Nuts

Rhubarb Bread

August 20, 2018 by Sarah Baade 6 Comments

Rhubarb. I feel like I need to admit that prior to this recipe, I had never eaten rhubarb. I’m not a big fan of celery and it just looks like giant pink celery so why would I want to eat it? What is particularly astonishing about this situation is that strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my dad’s favorite desserts. I grew up with this pie being made in my household somewhat regularly. Still, I never tried it. As I sifted through my grandma’s recipe box I knew I needed to get over myself and give this a go.

I feel like you need to know your fruits and vegetables in raw form before cooking with them. So, I did it. I took a bite of raw rhubarb – BITTER!!! Clearly sugar is needed to balance this out, no wonder I’ve only ever seen it in desserts. I also tasted the batter before pouring it into the loaf pans (I know, I was risking salmonella with the raw egg). I was expecting it to be sweet like a muffin or pumpkin bread but it was actually quite mild. My second confession for this recipe is that I was starting to think this might be my first fail of Grandma’s recipe box. I. Was. Wrong! The brown sugar crumbles on top added just the right amount of sweetness to make this bread completely delightful and the bitterness of the rhubarb subsided as it baked. Alright, rhubarb lovers of the world, I get it and I’m now a member of your club!

Tips:

Sometimes your hands are better tools than anything you can buy. I found it easiest to mix the topping ingredients together by hand.
You can grease your loaf pans if you don’t have parchment paper.

Rhubarb Bread

Bread:

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ cups diced rhubarb

½ cup walnut pieces

Topping:

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, slightly softened

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and line two loaf pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together all bread ingredients in order listed. Pour equal amounts of batter into each loaf pan.

In a small bowl, mix together topping ingredients. Sprinkle equal amounts of topping over each pan of batter.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until test until a test stick can be inserted and removed clean. Once loaves are baked, let cool 20 minutes before removing from pans. Slice and serve slightly warm or let loaves finish cooling on a wire rack.

Original recipe source unknown. Recipe has been modified from this version for the purpose of this blog.

Honey Date Nut Bars

April 8, 2018 by Sarah Baade 2 Comments

Last week we had family in town for Easter. I had every intention of cooking a couple of vegetarian dinners but ultimately did not cook one single meal at home. I have no regrets though! Ultimately, the time I would have spent cutting vegetables or creating a sauce was spent having amazing conversations. I love cooking but I love quality time with family even more.

A couple of days before our guests arrived, I made these nut bars. I am definitely a grab and go breakfast kind of person. Even as a child, I did not eat a big breakfast. I’m so glad I had these on hand because they provided all of us with a quick, light breakfast or snack when we needed it. You’ll notice that there isn’t any fruit or chocolate in this recipe. It is so hard to find a granola or nut bar without these ingredients which is why I decided to create one of my own. If I really want chocolate, I’ll go grab a cookie. For a light, grab-and-go breakfast, I’ll stick with these nut bars.

Tips:

A candy thermometer is recommended for getting the honey to temperature. However, you can also let it get to a rolling boil and then drop a small amount of the hot liquid into a cold cup of water. The honey should become firm and when you pinch it with your fingers it should have very little give.
If you aren’t a fan of almonds or macadamia nuts, feel free to sub out for your favorite combination, just keep the measurement ratios the same as what is given in the recipe.

Honey Date Nut Bars

Makes 12 bars

2 cups roasted, unsalted almonds

1 cup roasted, unsalted macadamia nuts, broken into large pieces

3 pitted medjool dates, chopped

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup pepitas

2/3 cup crispy rice cereal

Directions:

Put almonds, macadamia nuts, pepitas, dates, rice cereal and salt into large bowl and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, bring honey and vanilla to a rolling boil, stirring constantly until you reach 300°F.

Pour hot honey mixture over nut mixture, stirring to quickly mix the two.

