PINECONE ALMOND COOKIES AND A COOKBOOK TO LOVE

Posted in Cookbook Reviews, Cookies by sallybr

I follow wonderful bakers on Instagram, they are a great source of inspiration, from cookies to cakes, from tarts to bread baking, and patisserie in general. A few months ago I learned that Winnie Lee (IG ohcakeswinnie) was going to publish her first cookbook. I placed an order and anxiously waited. If you like to order Bake with Winnie for you or to gift to someone, click here. Her style of baking is whimsical, clever, creative. Reminds me of one of my favorite bakers from The Great British Bake-Off, Kim-Joy. Bake with Winnie is a book full of gorgeous bakes, colorful, playful, impossible to look at them and not smile. And dream. Today I share with you the second recipe I tried: Pinecone Almond Cookies Tartlets, absolutely adorable!

PINECONE ALMOND COOKIES
(published with permission from Bake with Winnie)

350g (3 ½ cups) ground almonds
125g (1 cup) icing sugar
3 eggs (medium)
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla paste
sliced almonds (for decoration)
50g (⅓ cup) dark chocolate (for dipping)
Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to 175°C and line a flat baking tray with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds and sifted icing sugar. Whisk the eggs, vanilla and almond extract in a separate bowl and add them to the dry ingredients. Mix with a whisk or spatula until you get a thick, slightly sticky paste. You can add a bit more ground almonds (25g / ¼cup) so it’s easier to work with.

Using a small ice cream scoop or your hands slightly damp, portion out the dough. Roll into long oval shapes and slightly flatten them. Arrange on the baking tray. Press sliced almonds into the top of each cookie in overlapping rows to mimic the look of pinecones, leaving about 1/3 of the cookie bare for
dipping in chocolate later.

Bake for about 12–15 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack.

Dust with icing sugar the almond section of the cookie. Melt the dark chocolate and dip the bare end of each cookie into the chocolate. Let the dipped cookies set on parchment paper before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Just loved making this batch of cookies, which could easily also be flipped into hedgehogs, don’t you think? Add the chocolate to the other side, a couple of white drops of chocolate or Royal icing, or even sprinkles for the eyes, and there you go! New shape….. They have a nice texture and that delicious taste of almonds made more intense by the roasted pieces all over. The only time-consuming step is finding nicely shaped almond slices in the bag, they are often a bit too broken or damaged. But it is totally worth it.

Moving on, a teaser recipe from the book, Chocolate Tartlets, in which she makes the dough in a pretty efficient way, shaping them in the bottom side of muffin tins.

That should give you an idea of Winnie’s style of baking. I am totally smitten by her cookbook. So let me take you through a little stroll through her publication… The book is divided in five sections.

PRETTY FOR SPRING. In this section she shares so many bakes with a floral and overall cute component. She opens the chapter with one incredibly beautiful crostata, perfect lattice and colorful flowers all around the edge, all made with pastry. Truly a masterpiece! Imagine Madeleines decorated with pressed flowers, a Roll cake perfect for Valentine’s with hearts imprinted all over. A complete dream of a chapter.

SUMMER LOVIN’. Again the chapter opens with a showstopper, her Happiness Cake Roll, at some point I simply must make it and take for my donations on Fridays. It is one of the happiest bakes I’ve seen, just gives you a smile. A patterned roll cake topped with all kinds of colorful concoctions made of meringue. Another favorite of mine is her Strawberry Cake, decorated with a white buttercream lattice. Must bake! Adorable Linzer-style cookies are part of this chapter too.

SWEET AND SPOOKY. If you are a Halloween-lover like myself, you will flip for this part of her book, but there is a lot more. It starts with cupcakes decorated as little foxes. It is in this chapter that you will find chocolate tartlets I used as a teaser recipe, although hers are different, the filling is ganache and they are all topped with a fresh raspberry. A Spider Web Cake Roll must be part of my Halloween next year. It is a promise! But my very very favorite? A Woodland Cake Roll which is rolled vertically. I’ve been fascinated with this type of cake for a long time.

MAGICAL CHRISTMAS. I almost made her opening recipe, Gingerbread Man Cake Roll. Yes, she is huge on cake rolls, a kind of bake I love and do not make often enough. That must change… Snowflake Pastries made with puff pastry are on my list also. They look absolutely amazing. Perhaps my favorite of this chapter: Holly Mini Tarts. Incredibly cute!

