Almond Butter Blossoms

Tags

almond, almond butter, cookies, desserts, food, foodie, nut butter, peanut-butter, postaday2011, recipe, snack, sweets

Baking is always therapeutic, it’s just the dirty dishes that I don’t want to deal with afterwards. But despite the dishes, today required some baking begin feeling like myself again… Oh, and the Aleve helped too…

Hubster loves peanut-butter, I have a strong aversion to it (well, except for the occasional Reese’s Pieces). He always begs me to make peanut-butter cookies, peanut-butter no bakes, peanut butter brownies… you get the picture. At the supermarket a few months ago, I had an epiphany. Maybe I can appease his appetite as well as mine.

Almond Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:
bag of Hershey’s Kisses, 3/4 c. almond butter, 1/3 c. light brown sugar, 1/8 c. milk, 1 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. butter, 1/3 c. sugar, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp. almond extract, 1 tsp. baking soda, extra sugar for coating

Directions:
Unwrap Kisses and set aside. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease baking sheets. Mix together flour, salt and baking soda. Cream together, almond butter, butter, sugar, almond extract, milk and egg. Slowly combine flour mixture in to sugar mixture. Roll dough into 1″ balls, coat in sugar and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and quickly press one kiss into the center of each cookie. Place cookies on cooling rack.

Serve with a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

What activity do you find therapeutic?

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Versatile Choux – Cream Puffs, Profiteroles or Mini Eclairs

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brunch, choux, cream puffs, dessert, desserts, eclairs, French baking, French cooking, French pastry, gourmet, gourmet brunch, mini food, postaday2011, profiteroles, sweets, sweets table, treats

Nanny’s Cream Puffs
Hubster loves sweets, I enjoy them too. We don’t always agree on the same treats though, except for this one. I decided to whip up a batch and everyone could choose their own filling. This recipe comes from a yellowed recipe card in my grandmother’s rusty recipe box, but I’m not sure of the original origins. I’ve made a few minor modifications, but not enough to call it my own.

Cream Puffs

Choux Ingredients:
6 Tbsp. butter softened, 1 c. warm water, 3/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. 10x sugar, 3 eggs, 1/2 tsp. almond extract, pinch of fresh ground sea salt (omit if using salted butter), 5 oz. finely grated dark chocolate

Choux Directions:
Preheat oven 400°F. Grease and flour two baking sheets. Sift flour and set aside. Beat eggs and set aside. In a small saucepan bring butter and water to a boil. Add flour, extract, sugar and salt to saucepan and beat until mixture pulled away from the sides. Remove from heat allow to cool a bit (you don’t want scrambled eggs in your choux)  and beat in half the eggs, slowly add in remaining eggs until dough becomes smooth (you might not need all the eggs). Drop by the tablespoonful on trays (next time I might roll them into balls). Bake for 30 minutes or until the are golden and puffed. Use a bamboo skewer to prick each puff and place bake in the oven for about 10 more minutes. Cool puffs on wire rack. Use an icing press to fill with pudding or whipped cream, cut a slit  and use a melon-baller to fill with ice cream. Melt chocolate in double boiler and dip the tops of puff. Keep refrigerated or frozen.

For Profiteroles: Fill with ice-cream

For Eclair Puffs: Fill with vanilla pudding

For Cream Puffs: Fill with fresh whipped cream (try adding a pinch of nutmeg to cram before filling

Mine taste great, but the don’t look perfect, but I don’t think they turned out badly for a first attempt.

Do you prefer profiteroles, eclairs or cream puffs?

100th Post – 100 Favorite Food Things

Tags

desserts, favorite beverages, favorite foods, favorite restaurants, favorite soups, food list, side dishes, sides, top ten beverages, top ten favorite, top ten flowers, top ten list, top ten restaurants, top ten soups

For my 100th post, I decided to share you with my 100 Favorite Food Things. I’m going to break these 100 items into top ten lists (they’re ranked in no particular order).

