Cinnamon-Sugar Almonds

This is another recipe I've been wanting to try for a while - thank you Pinterest... again. I found this recipe from the Recipe Critic blog (sometimes I feel like a recipe critic... because I always use other people's recipes), however, I think she found it elsewhere.

I took some of her suggestions and made some minor changes to the original recipe - below is what I did:

Ingredients:
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
3 T Cinnamon
1/8 t Salt
1 Egg White
2 t vanilla
3 cups Almonds
1/8 to 1/4 C. Water

Instructions:
Mix together in a large bowl sugars, cinnamon, and salt.

In another bowl with a whisk, mix together the egg white and vanilla until it is frothy. Add the almonds and coat thoroughly. This will help the mixture stick to the almonds during the cooking process.

Prepare your slow cooker by spraying it with cooking spray (although you'll still have to soak it afterwards...). I used a 4 quart. Add the cinnamon almond mixture to the almonds and turn it to low. Stir until the cinnamon sugar mixture is coated well on the almonds. Be prepared for your house to smell amazing!

You want to cook for about 3-4 hours. Mine took about 3. Stirring every 20 minutes. In the very last hour, add between 1/8 and 1/4 cup water and stir well. This will ensure a crunchy coating and help the mixture to harden.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the almonds onto the sheet to cool. The almonds should be pretty sticky so be sure to separate them the best that you can and let them cool!


My Notes:
*She suggested less water (1/8c), so I tried that, and I think that may be why mine didn't have quite the hard coating that I was expecting. I started with 1/8, then added more later - which helped a lot. I would stick with the 1/4c next time.
*Be careful of the HOT crock-pot as you stir. Just sayin'. (ouch)
*It made... well basically 3 cups of almonds... makes sense right? I have not yet calculated the calories, but I probably will, so I'll try to update that later.
*These are super tasty. Y-U-M.

Reheating Rice {microwave-less}

I can't remember if I've posted about this... but I've been without a microwave for almost 2 weeks. For the most part, I have not missed it much, but there have been a few things...

Tonight, I wanted to reheat some rice that I'd made earlier in the week. I always reheat my rice in the microwave. I had to stop and really think about what I could do... I decided that I would probably reheat it on the stove, but that I should probably check with all of the experts on the internet.

I found this set of suggestions, and this is what I decided to do:

*Boil some water on the stove (enough to cover the rice)
*Add the rice, and let it continue to boil.
*Stir occasionally as it boils for 2-3 minutes
*Drain as much of the water as possible.

It was not as good as fresh, but it has potential to be better than the microwave. I didn't get quite enough of the water out, so it was more like sticky rice than regular white rice. However, without my microwave, I would say that this first attempt at reheating rice was a success!

Microwave-less??

Yesterday, and I was facing the reality that my microwave had seen it's last day, my immediate thought was: Well, I'm going to have to go buy a microwave now... Then, I went to look at them, and I really don't feel like spending that much money on an appliance right now.

Then I got to thinking... what if I didn't have a microwave? I have never lived in a home without a working microwave for more than a couple of days. And I'm curious about how my eating and cooking habits would change if the microwave was not an option. I'm thinking about trying it for a week or two to see if I can handle it, and then possibly making it a longer-term experiment.

{Disclaimer: I wouldn't be going completely microwave-less. I have a microwave to use at work, but I eat most of my meals during the week at home, so I still think it would be a challenge}

That cozy little nook could hold my cook books or... something, I don't know. But my cookbooks would fit really nicely in there... So here's to thinking outside the box, trying something new, and seeing how it goes!

Granola Woes

I made some AMAZING granola a few weeks ago (not to toot my own horn... but it was GOOD). Of course, I ate it very quickly because it was GOOD. So, I needed to make some more. So a few nights ago, I mixed it up and put it in the oven.... and burned it. I burned beyond being edible. It was very sad. But, when you do something silly like that, you just have to "get back on the horse," right? So, I attempted my third batch tonight and I am now 2-1 ... 2 GOOD batches, 1 burned. Not great numbers by any means, but better than what they could be! I'm so looking forward to eating this next batch of homemade granola!!

