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.

Curried Butternut Squash and Potato Latkes with Apple and Pear Salsa

My mom has always been a devoted follower of the humble latke. If she had her druthers, pancakes throughout the world would be given up in favor of the potato pancake. When I was small, I obviously thought this was nuts. But now, older and wiser, I understand her love of the eggy potatoy fried dish. I still maintain a healthy devotion to pancakes, but when I saw this recipe in the latest issue of Cooking Light (December 2010) for a dinner curried version of the breakfast potato pancake, I couldn't resist. There was even an apple and pear salsa to accompany. Mmmm. Fusion.

Ingredients

For the latkes (apple & pear salsa below)

3 cups shredded peeled butternut squash (about 3/4 pound)

3 cups shredded peeled baking potato (about 3/4 pound)

1 cup grated onion

6 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ground coridander

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne

1 large egg

4 tbsp fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp  salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Method

Combine squash, potato, and onion in a colander. Drain 30 minutes, presshing occasionally with the back of a spoon until barely moist.

Combine potato mixture, cilantro, salt, flour, herbs/spices, and egg in a large bowl. Toss well.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 tsp oil to pan, swirl to coat. Spoon 1/4 cup potato mixture loosely into a dry measuring cup. Pour mixture into pan; flatten slightly. Repeat process 4 times to form 5 latkes.

Saute 3 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and thoroughly cooked. Remove latkes from pan; keep warm.

Repeat procedure twice with remaining oil and potato mixture to yield 14 latkes in total.

Serve with salsa.

Apple/Pear Salsa

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups finely copped Gala apple

1 pear, finely chopped

1/4 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 finely chopped seeded serrano chile

1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1/8 tsp salt

Method

Combine apple, pear, and lime juice in a bowl; toss.

Add onion, chile, cilantro, and salt. Toss.

Cover and chill. Serve with latkes.

Sage Crackers

This recipe is almost embarrassingly easy. So embarrassing that when people demanded the recipe, I felt foolish when I couldn't reciting it from memory. Honestly, it's that easy.
The only problem is that Bittman only accounts for one pan to be made at a time.
Fool, clearly we will want at least 4 pans of this stuff.

Silly Bittman.  

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

4 tbsp cold butter

1/4 cup cream

2 tbsp chopped sage (fresh if possible)

Method 

Pulse flour, salt, Parmesan and cold butter in a food processor (even this is optional, I just combined it in a large bowl).
Add cream and chopped sage.
When just combined, roll as thinly as possible, score into squares, sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 degrees until golden.
Let cool, then break into pieces.

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.

Pumpkin Seed Chipotle Brittle

The next few posts date from the 4th annual Expatriate Thanksgiving Alliance. Ok, so it's long past (American) Thanksgiving, but never mind. These recipes can just as easily work for Christmas. And, come to think of it, New Years, Easter, July 4th...well, you get the idea.

I will mention that they can all be found in Mark Bittman's (yes, another homage to the Bittster) 101 Head Starts on the Day, first published in the New York Times for Thanksgiving 2009. I used some of these for Thanksgiving last year and they were such a hit (and did I mention they were easy?) that they deserved to be brought out again for another round of Thanksgiving fun.

This particular recipe will probably create the largest divide among the audience. Some people could not get enough of this stuff. The pumpkin seeds and chiles make for an unusual combination in brittle, I grant you. But come on, we've been putting chiles in chocolate for years now and no one's made a huge fuss. Personally, I love this dish. For ease, well, clearly. But mostly for the Southwestern Thanksgiving flavors it invokes. Try it out with varying levels of chile, depending on your audience. 

One note of caution:I will say, be careful not to completely overdo the ancho paste as it will make the brittle a little softer and will take longer to firm up. I popped my version in the freezer for about 10 minutes just so that the brittle would harden faster.
Hey, I live for the moment. That's what I do.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

2 tbsp water

2 cups peanuts or pumpkin seeds (I recommend the pumpkin seeds)

3 mashed canned chipotle chiles in adobo (or to taste)

Method

Cook 2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a deep saucepan over medium heat, stirring once in a while until golden.

Off heat, stir in 2 cups peanuts or pumpkinseeds and 1 or 2 mashed canned chipotle chilies with a bit of their adobo (more if you like things fiery).

Quickly spread the mixture out on a buttered rimmed baking sheet and let cool before breaking into pieces.