SWEET & SPICY ROASTED NUTS with ROSEMARY @ INA's GARDEN

Cashewnuts are as Goan to me as Cashew feni to a tourist traveling to my land of sun , sand , sea and sea food , Goa , for the first time or second or third (if u have not heard this , i have many many times over, that they HAVE to feast on the cashew feni when in Goa on a holiday or not )

 

Too good , too fast to be true...

See how well the sweet and salty spiced butter coats the nuts..

Never leave Goa without some of these.......

 

Even if i cant generalize that , well i want to for the love of Cashewnuts anyway , besides being a wonderful nut , it connects me to my goan connection , in a good way .

Always looking forward to grind , slice , chop cashewnuts in baking or cooking , here was another opportunity and so for this weeks Appetizers and snacks , Rosemary roasted cashewnuts from Ina's Barefoot in Paris .

I dont know what part of this recipe is French but i like the sound of it ....

U simply cant stop at some....

ORANGE ALMOND CRUNCH CARAMEL CAKE @ CAKE SLICE

When there are good times , there got to be cake ...and real good cake ...
Two months into our new move and its been so beautiful , oh yeah there were hiccups and a sad incident but now its beautiful , very....

Moving has u looking forward to a new life and this has been one , in every way and so abundantly good too.
If there is so much of good news coming thru in ur personal life and family as well , u have nothing but to be excited and jump with glee...
Its got busier but with a schedule i'm in love with, beautiful early morns , a little nap that works wonders on the skin sometimes at noon and more...

And then u bake along , specially a cake like this , it gets yummy luscious...

COOKIE CRUMBLE,JAMMERS + R&J COOKIES in SABLES @COOKIE BAR@NYC with MS GREENSPAN

 Ur are all snuggled up in ur pink bedroom ,dreaming away under  ur pink cuppycake comforter , and u have been thinking cookies all evening and its only natural that as u drift off , ur going to be thinking cookies too.....

And jus as ur drifting off , ur mind starts putting together a dozen and more cookie ideas and u wanna get up , switch on ur laptop and get right away to put the post , bake the next day and complete the post...

This is exactly what happened to me ,the day i read all about Ms Greenspans Jammers and more at the cookie bar.

Adding more goodness to a wonderful Sable , the buttery ,tender ,melt in ur mouth cookie , only makes things better and add some fantastic home made preserves and topped with streusel/Crumble , is always a winner and more.

I mean how can  this go wrong , A Vanilla bean Lemon zest Sable , reinforced with some Vanilla Crush And Fiori di sicilia...

And u need no sprinkles for these , but i could help taking my heart sprinkles out , but finally these babies landed on the cookies:-)

 So here i have some wonderful Vanilla bean Sables , made better , with rubbing some zest in the sugar , and a wee bit of Fiori di Sicilia.
Infact ,along with the Vanilla bean , u can go with any of these flavors , or maybe jus all and they'll be absolutely wonderful.
Go with whatever flavor rocks ur boat , or a little of all maybe?
What ever rocks ur boat , rocks these cookies too.......

I lovee streusel and find myself many a times adding streusel to many a bake and a bit back when i saw lemon bars with streusel i was jus as excited as well.

I am also always adding a Vanilla bean or 2 every where , including my streusel and sables!

Oh i filled them with Caramel and chocolate last time and this time there is something fantastic too...Jammmmm...lods of good fruity jam = jammers.

Beginning with Sables , baking them in rings ( nice straight brown edges on the cookies come coz they are baked in the rings), i used shaped rings , like i do many a time , for cookies ,right from the wedding cookie to many more....so was more than happy when i read that Ms. Greenspan does this too!

 Oh sure , had lods of cookie cutters to wash , some of them custom made , but that was a breeze with some hot water and good dishwashing liquid.

So lets begin with the cookie , for step by step pics , go here , this time i patted them all to cut out the shapes desired and bake them along with the same cutter.

Here is the dough , patted out , roughly into 2 squares , ready to be cut out, after an over night refrigeration.

 And before u go any further brew ur self a coffee, Vanilla coffee is good...and if there are hearts and pink , then fantastic.....

And pour urself some, to begin with ie.....u can dip in more as u go... 

BLUSH'N [tanned] SNICKER DOODLES FOR THANKSGIVING& A MICKEY MOUSE!

 Happy ChilDrens Day Everyone!!

I loveee Childrens day!!! dont u?

If u wondering about the tittle ,arent SD's sugar kissed , so they sure are blushing with that kiss , and with the cinnamony goodness mixed with sweet cinnamon , they sure are well tanned!!!
And here they are Vanilla kissed too!
And all butter too!
How good is that!
And they got a chocolate makeover here, with lods of vanilla, and for my last years cute ideas ,hop here !

Oh look at the sun basking its golden hues on the cinnamon!!

These are the best cookies in the world, honestly they are, i dont know if i will say this for another cookie again or even if u offer me a CCC,but these buttery delite's are totally melt in ur mouth!
And the Vanilla heightens that gorgeous flavor!

