Thanks to Coconut Mama, I have some new coconut flour baked goods. Being gluten free and now mostly grain free, I miss eating things some others take for granted… bread, biscuits, pizza. You get the idea.

Coconut flour is a relative newcomer on the food scene. With the rise of people interested in low carb dieting, Paleo and Primal eating, grain free recipes, the search went out world wide to find things to expand those  parameters. Coconut flour is sort of a conundrum for me. It is processed so not really a whole food. But/and, I am human and I want what I want. I am not willing to go the rest of my life without baked goods. I am willing to go the rest of my life having better health, having a healthier thyroid and all those issues which are affected by gluten. So, I am happy to include coconut flour in my diet when those carb-y urges arise. It has a really good nutritional profile, 2 Tablespoons provides the following:

1.5 g fat (1 g saturated fat)
10 g carbs (with 9 g fiber, bringing the net carb count to a measly 1)
2 g protein

(Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/coconut-flour/#ixzz1j1HnrWoy)

Note how high in fiber it is. I don’t need to tell you everything that that means! Just be aware and don’t eat too much at one time. ( a good thing to remember about food in general) Drink some extra water. I find that things made with coconut flour tend to be on the dry side. Most recipes contain plenty of fat and there seems to be some chemical reason that coconut flour needs a lot of eggs for things to work. This increases the protein content of things, which is a good thing.

This is a good basic recipe for flatbread, biscuits, and beyond.  After the recipe, you will find some of my ideas for improvising. As usual with my posts, I encourage you to be creative and come up with your own explorations.

Coconut Flour Flatbread

makes 4 small bread rounds

• 3  Tablespoons Coconut Flour or 1 Tablespoon Almond  Flour & 1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour Mixed Together
• 2Tablespoon Coconut Oil, Melted
• 2 Eggs ( local and pasture raised organic)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

For the first time in many years, I have been making holiday treats, giving them to friends and clients. Yes, I have eaten a few as well. Do I feel guilty or do I feel as if I am leading my friends down the sugary road to somewhere bad ? No. There are many many ways to indulge in some holiday cheer. I use nuts, honey, stevia, coconut oil, really good raw cacao, all organic of course.

The internet abounds with recipes and ideas galore! I owe a tip of the hat to Wardeh of GNOWGFLINS for her egg nog recipe which of course I have changed up a bit. Thanks to her commenters, too, who added their own taste.

Egg Nog
raw, real, no sugar, lacto fermented

4 cups of milk ( raw and fresh is best. I used 3 c. raw cow’s milk, 1 cup of heavy cream. You could use goats’ milk, coconut milk, make your own almond milk…)
8 yolks from eggs from pasture raised chickens ( I used 7 as some of the eggs were pretty large) ( As I have commented many times on this blog, when your eggs are fresh, local, from the pasture, there is no problem with eating the yolks raw. The chemistry of the whites is such that they are better for you when cooked)
stevia to taste ( I used the liquid kind and used 3 dropperfuls)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp or so of freshly grated nutmeg
2 T. whey

Combine and mix in your blender. This filled one quart jar and one pint jar with a bit for the cook to taste. Let sit on the counter overnight or 24 hours. Shake well and pour into a beautiful glass. Go ahead and top with whipped cream and/or add a spoonful of alcohol ( rum, whiskey, some sort of liqueur)

Leave for Santa or not. I like to think the old guy might be ready for something lighter so I plan to offer him some fresh made juice. I recently made some for my cooking service, http://healthalchemykitchen.com ( called moving into winter juice, if you Santa Cruz folks would like to order some) I combined, in the blender, purified water, a Mutsu apple, 2 kiwis, 3 stalks of celery, a small amount of peeled celery root, and about an inch knob of ginger. Blend until liquified, strain, and drink.

I found a lovely cookie recipe in the cookbook, Sweet and Natural, by Meredith McCarty. Of course, I switched some things around.

Linzertorte Cookies

2 c. nuts, soaked, then lightly toasted and as finely ground as you can get them. ( I used purchased almond meal) ( can use almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts)
1 c. oatmeal, finely ground
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. sea salt ( I probably used a bit more, I didn’t measure!)
1/2 c. melted butter or coconut oil
1 egg
2 T. water
3 droppers of liquid stevia ( or if you want 1/4. cup honey)
1 tsp. orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. fruit sweetened jam ( raspberry is traditional, I also used ginger jam – NOT fruit sweetened but oh so yummy.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment or brush with oil.

Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients together and add to dry. The dough is not very wet but you should be able to form balls easily. Roll into 1 1/2 in. ( ish) balls. Transfer to baking sheet. Flatten a bit and press thumb in middle. You make have to fix some cracks and form what looks like the caldera of a volcano. Fill indentations with jam.

Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Ho, Ho, Ho!! Enjoy a peaceful moment with a healthy beverage and some guilt free cookies . If Santa is lucky, there will be some left for him. Don’t forget the carrots for the reindeer.

I am not sure when it started but a few well known food bloggers had a conversation about pie and soon #pieday was created. It is a  day for food bloggers, food lovers, cooks and chefs to make a pie, take a picture of it, post it on Facebook, Twitter, write a blog post about it. I can’t imagine very many people in our culture anyway who don’t like pie. This event has become a pretty big phenomenon. If you use either Facebook or Twitter I encourage you to go and explore the huge world of pie. Go here for the Facebook event page. Go to twitter and do a search using #pieday ( the “hashtag” is what enables you to see ALL the tweets that have to do with pieday)

I love savory pie. And I have been craving meat, so I created a savory Carnivore Cottage Pie. I wish I could give credit to the blogger from whom I got the crust recipe but the link is long gone. so, thank you, faceless Paleo diet practitioner. The crust is the only part I really have a recipe for. It would have been better had I had a recipe for the rest as I forgot to put some eggs into the filling which would have held it together nicely. Instead, it fell out of the lovely crust. Tasted good, yes, but not so pretty for a photo! As with all my recipes, improvisation is the name of the game and this could have almost infinite combinations of ingredients.

Carnivore Cottage Pie

crust:
5 c.organic almond meal/flour
4 T. cold organic butter, cut into small pieces
2 organic eggs ( please use ones from pastured chickens)
1 tsp. salt

filling:
I used a small onion and a couple cloves of garlic which I sauteed in some leftover bacon fat. Use what oil/butter combination you prefer. I added about 3/4 lb. of turkey sausage, and a couple big handfuls of beet greens, salt, pepper, some Penzey’s Summer in Paris seasoning. This is a good time to use leftover veggies. I had thought of putting mushrooms in, but forgot!

Place almond meal and salt into the food processor.  Pulse in the pieces of butter. Add eggs and mix until it comes into a ball. Dump onto a piece of parchment paper, wrap, and cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so. This dough is pretty fragile before baking. Divide into two balls and roll carefully into circles for your pie pan. I used a deep dish baking dish and pushed the dough carefully up the sides.I put a few slices of pork pate over the dough and sort of spread it around.  Add the cooked filling which you have mixed with a couple of eggs. Cover with the other rolled out crust and gently press the edges together.

Bake at 350º in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes. Yummy!

This post is also part of Traditional Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays blog hops. Hop on over and check out the other posts.

Frosting For The Cause is a monumental endeavor by Paula Kelly. It is a full year of posts from bloggers and participants honoring/celebrating/mourning women we all know with cancer, and celebrating them with a baking project. Oh the stories! Oh the yummy recipes! Not only is this project raising awareness but the participants pledge to donate money and baked goods. Please go take a look. This is my contribution. ( I wrote about this recipe once before but it is time for a revisit)

I found out in November, 2010 that my mother had bladder cancer. I was with her in the Dr.’s office when she got the news. She knew right away that she didn’t want any heroic measures but she and her doctors decided that surgery to remove her bladder was a good option for her. It turned out that maybe that wasn’t the best course. I returned to Pennsylvania the end of January of this year to be with her for her surgery. It was a difficult road for her to recover from that surgery. The challenge of learning to deal with her ostomy and the bag that required proved to be too stressful and too difficult. During all that needed to be done in preparing for her surgery, it was discovered that she had some cancer in/on her spine and a suspicious area in her liver. The first few days after her bladder surgery, she and I did the New York Times crossword puzzle as we usually did when we visited together. Soon, it was apparent recovery was not going well. She had much pain and began to lose her ability to walk and stand. We had a succession of family members come and monitor/be advocates for her in the hospital and subsequent nursing care. About 6 weeks after her surgery, her children gathered at her bedside to witness her dying. It was a challenging and beautiful time. I learned much about my mother in those last months of her life.  I spent my whole life watching her struggle with her really non existent weight problem, denying herself the pleasure of eating what she wanted. The last few years of her life, she would say that when she got to age 90, that she would give herself permission to eat whatever she wanted. She died at 89 and the last week she finally gave herself permission to eat dessert and boy did she enjoy it. I always thought she didn’t like chocolate but every day that last week of being conscious and eating she had chocolate frozen yoghurt for lunch and chocolate ripple ice cream for dinner ( and several days, not much else). I am happy she got that chance to indulge. Mom, this chocolate frosting is for you!

