Toffee Almond Crunch

Over the next few weeks, Becky and I are sharing some of the holiday treats we traditionally make this time of year. Today's treat is Toffee Almond Crunch and is, in the grand scheme of things, a newer addition to the K&B holiday baking menu.

I am quite proud of this toffee, mainly because it is mine. I didn't read about it on a blog and get inspired. No one requested that I make it, which is often why I try new recipes. Last Christmas I simply said to myself "I wonder how you make toffee?", found a recipe, got up the courage to face my fear of molten sugar, and made some.

Then I made some more, and some more, and some more. I can't even count how many batches of this I made last Christmas.

But enough talking, right? Let's make some toffee!

First, the prep work:

Toast your almonds and set them out to cool.

Generously grease a large cookie sheet, and when I say generously, I mean a Pioneer Woman + Paula Dean amount of butter. If you're worried about using that much butter, you shouldn't be making toffee in the first place, but we will be getting rid of some of that butter later, so calm down.

While the almonds are still cooling, get distracted by the Cookie Pizza recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook circa 1991 currently sitting on your table. Notice how there are M&Ms on the pizza, but none of them are blue. Think about how in 1991, no one had even dreamed of blue M&Ms. Then remember how your Grandpa B - King of M&Ms - never got to taste blue M&Ms himself because he died right before they debuted, and how you and Beck went to the cemetery and shared a pack of M&Ms with Grandpa, eating all the normal colored ones but putting all the blue ones in the vase with his flowers so he could try them. When you're ready to leave that memory, come back to the toffee, which, by the way, Grandpa B would have loved.

Coarsely chop one cup of blanched almonds. These will be for the toffee itself.
Finely chop a different cup of almonds. These will be for sprinkling on top of the chocolate layer.
Put the coarsely chopped almonds in a bowl near the stove so you have them handy.

Okay! Prep work done. Well...almost. It's best to measure your sugar, corn syrup, and water out before you start melting the butter, so as not to stress once you get going. Did you measure out those three things? Yes? Good job! Now we're ready for the good part (also known as the dangerous part. If you are baking with small children, best to keep them out of the kitchen for this next part).

Melt 2 sticks salted butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat.

If you're like me and have a super weird thing about setting timers and dials and clocks on exact, obvious marks, set your dial to slightly more than medium. (For years I had a problem setting my alarm clock exactly on the hour, half-hour, or quarter hour, always setting it for 6:59 or 7:01. I'm over that now, but the oven dial thing remains. One thing at a time, right?) 

Once the butter is melted, pick up the pan and swirl the butter around so the butter goes up the sides of the pan. This will help the sugar not stick to the sides. Then add sugar, water, and corn syrup, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Now put down the spoon, and DO NOT TOUCH IT AGAIN UNTIL I TELL YOU TO! You are going to want to pick it up, but you shall not, because you are stronger than the spoon.

Repeat after me: "I will swirl, not stir."

Good.

You've got your butter/sugar mixture on the stove over medium. Set your kitchen timer for three minutes. The sugar will foam up and start to bubble. You may also see some vapor as the water evaporates. After three minutes - and only after three minutes - pick up the pan with both hands and swirl the mixture around a few times. Put the pan back down and reset your timer for three more minutes. When the timer goes off, swirl again. Then reset your timer for...wait for it...three more minutes.

Personally, I cannot watch sugar boiling for three minutes without picking up a spoon and stirring. It's simply not possible. Are you like me and need a distraction to get through those 120 seconds? I suggest these activities:

- Washing all the silverware in the sink.

- Pre-empting the calories in the toffee by doing jumping jacks.

- Seeing if you can hold your Pilates plank for a whole three minutes (for me, not quite, but pretty close).

- Drinking a bunch of water, because water is good for you!

Whatever you do, don't ever go far from the stove, especially during the last couple sets of three minutes. You want to be able to check the sugar at a glance to make sure it isn't burning.

