Almond Poppyseed Muffins

I had a hankering for something almond this weekend, and after seeing many posts about delicious lemon-poppyseed muffins, I decided to search for a muffin recipe that was adaptable to almond flavoring. I found this recipe at Nook & Pantry and decided to try it out. These muffins are a little lighter than some of the other recipes I found (contain less butter & sugar), and the buttermilk keeps them nice and moist. I am also really happy they turned out well, because this was the first time I made muffins without using muffin-tin liners. (Hooray for using less paper/being environmentally conscious!) I like having a base muffin recipe that's adaptable to different add-ins, and I am excited to try other combinations of fruits/nuts next time.


Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

Buttermilk Base Recipe
2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 C buttermilk

Almond Poppy Seed
1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp of almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, adjust a rack to the middle position. Spray a 12 cup regular size muffin tin with some nonstick spray.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppy seeds in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk egg, sugar, and almond extract together until combined, then whisk in the buttermilk and melted butter.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour and fold to combine. There should be not large pockets of flour but small streaks may remain. Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly thick.

Divide the batter evenly into the tin. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Flip the muffins out of the tin and cool them right side up on a cooling rack.

Strawberry Scones

I got this recipe off of Katie's blog, Good Things Catered. They are pretty much the best scones ever, with fresh, juicy strawberries and a hint of orange. I made these for a nice brunch with my husband this Memorial Day, and luckily I had enough left over to freeze a few for breakfast later this week!

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Juicy Strawberry Scones

Ingredients:
2 1/4 - 2 1/2 c. all purpose flour (depends on how ripe your strawberries are)
1/4 c. granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/4 c. yogurt
1/4 c. milk
2 tsp orange zest
1 c. fresh strawberries, diced

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment
-In small bowl, combine egg, yogurt, milk, zest, whisk to combine thoroughly and set aside.
-In large bowl combine flour, sugar, powder, salt, and whisk to combine.
-Using pastry cutter or two knives, cut butter into flour until all pieces are smaller than pea-sized.
-Add strawberries, and toss to coat.
-Add wet ingredients to dry and mix in lightly with fork until dough just comes together.
-Turn dough out onto well floured work surface and pat into large ball.
-Cut dough in half.
-Shape half of dough into flat disk shape and cut into 8 slices.
-Place on baking sheet and repeat with other half of dough.
-Sprinkle tops of scones with sugar and place in the oven.
-Bake until turn slightly brown, about 25 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes.
-Transfer to a wire rack and let cool (or eat right away!)

Garlic & Rosemary Cornish Game Hen

I had a couple of Cornish game hens sitting in the freezer, and decided to make a nice Sunday night dinner for Nick and myself. Our families both have a tradition of having a big dinner together on Sundays, so being that we are so far away, I thought it would be nice to carry on the tradition in our home here in California. I served this with steamed broccoli and freshly baked French bread.

Garlic & Rosemary Cornish Game Hen
Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 2 Cornish game hens
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 lemon, quartered
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoonsolive oil
• 12 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Rub hens with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Lightly season hens with salt and pepper. Place 1 lemon wedge and 1 sprig rosemary in cavity of each hen. Arrange in a large, heavy roasting pan, and arrange garlic cloves around hens. Roast in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a mixing bowl, whisk together wine, chicken broth, and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil; pour over hens. Continue roasting about 25 minutes longer, or until hens are golden brown and juices run clear. Baste with pan juices every 10 minutes.
4. Transfer hens to a platter, pouring any cavity juices into the roasting pan. Tent hens with aluminum foil to keep warm. Transfer pan juices and garlic cloves to a medium saucepan and boil until liquids reduce to a sauce consistency, about 6 minutes. Cut hens in half lengthwise and arrange on plates. Spoon sauce and garlic around hens. Garnish with rosemary sprigs, and serve.

