Snickerdoodles

 A few weeks ago, and after nearly 17 years of marriage, I learned that these cookies are my husband's absolute favorite cookie ever. 

Ingredients for the snickerdoodle dough

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C coconut oil at room temperature
• 1 C sugar
• 1/4 C unsweetened unflavored almond milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt

Ingredients for rolling

• 3 T sugar
• 1 t cinnamon powder

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
2. Mix sugar and butter together in a bowl large enough to hold all ingredients. Add milk and vanilla extract, and mix again.
3. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients for the dough (NOT the rolling ingredients). 
4. Add to the wet ingredients and stir until well mixed. If the mixture is too dry, add more almond milk. It won't take much though. make a dough.
5. Using a spoon or a very small ice cream scoop, scoop the dough, then roll between your palms to form smooth balls. 
6. Mix the cinnamon powder and sugar in a small bowl, and roll each dough ball in this cinnamon-sugar mixture.
7. Place on a baking sheet (I put mine on my Silpat).
8. Bake for around 14 minutes.
9. Once done, remove from the oven and cool on a baking rack.
10. Enjoy!

Flourless Almond Torte

Ben and Jen gave us the Run Fast, Eat Slow cookbook for Christmas this year. We happened to be driving down and back to Tulsa to see Kent’s mother right after we’d opened presents so I took the cookbook along and read him recipes. This one in particular intrigued me, although I knew I wouldn’t make it as is. While I understand the health impacts of sugar, maple syrup isn’t the flavor profile I like in most baked goods. So I knew I’d change things up. 

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• ¾ C brown sugar
• ¼ C olive oil (I use one of my less flavorful oils in this recipe)
• 2 t almond extract
• ¼ C Amaretto
• ½ t sea salt
• ½ C almond slices
• 5 C almond flour (not meal), sifted 
• ½ C small dark chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter.
3. Toast the almond slices—watch them because they will go from no color to burned pretty quickly.
4. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, brown sugar, oil, almond extract, Amaretto and salt.
5. Add the sifted almond flour and chocolate chips to the bowl and stir until thoroughly combined.
6. Pour into the springform pan (you may need to sort of smooth out the batter a bit).
7. Top with the toasted almond slices and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Cool the cake on a wire rack for about five minutes, then carefully loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Gently remove the pan’s sides and remove. Use the same knife to loosen under the cake and transfer to a serving dish.
9. Cut into 12 slices and enjoy!

Strawberry Cake

I've made this cake for years and could have sworn that I'd posted the recipe. But apparently I never have. I made this yesterday for Ben, Jen and the kids and snagged a photo before we devoured it. And now I'm making sure that I post the recipe.

Ingredients

• One stick of butter, cut in pieces plus about another T softened for the pie plate
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 C whole milk
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Grease a big pie pan with the softened butter (I use a large glass pie pan with high sides).
• Sift together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
• In a food processor, pulse until the sugar/butter is mixed to the point of large gravel. 
• Add in the egg, vanilla and milk gradually and process till the mixture is about the consistency of peas.
• Put the butter/sugar mixture in a large mixing bowl and gradually stir in the sifted mixture until just blended. 
• Pour into the pie pan.
• Remove the green tops from the strawberries, and slice them lengthwise.
• Place the berries on the pie mixture cut side down and completely cover the pie. I covered the pie thoroughly in the photo of the cake, and you can see how they shrink so really cover that surface and gently push each strawberry into the mixture. 
• Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 325 and bake another 50 or 60 minutes. Generally 50 minutes is enough when I make this.
• Enjoy!

Raspberry Almond Tart

I wanted to make a dessert that was less sweet and still full of flavor. This tart delivers all the way and it's easy to make, too.

Ingredients
1/2 C sliced almonds, (skins on)
6 T granulated sugar
1 1/3 C plus 2 T all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 t salt
6 T cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (I use a whole stick)
1 large egg yolk
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t almond extract
4 1/2 C fresh or frozen (not thawed) raspberries
1 t confectioners' sugar

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°F. 
• Lightly coat a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan with butter.
• Combine almonds and sugar in a food processor; pulse until the almonds are finely ground and incorporated with the sugar. Set aside 1/2 C of the mixture.
• Add the 1 1/3 C flour and salt to the remaining sugar mixture and pulse briefly to blend. With the motor running, add butter a few pieces at a time until well incorporated.
• Stir egg yolk, vanilla and almond extracts together in a small bowl until blended. With the motor running, add to the processor and pulse until the mixture begins to clump and form a dough, about 1 minute (the mixture will look like crumbly sand). Set aside 1/3 cup of the mixture for the topping.
• Transfer the remaining dough to the prepared tart pan; spread evenly and press firmly into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. If the dough is sticky, use a piece of waxed paper to press with.
• Add the remaining 2 T flour to the reserved almond mixture; stir to blend. Gently toss raspberries with 2 T of this mixture in a medium bowl until coated. Spread the berries evenly in the tart pan. Sprinkle the remaining almond mixture over the berries. Pinch the reserved dough into small clumps to make crumbs and sprinkle the crumbs on top of the berries.
• Bake the tart for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° and bake until the crust and crumbs are golden brown, about 40—45 minutes more. Let cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. 
• Remove the pan sides; place confectioners’ sugar in a fine sieve and dust the tart just before serving.
• Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!