Mini Turtle Cheesecakes

This was a fan favorite at one of the Christmas celebrations. It came from the fakeginger blog. They are tasty, and they don't feel as "bad for you" because they're so tiny!

Ingredients

For the crust:

• ¾ cup ground chocolate cookie crumbs
• ⅓ cup pecan meal
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 1½ packages (12 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup plain yogurt

For the caramel drizzle:

• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the chocolate drizzle:

• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• pecans, for topping

 
Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line a 12-muffin pan with aluminum liners and spray lightly with oil.
2. To make crust: Combine chocolate cookie crumbs, pecan meal, brown sugar, and melted butter. Spoon a tablespoon into bottom of each muffin liner and press lightly with your fingers. Bake for 5 minutes; remove from oven.
3. To make filling: Beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl until creamy. With mixer running, gradually add sugar, salt, and vanilla; beat well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended. Stir in yogurt.
4. Spoon about ¼ cup of filling into each muffin liner. It should come almost to the top of the liner. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of cheesecakes are puffed and only slightly jiggly in the very center. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least a couple hours, preferably overnight.
5. To make caramel drizzle, combine ¼ cup of butter, brown sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in cream. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool.
6. To make chocolate drizzle, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate chips, remove from heat and stir until melted.
7. To assemble, carefully remove liners from cooled cheesecakes and put cheesecakes on wax paper. Place a pecan in the center of each cheesecake. Drizzle chocolate and caramel over tops. Keep refrigerated until serving.

I made them in mini muffin pans, so they're smaller than what I'm assuming this was calling for... I also didn't make the caramel and chocolate sauces - I just bought jars... for simplicity. Still yummy. :) and pretty. Next time I make them, I'll take a picture to show you! 

Chocolate Christmas Poke Cake

This recipe has been staring at me from Pinterest for months... and I was so excited to try it out on my family for Christmas. It comes from the Something Swanky blog. Her pictures are gorgeous and festive, and much better than mine... (I only got one phone picture of this beaut. -- just found the one other picture I took.. still not impressive, but maybe a little better) My family loved it, but it was very rich so it didn't go very quickly... and it didn't look so good as the days progressed. This would be a great to take to a holiday party when you're one of the only people bringing a dessert. There were too many things to choose from at the family holidays... so it just didn't end up being eaten up like it could have. So, without further ado, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 chocolate cake mix, prepared and baked according to the directions on the box.
1 cup peppermint dairy creamer
14.5 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 jar Smuckers hot fudge sundae sauce
1/4 cup peppermint dairy creamer
1 cup crushed Oreos
8 oz Cool Whip
Andes Peppermint Chips for topping (approximately 1 1/2 cups)
Crushed Oreos for topping (approximately 1 cup)


Instructions:

1. Once the cake has cool, use the bottom of a wooden spoon to poke 20+ holes in the cake.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and 1 cup of the peppermint dairy creamer. Pour over the cake, trying to fill in the holes.
3. In the same bowl, whisk together the hot fudge sundae sauce and 1/4 cup peppermint dairy creamer. Mix in 1 cup crushed Oreos.
4. Pour and spread the fudge mixture over the cake as evenly as possible.
5. Spread the cool whip over the fudge. Sprinkle on the Andes candy bits and crushed Oreos (as much or as little as you want).
6. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours, until the sweetened condensed mixture has soaked into the cake and it's thoroughly chilled. Cut and serve.

Holiday Baking...

I just looked on here and realized that my last post was almost a month ago! I apologize for being so neglectful. The crazy thing is that I did bake over the holidays, and somehow never blogged them. (I think I've not been enjoying it quite so much since blogger hasn't been letting me post pictures - something about having taken up all my space!) So, now they're on their way. The new recipes from this Christmas that will be appearing very soon are...

*Christmas Poke Cake
*Mini Turtle Cheesecakes

Both were a hit, and I enjoyed making them! For this weekend, I've just got to get another batch of granola in the oven (I've eaten the entire first batch... a couple of weeks ago), and a second set of the mini cheesecakes for my sweet work friends.