There are certain desserts I can’t stay away from. Snowball cookies (a.k.a. Russian Tea Cakes) are in that category. If they’re on a plate, I’m eating every last one. There’s no doubt about it. And when I’m presented with toffee bars, the same dang thing happens.
Add caramelized smoked almonds, and guess what? It’s known in my brain as, “Give these away now now now before I eat every last one.”
Sometimes when I’m busy brainstorming recipes to post three times a week or stuck in a baker’s block rut, I don’t take the time to fully appreciate what drew me to create this blog. Luckily, I had a reminder the other day.
Every now and then, I have a day at work that makes me want to quit. It’s rare, since I’m lucky enough to love my job, but it happens. I worked really hard on something that I cared about, and it just didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to because of a little detail that I’ll call bureaucracy. That’s the b-word in my life. It’s what limits creativity with arbitrary, often pointless rules.
I got home that day feeling pretty weepy, and before I knew it, I was pounding away at smoked almonds with a rolling pin. Boy, was that therapeutic. And as I pressed dough into the baking pan in front of me, I was reminded of how lucky I am. Because not only do I work in a job I love, but I have another love that I foster here at home and share with you. And it’s not at all accidental that this love lets me crush things with my hands from time to time. Better than a punching bag, y’all.
Caramelizing smoked almonds is really easy. All you do is melt some butter, add brown sugar, and wait until it gets nice and bubbly. Then you stir in the almonds, and poof! Crack in a skillet, people. And it goes so unbelievably well with chocolate.
If you’ve never had a toffee bar, then I should probably explain that there is no actually toffee in them. You can add Heath bits, but that’s not traditional. It would taste good, mind you. But I honestly have no idea how toffee bars got their name. If you know, please enlighten me. My nerd self wants to know.
If you’re into baking desserts that will literally leap off the plate and into people’s mouths with astonishing rapidity, this is it. Just beware: it might be hard to stop. But that’s the joy of baking, isn’t it? Creating wonderful treats that are impossible to resist. And I can tell you, it has a heckuva lot more soul than red tape.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough to hang over the sides. Coat with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the margarine and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolk and extracts and mix again. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just incorporated.
- Pat the cookie dough onto the prepared pan evenly. Bake for 20 minutes.
- While the dough is baking, make the caramelized almonds. In a medium nonstick skillet, melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and stir. When the mixture becomes bubbly, stir for one more minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the smoked almonds. Spread the hot almonds out on a big plate or piece of waxed paper to cool.
- Remove the square pan from the oven and sprinkle on the chocolate chips. Wait five minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Using an offset spatula or knife, spread the melted chocolate evenly over the surface of the bars. Sprinkle on the almonds and let the chocolate set. If you’d like to speed up the chocolate hardening, put the pan in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Cut into squares and serve!
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If you have, you know all about the cherry blossoms. The trees are beyond gorgeous, with little delicate pink blossoms sprinkled all over the tidal basin. It’s so lovely. It’s also mega-crowded. The tourists come from everywhere to see the blossoms, and it’s almost impossible to walk. People just shuffle along, elbow to elbow, taking awkward selfies.
Still, cherry blossoms in D.C. mean spring, warm breezes, and fun cookie flavors. How could I not try to put all that cherry blossom aura into a cookie? So I did.
In general, there’s a lot of excitement in the air. I teach high school seniors, and their final exams are next week. If they didn’t mentally check out weeks ago, you can bet they’re long gone by now. Some of them stop turning in homework or coming to class with a shamelessness that would shock their parents, if they knew. If.
Every year, I sit through graduation as multiple emotions assail me. I get hit with good feelings, like pride and flat-out happiness, but I also get annoyed sometimes at the kids who cross the stage who gave everything minimal to no effort. I wonder if they’ll keep doing that, or if they’ll learn to take the chances they have and treasure them.
In the end, though, I try to focus on the positive. Everyone looks nice, the ceremony is celebratory, and best of all, there are cherry blossom cookies in the world!
These are soft-baked cookies with Nestle bling. Not only are they filled with Nestle cherry-filled chocolate chips, but they’re also studded with spring color chocolate chips. Aren’t they cute? I’m all about cute.
A few weeks ago, a student made a cookie recipe from my blog and as soon as I saw the cookies, I knew she’d broken the cardinal rule: chill the dough. Do not skip this step! It’s vital. Also, subbing in some almond extract for vanilla is key to giving these cookies their distinct flavor. The almond complements the cherry perfectly.