Spread nut mixture evenly over parchment paper lined 9×9 pan. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

PUMPKIN PECAN PIE

November 21, 2017 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving is all about sharing a meal with those you are thankful for. I’ve lived all over the place so spending time with family by blood is not alway an option for this holiday. However, I have been incredibly blessed to make friends who are dear enough to be called family. Some I had known for years before being invited, others I had only known for a few months. Regardless of the age of friendship, it is incredible to gather around a table and express gratitude. Even in years that life has brought challenges, ESPECIALLY when life has brought challenges, there is plenty to be thankful for. A roof over my head, friends/family to lean on or celebrate with, food on the table (even if not in abundance). I hope that this year, you will be spending time with loved ones and celebrating the wins and/or overcoming the losses of the year together.

While I haven’t been a life long pumpkin lover, I knew I needed to try this recipe from my grandmother’s recipe box. What a joy to have her with me in spirit as I made this pie for friends. This pie is the perfect balance of both pumpkin and pecan. For those of you who can’t decide between the two flavors, this is your solution!!! Grandma also gets bonus points for this recipe because it is so amazingly easy. The hardest part is getting it into the oven without spilling the filling. Check out the tips below for help with that.

Tips

If you are using pre-made pie crust that is in an aluminum tin, place it on a baking sheet before pouring the filling in and keep it on the baking sheet even while baking it. The tin is flimsy enough that it is easy to spill the filling while transferring it to the oven if you don’t have the support of the baking sheet.
If you are using a roll-out pre-made pie crust and placing it in your own glass/metal pie dish, go ahead and put a baking sheet in the oven on the bottom shelf. If you happen to have any filling bubble over the edge of the crust the baking sheet will catch it and save you from a mess in your oven.

For those wanting to be more decorative with the pie, you can customize your crust by imprinting the edges with items you can find in your own kitchen. For this one, I used the handle of a measuring spoon so get those cute little dots. You can absolutely sprinkle the pecan pieces all over the top. I chose to make a circle out of the nuts near the crust edge before sprinkling the rest.

Print Recipe

PUMPKIN PECAN PIE

Why choose between pumpkin and pecan when you can have both? This pie is the perfect marriage of both flavors and is incredibly easy to make.

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Dessert, Pecan, Pie, Pumpkin

Servings: 8 slices

Ingredients

1 unbaked 9" pie crust
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
15 oz canned pumpkin
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 Tablespoons butter melted and cooled
1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. If using a roll out pie crust, unroll it and place it in a pie dish. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, pumpkin, corn syrup and butter. Pour mixture into pie crust. Top with chopped pecans. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until filling does not jiggle. Once cooled, serve topped with whipped cream.

*Original source of this recipe is unknown. Directions are slightly modified from my grandmother’s recipe card.

Double Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

April 9, 2017 by Sarah Baade 5 Comments

I learned two things while creating this recipe. First, this dough was NOT meant to be biscotti. Second, it doesn’t matter because apparently, my family doesn’t care for biscotti anyway. When I tried making this dough into biscotti it was a huge fail. The edges were burning and the center was puffing up. However, one bite into the middle puffy area and I knew I needed to find a way to use this dough for something else.

Take two and I discovered success in cookies! I have served a lot of different cookies to family, friends and co-workers over the years. I have never received more complements than I have with these cookies. The rustic appearance gives the impression that these might be a crispy cookie but they are actually quite soft inside. The bonus is that they still taste great dipped in coffee so feel free to indulge for breakfast.

Tips:

This dough is thick. Be sure to use a stand mixer so you don’t burn out your electric hand mixer.
If you need to approach this recipe in steps, combine your dry ingredients and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap until you’re ready to finish the recipe.

Double Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

5 tablespoons butter (room temperature)

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup raw macadamia nut pieces

1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat brown sugar with granulated sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients 1 cup at a time. Stir in macadamia nuts and chocolate chips.

Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds of cookie dough and place on the parchment paper. Leave 2-inches between the cookies. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and transfer the cookies from the parchment to cooling racks.