Vanilla Macarons

Ooh, la la! So French!

We’ve been wanting to make macarons for ages. We’ve looked at recipes. We’ve copied down some of them. We’ve read the tips for perfect macarons. We’ve had them in French bakeries. We’ve just never made them before. Why? Is it that they seem impossible to make? Nah, that won’t stop us from trying. Besides, plenty of people have made macarons. The real reason is more mundane: we’ve not had fine enough almond flour. You see, normally we make our own almond meal/flour from whole almonds by grinding them in a food processor; but, that makes a moderately coarse flour, too coarse for macarons. So, they fall by the wayside. We’ve waited long enough, so let’s make some macarons!

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Almond Brittle

While it seems as if we haven’t been busy, we have. We’ve been traveling for fun (to the Grand Canyon), and, back at home, we’ve been making candy. We generally make candy for the holidays, mostly to give away, but, a bit for us, too. While we have our standards, such as Bear Paws, we like to change up some of the other recipes we use. This year we changed our brittle recipe to make almond brittle.

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Almond Spread (Vegan Cheese)

almond spread

almond spread
Not cheese — almond spread!

This is a recipe that we’ve had around for a couple of years now. After a couple of years, we either need to try it or toss it (well, not really toss, since the Scratchin’ It filing systems uses a double redundant protocol to maintain records), so let’s try it out. It fits in well with yesterday’s post about the Crispy Smoky Salty Carrot Strips, in that the original recipe intended it as a replacement for a perfectly good food (cheese, glorious cheese) that we enjoy with abandon. So, why are we making it? To us, it might not be a good replacement for cheese, but it might be a delicious Almond Spread.

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Cherry Almond Brittle

cherry almond brittle

cherry almond brittle
Cherries! Almonds! Crunchy! Chewy!

One of us got a notice to report for jury duty on Monday (possibly), the same day we volunteer downtown, which is when we bring treats for the other volunteers. Jury duty might mean that one of us would be gone most or all day, so any treats we made would have to be made ahead of time, which eliminates an awfully lot of baked-fresh goods. Now, if we add to the mix that we want our treats to match somewhat an adjacent holiday, month, or season (Bourbon-Pecan Mini Pies or Kings Cakelets for Mardi Gras, Peppermint Stick Ice Cream for December, etc), it gets difficult to figure out just what to make. After all, the only holiday this time of February is President’s Day.

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