It’s tourist season here in D.C., which coincides with graduation, spring, and all things warm and wonderful. Enjoy some cherry blossom cookies! It’s a lot easier than fighting the crowds at the tidal basin.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the egg and the egg yolk, incorporating both fully. Finally, add the vanilla and almond extracts.
- In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in the cherry-filled chocolate chips and spring edition chocolate chips.
- Cover the dough and chill anywhere from 3 hours to overnight.
- When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Using about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of dough, form tall mounds and place them about 2 inches apart on your cookie sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes. Do not leave them in any longer!
- Cool cookies completely. Store in an airtight container. NOTE: Cookies are MUCH better on the second day!
Do you remember the red pistachios? Do they still exist?
I loved those things. They got red dye all over my hands, but I always thought they tasted better than the regular kind. My grandparents always kept them around for me. And then one day, they disappeared. I haven’t seen a red pistachio since.
Things have a habit of disappearing, unfortunately. There’s a great poem by Elizabeth Bishop called “One Art” where she talks about what she calls “the art of losing.” It’s a great poem, and my English teacher self highly recommends it to you. But I sometimes get creeped out by how much I’ve lost without even realizing it until after the fact.
It’s normal, of course. My childhood houses are gone, the cities I grew up in, all in the past. And while I’d like to think that they’re still out there somewhere, it’s hard to factor in the existence of a house I no longer live in, or a city I haven’t seen in years. But that’s life.
Luckily, pistachios still exist, even if they’re not red. And they come in great flavors. If you’ve never tried a salt and pepper pistachio, you are missing out. And if you’ve never had pistachio cake, that needs to end right now.
This cake recipe was handed to me years ago by a friend, and I just never tried it. To be honest, it didn’t look right at first. Pistachio pudding mix existed? And I could put it in cake?!
Oh, I was such an innocent. Cake mix rocks, pudding mix rocks, and when you put them together, they create even more delightful results. In this case, you get a perfectly dense, does-not-taste-like-a-mix, beautifully green cake.
Just in time for St. Patrick’s, might I add! That’s right. I’m getting into the holiday spirit here. And the glaze pushes this cake right over the top. I put some almond extract into the glaze (which I would inhale straight if I didn’t suspect it tastes icky by itself) and that really made that pistachio flavor pop.
The thing is, we never notice some of our favorite things until they’re gone. Or people, really. I miss a lot of people. I miss places I grew up. I miss red pistachios. And while I hope never to miss pudding mix, you never know. The time is now. Cherish what you have!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a bundt or tube pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a bowl, mix all of the cake ingredients together until everything is smooth and incorporated. Your batter should be nice and evenly green.
- Pour the batter into the pan. Depending on the size of the pan (a smaller and/or deeper pan has more baking time), bake for anywhere from 45-60 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool until the cake is no longer hot. Invert the pan onto a plate and continue to cool.
- While the cake cools, make the glaze. Combine the butter, almond extract, and powdered sugar. Gradually add the milk until the desired consistency forms. You want a thick glaze, but it needs to be liquidy enough to pour.
- Carefully remove the cake from the pan. Pour the glaze on the cake and let it set.
- Cut into slices and serve.
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Anyway, the idea for these cookies came from a Godiva truffle. They have this summer ice cream parlor line, and the pistachio flavor is so incredible. I could eat way too many at once. They remind me a bit of marzipan, but with white chocolate in the mix. So amazing.
Instead of using green food coloring to make you think you’re eating pistachio, I just put the pistachios in the batter. Easy enough, right? And there’s some almond extract in there as well to make that lovely nuttiness really shine through.
As always, chill your dough. These cookies are not super thick, but they are nice and soft in the middle with crispy edges, which is appropriate for a cookie with nuts. You want to have that crunch in there!
Also, buy the pistachios already shelled. It saves a heck of a lot of time! And poke some into the top of each cookie before baking! It looks nicer.
Feel free to take a bite out of these guys! Or several. I did finish the cookie after I took the picture, don’t worry.
And enjoy the white chocolate pairing! It’s perfect for summer. Nice and light to go with those protein-packed nuts. Save the big heavy giant cookies for a cooler day!
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup shelled pistachios (unsalted)
Instructions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract and mix again. Add the dry ingredients and beat again until combined.
Fold in the white chocolate chips and pistachios. Put the dough in the refrigerator and chill, covered, anywhere from three hours to overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Make tall dough mounds about 2 tablespoons in size and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Bake for 8-10 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden at the edges. Do not overbake.
Store in an airtight container for up to one week.
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