Top Ten Favorite Meals
1.  Chicken Vesuvius
2.  Broiled Scallops
3.  Chicken Gyro
4.  Crab Cakes
5.  Pecan Encrusted Chicken
6.  Eggs Benedict
7.  Tandoori or Butter Chicken
8.  Seafood or Chicken Alfredo
9.  Monte Cristo
10. Chicken & Broccoli Crepes

Top Ten Favorite Soups
1.  Minestrone
2.  Potato Leek
3.  Curried Chicken & Peaches
4.  French Onion
5.  Egg Drop
6.  Matzo Ball Soup
7.  Lobster Bisque
8.  Gingered Carrot
9.  Potato & Rivels 
10. Broccoli Cheddar in a bread bowl…

Top Ten Favorite Desserts
1.  Tiramisu
2.  Key Lime Pie
3.  Brownies with Cream Cheese frosting
4. Chocolate Truffles
5.  Ice Cream Cake
6.  Conehead Sundae from Friendly’s
7.  Pavlova
8.  Soft Serve Ice Cream in a Pretzel Cone
9.  Turtle Cheesecake
1o. Hot Chocolate Pudding (Lava Cake)

Top Ten Favorite Fruits/Veggies
1.  Pomegranates
2.  Avocado
3.  Asparagus
4.  Starfruit
5.  Raspberries
6.  Pineapple
7.  Zucchini
8.  Yellow Squash
9.  Pears
10. Snow Peas

Top Ten Favorite Side Dishes
1.   Caprese
2.   Couscous
3.   Cheese Filled Tortellini
4.   Sweet Potato Apple Casserole
5.   Rice Pilaf
6.   Purple Cabbage Slaw
7.   Zucchini boats
8.  Daal
9.  Sauteed spinach
10. Baked stuffed tomatoes

Top Ten Favorite Dips,  Spreads & Sauces
1.  Nutella
2.  Hummus
3.  Zatziki
4.  Tastefully Simple’s Warm the Oven Dip
5.  My oldest sister’s spinach dip recipe
6.  My garlic herb cheese spread
7.  Hollandaise sauce
8.  Alfredo sauce
9.  Honey lime yogurt dip (my BFF’s recipe)
10. Raspberry Poppy Seed Sauce

Top Ten Favorite Ingredients (for cooking)
1.  Artichoke Hearts
2.  Asparagus
3.  Feta Cheese
4.  Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
5.  Hollandaise Sauce
6.  Basil
7.  Dill
8.  Tomatoes
9.  Spinach
1o. Hearts of Palm

Top Ten Favorite Restaurants
1.  Sakuntala Indian Restaurant, Bloomsburg, PA
2.  Rose Marie’s, Bloomsburg, PA (Best house salads and bread!)
3.  Selinsgrove Brewing Co., Selinsgrove, PA
4. Muncy Valley Inn, Muncy Valley, PA
5.  Georgine’s Restaurant, Bristol , PA
6.  Fox’s Family Restaurant, Muncy, PA (Their bakery is worth the trip!)
7. Ichiban Hibachi Steakhouse, Williamsport, PA (Hibachi & Sushi?! Yum!)
8.  Victoria House, Lewisburg, PA
9.  Old Town Coffee House, Stirling, Scotland (Our little spot for savory lunches!)
10.  Medieval Times, various locations (Entertainment and dinner in one!)

Top Ten Favorite Beverages
1.  Earl Grey Iced tea
2.  Sparkling Wine
3.  Apple Cider
4.  Raspberry Hot Chocolate
5.  Honey Sweetened White Tea
6.  Sleepy Time Tea
7.  Mojitos
8.  Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic
9.  Blended Carmel Java
10. Water

Top Ten Favorite Flowers (Well, since flowers go with centerpieces and centerpieces go with food…)
1.  Tulips
2.  Stargazer lilies
3.  Alliums
4.  Miniature daffodils
5.  Roses
6.  Tiger lilies
7.  Calla lilies
8.  Hydrangea
9.  Snapdragons
10. Wildflowers