Shared Sugar » walnuts http://sharedsugar.com Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:55:55 +0000 en hourly 1 Kumquat Tea Bread http://sharedsugar.com/kumquat-tea-bread/ http://sharedsugar.com/kumquat-tea-bread/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:01:34 +0000 Mara http://sharedsugar.com/?p=1061 KumquatBread1
My refrigerator fruit drawer is currently so packed with citrus fruit that I have great difficulty closing it. It takes about 3 tries to actually get the drawer to slide correctly from all the weight of blood oranges, clementines, tangerines, grapefruit and kumquats. It seems about time that I actually do something other than just devour the citrus fruit family, so I decided to actually bake with some.

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I’d been eyeing some kumquats for some time in our local natural foods store and finally picked some up a few weeks back. I found a recipe that intrigued me with the tangy flavor combination of tea, cardamom, pineapple and kumquat. The tea flavoring was fairly subtle, so I’ve adjusted the recipe a little to make the flavor more pronounced. This is a bread that could easily pass for a cake. That’s the best kind, isn’t it? The kind you can justify eating for both breakfast and dessert.

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    Kumquat Tea Bread

  • Ingredients

    kumquat tea bread
  • 2 cups kumquats, stemmed, quartered, seeded; plus 4 kumquats, thinly sliced
  • 1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2-3 teaspoons instant iced tea powder (optional)
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
  • 1-1/4 cups pure cane sugar
  • 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple in its own juice
  • 1 cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
  • kumquat glaze
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant iced tea powder (optional)
  • water, if needed


  • Directions

    • make the kumquat tea bread

    Place quartered kumquats in processor; puree 3 minutes. Reserve 1/3 cup puree for glaze.

    Preheat to 350 degrees. Spray two loaf pans with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, tea powder, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Using an electric mixer, blend 1 1/4 cups sugar and oil. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Then, mix in vanilla, 2/3 cup kumquat puree and pineapple with juice. Gradually add dry ingredients, beating just until blended. Do not over mix. Fold in walnuts. Divide batter between loaf pans.

    Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes-1 hour. Cool 5 minutes, then turn bread out on rack, top side up. Cool completely.

    make the kumquat glaze

    Place reserved 1/3 cup puree in large bowl. Whisk in butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt. If glaze is too thick, thin by whisking in a little water. Drizzle glaze over bread loaves. Top with kumquat slices. Let stand until icing sets. Store at room temperature.

]]> http://sharedsugar.com/kumquat-tea-bread/feed/ 13 Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies http://sharedsugar.com/flourless-chocolate-walnut-cookies/ http://sharedsugar.com/flourless-chocolate-walnut-cookies/#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:05:17 +0000 Kesha http://sharedsugar.com/?p=479 FlourlessChocolateCookie1 Second to my love of ice cream is my love of cookies. Typically I am a chocolate chip cookie kind of girl but recently I have found a few other cookies that make my mouth water. One of them is this Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookie. These cookies were introduced to me by Shawn Askinosie, founder of Askinosie Chocolate (and my boss) after he visited a chef in New Mexico who is using Askinosie Cocoa Powder to make these cookies. They have all of the qualities of a perfect cookie — crunchy edges, chewy center, chocolaty but not too rich.

Over the last month I have baked a lot of these cookies, trying to perfect the recipe for a class we were having at the chocolate factory. On the second Thursday of every month, we host Chocolate 101. During the class Shawn teaches the details of how we turn a cocoa bean into a chocolate bar and often we feature other topics that pair nicely with chocolate – such as baking. We chose to feature this recipe as one of the desserts because it is very, very simple but full of chocolaty goodness. The original recipe for these cookies is from Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard, a James Beard award-winning chef. The simplicity of the recipe is a gift in itself but the flavor makes these cookies worth baking again and again.