Kolachkies

I finally had a chance to make these tasty Polish cookies this weekend, recipe courtesy of my mom. I used a cherry filling, since I have been feeling cherries a lot lately, especially with all the fresh ones I've been eating :)


Kolachkies

1/2 lb. butter, slightly softened
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, slightly softened
2 cups flour
1 container cherry, raspberry, apricot filling (I used Solo brand)
confectioner's sugar

Blend the 1st three ingredients together, form into a ball and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 375.
Cut off a section of dough that is about a third of the ball. Roll the dough out until it is 1/4 inch thick, and using a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut out forms. Make a slight indentation in the center of each cookie, dropping about a teaspoon of pie filling in the center of each cutout. Place cutouts on parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake in 375 degree oven about 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Cool on wire racks. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Cookie Madness! The Sequel

I made the scaled down version batch of cookies (the original said it made 40!), but I only ended up with 8 small cookies, even though it said it made 10. Next time I think I would just cut the original recipe in half and get bigger cookies.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Cookie Madness

1 large egg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon Mexican vanilla
1/3 cup chopped peanuts, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, beat together egg, sugar, baking soda and vanilla. I use an electric mixer for this, but you can do it with a whisk. Beat in the peanut butter and stir in the peanuts.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will look puffy and soft when the come out of the oven, but they sink and firm up as they cool.

Makes about 40 cookies.

Small Batch: Use about a tablespoon of beaten egg, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 cup peanut butter, a little dash of vanilla and a tablespoon of chopped peanuts.

Cookie Madness!

It is finals week up at my school, so I thought I would make some cookies for the students I work with. I found a ton of recipes on the Cookie Madness site, and decided to go with almond chocolate chip & peanut butter. I especially liked the chocolate chip, the Corn Flakes & shredded coconut gave it an awesome flavor.

Crispy Crunchy Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookie Madness

1/2 cup whole almonds, unsalted
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg (doesn’t have to be precise)
1 cup all purpose, fluffed up and very lightly spooned and swept (4 1/4 oz)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 generous teaspoon salt
1 cups Corn Flakes cereal
6 oz dark chocolate, cut into chunks or 1 cup semisweet chips
2/3 cup loosely packed shredded sweetened coconut (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place almonds on a paper towel and microwave on high for 2 minutes, stopping halfway through the shuffle them around. Allow them to cool. Alternatively, you may toast them in the oven.**
In a mixing bowl, using high speed of electric mixer, cream butter, both sugars, both extracts and the
1 ½ tablespoons egg.

In a separate bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture.

Transfer cooled almonds and coconut (if using) to a food processor and pulse until almonds are finely chopped. Add Corn Flakes and pulse 5 more times to crush cereal – don’t pulverize it, just break the flakes a bit.

Dump almond/cereal mixture into cookie batter and stir until batter comes together. It should be pretty dry.

Shape dough into balls of about 1 1/4 inch and place on cookie sheets about 2 ½ inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time on center rack for 13-15 minutes. Let cool for about 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

Makes about 18 cookies.
** To toast almonds in oven, lay flat on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until almonds start to crack.

Mango Chicken

I got this recipe a long time ago from my mom; it is a knock-off of a dish served at Thaifoon, an Asian-fusion restaurant back in Salt Lake. The mango offsets the spiciness of the chili garlic sauce for a delicious asian dish.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Mango Chicken

2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 fresh mango, skinned, pitted & cut into 3/4" - 1" cubes
1 Tbsp. basil
1 1/2 cups mango sauce (recipe follows)

Mango Sauce ingredients:
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1-2 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
1 bottle (7.5 oz) sweet chili sauce - I use Sun Luck
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbs. fresh lime juice

Combine and blend together all the sauce ingredients. Heat wok/saute pan and add canola oil. Add and stir fry chicken until cooked. Add mango pieces, tossing to incorporate and warm the mango.

Add sauce and basil. Toss and reduce until sauce lightly coats the chicken and mango.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice.