Browsing Tag

sweets

Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Hazelnut-Rosemary Caramel Tart

This is a bit of a twist on a Pecan Pie. It has the same sort of filling (melted butter, eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar), but instead of using pecans, I used toasted hazelnuts and I added a twist: I steeped some fresh rosemary (from my ever dwindling herbs in my porch garden — the next frost and they will all be gone) in the melted butter for 20 minutes, to give it an interesting, and in my opinion, lovely harvest flavor. I suppose that you could use other nuts as well — cashews maybe? — if you weren’t up for using hazelnuts but still wanted something different than your standard pecan pie. Serve at room temp, maybe with a bit of whipped cream to cut the richness.
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Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Salted Caramel Hazelnut Croquant Thumbprint Cookies

OK, these are awesomely delicious. And time consuming. I’m not sure I would have made them had I really realized that they are more or less a 5 step process (make dough, make rounds/dip, bake, caramel, chocolate decoration). Actually, who am I kidding … lots of my cookies take this long. They are worth it though.

Before someone asks me, what Hazelnut Croquant is, I’ll just tell you: In a nutshell (no pun intended) it’s like a nut brittle that is than smashed to pieces. Candied nuts, chopped fine. You can do it with any nut sort, but in Germany, they sell pre-packaged hazelnut croquant, so instead of making my own, I went with that. I know, cheater. If you don’t want to go through the effort of making croquant, finely chopped nuts will do. If you use peanuts, these will be little “turtles” (chocolate, peanuts, caramel).
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Dinner, Lunch, Soups

Sweet Potato and Shrimp Chowder

I had bought some sweet potatoes at the farmer’s market the other weekend, with the full intent of making sweet potato fries (which I love), but somehow today was another “cold weather food day” so here I am, making another soup. Added some shrimp just because I had them in the freezer. And there are leftovers.

PS: don’t tell me that it looks like baby food. Should have added more cream at the end because it got a little thick after I added the shrimp/prawns. Adjust the cream level as needed!
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Candy, Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Witches Hats Cookies, for Halloween

I don’t typically make a lot of Halloween themed baked treats. I never get invited to Halloween Parties (do childless adults have those?) and you can’t really give away homemade stuff for trick-or-treaters. This year I did see these cute witches hats though, so I thought that I would make them just to giveaway. They are just sugar cookies with Hershey’s Kisses on top, then prettied up a bit. They are small, so just a bit of a witch, so to speak.
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Dinner, Sweet Snacks

Spiced Blueberry Pie “To Feed a Crowd”

Well, it’s getting closer to that food extravaganza that the US calls Thanksgiving. I really like Thanksgiving because while I know there are other things behind it, it is mostly about the food. So, if you are planning to feed a crowd and you are the one pegged with making dessert, this recipe might be for you. It feeds +/- 24 and is made in a half sheet (18 x 13 inch) pan. That’s pretty big. It also weighed about 8 pounds. 🙂 but it was delicious — the spices gave it a nice warm taste.
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