cake. I found a gluten-free recipe online and decided to try it. I don’t have Celiac Disease, but Kemal and I both really like dense, nutty cakes and so I thought this would be a wonderful cake to try.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I didn’t have enough almonds on-hand, so I made up the difference with some pecans. I also made a glaze for the cake, and then I poked holes in the cake and drizzled the syrupy glaze over it. I let the cake sit overnight, and this morning after I cut into it, the cake was incredibly moist.

It was sweet, but not too sweet, Best of all, the clementines give the cake a lovely aroma and taste, and every bite had me thinking about tropical beaches, warm breezes, and walks along the sea. *sigh* Besides being the perfect way to end a meal, this cake is also great for breakfast. Give it a try yourself and see what you think.

Clementine Cake (Adapted from: Nigella Lawson)

Here’s another way to decorate the cake.

I just felt like being silly last night so I decorated the cake with clementine slices, cinnamon sticks, and a piece of a pecan. I thought it was cute, but I ended up munching on the clementine slices last night for dessert. Oops!

Banana Nut Bread

Sheila — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:38:45 +0000

I always enjoyed banana bread, but the recipes I tried were always a little disappointing because the bread was never moist enough to my liking. About 7 months ago, however, I found the absolute best banana bread recipe ever!! It’s very moist, has the perfect sweetness, and also combines bananas with one of my favorite foods…chocolate chips!

Every time I’ve made this bread and taken it in to work, my co-workers just rave over it. I’ve had several people ask me if I would make them an entire loaf, and I’ve had a couple of people tell me they’d pay me to make them a loaf. It definitely makes a great gift. Believe me, the recipients are quite appreciative.

Sometimes I’ll make a loaf for me and Kemal and then make a mini cake-sized one as a gift for someone at work. Here’s what the small cake-sized one looks like:

The other thing that’s great about this bread is that that you can slice it up and freeze each slice individually so you have something sweet on hand for those days when you just don’t have time to bake. It doesn’t take long at all to thaw out.

Okay, here’s the banana bread recipe I found and that I want to share with you. I make my bread almost exactly the same way except for few minor things. After greasing the loaf pan with butter, I sprinkle course sugar on top of the butter. That extra bit of sugar makes the bread extra yummy!!! I also use almonds instead of walnuts, and I just mix everything in one bowl.

Banana Nut Bread (Recipe Source: modified from: www.familyfriendlyfood.com)