Baked Gluten Free Coconut Flour Doughnuts

1/2 cup of coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
6 eggs
1/2 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of unsalted butter (coconut butter, coconut oil, or regular oil will work as well)

option – add 1 T. of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, 5 spice powder, or powdered ginger

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. I always sift the coconut flour. Mix together the wet ingredients in another bowl and add to the dry. Mix well. This is when an electric beater comes in handy. You also could use a food processor. One of the tricky things about using coconut flour is that it gets quite lumpy in the process of mixing and requires a bit of effort. If doing it by hand, I recommend using a fork to facilitate the breaking up of the lumps.  Fill the baking pan ( I got my doughnut pan at King Arthur Flours) about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes in a preheated 350º oven. Let them cool completely and then you either can just lift them out with your fingers or gently use a fork.

There are many options for topping as well as just leaving them plain. I melted some 70% cacao content chocolate, added a few T. of cream and frosted mine. You could make a glaze of powdered sugar and your favorite flavorings (  a bit of orange juice, maple syrup, or vanilla extract). You could glaze them with a bit of honey. Yum!

I live in California and my mom lived and died in Pennsylvania. I so wish I could send these doughnuts to the wonderful nurses and aides who took care of her but the complications and expense of doing that overwhelm me. So instead, I will be offering some donation of cooking time and money to WomenCare of Santa Cruz, Ca. ( http://www.womencaresantacruz.org/index.html) and giving a nice big plate of doughnuts to the daughter of one of my personal chef clients who is having her own struggle with several kinds of cancer. She doesn’t eat gluten and her children love sweets so, a good solution.

I miss you, Mama, and I miss your help with those “darn” crossword puzzles.

Memories of Food gone by…

I have spent the last few weeks taking care of my mother and then sitting by her bed side as she died of cancer. Now comes the time of going through her things, clearing out her apartment, examining her life, and contemplating all that goes with the death of a loved one and what comes next. My mother was a great cook and I have written previously here about learning to love cooking from her. I have so many happy memories of cooking together, cooking for our family, making desserts for my dad. I have memories of great meals and of family traditions based on food.  In the course of sorting through things, I have been given my mom’s recipe boxes. What a treasure and how sweet it has been to look through and see what she thought was important to cut out of a newspaper and to find some of the family classics. I thought I would share a few and some story that goes with them. I wish I had good photos of some of the recipes. As you can imagine as recipe keepers yourselves, they are tattered and stained and full of history.

One of the ones that I was anxious to get is an old family favorite – Prune Cake. This recipe is handwritten on an old envelope along with a to do list on each side. That day, she went to the cleaners, the Hospital, Rentzsche’s ( which I think I remember was a clothing store), talked to or saw Marjorie, and a few things I cannot read. According to the other list she called Helen, who was her friend until her dying day, Mildred, Audria and Rich. The last three I do not remember. The envelope is totally covered with food and oil stains. This was a well used and well loved recipe. I have no idea of its origins though I did find several references on the internet and other blog posts with pretty much the same recipe.

Prune Cake

for the cake:

1 1/2c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. oil
1 c. chopped cooked prunes
2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. soda
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. allspice
1 c. chopped nuts
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift flour and spices, salt, and soda. Add sugar, stir in oil and beaten eggs, buttermilk, nuts and vanilla. 40 minutes at 300º. ( I am thinking this goes in a  9x9in. pan which I would grease)

for the sauce:

1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. soda
1 stick oleo ( ! ) ( I would use butter)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 T. Karo syrup

Cook 7 minutes after it boils. Stick cake with fork and pour sauce in and over. ( poke a lot of holes and the sauce seeps down into the cake. After it cools, these places become super yummy!).

