It’s January, so who would think that lemons are the ingredient to use, but it is Meyer Lemon season, and I made some fresh lemon curd which led to making these little cookies. Who doesn’t love that whole lemon poppy seed combination! Even the cookies themselves as quite fresh and clean tasting thanks to lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract. A quadruple dose of vitamin c (to keep that scurvy at bay!)
Been a few weeks since I made cookies. Probably because I spent the entire month of November making cookies — for 115 hours! — so that I didn’t want to even see any for a while. But we’re back and these are a cute little surprise for January. Buttons! And peanut butter! I like peanut butter, but don’ *love* peanut butter (that is likely the German in me — not a big thing in Germany) but the peanut butter is more like frosting in this case so lighter and fluffier. Sort of like an oreo, only a million times better.
Happy New Year! Now that we have crossed that imaginary line to the new year, here is some more “lucky food” to usher in the year. This is a traditional German Neujahrsbrezel (New Year’s Pretzel). It’s sweet, sort of like Challah bread (that is pearl sugar, not salt). Some people hide a cent piece in it, and who ever find it, gets all the luck. I, of course, didn’t do that because I’m not sharing it with anyone so I’ll just claim all the luck as is. Goes great with coffee at breakfast and actually makes great bread for French Toast too. Enjoy!
Last of the experiments before the big Christmas Day feast, and another breakfast thing to boot. There are a number of breakfast swirls / cinnamon buns on this site, so this time I focused on almond in addition to the spice. Again, turned out lovely and light. Serve them right out of the oven for an amazing Christmas treat!
Here’s a recipe for those people who want to make something special for a holiday (or run of the mill too) breakfast, but won’t wan to spend a lot of time fussing about in the kitchen. All told, this recipe only takes about 20 minutes or prep and an hour of baking. Start to finish in under 90 minutes. Walnut-y (can be subbed with pecans or even cashews) and cinnamon-y, but not too overwhelming. A Coffee-cake, but not really. At any rate, it’s yummy, nearly fool proof and pretty quick.
PS: fills a standard 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (my pan was a little bigger, which is why it doesn’t fill up). You could also make two smaller loaves. This Walnut Streusel Bread also freezes well.