CHERRY APPLE CLAFOUTI /FLAN by JULIA CHILD

Cherry's and Crumbles....
Apples and Fall...
Oh Clafouti is here....
Oh Dessert i love ......

 Clafouti, a baked french dessert, where Pancake like batter is poured over buttered and maybe sugared molds, atop Cherries ,traditionally unpitted and baked till jus firm of very firm!!

But honestly,is it pancakkey....no it aint....

Is it an eggy custard????....no it aint....


Clafouti is Claflouti , special ,elegant, yet simple to make!!


Simple to make but absolutely creates delightfully delicious memories!!

I adapted the Julia Child recipe, for Cherry Clafouti with jus a few additions, like melted butter [Julia would never say no to this one] and ground cashewnuts.....

Ahh ,i used Apples too....

Straight outa the oven , a dream , and the next day ,cold or warmed for breakfast ,even a better dream!

S'MORES [Oh so delicious] FOR A COOKIE CARNIVAL

It's June and its good....as the showers work their magic....
Evening walks on the Beach are cooler and as usual i tread along with a little bag, collecting shells and pebbles...

its the best time to bake too, specially if the bake happens to remind u of hot chocolate and more.

OR Campfire .......

This is the first time i learnt about S'mores and was deliciously happy to, with so muc to love about these American  Campfire treat....

Visions of molten Marshmellow , melting some chocolate on Crackers and more...and left all who bit into them wanting for more and more....

I was full on ...everythings to love about these chocolatey little havens.....They are so so good , that u'll camp on the request to have some more ...:-)

And more than thrilled that Tami chose these little darlings, as one of the recipes for the cookie carnival this time round!!!

There's another cookie she has that i still have to bake and post, loved her choice for both cookies!!!

These are so muc fun to make, delicious to eat and pretty to look at too:-)

They have so muc going on for the fillings that u'd love to play along.

These r what tender moments are made of, a lovely biscuity base with a layer of ur fav chocolate , marshmellows , and some batter atop too:-)

For the base , i loved the flavors of lime zest & vanilla , added coconut to a part, ground hazelnuts/almonds/cashewnuts to a part and almond essence to a part....

And Hah, i had some soft vanilla wafers , so ground them too and replaced part of the AP flour with them!

PRessed them into heart and tart trays......

BAked the base first......

A few hearts wen with a layer of roasted ,crushed hazlenuts, with a thick layer of nutella......

And some more Nutella and Hazelnuts and Nutella and Hazelnuts....and a sprinkle or 2....

More nutella...dont u love it???

A few hearts went with a layer of cashewnuts bits and Mangada......and sliced bananas.

A few with MAngada and white chocolate....

And a few with milk chocolate chips....

And yes some bar hearts with dairy milk shots too...shots jus got better....

How delicious they are .....with these bars....

And had some gooey marshmellow puffs

and normal marshy's too...both in pink and white...

S'mores Sandwich Bar Cookies
  Adapted from Here

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour [i made to with one cup of flour and had 1/3rd cup ground vanilla wafers instead]
  
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs [and a little more of the MArie biscuit crumbs i used]
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/3 cups (8-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Mini Milk Chocolate Bars OR 5 HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars (1.55 oz. each)
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows 

For the base

~~~Add some almond meal /ground hazelnuts /crushed hazelnuts or any crushed nuts [walnuts/pistas] to the base by subbing flour for a nuttier base.

~~~For flavor vanilla and lemon/orange zest, almond extract , cinnamon or lavender is beautiful.
 ~~~I used the good 'ol Marie Biscuit , grinding them , for the base- i love what butter and sugar and vanilla beans do to Marie Biscuits ground!!!
~~~as also some ground vanilla wafers ,that were soft, and i thought this would be a great add in, it was...
~~~A vanilla bean or 2 or more :-) went in too..

FOR filling

~~~Milk chocolate + marshmellow [pink and white]

~~~ Roasted chopped Hazelnut + Nutella + Roasted Chopped HAzelnut

~~~Mangada [Portuguese mango preserve] + ground cashewnuts+sliced banana

~~~Cherry /cranberry preserve + white chocolate & cream

~~~ MAcadamia + ginger + white chocolate

~~~in milk chocolate ,i had Callebaut coverture milk chocolate and origin milk choclate, dairy milk bars and Cadbury's chocolate shots.

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
[now i got 6hearts + 7 mini tarts + 3 * 3inch tarts with this ]

2. Beat butter and sugar until well blended in large bowl.
Add egg and vanilla; beat well. [a vanilla bean or 2 i love]

Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended.
Press half of dough in prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes.

3. Sprinkle mini chocolate bars over baked layer or arrange unwrapped chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit.
 Or have any options u want -i had 7 different combos!!!

home made mangada with a base of ground cashewnuts and a few chopped cashewnuts!

Sprinkle with marshmallows; scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer.

Bake 10 to 15 minutes or just until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
16 bars.or 6hearts ,6mini tarts and 3 *3inch tarts.

  The Bake it Pretty SPrinkles sure did help me dress up my S'mores pretty too!!!