Brazil Nut Cookies

These cookies were a complete accident. And when I say accident, I mean embarrassing mix-up in the identification of nuts.
Oh yes. Let me explain.
Despite having lived in England for three years, it was only at a Christmas market last year that I tried roasted chestnuts for the first time. And they were delicious. And seemingly so easy to make.
So when I returned to the Arizona lands, I decided this traditional English Christmas-time treat should be introduced. I mean, I had already brought mulled wine and mince pies to the Arizonan masses (by which I mean 2, maybe 3 people, tops), roasted chestnuts seemed like a snap.
Finding chestnuts would be the hardest hurdle. But as Phoenix seems to have birthed about 15 different mega-supermarkets in my absence, offering a range of unexpected delights (deli! jewelry store! Starbucks! valet parking! car wash! All in the same store!), finding chestnuts seemingly posed an easy task.
Well. Kinda.
Wandering through the "nut boutique" of my local supermarket, I inquired about the location of chestnuts to a friendly employee. I was surprised to learn that the store indeed sold them. I happened over to the bin which was labelled chestnuts and...well...I got confused.
Atop a massive bin of nuts was a small bowl of chestnuts. Now the bin resembled the nuts in the picture above (Yes, yes, I'm aware they bear absolutely no resemblance to what chestnuts look like, see picture below).

These seemed to have no relation whatsoever to the chestnuts in the bowl that was placed under them. But, in my Starbucks-adled state, I thought, SURELY, these are also chestnuts. So I helped myself to a sackful.
Yes. Yes I know. Foolish. But there we have it. And thus I ended up with a pound of brazil nuts and nothing to do with them.

I find the best thing to do in these situations is make cookies.
Yes.

And so I set to the task of cracking and shelling a pound of brazil nuts. Which, let me tell you, is harder than it sounds. Fast forward an hour and I was ready to make cookies. After scanning the internet for brazil nut recipes, I happened upon a recipe that called for 2 cups of the things and resembled nothing so much as Mexican wedding cookies- a nice tea cookie dusted in powdered sugar.

And thus: brazil nut cookies. I even shaped them into brazil nut shapes, just to emphasize the point. But they were delicious, and fabulous with coffee, so I consider it a mistake well made.

Now about those roasted chestnuts...

Brazil Nut Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup soft shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups ground Brazil nuts

Confectioner's sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream shortening with sugar in large mixing bowl. Use the "cream" setting on your mixer (hand or stand).

Beat in egg, vanilla, and salt.

Cut in flour with two knives or a pastry blender.

Mix in ground Brazil nuts.

Shape dough into one-inch balls, then roll balls between palms or on floured board to form two-inch long sticks.

Arrange on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for approximately 20 minutes.

Roll in confectioner's sugar when cool.

Apricot, Cornmeal, and Sage Cookies

 

This may sound like a bizarre combination, but trust me, these cookies are delicious. And...did I mention, easy to make? My mom found the recipe a few years back in Gourmet magazine (ah, those were the days) and, on a whim, we experimented with the sage and apricot on some unsuspecting Christmas party guests. And oh my, they were gone in minutes. There's something about the crumbly cornmeal paired with the sweetness of the apricot and the earthiness of the sage. 

Combine the deliciousness with the ease of the recipe, and you've got an absolute win. Also, you'll look like one of those fun 'experimental' cooks.

Ingredients

•    1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened well
•    3/4 cup sugar
•    1 large egg
•    3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
•    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•    1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
•    2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
•    1/2 cup cornmeal
•    1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. and lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
In a bowl whisk together butter, sugar, and egg until smooth. Sift in flour and baking soda and add apricots, sage, cornmeal, and salt, stirring until combined.
Drop tablespoons of dough about 1 inch apart onto baking sheets and bake in batches in middle of oven 10 minutes, or until pale golden. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool.

Chocolate Peanut Crumble Cookies

It wasn't until my move to England that I started to appreciate the art of the crumble. Apple, blackberry, apricot, you name the fruit, as long as it had that delicious sugary crunchy topping on top, I was happy as a clam when dessert rolled around. Yet this new dessert addiction had a downside- it happened to exist predominantly in a country without two other loves of mine: namely, the art of the cookie (NOT biscuit) and peanut butter. You will hear many an American ex-pat bemoan the lack of Skippy or Jiffy or whatever kind of sugared peanuty substance they grew up with as a kid. And I was most definitely one of them. The cookie/biscuit debate was equally vexing.
Are biscuits really cookies in disguise? I have my doubts. Something about the term "digestive" just seems wrong when applied to the concept of dessert.
Anyway, I digress. These cookies, provided by a recipe in the August edition of Delicious, made life in the UK so much sweeter. Someone from the UK, bless them, had realized the genius in combining three of my great loves in one delicious bite. Granted, there was far too little peanut butter in the original recipe, but hey, at least the Brits are trying. Add as much as your USA ex-pat heart dares. I used at least 3 tbsp. I may add more next time, just watch me.
I also skipped the finesse of the white chocolate drizzle. I was serving these at a dinner party and the last step to add artful flair seemed a bit much. Instead, I pressed a white chocolate chip into each one, and believe me, no one noticed the difference.

Ingredients
9 tbsp of butter, softened
115g of caster sugar (1/2 cup plus 1 TBS)
1 heaped tbsp of creamy peanut butter (add more)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large free range egg, beaten
150g plain flour (1 slightly heaped cup)
30g of cocoa powder (8 tbsp)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g of semi sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

For the crumble topping:
30g salted butter (2 1/2 tbsp)
40g plain flour (1/4 cup heaped)
30g of caster sugar (1/4 cup)
60g of unsalted peanuts (1/2 cup),
half of them coarsely chopped and half of them left whole

For the drizzle:
50g of white chocolate, chopped (1/2 cup)


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Make the crumble topping by whisking together the flour and sugar. Rub in the butter until crumbly and then stir in the nuts. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar for the cookies, along with the peanut butter, until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Stir this into the creamed mixture, mixing it in completely. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Shape into 15 gold ball sized balls. Place well apart on the baking sheets. Press down lightly with a spoon, making a slight indentation in the middles. Sprinkle heaped TBS of the topping in the middles. (This will be messy, and some will fall off, but do the best you can do. You will not need all of the crumble topping, but it freezes well for another time and trust me, when you taste these little gems, there will be another time). Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are well set and the topping is golden. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping off to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave for about 60 seconds. Stir until smooth. Drizzle decoratively over the tops of the cookies, across the streusel. Allow to set before storing in an airtight container.