I LOVE BUTTER!

Nut butter that is! This stuff is amazing and addictive. I just can't stop sticking my spoon in the container. Sweet, nutty, creamy, maple-y, all in one single bite. Hm, I wonder how it'd taste on a banana...?! Not only was this stuff super yummy, but it was also pretty easy to make. Coat some almonds in a little maple syrup, bake them in the oven for oh about 10 minutes, then grind for hm maybe 5-7 minutes.

Maple almond butter > Peanut butter? Yes, definitely better. The recipe come's from Ashley's blog. Oh wait, now that I just looked at the recipe again it seems I forgot the cinnamon! Oh well, next time. I guess I forgot because the recipe is so simple! A cup of nuts, a tablespoon of maple syrup...

Oh, you know what I just realized? I actually tried almond butter before. Whole foods has those nut grinding stations where you can sample the different kinds. Anyways, I tried the almond butter there but it didn't taste very good. The outer husks of the almonds were still visible, and the butter had a gritty taste (totally unlike this recipe! -just make sure to pulse long enough!)

Maple Almond Butter
Ingredients:
1 cup almonds
2 Tablespoon maple syrup (only real stuff please!)

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F
2. In a bowl combine almonds and syrup
3. Spread on parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes, stirring halfway
4. Once finished, pulse nuts in a food processor until cream (it took me about 5-7 minutes)
* Ashley has some great tips about making creamy and perfect nut butters

Maple Cinnamon Biscotti

My hand hurts. I just spent the last two hours hunched over my kanji book, scribbling kanji in to the super tiny boxes. Oh, how much fun that was (in a sarcastic voice). I have no idea why anybody would need three different types of writing. I mean, katakana is for "borrowed" words, hiragana is for, I guess non-borrowed words, and kanji, well kanji is just annoying. I mean, really? Do you really need to have another type of writing for words that be already written in a plainer form? Okay, maybe it looks a lot nicer and shortens words. Wait, no not always, sometimes there's about 15 strokes for one kanji, and the reading is just one syllable! Such a waste of my hand cramping!

Now moving onto other important matters besides my Japanese homework...these maple cinnamon biscotti! Biscotti are one of my favorite cookies. Mainly because they're so crunchy, and (well at least the ones I make) don't have any butter! Yea, I know some biscotti do, but I think the butter-free ones are better. They're crunchier! I combined two of my favorite fall flavors, maple and cinnamon, in to this crispy little twice baked cookies. They make the house smell delicious, and super fall-y? Uh, fall-y? is that a real word? Hm, maybe not, but basically these cookies are good.

Maple Cinnamon Biscotti  
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Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup maple syrup

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a cookie sheet with a silpat baking sheet
2. In a bowl mix sugar and eggs.
3. Gradually add in flour cinnamon and maple syrup.
4. Half the dough, shaping each in to a log on the cookie sheet
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned
6. Remove from oven, and being very careful, cut in to long slices about 1/2 inch thick
7. Turn each slice sideways and bake for 10 more minutes
8. Remove from oven, turn on to opposite side, bake for 10 more minutes
9. Remove pan from oven and cool
10. Enjoy!

Crostata for Daring Bakers

This is my second daring bakers challenge! The challenge was hosted by Simona over at Briciole. She picked crostata for this month's challenge. Crostata, which means tart, is an Italian dessert, and can be filled with a variety of fillings. Since it was Thanksgiving, I chose to make a pecan pie filling for a pecan tart.

The tart dough was a little too hard for me, but maybe I just didn't roll out the dough thin enough... oops. But anyways, the crust paired pretty well with the nuts. I guess the crunchyness of the crust complimented the sweet, semi softness of the nuts. Or at least I think. I brought it to the Thanksgiving dinner (along with several other types of desserts) and everyone said it was tasty, so I'm assuming they liked it.

I know I'm a little late, posting a pecan tart recipe and all, but I didn't start baking like crazy until this year, and anyways, I had way too much hw to begin Thanksgiving dessert testing. So sorry about posting this recipe after Thanksgiving, but you know, this tart can be enjoyed anytime of the year. Plus, it was really easy to make. I mean as long as you have all the ingredients, an oven, and a little time!

Crostata (Tart dough) Recipe can be found over at Simona's Blog Briciole

Pecan Tart Filling
Adapted from Tastespotting
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/3 cup of corn syrup
1/3 cup of whipping cream
1 tbs hazelnut extract
1 tbs maple syrup
2 tbs cup of butter, melted
1 cup of pecan halves

Directions:
1. In a bowl mix eggs, sugars, salt, and corn syrup until combined
2. Mix in the cream, extract, maple syrup, and butter
3. Add in the pecans and coat
4. Pour in to prepared tart and bake for 50 minutes at 350˚F
5. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Granola

It's finally getting cold here! You know how I can tell?! I can leave the widows open at night without my room getting too hot. Yea, I know, maybe not the best indicator, but it's already November, so I'm just gonna say it's officially fall here. And what better to eat during fall than pumpkin granola? I first saw a recipe for pumpkin granola on Two Peas and Their Pod, and I was instantly craving some! It just looked delicious....large chunks of crunchy granola... yum :) 

When I eat granola, I crave one of two types. There's the granola with a lot of add ins, like cranberries, almonds, hazelnuts, raisins, lots of stuff, and there's the other type of granola that's just plain 'ol oats, toasted with a little sweetener, such as agave syrup, maple syrup, or honey!

Pumpkin Granola
Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon all spice

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F
2. In a bowl combine maple syrup, puree, yok, cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice.
3. Mix in rolled oats
4. Evenly spread mixture on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden, stirring every 5 minutes

Maple Cereal Bars

 
Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone! Is everybody attending some fabulous BBQ? Or how about enjoying a labor day picnic? Me? Well, not so much. Do you know what I get to do on my monday off? Swim. Yes you heard right. I have to swim. 2.4 miles to be exact. Woohoo. How fun, I just can't wait! (*sarcastic voice*) Who wouldn't love to get up early, slather themselves in vaseline and swim for an hour straight?! But at least after I can eat a ton of these cereal bars!

The recipe is so easy, and you can use any type of cereal. My favorite combination is cinnamon toast crunch and honey nut cheerios. It's cinnamon-y, honey-y, and maple-y! I didn't have any of those on hand, though, so I used puffed millet. Why puffed millet you ask? Well my dad says it tastes like styrofoam and I kinda needed to get rid of it to make room for some cinnamon toast crunch! (With the taste you can see!) After the millet came out of the oven it didn't taste as styrofoamy, but still not great, so I don't really recommend using that. But it does look cool, right?

Maple Cereal Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup melted butter
4 cups any cereal

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325˚F
2. Combine sugar, syrup, and butter. Stir in cereal
3. Pour onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
4. Bake for 40 minutes
5. Once cool break in to desired pieces
6. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Maple Hazelnut Cookie

My dad recently went to the mainland and brought back this huge bag of trader joe’s hazelnuts. We tried them, and thought they were disgusting. Turns out they were raw! :o I figured this out when I was trying this recipe.

I heard if you toast the nuts before adding them, more of the flavor comes out in the final product. Well, when I toasted the nuts, all the shells seemed like they were flaking off. A little longer in the oven, and they were shedding! Just using my fingers and a wooden spoon, I was able to take off most of the hazelnuts brown outer shell. These cookies are pretty good, I guess. They’re soft cookies. Prob because of the maple syrup. I think for more firm cookies, I would’ve taken out the maple syrup and added more brown sugar. I added hazelnut syrup just for a little extra hazelnut flavoring, and cause I found it on my kitchen table. (BTW It goes great with coffee)



Oatmeal Maple Hazelnut Cookie – Created by me!
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup wheat flour
1 cup regular oats
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp hazelnut flavor syrup (optional)
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 large egg
½ cup toasted and crushed hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350˚F. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, beat the butter, and sugars until blended. Add in the egg and syrups. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Once combined, stir in hazelnuts. Drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, bake at 12 minutes, or until edges of the cookies are lightly browned.

Oatmeal Maple Hazelnut Cookie



Before


After


Hazelnut liquor