Nuts

Making the Perfect Middle Eastern Baklava

May 24, 2019

Making the Perfect Middle Eastern Baklava may seem complicated but it’s really simple with this recipe. You’ll be licking your fingers clean of the honey syrup in no time.

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In honor of the new upcoming Aladdin movie, by Disney. I’m dedicating the week for recipes that are inspired by the movie. Have a picnic on your magic carpet.

When I went to Greece 10 years ago, I ate some of the very best food ever. I had great food in markets, in nice restaurants, and in little divey places too. Maybe it was just because I was on vacation but I swear everything was just so good there. Everything was fresh, flavorful, and so fantastic.

Thankfully, I had the chance to eat plenty of baklava!

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Banana Nutella Bread Pudding- SRC

June 24, 2013

So probably picking a bread pudding for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post was not the best idea since it’s been so hot out now. Wasn’t I just complaining that it was cold and rainy? Well, that is the way things go in New England. But not or not I swear it’s worth it to make this bread pudding anytime of the year!

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club post I had Shirley’s blog Enriching You Kid!. It had such a fun time going through Shirley’s blog because she had such interesting recipes. I went through years and years of recipes looking around for something to make and share. I had several recipes in mind but decided on the Banana Nutella Bread Pudding. I couldn’t pass up on having some Nutella!!

I kept all of the ingredients the same but played around with the proportions of the ingredients. Shirley’s recipe called for 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of bread. Since I prefer a bit drier of a bread pudding I changed up the amounts to 1 1/2 cups milk and 3 1/5 cups of bread. If you prefer a wetter bread pudding then increase the amount of milk and reduce the amount of bread a bit. Just as simple as that.

Hope that you enjoy this delightful bread pudding as much as we did 🙂

Banana Nutella Bread Pudding

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 cups bread pieces
1 banana, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Nutella
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts, optional

Process

Beat together the milk, egg, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the bread, sliced banana, and the Nutella. Fold together completely to combine, let soak for 30 minutes.
While the bread is soaking up the milk mixture, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and prepare a baking dish by greasing all the sides.
Pour the bread pudding mixture into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle nuts on top.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, then let stand for at least 10 minutes prior to serving.

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Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts

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Cream Cheese Spirals aka Rugelach

September 21, 2010

These little buggers are trouble. I don’t think you can eat just one- I know we couldn’t. Luckily, we brought these over to a friend’s house when we were watching the Giants vs Colts game on Sunday to share the wealth. (Seriously, what they hell happened guys? Giants have to step it up!)

You might be thinking ‘these look like rugelach’. Well you’re right! These basically are. I’m just calling them Cream Cheese Spirals since I don’t want someone looking at this saying ‘Rugelach has apricot jam in the filling’ or ‘this does not have enough sugar’ etc. Either way, both these and rugelach are amazing. I’m really glad that I made these because it opened my eyes to why I love rugelach… cream cheese and butter. I won’t be eating rugelach for a LONG time now.

I loved rolling these guys up into a cresent (roll) shape. But to be honest… next time (a long time from now) I will just divide the dough into 3-4 sections and roll them out into rectangles and make them into the logs to slice them. So you can skip the rolling out into a circle, trimming, and then reworking into trim parts into rectangles if you want. I totally give you permission. Do whatever it easy and enjoyable.

Cream Cheese Spirals

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons vanilla sugar*

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups of flour, sifted

Filling

1 cup walnuts or peacons, finealy shopped

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup vanilla sugar*

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Using an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until soft. Add in the flour in batches and mix until a dough forms. Divide the dough in half and flatten into disks, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Make the filling by combining the nuts, sugars, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 375. Grease 2 cookie sheets.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Roll out each half into a thin circle and trim to 11 inches (about the size of a dinner plate). Reserve the remnants. Sprinkle some of the filling mixture onto the circle, press into the dough. Cut the circle into 4 sections, then 4 more, totaling 16 sections. Roll the spirals from the widest point to the smallest.

Gently kneed the trimmed pieces to incorporate together. Roll out into a rectangle. Press the remaining filling mixture into the dough. Roll the dough into a log and then slice.

Evenly place all spirals on a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 15-20 minutes.

Trail Mix Cookies

March 13, 2010

These really are my favorite cookies. Not just because I make them but because they are oatmeal, chocolate chip, and coconut macaroons rolled into one. I call them trail mix cookies because they remind me of good trail mix from trader joes. So with oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, cranberries, and walnuts you can take on what ever is ahead of you, a long trail or the sofa and a movie.

These were originally cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies off of a package of cinnamon chips but as time went on I started to mess around and bake them differently every time until reaching this. So cinnamon chips became chocolate chips, then I added in nuts, then coconut, then cranberries. Everything worked together to become a chewy oatmeal cookie packed with goodies.

Typically, I make cake for our monthly staff meetings as a way of celebrating the birthdays that month. Things have ranged from Tres Leche Cake to Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. I kinda felt bad for not making a cake this month but I was not in the mood to make cake. Just plain and simple, I wanted to make cookies. So on Thursday morning I got up when Price was getting up for work @ 5.20 and started to make cookies. Having 1 for breakfast was a great way to start the day.

I don’t think people minded having cookies instead of cake, esp when I saw some people stack up a few on a napkin as they went into the staff meeting and then grab some on the way out. After work I brought over the extras to Price’s class. True story- I got on the wrong train. I could have taken the B,C, or the D there but I got on the E line. 6+ years in Boston and I get on the wrong train! What makes it even worse is that I could have gotten off and waited for another or walked but I w as not paying attention for my last chance to fix the situation so I had to walk through the mall to get back on course. What the hell?

Trail Mix Cookies

makes 6 dozen 2 in dia cookies

3 sticks of unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups of brown sugar (I use dark brown)

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

3 eggs

3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

3 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

2 1/4 cups of chocolate chips

1 1/4 cups of shredded coconut

1 cup of chopped walnuts

3/4 cup of dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350.

Prepare baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl, set side. Cream together the butter and sugars on high until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Add the flour mixture to the batter in batches. On low-speed, add the oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, and cranberries until combined.

Form cookies and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Recipe produces 6 dozen 2 in diameter cookies, larger cookies will result in a lesser number and will take longer to bake.

Pecan Snowdrops

December 13, 2009

Pecan Snowdrops, more commonly known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, are my favorite Christmas time cookie. They are nutty, buttery, sugary, and bite size! They are as easy to make as they are to eat. I use a great Christmas cookie book, fittingly called The Christmas Cookie Book, by Lou Seibert Pappas. It breaks down different types of cookies into chapters from timeless traditional, family favorites, cookies for gift giving and mailing, and elegant party cookies. These cookies fall under the gift giving and mailing chapter since they can ben stored in an airtight container for 2 weeks, that is if they last that long!

Price and I made a BIG batch (4x the typical recipe) on Friday night for a Cookies Exchange we hosted through our Meetup group. It was a lot of fun, a good break from the madness of finals, and we met a bunch of great people who brought some really great cookies.

Pecan Snowdrops

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or toasted, skinned hazelnuts (finely chop the nuts or run the through a food processor)
Powdered sugar for Dusting

Process

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets or use nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheets.
Using a stand mixer or a large bowl and a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, salt, flour and nuts and mix well. Roll the dough into ¾ inch balls between your palms, and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 ½ inches apart.
One sheet at a time, bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light brown. Transfer to rack to cool slightly. Place the still-warm cookies on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil and heavily dust with powdered sugar shaken through a sieve. Let cool completely.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks