Praline Shortbread Squares

FULL DISCLOSURE - These are pricey to make. Almond flour is $10 a bag (for approximately four cups) and, then there's the pecans and agave. BUT, I dare say that I really love them. So yeah, there's always that. There's no gluten, refined sugar, and I'm pretty sure the butter could be substituted for vegan margarine. Otherwise, they're very easy to make and are a good source of protein.

Taken from Elana Amsterdam's The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook (2009).

Shortbread

2 cups blanched almond flour (**I tried just blitzing 2 cups of almonds in a coffee grinder and the blanched almond flour is much better. The cookies stay together more and the shortbread turns out lighter without the almond skins.)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup grape seed oil (**I used canola oil and it worked just fine.)

1 tablespoon agave nectar (**we usually buy the light stuff over the dark. I don't know what the difference is in flavour, though.)

Pralines

1/2 cup salted butter (**we only ever have unsalted and it seemed to work.)

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract (**generous, obvsly.)

2 1/4 cups pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with oil and dust with almond flour.
2. To make the shortbread, blend the almond flour, salt, oil, and agave nectar in a food processor until smooth. Press the dough into the prepared baking dish.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. (**Watch them closely. I find they start browning rather early, so pull them out as soon as they start to look gold-ish on top. They don't taste undercooked and will hold together much better.) Remove from the oven and let cool.
4. While the shortbread bakes, prepare the pralines. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter, then add the agave nectar and vanilla extract. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the pecans. Remove the praline mixture from the heat, cool to room temperature, and spread over the shortbread.
5. Place in the refrigerator for 3 hours to set. Cut into squares and serve.

The first batch of these I ever made didn't turn out too well. Probably a combination of homemade almond flour, adding the pecan mixture to the shortbread while it was still hot, and starting to cut them up before they were fully chilled. When I followed the directions more closely, they turned out fine, but I think they'll always be slightly crumbly.

Cream Cheese Icing

Adapted from a recipe I saw on the Canadian Living website.

1/4 cup + 2 tbs cream cheese (**I've used light cream cheese and it was fine)

1/4 cup softened butter

1 tbs vanilla

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Soften the cream cheese and butter on the stove. Add the vanilla. Whip in the icing sugar in 2 or 3 instalments.

I found that this was enough to do a crumb coat on the quinoa cake (aka you can barely do one coat and it was full of crumbs from the cake). If I were going to do this for a party or something, I would do a double batch and chill the cake between applications.

Favourite Weeknight Salad 2

Dressing:

Just the juice of half a lime and lots of pepper

Salad:

Baby spinach
1 Yves Spicy Italian Veggie Sausage>> slice it diagonally (10-ish pieces) and sautee it in olive oil, letting it brown on one side before flipping it to brown on the other.

Optional: Toss in some warm quinoa

Dinner in a pinch.

Favourite Weeknight Salad 1

Dressing:

knob of blue cheese (less than a tablespoon) >> this makes enough salad dressing for more than one salad
olive oil
white wine vinegar
a tiny bit of salt
lots of pepper

Put the blue cheese in the bottom of the bowl, crush it with a fork a bit, and then whisk in the rest. This stores well in a jam jar in the fridge. A little cheese goes a long way.

Salad:

romaine
crushed toasted almonds
tart apple slices
cucumber

Herbed Dinner Rolls

I'm slowly trying to branch out with the whole 'homemade bread' thing. Next after pizza dough was dinner rolls, which I think turned out quite well. The recipe for these came from a video that I stumbled upon online (linked at the bottom), and seeing them made via video really helped ease my concerns that I was doing it wrong.


In a large bowl put together the following items:

• 1 pouch of active yeast >> or 2 1/4 tsp, as per the jar. This is the regular, non-quick rise yeast
• 1 cup of very warm (not hot) water
• A pinch of sugar

Let the yeast sit for 6 to 9 minutes. It should bubble a bit and get kind of foamy.

Add:

• 1/4 cup of melted butter
• 2 cups of flour >> I used white All Purpose flour, though next time I'm going to try mixing in some whole wheat
• 2 tbs sugar >> Next time I'm going to try honey
• 1 1/2 tsp salt >> We only have sea salt, which is saltier than table salt. I only used about a 1/2 tsp of the sea salt because I prefer stuff less salted
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp dill

>> Note: I skipped the thyme because we didn't have it and skipped the dill because I don't care for it. Instead, I just added the oregano and a full teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary. It seems like you could take a few liberties with the herbs if you wanted to.

