Honey-Roasted Almonds

These are some delicious, honey-roasted almonds my sister made for us over Christmas. I didn't eat any, since I'm trying to be better about eating low oxalate, but Mr.Surly gobbled them up. They looked and smelled wonderful.

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.

Blueberry Walnut Pancakes

It’s Friday, which means (for us), tomorrow is pancakes day. These pancakes are a staple for us; I make them almost every Saturday, unless we have fried egg and cheese sandwiches.

Use this recipe as a base recipe. I change up the fruit on occasion, sometimes adding cranberries, sometimes banana, or any other fruit I have on hand. These pancakes are great because they are thick and fluffy. I love the texture of the rolled oats. The spices as well can be changed up based on what you’re feeling. Sometimes, I only add cinnamon because I’m feeling too lazy to grate nutmeg.

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.

Lime Laced Mexcian Wedding Cookies

I remember the first time I had these cookies back when I was in junior high. My older sister was taking Spanish class and one of her class assignments was to make these cookies. We loved them instantly. Avid bakers often make these cookies around Christmas, sometimes calling them Russian tea cakes. Whatever you call them, no doubt about it, they’re divine. I have a bunch of limes and thought I’d experiment and add some zest and juice to the recipe. It made the finished cookie a bit softer and less crumbly and gave them a nice hint of lime flavor. I’m embarrassed to admit these cookies almost didn’t make it until Mr.Surly came home from work. Lucky for him my abdominal pain kept me from eating the entire batch.

Baklava

This past week I finally had an appetite—yay. I was craving Greek food for some reason—pitas, hummus, stuffed grape leaves, tzatziki sauce, etc. I’d had this baklava recipe marked for a long time, I just never felt like making it. But when I decided to make a Greek themed dinner, I had to include baklava for the dessert. I admit I was nervous about making it, I really love baklava and I was worried my homemade version would not live up to my expectations. I couldn’t have been more wrong…..

Oh my goodness, this was delicious. This was my first experience with phyllo and it went well. I had a couple of tears, but nothing too terrible. When eating, the top phyllo layers didn’t want to stay together, but most baklava is messy to eat. The taste is unbelievable. I’m glad I halved the syrup recipe (though this is probably the reason my baklava top was so flaky) because it was really sweet. I thought about using agave instead of honey but I worried agave would make it too sweet. (I personally think agave is sweeter than honey, and therefore when I substitute agave for honey I usually reduce the amount). Initially I was worried that even a half batch would yield more than the two of us could eat, but Mr.Surly liked it so much he’d eat two pieces at a time. Needless to say, it didn’t last long (thank goodness). I don’t know why I was so nervous to make this; it really wasn’t hard at all. Next time I might add some almonds to the mixture.