You want the sugar to be a deep amber color. If you start to smell even a hint of burned sugar, remove the pan from the heat right away. Mine was done after about 14 minutes.

When you have the right color, remove the pan from the heat and working quickly but carefully, PICK UP THE SPOON and stir in the coarsely chopped nuts. Immediately dump the hot, sugary, buttery glob onto the greased cookie sheet and use the spoon to spread it towards the edges of the pan.  Set the pan aside to cool completely.

Gently invert the toffee onto parchment or wax paper. Get rid of all that butter by wiping the toffee with a paper towel.

Melt 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips in the microwave and spread over the top.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of finely chopped almonds on top. Put the toffee in the fridge for at least 20 minutes so the chocolate sets.

When the chocolate is set, lay parchment over the top, flip the toffee, and do it all over again - paper towel, chocolate, nuts.  Place back in fridge so the second side can set.

Take the toffee out of the fridge and let it warm up just a bit. Wash your hands real good, then break the toffee into pieces. My advice here: DON'T try to break it using just your fingertips (unless you have abnormally strong fingers), or by pulling up on a corner with one hand while the other holds the toffee on the countertop (you'll only smash your average fingers). DO firmly grab the toffee with both hands and commit to snapping it in two, like you do when you break a banana in half. Take charge, people. You can do it.

Note: you'll lose a lot of almonds in this process. This is okay. I like to think that some of the almonds are happy to be martyrs for the sake of the overall deliciousness of this toffee.

And you're done! I like to store the toffee in the fridge so the chocolate doesn't melt in our insanely hot apartment, but it should be fine at room temperature, especially for short periods of time like in a candy bowl during a holiday shindig. This toffee also makes an excellent gift all wrapped up in tissue paper in a pretty box or tin.

Consider this my holiday gift to you.  Enjoy!

- Katie

Toffee Almond Crunch

Recipe adapted from Christmas-Cookies.com

2 cups slivered, blanched almonds
1 cup (2 sticks) SALTED butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3 tablespoons water

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.  Toast almonds on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 7-8 minutes, stirring at the 5 minute mark.  Set aside to cool. Generously grease a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with butter.

2. Coarsely chop 1 cup almonds and set aside near the stovetop. Finely chop remaining cup and set aside.

3. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, swirling the pan so the butter goes up the sides of the pan. Add sugar, corn syrup and water, and continue to cook over medium heat, swirling the pan every three minutes.


4.  When sugar is a deep amber color (hard-crack stage on a candy thermometer, approximately 300 F), remove from heat and quickly stir in coarsely chopped nuts. Spread mixture on greased cookie sheet. Let cool completely.

5. Invert toffee onto parchment or waxed paper and wipe with a paper towel to remove grease.


6. Melt 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals, then spread chocolate over toffee. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts. Place in refrigerator to set.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for other side.

8. Break toffee into pieces. Store in refrigerator.

Almond Snowflakes

It's that time of year again. We've stocked our cabinets with loads of sugar, flour, nuts, chocolate chips, and graham crackers. I've made a trip to Michael's for Christmas boxes and tins. We've bought extra rolls of parchment and boxes of butter. My heart is a flutter, for our apartment has transformed into a Christmas cookie factory.

Christmas cookies have held a certain magic for me all my life. I have distinct childhood memories of Mama B baking batches upon batches of Christmas cookies throughout the Christmas season, starting at the very beginning of December. The treats, wrapped in multiple layers of saran wrap and wax paper, filled tin upon tin, each tin stacked on top of another on the corner shelves in the kitchen.

"Kate, get me some Chocolate Crinkles for this tray," she'd say.

I'd climb up on the kitchen bench, grab a tin from the top of the stack, and open it. Magic Cookie Bars.

Another tin. Spritz.

Another. Fudge.

Yet another. Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. Russian Tea Cakes. Cranberry Orange Shortbread.

Finally, in the last and biggest tin, Chocolate Crinkles. I'd grab a handful, carefully re-fold the wax paper and saran wrap, close up the tins, and re-stack each of them, making mental note of which cookie was in which tin, for I secretly prided myself on being able to grab a specific cookie on a moment's notice. My own little Christmastime memory game, and proof that I was a good little helper.

There was such wonder in opening those tins for the first time every year, for while Becky and I helped with some cookies, Mama B did a lot of baking while we were asleep. There was also comfort in opening the tins, for in all but one of them, the cookies were familiar, staples of the family's Christmas cookie tray, signs that Christmastime was truly here and that some things never change. As for that one different cookie - that was a tradition, too - to try at least one new recipe every year.

Becky and I continue our family's baking tradition, often spending a full weekend baking hundreds of Christmas cookies for our east coast family of friends. Over the next few weeks, we hope to share some of those recipes with you.

Today's recipe, however, is this year's newbie - Almond Snowflakes.

I adapted this dough from an almond crescent recipe. With no eggs and quite a bit of butter, these cookies are a cross between a shortbread and a sugar cookie, and have a distinct almond flavor. Because the dough holds its shape so well, it's great for cutouts, in this case - 1.5-inch snowflakes. I chose to dust this batch with powdered sugar to keep with the snow theme, but if you want something more decadent, try dipping the bottoms in melted chocolate chips.

And now I'm off to a gathering. 

"Beck," I say, "get me some Almond Snowflakes for this tray."

To which she just rolls her eyes and says, "Get them yourself. I'm in a hurry, too."

Oh well. We're not little helpers anymore and sisters will be sisters. Doesn't mean the magic in our hearts is any less :-)

Almond Snowflakes
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes approximately 6 dozen small cutouts


1 cup of butter, room temperature
2/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of almond extract
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of slivered, blanched almonds, ground in food processor (or almond flour)
1/4 cup of powdered sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment.

2. Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the extracts and mix.

3. Add the flour and almond flour. Mix thoroughly.  Dough will be very crumbly at this point.

4. Use your hands to work the dough until it comes together.  This may take a couple minutes.

5. Divide the dough into four balls.  Place one ball between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Alternately, place the dough between two sheets of parchment, place a cookie sheet on top, and press down evenly with both hands, flattening the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.

6. Use cookie cutters to make cookies, and place on cookie sheets. You can place the cookies fairly close together; they don't spread much.  

7. Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes, until edges just start to brown.  Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar.

Cranberry Fudge Pie

Wanna play Two Truths and a Lie? Okay, here goes:

1) I named my childhood cat Maybelline because it looked like she was wearing eyeliner.

2) I love pie.

3) I've never seen Star Wars.

Think you know which one is the lie?  

Did you guess #3?

If so, please don't judge...because #3 is actually true.  I've lived on this planet for almost 30 years and have never seen Star Wars. It's not that I have anything against Star Wars, I've just never gotten around to it. If you want to invite me over for a Star-Wars specific movie night, I'm free next Friday...

Truth #2 is that I indeed named my childhood cat Maybelline. Maybelline was a special cat, to put it nicely. I think the fact that she was born wearing dark eyeliner was a sign of her evil nature to come. Deep down she was a good cat, though.

That leaves us with the lie being me loving pie.

I don't know what it is specifically that I don't like about pie. There's just something about it that has always demoted it to the bottom of my dessert totem pole.

That said, when it comes to Thanksgiving, you can't argue that pie is the dessert of choice, and this year I wanted to contribute. I've been having a love affair with cranberries lately, and have also been thinking that it's a terrible shame that chocolate doesn't usually have a place on the Thanksgiving menu. So when I came across this Cranberry Fudge Pie on Baking Banter, I knew this was what I would make.

Eating this pie is like, well, not eating pie. It's more like eating a chocolate-cranberry truffle.  Yep.  I think pie - or at least this pie - just moved up on my dessert totem pole.