My brothers were the recipients of this cake many times throughout summer camp, boarding school, and college. They and their friends can attest to its deliciousness! ( It mails quite well as it is dense)

The other recipe I found which made me smile deeply was my mom’s Party Meatloaf. My mother loved to give parties and did regularly. This meatloaf was on every menu for many years.

Party Meat Loaf

3 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 beaten egg
2 cups milk
2 cups bread crumbs
6 T. minced onions ( she used the dried ones, reconstituted)
4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 T peanut butter ( I always thought it had more in it than that, just enough to give it some creaminess I guess)
1 1/2 T horseradish
1 1/2 T catsup/ketchup

The only instructions are ” 2 hours. 350º

I would free form them on a parchment lined baking sheet after mixing all the ingredients thoroughly but gently.

I found many other recipes, given by friends on their personalized recipe file cards, things cut from our local Celina Ohio newspaper, some from the New York Times, many of unknown origin, a few in my handwriting which as a child was much better than it is now including my famous blueberry muffins which were part of a 4 H project which became a classic family story. My project was creating a simple meal. Mine was a tomato stuffed with either chicken or tuna salad ( I cannot remember but think probably tuna), melon balls, and a muffin. We had learned about menu planning, about making the plate look nice, about using different colors. I took that part very seriously and dyed the milk I served green and flavored it with mint! I was sad at the County Fair to only get a red ribbon instead of blue. When I asked about it, I was marked down because everyything was round! Thus was my first lesson in food styling.

I so look forward to making these old favorites and trying out some of the one she obviously enjoyed over the years. I will treasure having this connection to my mama who took such great care to make sure her family was well fed and got such great satisfaction out of cooking.

We are moving ever closer to spring and I am contemplating new items for my personal chef clients’ menus. I thought I would whet your appetite with some pictures and descriptions of some of the things my clients have eaten lately. Some things stay on the menu year round and many things are seasonal. As you faithful readers of this blog know, I am a firm believer in eating according to the seasons. The reasons are many. The quality of locally grown in season food is higher, has more nutritive value, and is less expensive. Each season has its own energies, as does the food that grows during that time.

I must admit I am ready for the spring produce – peas, asparagus, strawberries! But, we have a few more weeks of root vegetables and squashes ahead of us. We are blessed here in California with an early spring but Mother Earth is still resting and waiting and so must we.

Here is a Winter Vegetable Stew I made for a vegetarian couple, rich with mushroom broth and locally cultivated mushrooms, winter squash, celery root, celery, onions, spinach, and sundried tomatoes which were picked and dried in the height of the season and so carry that life force in them.

A soup that sticks around most of the year is Chicken Noodle soup. Obviously, this was not for the same clients, but a family who orders soup every week. Here is where I get to be creative. I hardly ever use a recipe for soup. I have a memory of a recipe or a concept  and either see what looks good at the market and/or what is available in the fridge. This means each time it is a one of a kind masterpiece, never to be exactly repeated. This soup contains chicken thighs which I find have so much more flavor and richness, especially good for soups and stews. It also has onions, carrots, celery, spinach and noodles. This day, I used what noodles were available in the clients’ cupboards. It also has a healthy dose of garlic, and some salt and pepper.

Next up is a recipe, often requested by my vegetarian clients, from the wonderful Molly Katzen for Spaghetti Squash Pancakes. You first bake the squash and when cooked scrape out the flesh which is noodle like in shape. Personally, I have never quite gotten into using this squash as a substitute for noodles but many people do. The batter is simple with the cooked noodles, rice flour, onion, eggs, salt and pepper. I like using red onion and adding some fresh thyme. This definitely is a seasonal recipe, appearing in the fall and winter. These clients love little patties and cakes so I am sure some sort of spring pancake will be on their menus soon, perhaps peas.

Lastly is a recipe I found on a piece of paper when cleaning out my garage. I suspect it is a Zone diet recipe but I cannot give appropriate credit for it. Delicious little good for you cookies, made of dried figs, almond flour, salt, vanilla,orange zest, and a bit of coconut oil. ( the oil was not in the original recipe) Happily, they are processed sugar free, grain free, and gluten free.