FROSTINGS AND FILLINGS. In this final chapter she shares some of the basic recipe used throughout the book, so it is very useful, plus you can use those for your own versions of cakes and bakes.

I thank Winnie for allowing me to publish a recipe from her cookbook, she is a very sweet person, quite helpful and interactive in her IG page (click here), so pay her a visit and order a copy of her book for yourself or someone you love…

ONE YEAR AGO: Fall Leaves Panch Puran Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Farro with Chickpeas and Spinach

THREE YEARS AGO: Bison a la Mode de Bourgogne

FOUR YEARS AGO: Masala Mashed Potatoes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Lessons from Tanya: Sugar Cookie Silhouettes

SIX YEARS AGO: Cherry-Chipotle Chicken Thighs

SEVEN YEARS AGO: White Chocolate Mini-Mousse with Sugared Cranberries

EIGHT YEARS AGO: You Say Ebelskiver, I say Falafel

NINE YEARS AGO: Happy Thanksgiving!

TEN YEARS AGO: Two Takes on Raspberries

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree & The Global Pastry Review

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Own Your Kitchen with Cappuccino Panna Cotta

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

17Nov2023

THAI CARROT AND SWEET POTATO SOUP

Posted in Soups, Vegetarian-friendly, Veggies by sallybr

It is not that common for me to rave about a soup, but this one leaves me no other option. Absolutely delicious, super simple to prepare, just a few ingredients give it a lift from the humble to extraordinary. I modified it quite a bit to accommodate food sensitivities, but whatever you do, do not change the almond topping. Tamari-Roasted Almonds. Superb!

THAI CARROT AND SWEET POTATO SOUP WITH TAMARI-ROASTED ALMONDS
(adapted from cookieandkate)

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 ribs celery, diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon red curry paste
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
¼ cup raw almond butter
3 cups diced peeled carrots
3 cups diced peeled sweet potatoes
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup raw almonds, finely chopped
1 heaping tablespoon tamari
Fresh lime juice

Make the roasted almonds. Heat oven to 325F. Mix almonds with tamari, spread over a small baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Roast for 10 to 12 minutes, until fragrant and starting to get some color. Reserve.

To make the soup: In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the celery and ginger and sauté for a couple of minutes, until fragrant. Stir in the curry paste. In a small bowl, whisk together some of the broth with the almond butter until smooth. Add the mixture to the pot, along with the carrots, sweet potatoes, salt, and remaining vegetable broth. Stir until combined.

Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 20 to 30 minutes (depending on how small you cut your pieces), until the vegetables are fork-tender. Transfer the soup to a blender (a Vitamix would be awesome here), and blend in batches until super smooth. If too thick, add more vegetable broth or water. Transfer the soup back to the pot and reheat if necessary.

Serve the soup with some almonds on top and squeeze a little fresh lime.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This is a vegan soup, so if you need to entertain someone who follows this type of nutrition, this would be an excellent choice. Hearty, flavorful, satisfying, perfect in taste and texture. As the weather cools down, soup becomes more and more attractive. We enjoyed it with sourdough bread, a little ham and a fried egg, so let’s say it was not even close to vegan by the time we were done… I highly recommend that you incorporate the tamari-roasted almonds in your cooking, it would go well with many different soups, salads, and even pasta.

ONE YEAR AGO: Vanilla Mini-Cakes with Honey Pears

TWO YEARS AGO: Buttermilk Roast Chicken

THREE YEARS AGO: Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes in Yogurt-Curry Sauce

FOUR YEARS AGO: Panettone, Wild-Yeast Version

FIVE YEARS AGO: Turkey Chili Under Pressure

SIX YEARS AGO: Tiramisu Macarons

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Cider Mini-Cheesecakes with Caramel Sauce

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Rustic Ciabatta and Mini-Meatloaves

NINE YEARS AGO: Green Rice

TEN YEARS AGO: Potato-Crusted Italian Mini-Quiches

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Beetroot Sourdough for the Holidays

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Cod Filet with Mustard Tarragon Crust

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Soba Noodles: Light and Healthy

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Potato-Rosemary Bread

23Jan2022

COLE SLAW WITH ALMOND DRESSING

Posted in Veggies by sallybr

Let’s get the V word in the open right away: vegan. This is vegan. And also very tasty. If you are not too fond of mayonnaise, this cole slaw will have your name written all over. Low in saturated fat, high in flavor. I did not add red cabbage because I wanted to keep a milder texture but consider including some if you prefer more crunch.