Nutrition
Per serving: 276 calories; 12 g fat (6 g sat, 2 g mono); 48 mg cholesterol; 37 g carbohydrates; 5 g protein; 6 g fiber; 148 mg sodium; 168 mg potassium.

Cheater's Candy aka Christmas Crack

A friend of mine posted this recipe on Facebook and I was intrigued. So I made some and (unfortunately) we like it a lot. It’s called Christmas Crack because of the crackers, which is kind of dumb. But I can’t think of a better name unless I call it Cheater’s Candy. Which is also ridiculous but it's what I'm going with anyway.

Ingredients:
1 C butter
¾ C dark brown sugar
A full sleeve of saltine crackers
16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
Optional toppings:
Pretzels, broken into pieces
Heath bar, broken into pieces
Peanuts

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400°.
• Line a large shallow cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray well with something like Pam.
• Put the saltines in a single layer on the cookie sheet, covering the entire sheet – if you need to fill in any gaps, use broken crackers.
• Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
• Next add the brown sugar and turn up the heat to medium; stir constantly with a flat wooden spoon until the butter no longer floats on the top of the brown sugar (it should begin to come to a boil).
• Cook for about five minutes, stirring constantly, until the toffee begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
• Carefully pour the toffee over the saltines and, if necessary, use the flat wooden spoon to spread the toffee around gently until all crackers are covered. You may need to rearrange your saltines if they get moved – just use a fork.
• Bake for about five minutes and remove from the oven
• Let cool for about three or four minutes and then sprinkle the chocolate chips on the toffee-covered crackers. Put the pan back in the oven for a minute or so, so that the chips are more melted.
• Remove from the oven again and carefully spread the melting chips over all the crackers. 
• Sprinkle with the crushed pretzels, Heath bars and whatever else you want to use.
• Let cool completely before breaking into pieces.

Cranberry Upside-down Cake

There's so much goodness in this cake, I don't even know where to begin. I first had this cake four years ago in Boston. A dear friend and chef had made it for one of our Bible study dinners and I fell in love with the combination of rich sweetness plus the tartness of the berries.

I never did get her exact recipe, so I scouted around online and cobbled together this version. I made it for a Christmas Eve dinner and it was gone by the next day. I got heavy cream, intending to make whipped cream for the cake but forgot to bring it to our dinner and you know what? We didn't miss it one bit.

Ingredients:

Topping:

1/2 C sugar
At least 2 T butter, softened
2 C fresh or frozen cranberries, not canned -- if using fresh, wash and sort; if using frozen, thaw and drain

Cake:

1 1/3 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C (1 stick butter), softened
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 t fresh lemon zest
2/3 C milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Generously coat the inside of a 9-inch cake pan with the 2+ T softened butter
• Put the 1/2 C sugar in the cake pan and coat the entire pan with sugar (bottom and sides); there will be a lot of sugar remaining. Make sure it's evenly spread on the bottom of the pan.
• Place the cranberries in the bottom of the cake pan and make sure they're evenly distributed. Set the cake pan aside.
• In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Set aside
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until the mixture is pea-sized or smaller.
• Add the egg, lemon zest and vanilla and beat until smooth.
• Add in the flour mixture and milk and beat at a low speed until just blended, or use a wooden spoon to blend.
• Carefully put the batter on top of the cranberries in the cake pan, making sure to cover the berries evenly. I used a spatula and dropped the batter onto the cranberries, almost like biscuits. Then I used the spatula to gently spread the batter around and cover the berries.
• Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the middle cleanly and the top of the cake has started to brown slightly. With my current oven, the cake baked for 45 minutes and I didn't use the toothpick.
• Let the cake sit for 10 minutes, then use a knife to carefully loosen the cake from the pan.
• Invert the cake onto a cake plate (you may need to tap the cake pan) and let cool completely.

Hot Fudge Sauce

I got this recipe from my mother (no idea where she got it). It's amazing with ice cream, and one friend likes to dip biscotti in it.

Ingredients:

2/3 C cocoa
2 C sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 stick butter
1 t vanilla

Directions:

• Mix the cocoa and sugar together.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
• Add the evaporated milk and cocoa/sugar mixture.
• Cook, stirring constantly until the sauce comes just to the boil
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in the vanilla.
• Let cool slightly before pouring into mason jars.
• Keep refrigerated; use within a week or so.

Brownies

My brownie recipe is based on a recipe from my grandmother—what makes them so yummy is all the buttery goodness along with the surprise of miniature chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter (not margarine)
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
¾ C all-purpose flour
½ t baking powder
½ C chocolate chips (I prefer the miniature ones)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• In a saucepan, heat chocolate squares and butter over very low heat. Stir while melting and once melted, remove from heat.
• Mix in the sugar, then the eggs.
• Blend the flour and baking powder together and then add to the mixture in the saucepan.
• Add the chocolate chips.
• Pour into a greased baking pan, about 8x8x2 inches (I use a Pyrex glass pan).
• Bake for 25 minutes; test with a toothpick. The toothpick should come out clean while the brownies still look a bit moist. This is good.
• Let cool and then cut into 16 pieces.

Of course you can always eat more than one piece at a time.