Yes I do! And that´s why I have to add another recipe to this little blog. It´s based on the " Soft and Chewy Chokolate Chip Cookie" recipe from MarthaStewart.com, with which I played around a little.
I call it the Nuts´n Nougat Choclate Shock. It´s packed with chocolate, almonds and hazlenuts and just perfect for a cold and rainy fall sunday afternoon with a hot chocolate or tea and a good book.
Nuts´n Nougat Choclate Shock
Here we go:
Makes about 3 dozen
1 (110g)cup all-purpose flour 1 1/4 (app. 160 g)cups grounded hazelnuts 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup ( 2 sticks/ 225g) unsalted butter or marge, room temperature 1/2 (60g) cup cranulated sugar 1 cup (120g) packed light-brown sugar or treacle 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon bitter almond extract 3 tablespoons chocolate hazelnut spread (like Nutella) 2 large eggs 1 3/4 cups (app. 200g) slivered almonds 2 cups semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 350° (175 C°). Whisk together the flour, grounded nuts and baking soda, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer (using the paddle attachment) combine both sugars (or sugar and treacle) with the butter, let mix on medium speed until it gets nice light and fluffy. Than reduce the speed to low and add salt, vanilla, the eggs, and bitter almond. Beat about 1 minute, Add the flour and mix until just combined, than ass the hazelnut chocolate spread and mix on medium speed until the dough is nicely brown. At last carefully stir in the slivered almonds and chocolate chips.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches (5cm) apart on baking sheets (lined with baking paper).
3. Bake until the cookies get darker (but not black ;) ) on the edges, but still are soft in the center (8-10 minutes). let cool them down completely, eat them all at once imediatelly or store them in a airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
Copyrightinformation: this recipe is based on the "Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies" Recipe by www.mariastewart.com, this text partly is taken from the mentioned recipe as well.
While fall continues, the temperatures sink and the sky most times is hued in grey, here in Northern Germany, many start to have an appetite for kale. Traditionally it is cooked first after the first night frosts, we had those in the last days, so I needed to stock my freezer with 3 kilograms of this jummy vegetable. I´ll cook it today, because we invited my Mom in law over for tomorrow evening to have the 1st of this years "Gruenkohlessen" and this dish tates best warmed up again, we think.
For those of you, who´d like to know my recipe, here we go, but bear in mind, that some of the ingredients are very "German", it depends on where you live, perhaps you have a vendor nearby, who sells German specialities. If you cannot get any of the recommended suasages, any smoked sausages will do, I guess. Some people also add pork belly (pure or smoked) to their kale dish, but I don´t like this sort of meat that much, at least it´s pure fat, isn´t it? Traditionally salt potatos are served as side dish, plus, and here comes one reason, why this dish is a good reason for family and friends to meet: a jigger of good, ice cold Korn schnaps or aquavit is the traditional degestive for the adults. Serve chilled beer or Water as drinks.
Green Cabbage Recipe (a quite fast/easy but jummy one by my Granny)
makes 8 - 10 servings
You´ll need:
3 kg kale (fresh or deep frozen, personally I don´t like the canned one) 3-4 big onions 500 - 600 g smoked pork chop - depends on how much you like it ;) 6-8 groats sausages ( you can do without them, if you prefer) 6-8 boilded Mettwurst sausages or scalded sausages 2/3 cup of oat groats 1 l vegetable stock ( no shame to take instant) 1/4 cup vegetable oil or marge 2 table spoons mustard4 bay leafes 2 tea spoons allspice salt, black pepper and additional allspice for seasoning
How to:1. Chop the onions in fine dices, roast them gently in heated oil in a big Dutch oven. Fresh kale of course also needs to be finely chopped. After a few minutes, just before the onions get brown, add the kale and stir while it is roasting. Put the lid on the oven and let it simmer at medium heat for about 10 minutes. 2. Add the vegetable stock, oat groats, bay leafs, allspice and the mustard, stir until everything is mixed up well and put on the lid again. Let simmer for another 10 -15 minutes.
3. You now can slice the smoked pork chop, dice it or leave it as it is, just as you like. Add the chop, all sausages (groats and Mettwurst ones) fold all in and let boil the cabbage for the next 30 mites. The groats sausages might blow out sometimes, but that´s ok ;) 4. Meanwhile you should prepare and cook enough salt potatos for your servings, cool the Schnaps and decorate the dining table. Dont forget to check your kale and stir it from time to time to prevent it from scorching.
5. After 30 minutes check if the kale is done and season the dish wit salt, pepper, additional allspice and if you like, some splashes of Worcester sauce (but thats not traditional, I guess ;) ).
6. If you had left the chop in one piece you should slice it now.
7. Serve the kale hot, either in the Dutch oven with the meat and sausages still in it, or in a bowl and the meat and sausages on a seperate plate.
While searching the net for some Samhain/Halloween inspirations I tripped over this gorgeous blog: Vintage Pallette Art.Just look at those amazing old photos and the crazy artwork by Lori Davis; I love this!
Recently I re designed this blogs layout and started with the shop all over again. It´s a little frustrating, because I´m not good enough in php scripting to feel comfy with the fantastic os-commerce tools, so I need to stick with my very old sharewared xaran shop. All web based solutions for free I´ve seen so far did not match my needs. So, If you know a provider, who offers an online shop solution, where I can add more than 1 damned picture per product, where I can manage and offer more than 100 products plus where I can fit the layout matching my blog and website and, most important: who offers a shop solution for free - please let me know.
On wednesday this cute baby finally arrived: Goodbye my old mechanical ones, hello automated times! I allready managed to check her out a little, but, of course I developed my annual tendinitis just in time, s that I have to wait a few days, before I can start all over again. My 2 old sewing machines will end up at ebay tomorrow. They are in good conditions and well kept, don´t hesitate to bid on them! :)
A new order came up last week as well, so I ´ll also work on a new wallet design this weekend. This will be a kind of waiter´s wallet, with lots of pockets for cards and photos and a huge change pocket. The patterns we agreed on are 2 beautyfully retro-syled fabrics by IKEA called Malena, the 2 below this stack (image by IKEA): Inside I will use thin and soft lamb nappa in a matching red or pink. This will be quite a task for my new Necchi I´m really looking foreward!
Nuts´n Nougat Choclate Shock
