Tag Archives: almonds

Almond Parmesan Crusted Chicken Strips

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I have lots of parmesan floating around in my fridge right now from the flax crackers I made last week. I didn’t feel like whipping up crackers but was hurting for some chicken strips. After cleaning out my coffee grinder, I went to work grinding up almonds and parmesan, and I was on the road! You can definitely use pre-ground almonds and kraft parmesan, but I was using the fresh deliciousness on hand. These are crunchy and satisfying and definitely higher on the health scale than the regular breaded version! They also cook up in a jiffy, making for an easy dinner on a busy night. Serve with salad, or braised brussels sprouts (at Gen’s desperate request).

Almond Parmesan Crusted Chicken Strips

INGREDIENTS

  • 1.5 lbs chicken tenders (or 3 chicken breasts, sliced into strips)
  • 1 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, ground
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 eggs, whisked 

DIRECTIONS

  1. Heat oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
  2. Grind up your almonds and parmesan and toss them together in a bowl. Stir in the spices and whisk until well combined.
  3. Whisk your eggs in a shallow bowl.
  4. Dip each strip into the eggs and then toss in the almond mixture and set on a plate.
  5. Let the strips rest in the coating for 5-10 minutes.
  6. In a large pan heat some oil and cook the strips for 3 minutes each side.
  7. Lay the strips on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, until cooked through.

Let the chicken strips rest in their coating for a few minutes.

Almond Praline Cookies

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These buttery, crispy cookies are an incredible treat. The cookies have almonds in them and a praline-like topping, I drizzled half with dark chocolate because… why not! I’ve meant to make cookies for a week now but have just been too busy to get to it. I modified my frangipane recipe to make the topping, and it turned out perfectly. I’ve also decided that these would make wonderful Christmas cookies as they are lovely to look at, rich and buttery, and can take some dark chocolate like a champ. Sadly, I can’t use them for my Food Blogger Cookie Exchange cookies, as I am posting them too early! Hmm, now I have to think of a new recipe for the exchange!

Almond Praline Cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped (I threw whole almonds into my food processor and pulsed to the desired texture)

Praline:

  • 1/3 cup whole almonds
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg white

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Heat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.
  3. Stir in the flour and salt., mixing well to combine. It will come together in a sort of crumb-like fashion (see picture below). Chill the dough while you bring together the praline topping.
  4. Praline topping: In a food processor, pulse together the praline ingredients until you have a chunky paste. Don’t over pulse, otherwise you will almost have frangipane!
  5. Form dough into 1-inch balls and place them 1-inch apart on the baking sheet.
  6. Using a flat-bottomed glass, lightly press down the cookies to flatten slightly. Top with 1/4-1/2 tsp of the praline mixture.
  7. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. They will not crisp up until cooled. So let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes before trying to move them to a wire rack to cool.
  8. If you want to drizzle with chocolate, simply melt 2oz of dark chocolate with 1 tsp of butter and drizzle over top once the cookies have cooled.

Crumb-like texture of the dough.

Dollop of praline mixture.

So delicious.

Spicy Almonds and Buffalo-style Almonds- awww yes, snacking goodness

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These are a great snack when you want something a little spicy, totally convenient, and easy to make! They both whip up in about 20 minutes, and you could cook the two batches together to save time. I tossed the two flavours in a bowl together for a bit more excitement! We only had almonds on hand, but this would work great for mixed nuts, so go wild. The red almonds are the buffalo ones and the other are the general spice mix. I am going to try a few more combos for a future post.

Buffalo-style Almonds

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups raw almonds
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp Frank’s Hot Sauce
  • 1 to 2 tsp cayenne powder
  • 1/3 tsp onion powder
  • 1/3 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 small pinch of cinnamon (for a little sweetness to add to the spicy)
  • 1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

  1. Heat oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
  2. Whisk your egg white in a medium bowl until foamy. Add the almonds and stir to coat, allow to sit while you prepare your spice mixture.
  3. In a small saucepan, melt your butter. Stir in your spices, salt, and Frank’s.
  4. Drain your almonds in a colander, return to the medium bowl and coat in the Frank’s mixture. Stir well to evenly coat.
  5. Spread your almonds in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Raise the oven temperature to 375°F and roast for an addition 8 minutes, or until browned lightly.
  7. Allow the nuts to cool before storing.

Buffalo wings… wait no, almonds! Tasty.