This pie was very easy to throw together - it's just a graham cracker crust filled with chocolate ganache and pecans, topped with a very basic cranberry sauce.  You even end up with leftover cranberry sauce to eat with your turkey...or to use on a second pie.

Now for another round of Two Truths and a Lie:

1) Cranberry Fudge Pie is my new favorite pie.

2) Number 1 is a lie.

3) I have to go now, so I can eat the last piece of pie.

- Katie

Cranberry Fudge Pie

Adapted slightly from King Arthur Flour

Makes one 9-inch pie (8-10 very rich slices)

For the crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs*
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• *One cellophane-wrapped packet of graham crackers (11 whole crackers) will yield this amount of crumbs.

For the filling:

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate*
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• *Resist the urge to use bittersweet chocolate; with the acidic tang of the cranberries, it's just too much. 

For the filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 12-ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries (generous 3 cups)
• *You'll need about 15 ounces (a scant 1 1/2 cups) topping for the pie. Enjoy the remainder on its own.

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2) To make the crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a food processor or bowl. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" pie pan.

3) Bake the crust for 7 to 8 minutes, until it's set but not brown. Remove from the oven and cool.

4) To make the filling: Put the chips (or chopped chocolate) and cream in a microwave-safe container, and heat for approximately 90 seconds. Remove from the microwave, and stir until the mixture becomes smooth and dark brown; you're simply making a basic ganache.

5) Spoon the hot ganache into the cooled crust, and sprinkle the nuts on top.

6) Refrigerate the pie for at least 1 hour, probably 2, until the ganache has firmed up.

7) While the pie is chilling, make the topping. Bring the sugar, salt, and cranberry juice to a boil.

8) Stir in the dried cranberries, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

9) Add the fresh or frozen cranberries, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until some of the berries have burst.

10) Remove the cranberries from the heat, spoon into a bowl, and chill.

11) To finish assembling the pie: Spoon 1 1/2 cups cranberry sauce atop the fudge/nut filling. Chill until ready to serve.

White Chocolate Pumpkin Fudge

 

Ok, so I know I posted a pumpkin recipe last week - Aunt M's amazing Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. But it's November, people! I'm in pumpkin paradise!

As the lovely Kate Jackson says on her blog Framed Cooks, this fudge is pretty much "pumpkin nirvana". I couldn't agree more.

In fact, this fudge takes me to such a happy place that I feel inspired to write poetry about it:

Oh, fudge!

Pumpkin fudge!

White chocolate pumpkin fudge!

So gooey and smooth and sweet!

 

You're all I want to eat.

Your sweetness can't be beat.

I try, but can't retreat

From your flavor most complete.

 

It draws me from my seat

To eat and eat and eat

And eat and eat and eat

And eat and then repeat.

 

Oh fudge,

pumpkin fudge,

white chocolate pumpkin fudge!

How glorious a treat!

 

I find the power of this fudge even more impressive given the fact that in general, I'm not a huge fan of fudge. Moreover, I tend to shy away from any and all things white chocolate. So why do I love white chocolate pumpkin fudge so much?

Well, let's see. We've had our poetry lesson for the day. How about some math?

What do you get when you subtract the fudge and white chocolate from white chocolate pumpkin fudge?

Oh, yeah! Pumpkin! (That was an easy one.)

 

The P-meister is definitely the key ingredient here. The savoriness of the pumpkin counteracts a bit of the sweetness in the chocolate, sugar, and fluff that come together in just about any fudge recipe. I'm not saying that this fudge isn't sweet - because oh man, it is - but the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice make the resulting sweet headache more than worth it.

What I also love about this recipe is its color. As you make it, the mixture goes from a milky cream to a bright and frothy orange, then calms down to a silky and smooth pastel baby orange. So pretty, you almost don't want to eat it.

But then you do. And pumpkin paradise is had. You're welcome.