VEGAN COLESLAW WITH ALMOND DRESSING
(adapted from The Complete Vegan Cookbook)

for the dressing:
½ cup blanched, slivered almonds
1/2 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
juice of 1 lemon
water as needed to adjust consistency

for the coleslaw:
1 small head of cabbage, cored and very thinly sliced
3 large carrots, shredded in the food processor
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, cut into matchsticks
1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/2 tsp dried dill
salt and pepper to taste
fresh lemon juice, to serve

Combine the almonds with ½ cup water and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, remove from the heat, and let the almonds soak for 20 minutes. In a blender, combine the almonds with their soaking water, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, agave, salt,, and oil. Blend until creamy, adding water if needed to bring the consistency to that of mayonnaise or a little thinner. Reserve.

Add the cabbage, carrot and yellow pepper pepper to a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Fold in the parsley and dill, season with salt and pepper, and serve with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice all over.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I was very intrigued by this dressing, which goes in the direction of the cashew cream, but using almonds instead. I advise you to make the dressing a little thinner than mayo, because it tends to get drier as it sits. Leftovers lasted for two days without getting soggy – maybe everything turned slightly softer but not by much. The flavor actually intensified a bit.

The vegan aspect of our meal was destroyed by associating the coleslaw with grilled pork tenderloin. Of course, if you are vegetarian, pick other dishes to enjoy with this delicious slaw. We don’t eat mayo, some versions we like use yogurt instead, but for my personal taste, this is the best alternative dressing for coleslaw we’ve had so far.

ONE YEAR AGO: Busy Bee Sugar Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Mincemeat Pies, when the third time is a charm

THREE YEARS AGO: Shibari Bread]

FOUR YEARS AGO: Incredibly Simple Times Four – January 2018

FIVE YEARS AGO: Two Salads and a Blog Award!

SIX YEARS AGO: When Three is Better than Two

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Somebody Stop Me!

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Zucchini Pasta with Cilantro-Cashew Pesto

NINE YEARS AGO: Bran Muffins, Take Two

TEN YEARS AGO: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Mogo Mojo

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Slow-Roasted Chicken Thighs: an Ice-Breaker

16May2021

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE TIMES FOUR: MAY 2021

Posted in Air-Frying, Desserts, Incredibly simple, Salads, Veggies by sallybr

Last time I shared Incredibly Simple recipes was 7 months ago, so it’s been a while… The first three are embarrassing simple. The fourth will surprise you. Read on, my friends!

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #1

AIR-FRIED CAULIFLOWER FLORETS

I admit that the picture is not that great. The problem is I had no intention of blogging about it, until I realized I made it three weeks in a row, and now it’s pretty hard for me to prepare cauliflower any other way. The air-fryer is the perfect environment to get crispy, tender inside florets, in 20 minutes. Yes, 20 minutes start to finish. No mess, no fuss. Perfect results every single time.

Toss the florets in a large bowl with a little grapeseed oil (you can use olive oil if you prefer), season with salt, pepper, and when you want to rock your world a bit, go for smoked paprika, maybe a touch of curry. Set your fryer to the highest temperature (mine is 390F), and let it roast for 20 minutes, shaking the basket once or twice.

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #2

HARD-BOILED EGGS, THE AIR-FRYER WAY

If you own an air-fryer and want to expand your horizons to use it more often, hard-boiled eggs are a great option. Place as many eggs as you want in the basket. Set it to 270F (or around that temperature, depending on your model) and set the timer to 15 minutes. You might need a little adjustment in the time. For my fryer and my taste in hard-boiled eggs, that combination hits the spot. If you want to have soft-boiled eggs, reduce the time to 8 to 10 minutes, but again you’ll have to tweak the conditions. The eggs peel like a dream, by the way.