Spicy Almonds

Recipe adapted slightly from here.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 2 cups raw almonds
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cayenne
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS

  1. Heat oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
  2. Whisk your egg white in a medium bowl until foamy. Add the almonds and stir to coat, allow to sit while you prepare your spice mixture.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together your spices.
  4. Drain your almonds in a colander, add your almonds to the spice bowl and stir well to evenly coat.
  5. Spread your almonds in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Raise the oven temperature to 375°F and roast for an addition 8 minutes, or until browned lightly.
  7. Allow the nuts to cool before storing.

In case you aren’t sure about whisked egg whites…

Eating time!

Fresh Fig and Frangipane Torte

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I have always wondered about fresh figs. My only experience with figs at all has been in Newtons, and while I liked those, I couldn’t imagine the fresh fruit being particularly special. Finally, when cruising through the grocery story for other ingredients I decided to pick up some fresh figs. When I got home I cut one open and gave it a taste. I get it, they are yummy, though nothing in their flavour really stands out for me. The skin has a bit of a tart punch, but I wish it was more, and the flesh is slightly sweet but really muted. Overall I enjoyed it, but I really did want to make something special. So here we go, a torte with almonds and figs. I made a fairly standard almond torte, then whipped up a small batch of frangipane, an almond cream (of sorts) that elevated the figs and the almonds in the torte to a whole new level. Now, I did slightly burn the outside of my torte, sigh, but that is a product a poor pan, the centre is crumbly, buttery, perfection.

Fresh Fig and Frangipane Torte

Inspired by Orangette.

INGREDIENTS

Frangipane

  • 1/2 cup whole almonds
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp butter, room temperature
  • 1 egg

Torte

  • 2/3 cup almond meal (make your own by pulsing whole almonds in a coffee grinder until they are fine, not too long though or you will make almond butter)
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp dark rum (I went with The Kraken, no surprize, but you can use any liquor you like here, or vanilla)
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 to 5 ripe figs, quartered

DIRECTIONS

  1. Frangipane: Heat the oven to 350°F.  Spread the almonds evenly on a baking sheet and roast for about 10 minutes, or until fragrant.  Transfer to a plate and let cool to room temperature.Put the almonds and the sugar into a food processor and process until fine.  Add the butter and the egg and pulse until well-combined. Set aside.
  2. Turn the oven to 375 F. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan.
  3. Take 1 cup of whole almonds  and in small batches, grind in a coffee grinder until you have a fine powder. Be careful not to over process. Empty into a measuring cup until you have 2/3 cup of almond meal. Remove and reprocess the large chunks of almonds.
  4. Whisk together the almond meal, flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
  5. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy.
  6. Add the rum, the dry ingredients, and the eggs. Beat well until everything is incorporated.
  7. Scrape the batter into your prepared pan and spread it out until even across the base of the pan.
  8. Dollop your frangipane in 5 parts on top of the cake batter and gently smooth in an even circle across the centre, leaving 1/4 inch at the edges.
  9. Arrange the fig pieces on top and bake for 40 minutes or until the top of the cake turns golden brown. A toothpick test should also come out clean.
  10. Run a knife along the edge of the pan and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Flip the cake onto a plate, allowing it to come out of the pan. Then, place a rack on the bottom and flip it back over to cool for another 10 minutes.
  11. Serve alone or with a dollop of mascarpone whipped cream.

Homemade almond meal

A little dark, but super tender inside.

Chewy, Fudgy Brownies with Almonds and Coconut

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As I mentioned in my last post, I went to my sister’s house for about a week. This trip, paired with my being incredibly sick (still) has lead to a bit of a dead zone on the blog here. In any case, I did some brief training with Kel, and she is getting excited about posting. We made a couple new recipes while I was there and she is looking forward to posting some of her own in the future. I, of course, made some beer bread while I was there and Kel made me an awesome breakfast of beer bread, ham, cheese, and a poached egg, that I highly recommend for anyone. I will update that post with the picture of this treat.

We also made some delicious brownies! Kel was game for making the brown butter blondies I posted earlier but I wanted to try something new and had been eyeing this recipe for sometime. We made some adjustments for ingredients and preferences and they turned out delicious. We happened to undercook them slightly which was tasty but I think they would’ve been perfect had they been given their extra few minutes. These brownies are truly fudgy, chewy, and delicious. I am going to make them again this week, if only to eat the batter.

Chewy Brownies with Almonds and Coconut

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/3 shredded coconut

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 by 8 inch square pan with parchment paper (or spray).
  2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a medium, microwave-safe bowl in 30 second increments, being careful not to scorch the chocolate. Stir until well combined and smooth.
  3. Combine the eggs and the sugar, mix until light, about 3 minutes.
  4. Mix in vanilla and salt.
  5. Pour in the chocolate and butter mixture, mix well.
  6. Add the flour, almonds, and coconut. Stir until incorporated.
  7. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before cutting and serving.