Wannabe Raincoast Crisps

 

If you ever tasted Raincoast Crisps you probably had the same reaction I had, "OMG...these things are delicious and so addictive!" and then "I wish they weren't so expensive."  At about $10 for a small box they definitely weren't an everyday snack.  

Don't know why I didn't think of it sooner but I recently found an amazing recipe online that replicates these dried fruit and nut crisps perfectly.  In fact, a friend who I gave samples to said they tasted even better than the original!  Now if that isn't a seal of approval I don't know what is.   

I highly recommend you try making these yourself - they're so easy to recreate at home and cost a lot less too.  The crisps are really delicious with some cheese and fresh fruit jam.  The recipe is easily adaptable to whatever dried fruit and nut combination you like.  I split one recipe in half so I could have two flavors: fig/hazelnut and cranberry/pecan.  These crackers are fantastic served with your favorite cheese.  I plan on making tons to give as part of my holiday gifts.

2011 Holiday Treats

A quick post to show the fruits of my labor this holiday season.  Just a pic of some of the treats I made, and gifted, to friends and family.  Some are old favorites and some are making their debut to the party: 

Dark Chocolate Truffles 

Raspberry Marshmallows

Hat and Mitten Sugar Cookies

Spiced Candied Nuts

No-Bake Rocky Road Bars

Macarons (the ones above are raspberry and pistachio)
Walnut Snowballs

Shortbread

Cherry-Almond Shortbread Bars

A new year rolls around and most people use that as motivation to clean out their closets.  In my case it wasn't the closet that needed a thorough once over, it was my pantry.  As a baker I seem to collect (alright hoard!) baking ingredients.  I admit it's an addiction, but I can't help it!  

So what are some of my spoils?  Let's see: 15 pounds of Ghiradelli white chocolate candy making and dipping bars (for petits fours), 8 pounds of dutch-processed cocoa (too good of a deal at Costco to pass up) and bags and bags of dried fruit from Trader Joe's, just to name a few.

A jar of cherry preserves caught my eye as I was going through the pantry shelves and I knew I wanted to make something with it.  As luck would have it I happened upon a recipe for these shortbread bars online.  Good thing I had all the ingredients on hand which was additional  motivation to make them.   

The bars have a nice buttery cookie crust and the cherries provide a great tart contrast.  The only change I'd make is to use a 9x9 inch pan, rather than the 9x13 suggested in the original recipe.  I thought using the larger pan made the bars too thin.

Walnut Snowballs and Coconut Pyramids

If there were ever two cookies that heralded the holiday season it's these two, walnut snowballs and coconut pyramids.   I only make them in December - any other time and it wouldn't seem right.

Walnut snowballs go by many different names: Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, noel nut balls, etc.  Whatever their name they taste delicious and are my absolute favorite holiday cookie.  They're super simple to make and despite the generous coating of powdered sugar they aren't too sweet.

The coconut pyramids are just shaped macaroons.  For the first time in a year I'm making a macaroon that isn't of the French variety and this version is a lot more forgiving!  Like the snowballs, these macaroons are lightly sweetened.  To shape the cookies in to pyramids I used a silicone mold but you can easily do it by hand or with a bench scraper.

Linzer Cookies

I'm in the zone, a baking zone that is.  I just survived a marathon of non-stop baking this past weekend and came out victorious.

Nine pounds of cashew toffee (the last batches!), seven pounds of candied nuts, six kinds of cookies (including five different flavors of macarons!), two dozen chocolate cupcakes and one dozen mini fruit tarts.  Not too shabby...I even surprised myself!  Thank goodness the gas oven didn't die on me. 

The fruits of my labor will be gifted to family and friends to enjoy over the holidays.

These linzer cookies are in honor of my mom who's a big fan of any kind of cookie with nuts in it.   As a kid whenever I would bake my mom's first comment after tasting the finished cookie would always be, "can you put more nuts in it?"  Didn't matter if the recipe called for it or not, the woman wanted more nuts!

Traditional linzer cookies are made with hazelnuts but I had leftover pecans in my pantry so I used them instead.  They turned out just as delicious I think.  I love how sophisticated the cookies look with their blanket of powdered sugar and tiny jewel of raspberry jam peeking out.  

Spiced Candied Nuts

Be forewarned: these nuts are seriously addictive.  And it doesn't help that the recipe is so easy to make.   These nuts are fabulous with drinks, for snacking or topping on your favorite salad.   We're talking instant gratification!

Candied nuts make a great homemade Christmas gift and I'm surprised it's taken me this long to make them.  But most recipes I found weren't to my liking.  Any sign of curry powder and cumin and I ran for the hills.

I finally found a great recipe from the Smitten Kitchen that only used cinnamon and cayenne pepper as the spices.  That's what I'm talking about!  Save yourself some money and buy your nuts at Costco.  I bought a 2-lb bag of pecans for less than $9.  Think I'll be making more batches.

For a party you could serve the nuts in festive cones made out of wrapping paper.  For gifting I'll be packaging them in clear cellophane bags with a nice ribbon.

More holiday treats to come...

Cashew Toffee - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Thanksgiving is still a little over two weeks away and I'm already looking ahead to Christmas.  Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, and why wouldn't it be - it's the holiday renowned for  baking.  I'm one of those people who thinks that it's never too early to start the holiday spirit.  I've already got a mini Christmas tree decorated in my office at work and have my  favorite Andy Williams Christmas CD playing on continuous loop.   Call me crazy, it wouldn't be the first time!, but after all, it's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

To celebrate the upcoming festivities I've already started churning out my famous cashew toffee.  I began making this candy a few years ago and the response from family and friends was so overwhelming that it's turned in to a delicious tradition.

The toffee ingredients are simple enough, basically butter, sugar and cashews cooked to a bubbling mass, cooled and then coated with chocolate, but the result is pure heaven.  Just the right amount of sweet and salty juxtaposed with the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate coating.  A good toffee has to taste rich, but also have a crunchy bite.  Cook the mixture too long and you've got burnt sugar, not long enough and you end up with a taffy so chewy that it could yank out your fillings.   Even my longtime dentist Dr. Luke loves this toffee; if that's not the ultimate seal of approval I don't know what is.

This is just the beginning of the many treats I'll be making over the next few weeks..stay tuned!