Almond Fig Bites

2 cups almond meal
1 c. ( 6 oz) soft dried figs ( one of my personal chef friends suggested subbing apricots, yum!)
2 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. coconut oil

Heat oven to 325º. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 1 minute.

Form dough into small slightly flattened balls  and place on baking sheet 1/2 in. apart. ( cookies do not spread during baking). Bake until bottoms of cookies are slightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes, turning pan once half way through. Cool and eat!

There is a small taste of what has been keeping me busy lately. I love my work as a personal chef. Every day is different and every client is different. Stay tuned for Spring will surely come and new ideas will emerge along with the new vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

This post is part of  GNOWFGLINS Tuesday Twister. Head over there and read all the other interesting posts, please.

]]> http://forlifepersonalchef.com/2011/02/06/personal-chef-for-hire/feed/ 1 http://forlifepersonalchef.com/2010/11/11/coconut-flour-doughnuts/ http://forlifepersonalchef.com/2010/11/11/coconut-flour-doughnuts/#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:57:42 +0000 Charity http://forlifepersonalchef.com/?p=753 A new addition to my personal chef kitchen

A recent shopping splurge at King Arthur Flour Co. got me a doughnut baking pan. Why had I never thought of baking doughnuts before ? Could I really have a doughnut and would it be good ? I found a recipe on Comfy Belly’s site and went from there. I am happy to report the answer is YES. Gluten free baked doughnuts are delicious. What makes them gluten free is coconut flour, which is a wonderful ingredient. It is loaded with fiber and good fats.

Coconut Flour Doughnuts

• 1/2 cup of coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter (coconut butter, coconut oil, or regular oil will work as well)

I used melted coconut oil and I added a Tablespoon of cinnamon. If you didn’t have a donut pan, you could put the batter in a piping bag or in a ziplock bag, snip off a corner and squeeze the batter out onto a baking sheet into a doughnut shape. (I did not experiment with this. If you try it, let me know how it turns out).

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. I always sift the coconut flour. Mix together the wet ingredients in another bowl and add to the dry. Mix well. This is when an electric beater comes in handy. You also could use a food processor. One of the tricky things about using coconut flour is that it gets quite lumpy in the process of mixing and requires a bit of effort. If doing it by hand, I recommend using a fork to facilitate the breaking up of the lumps.  Fill the baking pan about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes in a preheated 350º oven.

There are many options for topping as well as just leaving them plain. I melted some 70% cacao content chocolate, added a few T. of cream and frosted mine. You could make a glaze of powdered sugar and your favorite flavorings (  a bit of orange juice, maple syrup, or vanilla extract). You could glaze them with a bit of honey. Yum!

I love figs. Their season is short as is their shelf life. They are best eaten or cooked on the day you buy them, if not on the day they are picked. They are a powerhouse of minerals and are very sweet. Some say that it was a fig and not an apple that was picked by Eve in the Bible story about the Garden of Eden.

I recently had a friend and business associate help me with some things who didn’t want payment. How rare and refreshing is that ? So, in return, I baked him and his family some fig and apple crisp. Oh, the house smelled delicious!

I was able to score some beautiful figs and apples at the farmers’ market this weekend and put together this riff on a recipe from www.ifood.tv.

Fig and Apple Crisp

12 fresh figs, quartered
2 apples, chopped into bite sized pieces ( I used MacIntosh)
3 T. organic sugar ( depending on sweetness of fruit and your taste, you might use less)
1/2 c. oatmeal ( not quick cooking or instant)
1/2c. whole wheat or spelt flour
1 tsp. 5 spice powder ( in researching, I just discovered that the 5 spices represent the five tastes – sweet, salty,sour, bitter, and pungent)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
2 T. coconut oil or butter

I buttered a small baking dish ( approx. 6″x6″) and filled it with the fruit. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl until everything is incorporated. Sprinkle over the fruit. Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

This post is part of GNOWFGLINS Tuesday Twister . Please head over there and check the other posts.

]]> http://forlifepersonalchef.com/2010/09/26/fig-and-apple-crisp/feed/ 2 http://forlifepersonalchef.com/2010/07/13/gluten-free-blackberry-scones/ http://forlifepersonalchef.com/2010/07/13/gluten-free-blackberry-scones/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:39:05 +0000 Charity http://forlifepersonalchef.com/?p=667 Summer fruit abundance!