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FlourlessChocolateCookie3 The essential parts of this recipe are good ingredients and patience. With so few ingredients, it is important to make sure they are of good quality. Of course, I used Askinosie Cocoa Powder. Our cocoa powder is natural and is not Dutch-processed which means it is not alkalized (or chemically altered). It has a rich chocolate flavor and is shows up handsomely in simple recipes like this one. I also used locally grown walnuts and they paired nicely with the cocoa powder; neither overwhelmed the other. Secondly, patience is a requirement for this recipe. I am not the most patient person but after a botched batch of these cookies, I knew I had to slow down. The key is to mix the batter long enough to create a consistency that is thick enough to hold it’s form on a baking sheet. Your patience will be rewarded with a slightly fluffy, but still chewy chocolate cookie. The original recipe calls for walnuts as the inclusion but pecans are another option as well as roasted cocoa nibs. These cookies were a hit at our Chocolate 101 class and again with my family.

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    Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

  • Ingredients

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons Askinosie Natural Cocoa Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon good sea salt
  • 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped

  • Directions

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. The parchment paper is essential in order for the cookies to come off the baking sheet in one piece.

    In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Mix to combine.

    With the mixer running, in three stages add the egg whites. Then add the vanilla. Mix on medium speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture becomes slightly thick (batter should not run; don’t under mix). I tend to mix on the longer side because I like my cookies a bit fluffier. Stir in the toasted and chopped walnuts and mix thoroughly by hand.

    Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop 2-inch dollops of the batter onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Place nine dollops per sheet, about 2 inches apart. Place baking sheet in oven and lower the temperature to 320 degrees. Bake for 14-16 minutes. The cookies are done when small cracks appear on the surface. Remove baking sheet from the oven. When cookies are still slightly warm, remove from parchment paper and cool cookies on wire rack. Store cookies in an airtight container for a few days.

]]> http://sharedsugar.com/flourless-chocolate-walnut-cookies/feed/ 17 Cranberry Pumpkin Bread http://sharedsugar.com/cranberry-pumpkin-bread/ http://sharedsugar.com/cranberry-pumpkin-bread/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:02:42 +0000 Mara http://sharedsugar.com/?p=377 CranberryPumpkinBread1
When I am baking there’s usually someone I’m baking for. Friends, family, a dinner, work, etc. Not so this time; this one’s for me. Just like Kesha and her ice cream, I have a little confession of my own. I am obsessed with cranberries. In fact, I can eat them raw by the handfuls—for which my husband thinks I’m a freak show. Although, he could have it much worse.

Sadly, he’s not the only one that looks at me strange. I was checking out at the grocery store the other day and the clerks snickered and laughed at my 6 bags of cranberries. What they didn’t know is I had 4 more bags at home in the freezer, and that won’t be my last trip. Last year I ran out of cranberries, so I’m determined to be more prepared this year.

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The first thing I decided to do to with my glorious tart, red friends was to make cranberry pumpkin bread. I first saw this recipe last year on design*sponge’s lovely In The Kitchen With series and have been making it ever since. I love the pumpkin spices mixed with the tart cranberries. They really give the traditional pumpkin flavors an unexpected surprise. I’ve been through multiple recipe alterations using yogurt (bad idea), less sugar, switching out butter for oil (hooray for moisture), etc. etc. over the months. This combination is what I’ve found to work best.

Also, a note on the original submitter of this recipe on design*sponge, Lena Corwin. She’s a very talented designer and illustrator and also has an inspiring lifestyle/design blog. Definitely worth checking out.

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CranberryPumpkinBread2

    cranberry pumpkin bread

  • Ingredients

  • 2 to 2-1/2 cups pumpkin puree*
  • 2/3 cup water**
  • 2/3 cup oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2-1/2 cup sugar
  • 3-1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen (not dried) cranberries

    • *I like to make my own puree. But, you can easily buy the canned kind, just make sure it’s not the kind for pies that already has spices.
    **If you have made your own puree and it’s watery (hasn’t been strained with cheesecloth) you may not need all of this additional water.

  • Directions

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, water, oil and eggs until just combined. In another bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients.

    If using frozen cranberries, place them in a strainer and run them under water for a few minutes until mostly thawed. Also, if you prefer a more subtle cranberry taste, roughly chop the cranberries, although I prefer mine whole in this recipe.

    Then, add cranberries and walnuts to the dry ingredient mixture. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix with a wooden spoon by hand. Mix until the batter is combined, but don’t over mix. Distribute the batter equally in the pans, which should fill each about half way. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Cool on a wire rack. It works well to eat one loaf and wrap the second loaf up and freeze it for later.

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