-Becky

 

White Chocolate Pumpkin Fudge

Adapted from Recipe Girl via Framed

3 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup melted butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
12 oz package white chocolate morsels
7 oz jar marshmallow crème
1 cup chopped walnuts, plus another 1/2 cup for sprinkling on top
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line 9″ square pan with aluminum foil. Spray with nonstick spray.

2. Stir together first 6 ingredients in a 3½ quart saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, about 12 minutes, or until a candy thermometer registers 234° (soft ball stage).

3. Remove from heat and quickly stir in remaining ingredients until well blended.

4. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining walnuts on top and press down slightly. Let stand 2 hours or until completely cool; cut fudge into squares.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

The story of these cookies starts in the fall of 1988.

That was the fall our Uncle S got married and Katie and I got to be flower girls. Is there anything in life a five year-old girl wants more? No sir!

It was a simple wedding - just two attendants, flower girls with wreathes in their hair, and an outdoor reception at the bride's childhood home. Looking back on that day, I remember so many things - the cool breeze in the air, the slightly sticky feel of the bouquet in my hands, and how funny it looked to see my dad and grandpa dressed up in suits. I thought it was one of the most beautiful days of my whole (though as of yet, rather short) life.

Of course, the most important part of that day was what we all gained from it - a new member of the family.

I've looked up to my Aunt M ever since that day - a woman who didn't mind that her husband's best man was a woman; whose family welcomed our family into theirs; and whose own wedding spoke of her overall approach to life - simple, and in its simplicity, beautiful.

Aunt M, for example, makes homemade gift tags for Christmas presents. She serves AMAZING homemade soup and sandwiches at family gatherings. And she's not afraid to speak her mind or ask a question that needs to be asked. These are small, but important things.

It was at a family gathering a few years after Uncle S and Aunt M's wedding that I first "met" Aunt M's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Now, mind you, it was the chocolate that tempted me, not the pumpkin - autumn squash isn't exactly what a kid looks for in her sweets. But one bite and I was hooked. You might say that on that day, Aunt M and her family of baking women set the bar against which I would someday measure my own baking prowess. Excellence, indeed.

  

To me, these cake-like cookies say "autumn is here", and "everything is better with chocolate chips", and "you know you can't resist me so just give in and eat me now".

But they also remind me that goodness and beauty are found in simplicity. Like Aunt M and Uncle S's wedding, it's the love you put into it, not the fancy-schmancy-ness that counts. This recipe is one of the simplest I've ever encountered, and the cookies are ready to devour in less than an hour. And devour them you will.

I always say that I get a lot of my baking skills from Aunt M, and even though we're technically not blood relatives, I'm proud to call this a family recipe. You're a lucky man, Uncle S, a mighty lucky man, indeed, and I thank you for bringing such a wonderful person into our lives.

In tribute to you and Aunt M, I shall now eat a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie (or maybe two or three). Join me!

-Becky

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Family recipe via Aunt M

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon cream or milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 to 1.5 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Using a mixer on low speed, combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg in a large bowl (or,  just stir with a wooden spoon).
 

3. Add remaining ingredients except chocolate chips and blend until well combined.

4. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Spoon heaping tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets 2.5 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until bottoms brown ever so slightly and top doesn't dent when pressed with a knife.

6. Cool cookies on cookie sheet one minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in airtight container up to five days.

Made my day!

Hey all you nice people who read our little blog!  Guess what I found at the supermarket this evening?

YELLOW BANANAS!!!

Aren't they beautiful?!

If you read yesterday's post, you realize how rare it is to find yellow bananas in NYC supermarkets, or in the very least, how rare it is to find them in mine and Becky's neighborhood supermarket.

But tonight, I entered the produce section and I kid you not, actually did a double take, because the usually lime-green banana table was instead a sweet lemon-yellow. Nope. Make that BANANA-yellow!

I resisted the urge to buy multiple bunches.  But I tell you, it was tough.

What little things made your day today?

-Katie