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #3

SWEET AND SPICY WALNUTS (or PECANS)

Phil came up with this idea and now we do it all the time for our salads. Grab a handful of walnuts or pecans. Coat a non-stick small skillet with a tiny tiny tiny amount of olive oil. Heat, and add the nuts. Season with salt and pepper, or if you like to change things a bit, go for a touch of paprika. When the nuts start to get fragrant, drizzle a very small amount (maybe 1 tsp) of maple syrup. Everything will bubble furiously. Shake the pan to move the walnuts and coat them with the syrupy mixture. Immediately remove from the heat and transfer them to a small bowl to cool down a bit. Add to your salad. Any salad. Try to refrain from picking those babies from the bowl when no one is looking

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #4

FRIANDS

You may ask yourself… “Has she lost her mind?” BAKING in Incredibly Simple? Nope, I did not lose my mind (at least not for this particular reason). This is a recipe that a 5 year old can make with minor supervision as the young child will need to operate a food processor.

Melt 1 stick (113g) of butter and place in the bowl of a food processor together with
90g all-purpose flour
110g almond flour (or finely ground almonds)
3/4 tsp baking powder
5 egg whites
190g powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Process for 1 minute. It will be very foamy. Spoon the mixture in non-stick muffin tins (or friand molds), filling each cavity no more than 3/4 full. Place two raspberries in each portion, top with some slivered almonds. Bake at 325F for 18 to 20 minutes, until the edges start to get golden. Let them cool for 10 minutes, remove from the molds and when fully cold, dust with powdered sugar.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I hope that if you consider yourself a non-baker, or worse yet, a bake-o-phobe (like I used to be), you will still grab the ingredients and try this recipe. You can vary the nut flour by adding some hazelnuts or even ground pistachios in some proportion together with almond flour. Or you can bake this simple version. They are delicate, moist, fragrant, absolutely perfect with a cup of tea. And so incredibly simple to prepare! Make sure to surprise whoever is around and when you bring those to the table, say very non-challantly… “I’ve made some friands for you”… Work on your best French accent, it is a must in this case.

ONE YEAR AGO: Phyllo Parcels with Moroccan Turkey

TWO YEARS AGO: Roasted Corn and Zucchini Salad

THREE YEAR AGO: Fraisier Cake, A Celebration of Spring

FOUR YEARS AGO: Zucchini Frittata with Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

FIVE YEARS AGO: Playing with Pectinase

SIX YEARS AGO: Poached White Asparagus with Lemon and Pistachios

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Dan Lepard’s Saffron Bloomer

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Fesenjan & The New Persian Kitchen

NINE YEARS AGO: Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets

TEN YEARS AGO: Pasta Puttanesca

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Miche Point-a-Calliere

8Feb2019

PINK PRALINE BRIOCHE

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Sometimes I wonder what makes me try a new recipe. Of course, reading tons of cookbooks and food blogs, new things show up on my radar often. I might make a mental note to try it at some point, labeling them as intriguing or interesting, but for the most part I move on. Then, there’s Pink Praliné Brioche. And no easy way to get it out of my mind. Having lived in Paris for a few years, it was hard to accept I’d never even seen one. Pink praliné. The stuff dreams are made of.

PINK PRALINÉ BRIOCHE
(adapted from Murielle Valette’s Patisserie)

3.5g fresh yeast (I used osmo-tolerant yeast)
25ml milk, at room temperature
250g bread flour
5g salt
15g sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature (about 150g)
125g soft butter
120g pink praliné, crushed lightly in a food processor (recipe follows)
egg wash

Whisk the yeast in a small bowl with the milk. Put the flour, salt, sugar and eggs into the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer. Add the milk and yeast, and knead it for about 10 minutes at low-speed.

Little by little add the butter and continue kneading in low to medium speed until the gluten is well-developed. Place the dough in a bowl lightly coated with oil, cover and place in the fridge overnight.

The following day, turn over the dough on a work surface and gently press it as a rectangle of around 8 by 12 inches, then cut it lengthwise in three strips. Roll each piece to flatten it slightly, sprinkle a line of crushed pink praliné in the center, and enclose it with the dough, rolling it well to seal. Do the same with the other two strips, then braid them together, keeping the seam side down at all times.

Sprinkle more pink praliné over the shaped bread, letting them fall in the folds of the braid. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it at room temperature for a final rise until it almost doubles in size. Mine took 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 F, and right before baking, brush the surface of the braid with the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Brioche dough contains not only flour and yeast, but additional fat in the form of eggs, milk and butter. This type of enriched dough does well with a slow fermentation, so I prefer to mix it the day before. It also makes the actual baking day a lot easier, as you can shape the bread straight from its overnight proofing time in the fridge. It warms up quickly and it’s not hard to work with at all. You could ferment the dough at room temperature for 4 hours or so, but it will be a long baking day. Your kitchen, your call.

