Almond Butter

I've been on this almond craze lately and just can't get enough of it...hand me a jar of almond butter and a spoon, all of it will disappear. Why hadn't I thought of making this earlier? Taking in a big spoonful of this almond butter brings me down Memory Lane. mmm the good ol' days.

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my days now too, but there's been this exponential increase in responsibility that I'm not sure I'm ready to face. C'mon schools, what you should be teaching us should include things such as: paying taxes and bills, buying and renting property, renewing passports... perhaps even a bit of home ec. education? Thank you very much. 

Life skills, becoming street smart, using sharp knives... 

Back to almond butter though. With all this summer free time in my hands, I've been able to get bunches of cardio into my schedule. This almond butter has been by far, my favorite post-workout snack. There's just something oh-so-special about homemade nut butters! 

After I toasted the raw almonds, our home was filled with the warmest nutty aroma evahhh! Look at those cute little cracks in the nuts.

Let me just briefly explain each step: 

1. Unprocessed state.
2. Chopped almonds.
3. Oils starting to come out.
4. Almonds taking on its butter/liquid-y form.
5. Down below is the beautiful butter created after that massive load of hard work. ha ha

I really do hope you enjoy your homemade almond butter!

Ingredients: yields approximately 1 1/2 cups
2 cups raw or toasted whole almonds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon (opt.)

Directions:

1. If using raw almonds, toast over the stove for about 15 minutes on low fire, or until your home is filled with a nutty aroma and the nuts begin to split. If using pre-toasted almonds, go ahead and skip to step 2.
2. In a food processor, process the whole almonds until the desired consistency. Do not be discouraged at any point if your almonds are taking a while to get to its liquid state--just keep processing! 
3. Once the almonds are almost in its butter form, add in the salt and continue processing until salt is thoroughly incorporated into the almond butter.

Notes:
- If you desire to sweeten your almond butter, add some honey. However, this will dry out your almond butter, so you will need to add some oil.
- You can always make raw almond butter, although I find that it is not as tasty as the toasted almond version.
- Do not over toast the almonds; it will result with a more bitter butter.
- My almonds did not become almond butter until about 20 minutes later. Your processor may result with varying times. 

With love,
Grace 

Dark Chocolate Bark

 

I've recently been on this chocolate crave. Within the past week, I've adopted at least five different brands of dark chocolate (now that school is over, all I do is eat and sleep) into my home. As I've cut refined sugars out of my life as much as possible, the darkest chocolates have slowly become sweet. Most days, I'll be perfectly content with solely dark cocoa powder in my oatmeal -- no sweeteners.

So let me now introduce you to my new favorite chocolate bark. Spicy mama, meet my lovely reader. When I took my first nibble of the bark, my taste buds were pleasantly surprised. 

Chili and bittersweet chocolate is a relatively new concept in the western world, albeit it is well-known to many South American cultures. To many people, bittersweet and dark chocolate is too...bitter (for lack of a better word). With the delightful heat however, the chocolate becomes somewhat intriguing. 

My favorite part about the bark is that the chili is undetectable while you're indulging and then BAM!  It reveals itself after you go nomnomnom.

 Anyways, enjoy!


Recipe: serves 6
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup pistachios
7 apricots, chopped into 4ths
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Combine pistachios, apricots, chili powder, and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. With a double boiler, melt the chocolate (or melt in the microwave with 30 second increments, stirring between each increment). Stir in the pistachio mixture.
3. Pour the pistachio-chocolate mixture onto the lined baking pan. Use a spatula to even out. Sprinkle with salt and refrigerate until hard, and then break into pieces.
   

Notes:
- My entire batch was about 250g
- Store in an airtight container
- If you are feeling ballsy, up the chili powder to 1/2 tsp cinnamon

With love,
Grace

Also, I just created a Facebook page (here) and would really, really love it if you could go like it! Thanks!

Bear Claws

After many years of baking the basics, I've finally mustered up the courage to make a pastry. This is a very late Mother's Day post, but I can't pass up this opportunity to share my experience. Before moving to Shanghai, mom's favorite pastry from any place was always the Bear Claw. A few weeks before Mother's day, I thought about what I'd make and this is what came up.
Since I won't be in close proximity to my family next mother's day, I stepped it up a notch. Bear Claw Pastry is the perfect thing to make if you'd rather spend the time instead of money to show how much you love someone (mushy gushy).

Or you could just treat yourself to a nice pastry. They smell and taste heavenly.

I've been wanting to post this since the day I made it, but with school I've been extremely busy...but now it's over! Happy graduation!

