Recipes and Garden Tips

I'll be back in the morning spring. I'm not here much on weekends.

This can be stored for up to a month in the refrigerator, so it might last you until Adam's single comes out :

Chocolate Hazelnut Almond Spread

Makes 1 1/2 cups

• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 1 cup almonds
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup best quality cocoa powder, such as Valrhona
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons sunflower (safflower, walnut, etc.) oil

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread hazelnuts on one side of baking sheet and almonds on other. (Alternately boil hazelnuts in water mixed with baking soda to loosen skins, then bake.) Toast nuts until fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove baking sheet from the oven and transfer hazelnuts to clean kitchen towel. Scrub and roll them around until most of skins come off (some small pieces of skin may remain)




Combine hazelnuts and almonds in food processor and process until smooth paste is formed, about five minutes. Add confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, and salt, and process until ingredients are well blended. 



With processor running, pour in oil and continue to process until well incorporated, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer chocolate hazelnut almond spread into jars and refrigerate.

Graham Cracker Fruitcake

Don't panic, it is not traditional fruitcake. :D

This recipe is so much fun for young kids because of the juxtaposition of the volume of ingredients and the small container it goes back into. If children are around, I lay out all the dry ingredients and ask them if they think that all this will go back into the graham cracker box. And of course they say no but like magic, it does. Part of the fun is also letting them pound the graham crackers into tiny pieces with soft mallets. My sons still do this and it is a point of honor not to bust the cellophane cracker wrapping and spew crumbs everywhere. Have a containment plan ready for young children.

I take a box cutter and slice around three sides of the cracker box face to give me a lid (it makes it look kind of like a cigar box) to close over the top after I have smushed in all the ingredients. Line the box with wax paper.

1 pound graham crackers
1 pound raisans
1 pound pecans
1 pound marshmallows
Juice of 2 oranges
3 Tablespoons heavy cream

First, crush graham crackers then combine with raisans and pecans in a (really) large bowl.

Combine juice, marshmallows and cream in a pan over a low fire. Stir constantly until marshmallows melt.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Start mixing with a wooden spoon because initially it will be warm, but you are going to need to get your hands into and it is very sticky.

Pack back into graham cracker box and allow to set in the refrigerator overnight. Once it is set, you can slice it into whatever size you prefer.

This recipe is very plain, simple and fun. It tastes good too. I have no idea what the provenance is, my mother says she got it from a box.

Thank you tinafea.

I make crescents every other year but with pecans, not walnuts and an egg white. Interesting. I may substitute and find out what the clan thinks.