If you prefer to buy the pink praliné, amazon sells it, but be prepared to wait, no free 2-day shipping for this one. To make your own, follow the recipe below.

PINK PRALINÉ
(from Cooking with Bernard)

450 g sugar, divided in 150g amounts
A few drops of red food coloring
125g whole hazelnuts, peeled (about 3/4 cup)
125g whole almonds (about 3/4 cup)

Place one-third of the sugar (3/4 cup / 150 g) in a large frying pan with just enough water to moisten it. Add a few drops of red coloring. Stir well and turn the heat to high. Bring to a boil. When large bubbles start forming, add the hazelnuts and almonds, stirring non-stop. Control the heat, so that the nuts don’t burn. The syrup will begin to crystallize, and look very grainy. Don’t despair, keep stirring so that the nuts are well coated in sugar. Keep simmering, the sugar that does not coat the nuts will slowly start to melt and turn into a thick liquid. Transfer the contents of the pan to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or Silpat. You should have nuts and some “free” caramel-sugar. Reserve the nuts and place the sugar in a clean saucepan.

Add another third of the sugar (150g). Add a little more red coloring and water – just enough to moisten the sugar. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Continue until all the pieces of sugar are completely melted. Switch off the burner, add the reserved nuts to the frying pan, but don’t switch turn the heat on yet. Wait until the syrup in the saucepan reaches 255°F. When the syrup is almost at the desired temperature, switch on the burner below the frying pan. It should be at medium heat. Pour the syrup over the nuts, stirring as you pour. You will need to wash this pan to use it again, so make sure to take it right away to the sink and fill with water.

Coat the nuts. The syrup will once again become grainy. Allow the sugar that does not coat the nuts to melt. Transfer the contents of the pan to a sheet of parchment paper and set the coated nuts to one side and the remaining sugar to the other. Place the remaining pink sugar in the saucepan and add the last third of the sugar (150 g) with more food coloring and enough water to moisten it. Allow to melt and bring to 255°F / 124°C. Return the nuts to the frying pan and pour in the syrup when it reaches the right temperature, stirring constantly. At this third stage, the syrup should coat the pink nuts quite well. Stir and wait for the syrup to become grainy and any sugar that does not coat the nuts should melt again. Pour all the contents of the frying pan onto a sheet of parchment paper. By now, there should be almost no sugar left unstuck to the nuts.

Final step: Heat the oven to 160°F and bake the candied nuts for at least 45 minutes to dry them out completely. Mine took almost double time to dry. Let them cool and store in an air-tight container. They are ready to nibble on or use in recipes.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Making pink praliné is a labor of love. You can buy it ready, but the whole process of making it seemed fascinating enough to make me go for it. Essentially, you are slowly covering hazelnuts and almonds with a red-dyed caramel syrup. The coating happens in three stages. It is a bit time-consuming and also potentially dangerous. I got a burn with one tiny microscopic drop of super heated caramel and trust me, it hurt like hell. Then, it left a tiny scar, perfectly round and brown. Kind of cute, actually. But I don’t recommend it.

Pink praliné is a wonderful snack, and the pups tried some, yes they did. There was intense wagging of three tails. In São Paulo, when I was growing up, they sold a type of peanut made by Japanese immigrants that comes close to pink praliné but not nearly as good. It is called “amendoim doce” (translates as sweet peanut) and you can see it in the link that it also has a pinkish sugary coating, just a bit lighter. Anyway, if you are fond of nuts and feel crazy enough to be around boiling caramel for an extended period of time, try making these babies. They keep for a long time, which is a bonus.

So here it is, the Pink Praliné Brioche! It is absolutely delicious and yes, it was worth the trouble. If you google for photos, you’ll see it in many different sizes, shapes, and variations on how to incorporate the praline in the dough. Some just sprinkle a huge amount on top of a roundish loaf. I like this method better, because some of it gets truly deep inside the bread. The sugar that glues to the nuts melts slightly during baking, and when you bite into it, you get this concentrated sweet taste, truly delicious. It is not sweet like a spoonful of sugar, of course not. The caramelization process gives the sugar a slightly bitter edge. Perfect, according to my taste buds.