Yesterday was our last day of school. With the Baccalaureate Service and then graduation rehearsal, it finally hit me that I wouldn't be going back to this school after summer. After four years here, my school has sort of become my second home (as much as I hate to admit it). I'll really miss the community and the relationships I've established. While I'm beyond excited to start the new chapter of my life, I don't think I've been this anxious for anything.

Anyways... I digress. 
If you're looking for more of a challenge, make your own pastry puff. Seeing the results of the flaky dough is more satisfying than I imagined. Despite my worries that this would turn into the biggest failure of Mother's day, it turned out to be a huge success! Before Tuesday even came around, 6/6 pastries were gone. Lucky for my mom, I had frozen the other six.

In fact, I encourage that you double the batch and freeze them for whenever you'd like to enjoy a delectable breakfast with a nice cup of dark roast coffee (or tea!).

Enjoy!

Bear Claws: makes 12
Recipe: adapted from here
2 Tbsp & 2 tsp almond paste
2/3 cups ground almonds
2/3 cups finely chopped walnuts
1/8 cup white sugar
1/2 pinch salt (1 smidgen)
1 Tbsp butter
1 egg white
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp amaretto liqueur

1 1/2 pounds puff pastry (ingredients from here and directions from here)
1/2 egg
1 1/2 tsp water
1 1/2 Tbsp sliced almonds for garnish
1 1/2 Tbsp confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Beat almond paste with an electric mixer to break it apart. Add the almonds, walnuts, sugar, and salt; continue mixing until the almond paste is no longer lumpy. Stir in the butter, egg white, almond & vanilla extract, and amaretto liqueur on high speed until it's as fluffy as possible. We'll finish working with this in a bit.
2. Split the dough in half and place half in the refrigerator. Roll half of the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle that is about 8 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Trim the edges and cut the dough in half lengthwise to make two 4 inch wide strips. On each 4 inch wide strip, divide the dough into three sections, totaling to six rectangle pieces. Place these in the refrigerator, and take out the other half of the dough. Repeat step 2. In the end, there should be 12 smaller rectangles.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
4. Whisk the egg and water together. Spoon a scant Tbsp of filling in the center of each strip. Brush the egg mixture onto the edges of each strip. Fold each strip over the filling and press gently to seal. Use a knife to cut "claws". 
5. Brush the egg mixture on top of each claw. Sprinkle almonds over the top. Refrigerate and repeat with the other half of the dough.
6. Bake in the preheated oven until almonds are toasted and the pastry is golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Cool and dust with confectioners' sugar right before serving.

Notes:

- After step 4, you have the option of freezing the pastries. I individually wrapped each Bear Claw. When I baked the frozen half, I just preheated the oven, brushed the top with egg and water, and then sprinkled almonds over the top. The time should be around the same, just watch for the color changes

- Baking the Bear Claws, or any pastry, is best baked when the dough is cold.

- Keep in mind when making pastry dough, that the more you fold and roll your dough, the more layers and more flaky the dough will be. 

With Love,

Grace

The Raw Brownie

 Sarah from My New Roots said she'd change my life with this brownie, and now it's my turn to change your life.

Reading about raw brownies had me double-taking the title. What could be better than a dark chocolate brownie that's good for you, yet ridiculously simple to make? I am truly grateful that I found this recipe. While a gooey, hot out-of-the-oven brownie is still enjoyable, this one is a life saviour in the sense that it allows for the daily splurge whilst acting as a saving grace for your health and diet. Although the ingredients for this brownie are potentially expensive, I can genuinely say that it has become my go-to recipe. Oh right, you like no-bakes right?

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Larabars

Have you had Larabars before? Well I haven't. I have read a lot of blogs that have hyped about them though. After stalling for a many weeks, I finally had enough of everyone's mushy gushy talk and decided to make copycat ones. If you're like me and have never had them, you are missing out. Whether these even taste like the real things, they are a new go-to snack.

My favorite part about these is the slight tartness of them. I only had unsweetened golden raisins, so I opted for these. No regrets!

The best part is eating them straight out of the fridge as an after-school snack. Actually no, I'm about to tell you the best part. They're packed with nutrition and superfoods: walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and oatmeal.

If you're wondering about the texture, they're a bit like a a chewy granola bar, but with a cookie dough texture. In fact, I would probably choose these over cookie dough.

Now that it's finally spring break, I'll be able to catch up on sleep and cook a whole lot of food. I'll also be waiting in anticipation as I hear back from colleges. 

24 Karat Cake