White Chocolate Macadamia Biscotti

I’m finally getting around to posting some recipes. I have just been so exhausted and lethargic the past week or two, all I felt like doing was sleep. But this week I’m trying to get caught up in posting. I wish I had an assistant to help me take and edit the photos, as well as type out the recipes and posts.

I love to have some kind of treat with my morning cappuccino. Biscotti is a favorite, so are cookies, date bars, etc. I had some macadamias, and decided to make a biscotti version of the best cookie ever. It took me a few attempts to get the right ratio of dry to wet ingredients, but all the disasters were still delicious, even if they were too crumbly.

These went fast, I had them with my morning coffee and again in the afternoon with some chai tea. Next time I’m going to make two loaves, as even Mr.Surly was a fan.

Lemon Macadamia Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

All right, I’ve finally put aside the post-wedding things, for the time being, and got back in the kitchen to make something. It has been really crazy taking care of all the paperwork, combining things, etc. I’m keeping my last name, so at least that gets me out of more forms. 

These cupcakes are not low oxalate-friendly because they contain macadamia nuts. But I felt like cheating because the recipe sounded so delicious. I never thought I would find a cupcake refreshing, but that’s exactly what I told Mr. Surly as I tried my cupcake. Very lemony. And I love the chunks of crunch macadamia nuts to contrast with the soft texture of the cupcake. 

I found the buttercream a bit too sweet, so I'm glad i didn't ice my cupcakes too thick. I left the zest out of both the cupcakes and icing, since on my low oxalate diet, lemon juice is allowed, but not lemon zest. But feel free to add ½ Tbl lemon zest to the cupcake batter and 1 tsp lemon zest to the frosting. I’m sure they would taste even better that way. 

On a side note, I can’t believe tomorrow is the Kentucky Derby! I have a friend who lives in Louisville and I have had an authentic Mint Julep at Churchill Downs. I ended up winning $8 at the race that day, so I was happy. So that is my mission before the derby tomorrow. To make the perfect Mint Julep. I have 3 versions, and I’ll share them with you next week.

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

This week has been incredibly busy for me; full of errands and appointments. It’s been pretty stressful, therefore I decided I needed a special treat; I went with my favorite cookies.

A few years ago, I worked with a girl named Zara. She was from Sri Lanka and was (and is) the most genuinely nicest person I have ever met to date. I never saw her upset, nor even irritated. She would often bring some kind of baked treat to our meetings; cupcakes, cookies, etc. One day she brought these cookies. I think they were gone within 10 minutes. Everyone loved them and no one could stop eating them. I begged her for the recipe and, lucky for me, she gave me a copy. Thank you, Zara, for the best cookie I’ve ever eaten.

Be careful if you make these, you won’t be able to stop eating them.

Macadamia Fudge

I love chocolate but I’m not a big fan of fudge. I think it’s because I feel like eating fudge is a waste of calories; I’d rather just eat a square of dark chocolate.

I don’t have a go-to fudge recipe since I don’t eat it so I started looking around for recipes. I admit I was nervous, especially after all the trouble I had last week with the mint recipe. Most of the simple and easy recipes called for a jar of marshmallow fluff or mini marshmallows. I detest marshmallows and marshmallow fluff; way too sweet and sugary for my taste. I found it difficult to find an easy fudge recipe that did not include this stuff. I learned in my recipe research that fudge gets its smooth consistency from careful temperature monitoring. For people who don’t want to fiddle around with a candy thermometer to maintain the perfect fudge cooking temperature, marshmallow fluff is the secret to smoothness. So what about people, like me, who don’t want to deal with a candy thermometer nor add a jar of marshmallow fluff?

There had to be a recipe out there for me so I kept searching for a fudge that sounded appealing. I finally settled on this marshmallow fluff-free recipe. It turned out to be pretty good, a bit on the sweet side, but still good. Using evaporated milk instead of sweetened condensed milk might cut down on the sweetness factor. I ended up making a full batch and froze some. Though, at the rate that Mr. Surly is eating them up, the frozen ones might not last much longer.

Tonight I head north to the city of Brotherly Love for the next week and a half to be with family for Christmas. I envision myself snuggled up on the couch, watching movies while being attended to by worried, loving family members. It will be wonderful to be coddled and made much of. Though I’m not looking forward to cold temps and snow.