Nuts once, Nuts twice and Nuts once again!

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Nuts Once: Divinity

I wasn't planning to make all these nut recipes. But then we started fund raising towards Tsunami Relief at work and so I went a bit nuts myself, and started baking away like crazy. I was trying to be more conscious not to be wasteful and so decided I would only allow myself to make things with ingredients I already had in my cupboards and my fridge. Looking in my new Kitchen Aid Recipe book, I found something called Divinity. It sounded very strange to me, I'd never seen or heard of anything like it. So I asked some questions about it on the Chowhound Home Cooking Message Board. Replies gave me not only a cultural education, but also some great tips. I ended up whipping up a a batch of it and I am assuming it turned out alright. As I have never encountered Divinity before, I am not quite sure what it should look like. Mine seemed to resemble the photograph accompanying the recipe, so I don't think I've embarrassed myself too much. Pantry supplies determined that I should use a mixture of walnuts and almonds. Let's hope they sell well at work today. The recipe I used can be found here


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Nuts Twice: Chocolate Almond Torte

I made this cake on Wednesday night, also from the little recipe book that came with my new Kitchen Aid. I sold slices of it at work on Thursday to make money for Tsunami Relief Funds. Until next Friday our employer will match any money that we contribute. I cut the cake into sixteen slices, asking for a minimum of $2 a slice. Colleagues were very generous, however, and I found $64 in the jar at the end of the day. That amount doubled by our employer's match means my one little cake raised $124 for a good cause. The best thing about this was that I didn't spend any extra money on the ingredients. As with the Divinity, I chose a recipe which I could make entirely from things I already had in my kitchen. Baking it helped me use up some things I might not otherwise have used for a while, like raw flaked almonds and condensed milk. The worst thing about it is that I am trying to be better about what I eat, so despite rave reviews from the purchasers and the chocolatey baking smells wafting through my apartment, I resisted the temptation to try a slice myself.


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...and Nuts Once Again: Marzipan Pine Nut Cookies (Panellets de Pinyons)

Ok, ok, I know I've posted about these cookies before, in fact I've made them successfully, twice. This is just a very short report to remind you: Never accidentally mistake waxed paper for parchment! These cookies may look very beautiful, but each one of them has a layer of impossible-to-remove wax paper congealed to their backside. I had to carve the paper off and then reform the remainder into Marzipan Pinenut Balls instead! Still, they seemed to go down very well with coffee at the end of our Christmas Feast



These were my short, but sweet, entries for Seattle Bon Vivant's Sugar High Friday 4 Nuts!


Paper Chef Challenge # 2, this weekend.

Check out Tomatilla.com for an announcement today. Although if anchovies get through, I am afraid I won't be able to take part.

Nuts once, Nuts twice and Nuts once again!