Sometimes in the middle of January, you have to go for some food that is particularly tropical, in hopes that it revives the senses (and wards off scurvy!) These Orange Almond Crumble Bars did just the trick!
Browsing Tag
nuts
And what would a CSPS Christmas be without some dressed up nuts? This year, I made Honey gingerbread ones, with almonds, cashews and pecans (but any combination of nuts will do). These are a little sweeter than some of my sweet and spicy ones, but still very delicious. Let them absolutely cool completely before bagging them up, otherwise they will stick together and get totally hard.
Going back to an old stand-by as I am often doing. Here is yet another recipe for crumble bars, this time with gooseberries and pistachios. Just goes to show you that you can really use any fruit and nut combination. If you’ve never had a gooseberry, it’s a greenish or light pink (although there are also dark purple just not around here) berry. Quite tart. In German, they are called Stachelbeeren …. thorn berries …. because the vines have thorns on them. They are a member of the ribe family (as are currants) so they were banned in parts of the US for a long time and are just making a comeback (though there are still quite a few laws on the books outlawing mass growing of them). Anyway, delicious combo with the pistachios.
Here’s another Ukrainian/Eastern-European-inspired cookie recipe: Ukrainian-Style Walnut Ring Cookies, with Chocolate. In my research, I saw these both with chocolate like this, or with just walnuts held on with an egg wash and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. I guess it was how fancy one was being. Or what ingredients are on hand. The cookie dough is quite nice — mostly whole wheat flour (a little unusual for a cookie) and a touch of dark, buckwheat flour honey. As with many of the cookies that I am making, these are mostly made at Christmas time, so it feels a little strange to be making them in the run up to Easter, but oh well. They are yummy no matter what time of year.
Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Sandwiches/Paninis, Sides
Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed Sourdough Artisan Bread
It’s Wednesday, so that must mean a new sourdough experiment for the week! Sticking to my “learn about Ukrainian food” theme, this bread is a Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed Sourdough Artisan Bread. The Ukraine produces some of the largest crops of sunflower seeds globally (although with Russian and other Eastern European countries). And the sunflower is also a symbol of peace in the Ukraine. So, this bread is meaningful and economically appropriate. The Ukrainians, I have read, also eat a lot of rye, so that will be next Wednesday’s experiment. In the meantime, this bread is moist, rounded (literally and figuratively), hearty and has good flavor with the sunflower seeds, whole wheat and honey.