The squash was a bit disappointing, but the filling was *to die for*. So here's the recipe:

5 small red potatoes
1 large parsnip
1 large handful whole, shelled walnuts

fresh rosemary, grated parmesean, salt and pepper to taste. Olive oil.


Dice parsnip and potatoes, and toss with olive oil. For the potatoes, toss with rosemary, salt, and pepper. For the parsnips, toss with parmesean. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Stir in the walnuts and bake for 10 minutes more.

It went very well with a dollop of plain yogurt.

Round two was a success! for you up this late your probly all going "WTF!?" at me for staying up and baking, but I"m sure the people coming in the AM will laugh too.

But I have found it! this is it! This is as close to it as I've tasted! I should have doubled the pepper :( and used real spices not dollar store pumpkin pie spice :(

I will remidy that! This is so not diet friendly. Espeically eating at 11:24. You won't tell, will you?

Recipe and a pic under the cut!


All in all, sorry for this late night craziness. I am so happy, really, I could just like, explode.

Oh yeah, if you want to try pepper in it, you want some medium-coarse ground pepper (I slaved over one of those micormic style plastic grinders for like, 10mins to get my shy of 1 tsp. If you really like pepper, make it 2 tsp, or even more! I may go with nearly a half tablespoon.) COAT IT IN FLOUR. Like a pinch. Just until its black, but a lil powdery. It helps. Stir it in RIIIIIGHT at the end right before all the flour is mixed in. It helps.

I'm experiancing the kind of joy only you other foodies could appreciate.

I started with this fairly traditional recipe for Seven Layer Bars, and modified thusly:

• Replaced graham cracker crumbs with one ready-made pie crust, broken up; this was only because the store was out of graham crackers. Left me just a little short on crust, and I had to resist the fleeting urge to break out the panko... ;-)
• Used chopped pecans in place of walnuts, since pecans harmonize so wonderfully with hyperbolic sweetness.
• Before pouring the condensed milk, I sprinkled on some salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne.
• Topped off the whole affair with shavings of Sharffen Berger extra dark, one of the finest chocolates known to mankind.

They came out nicely -- the earthiness of the pecans and extra dark chocolate help round out what could otherwise be an overpoweringly sweet dessert, making it more accessible to those folks lacking my insatiable sweet tooth. After you take a bite and your taste buds believe their work to be done, the cayenne emerges to playfully nip at the back of your tongue.

( Photo evidence )

Okay, I admit it. I am all anti-corporate radical leftwing blahblah, and a food snob, but I love McDonald's. Love it. I'm ashamed, I try to hide it, but there it is.

Among the many delicious menu items I love there, is the fruit and walnut salad. It's slices of red and green apples, purple grapes, vanilla yogurt, and candied walnuts. It's these last with which I crave your assistance.

The walnuts are crunchy, for one thing, not soft and oily. I'm an untrained gourmet, in my first year of gourmet-ness, and I have no idea how this is achieved. Is there a way to partially dehydrate them, or something?

Also, they're very lightly candied. Not a thick coating, and not over-powering.

Any ideas on how to re-create these walnuts, so I can replace one corporate vice, at least??

I posted a cheeseball recipe on my journal. No clue where it came from, but my mother used to make it all the time and it's delicious and moist!

I will try to get pictures the next time I make it.

Dear pornistas,

I bought some fresh basil and sundried tomatos yesterday to make some pesto (I was planning on making two kinds, pesto rosso and the "regular" green stuff). Unfortunately, I couldn't locate any pine nuts. I have some raw pecans and walnuts in the freezer. I also have a small handful of almonds in the pantry. Could I substitute any of these for the pine nuts? Should I toast them first?

Also, if you'd like to share your favorite pesto recipe, I'd really apreciate it :)

Love,
evil_mom

I am looking for a recipe that I had at a party over the holidays and thought ya'll may be able to help.

It was a mixture of smoked salmon, nuts and cream cheese rolled up in crescent rolls. I know there is more to it and would love to re-create this for a shower I am throwing this weekend.

I wasn't intending to make these twice, but I found I had to. They're delicious.

( Biscotti. )

Hi there!
You'd think I'd have an answer to this, since my youngest is fifteen...

We've recently moved, and our nearest neighbors are renovating their house before moving in. My daughter wants to make brownies to take over when they *do* move in, but I've had a horrid time finding a recipe that's soft and chewy but doesn't taste underbaked.

My favourite cake-like brownie recipe could work (recipe under the cut) but we were hoping for something a bit softer.

Any suggestions?

( cake brownies you can bribe counselors to change school schedules with =) )

Not only am I new to this community, but I've also never posted to a community before! How can that be?

I went dairy-free a month ago, as recommended by my boss (a naturopath). His wife gave me this outstanding recipe.

( Yams, Kale, and Smoky Quinoa... )

Here is one recipe you might want to try if you like ooey, gooey oatmeal bars. I wanted to make some kind of cookies or something to use up a couple of bananas I had begging to be used, so during my recipe search I found this one for Oatmeal Cookies. I did make the banana cookies too. But since I love oatmeal cookies, I wanted to try these. And if anyone wants the banana cookie recipe, I'd be happy to oblige.
( photo and recipe here )

 

Working with boiling sugar sucks, but being able to eat these at the end makes up for the the burns ;)

Click here for the full recipe, including the warnings! :P

Does anyone have a recipe for these? A long time ago a friend and I used to make meringue cookies with nuts and chocolate chips. I remember baking them for a while then turning the oven off and letting them dry out. I tried adjusting a meringue shell recipe but I messed up and added all the sugar to the egg whites and they never reached stiff peaks so they didn't bake up quite right. Please and thank you!
I've found a couple recipes online but I'm looking for your favorites!

This is a second experiment with this recipe. This time around croissants don't look like crabs. They're filled with dried apricots, prunes and walnuts.
They're as tasty as the look.



x-posted to sweet_baking

( close up )

During the holidays, I followed an Emeril recipe and make some spicy but sweet baked mixed nuts that everyone enjoyed. Since then, my husband and I started to think about a wasabi coating for roasting nuts - maybe almonds and pecans. Does anyone have a technique for doing a wasabi coating for roasting nuts?

I made two batches of nut-brittles tonight. This is the recipe I posted before, that calls for raw nuts, and all these were made with raw nuts.

First batch was filberts (hazelnuts) ... because of the size of the nuts, I used a scant cup instead of a cup and a quarter, and it was a little scorchy at the end. The filberts are bigger than spanish peanuts (of course) but didn't need to cook any longer.

The second batch was pistachios. With the pistachios, I let the sugar-candy get to 275 before I added them, as I didn't want to overcook them. They immediately glomped up all the sugar and formed a big ball, so I dumped in the butter-and-baking-soda-and-salt and splooshed it around until it sorta loosened up.

It didn't pour out as smoothly as I expected, and I had to moosh it out, and I was afraid it would be more like the caramel-version that I made a few weeks back. So, I got out my pizza cutter and sliced it into 2-inch candy size pieces, thinking I'd have to chocolate coat it.

It siezed up and turned into brittle as it cooled, though not quite as tasty as if it had cooked a bit longer. The butter didn't incorporate as well either. I'm not sure whether it was adding the pistachios to the lower-water mass of sugar (at the higher temp), or if pistachio nuts are simply going to soak up more.
I suppose I could experiment, but I'd rather wait for someone else to tell me first, if anyone knows.

Another Christmas gift-giving inspired post. They were so popular with friends and family.

They are best viewed large.  Click the image for larger size.  Recipe over here.