Mix the ingredients above with a spoon until they have just started to come together.

Add another 1 1/2 cups of flour in 1/2 cup increments. I had to start using my hands to get it to come together. Knead it for 2 minutes - it should end up pretty sticky.

Place a tea towel (I used a dampened one) over the top of the bowl and put it in a warm place. Leave it for an hour. It should double in size.

Punch the dough down (one big one right into the centre). Take it out of the bowl, put it on a lightly floured cutting board, and flatten it into a disc (you could use a rolling pin, but hands work too). Using a big, sharp knife, cut it into six pieces, pizza style. Each of the six 'slices' are then ripped in half, and each half pulled into three rolled balls (so, each of the six slices becomes six small balls - you'll have thirty-six in the end).

Take a lightly greased muffin tin and in each pocket place three of the small balls. Recover with the tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for approximately 45 minutes. They should double in size. >>I was concerned that mine weren't rising enough, so for the last twenty minutes I turned the oven on to 200 and let them rise on top. This seemed to work out alright.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Melt a bit more butter (maybe 1/4 cup?) and brush on top of the buns (>>I will try omitting this step next time just to avoid so much butter. If it's really that integral to them browning on top, maybe I could try using olive oil instead?). Bake for 16 - 20 minutes, and cool on a wire rack.

We had a couple of these last night, and then I froze the rest. I will update when I know how they are from the freezer.

Original recipe/video here.

Quick whole wheat pizza dough

Culled together from a few different websites. It's enough for one large pizza.

1 package quick rise yeast
3/4 cup warm water >>not too warm, just 'a bit warmer than lukewarm', according to Sarah
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour >>you have to add a bit of regular flour, otherwise it will come out too tough.
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey >>use honey instead of sugar for a crispier crust

1. Dissolve the package of yeast in the water and leave for 5ish minutes. It should get a little foamy/frothy on the top.
2. Add all remaining ingredients and mix together with a spoon.
3. Knead for 2 - 3 minutes.
4. Leave in a warm place for an hour or hour and a half. Ideally on top of a stove with a bit of heat in it, but on top of the fridge is also okay. >>true story: I made a dough at 12:30 and didn't come home to make pizza until 5:30 and it turned out okay because my roommate punched it down a few times. Hells yes.
   
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
6. Clean off some counter space and drizzle it with a bit of olive oil. Don't form the pizza in flour, otherwise it'll end up too dry.
7. Use "Domino's Method" for spreading out pizza dough (>>ask me sometime and I'll show ya).
8. Cook for 10ish minutes, add your toppings, and then cook for another 5 to 10 minutes

Enjoy! I liked this one because it didn't get too doughy in the middle.

Pistachio-Crusted Cod Fillets

I picked some cod up from the grocery store on a whim tonight and this recipe was great. It's taken from Fine Cooking 49, p 82 (1 March, 2002). Kind of similar to the mayo/potato chip combo, but I actually prefer this a lot more (not as rich). I must say, the photo doesn't really do this justice.

1/2 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
1/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs >>we had seasoned breadcrumbs on hand (so no need to add parmesan), but I can't wait to try this with panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp. coarse salt; more to taste >>I recommend cutting this way down since the Dijon mustard (below) is plenty salty, and you're also already adding a salted cheese
1/8 tsp. finely ground black pepper; more to taste
2 Tbs. olive oil
4 cod fillets, preferably loin pieces (4 to 6 oz. each)
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard


Heat the oven to 425°F. Line a small baking sheet with foil and lightly grease the foil (spray is fine).

Chop the pistachios into medium-fine pieces. Combine the nuts, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss with a fork until the crumbs are evenly moistened.

If using fillets with tapered ends, loosely fold the ends under to create a fillet of even thickness. Spread the top of each fillet evenly with the mustard. Press the mustard-coated side of each fillet into the crumb mixture to generously coat the fish. Set the fillets, coating side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the fillets to form a thick coating.

Bake the fillets until the topping is crisp and browned and the fish is cooked through, 10 to 12 min., depending on thickness (see below for doneness test). Serve immediately.

nutrition information (per serving):
Calories (kcal): 280; Fat (g): 16; Fat Calories (kcal): 140; Saturated Fat (g): 3; Protein (g): 26; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 9; Carbohydrates (g): 9; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 3; Sodium (mg): 580; Cholesterol (mg): 50; Fiber (g): 2;


Original recipe/photo