Many of my personal chef clients have special dietary needs such as gluten intolerance. As I do also, this works well for me. I have done a lot of experimentation over the years, searching for satisfying healthy ingredients. I did baking this winter and spring for a local cafe and made scones every week. Then I often used frozen blackberries. Now, we are in the height of summer fruit season and the farmers’ markets are overflowing with beautiful berries, as well as the stone fruits such as cherries and peaches, both of which would be yummy in this scone recipe. All berries, especially the dark ones, are high in antioxidants and so good for you and so satisfying.

In my own personal dietary path, I generally avoid flours of all kinds, not just the ones containing gluten. I have a hard time digesting refined carbohydrates if I eat too much. There also seems to be an almost addictive element there for me.  But, a baked good now and then is something to look forward to and savor.

Gluten Free Blackberry Scones

1 1/2 c. Almond meal ( I use Bob’s Red Mill)

1 c. Gluten Free baking mix ( again, I use Bob’s Red Mill)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/6 cup melted coconut oil ( 3 T)

1/6 cup melted butter ( 3 T )

3 – 4 T. raw local honey, depending on your sweet tooth and the sweetness of the berries

2 pastured eggs

1 c. fresh local organic blackberries ( of course ALL of your ingredients should be organic)

Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the blackberries and stir. Add the remaining ingredients, mixing gently. The dough will be sticky. Spoon it into mounds on the baking sheet. This recipe makes 6 large scones. Sometimes, I make 12 smaller ones. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes. I usually turn the baking sheet halfway through the baking to help ensure evenness.

You could substitute many other kinds of fruit. Strawberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches, or a combination. Just make sure the pieces are a nice small size.

So, make yourself and your loved ones a batch of scones. Take a break and sit a moment and enjoy the summer with a scone and an iced tea/coffee/coffee substitute. Life is sweet.

This post is part of the GNOWFGLINS  Tuesday Twister and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. Check out the other interesting reads, please.

I spent the day in the kitchen… cleaning, then cooking, then cleaning, then cooking, then recooking, then cleaning! I made a pie for a friends’ Christmas dinner and some cookies for the neighbor. OK, yes, I had a few, too.  I really cannot resist chocolate and the cookies I made are a wonderful recipe from The Seasons of the Italian Kitchen by Diane Darrow and Tom Maresca.

Spiced Honey Nut Balls

1 oz raisins ( I used currants

2 oz each shelled walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts

1 oz citron, finely chopped ( I used homemade candied lemon peel after discovering that the storebought citron is full of high fructose corn syrup!)

1 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

4 T honey

1/2c. plus 2 T flour ( I used whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Put the raisins in a small bowl and add hot water to soften ( I used Marsala wine. why not?) Put the nuts on a baking sheet, keeping the hazelnuts to one side. Toast in the oven 5 minutes ( mine needed more, just watch them). Remove and rub the hazelnuts in a clean rough towel to remove as much of the skin as possible. Chop all the nuts together finely ( or pulse in the food processor).Put them in a large bowl. Drain the raisins and squeeze them lightly, and add to the bowl along with the ingredients through the nutmeg. Mix well. Mix the honey with 1 T hot water to loosen its consistency, and add to the fruit nut mixture. Sift on the flour and mix well. Oil or butter a cookie sheet. Break off bits of dough, roll them between buttered palms into balls about 2 inches in diameter. Set the balls on the baking sheet, put in the oven, and immediately turn the temperature down to 350º. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until they are golden brown. Cool on a rack. When they are completely cooled, they can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks. ( yeah, good luck with that!!)

My other culinary adventure today was French Silk Pie as blogged beautifully by my friend Amy Casey here. If you are not familiar with her, please become so. She consistently posts great recipes and photographs. The photo here is before topping with Grand Marnier flavored whipped cream. mmmm.

Chocolate is the food of love and today was about giving my friends and neighbors some chocolate love, as well as myself.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite barred chocolate, though I didn’t use it today. Please go to http://www.shamanchocolates.com and read about this wonderful company. If your local store does not carry it, you can order on line.