almonds Archives - Page 2 of 3 -

June 15, 2016

Toasted Almond Coconut Ice Cream

As we approach the official start of summer, there is so much anticipation and excitement about the months ahead. Among the many delights of summertime, for me homemade ice cream comes near the top. There’s nothing quite like the taste and texture of freshly made ice cream. When Dream sent me a box of their new Ultimate Almond Beverages, homemade ice cream immediately came to mind. Dream Ultimate Almond is made with four times as many almonds as their original almond drink so it’s rich and creamy with a concentrated almond flavor. For the ice cream, I combined it with coconut milk cream for a nice balance between the almonds and coconut. Throughout the ice cream are bits of toasted almonds for a pleasant crunch, and the shredded coconut reminds me a bit of eating a macaroon coookie. Toasting the almonds and coconut are absolutely essential for depth as are both the coconut sugar and maple syrup for flavor, so no substitutes here. With three months of summer ahead, I hope it’s filled with plenty of good ice cream.

December 17, 2015

Almond Biscotti Christmas Tree

My idea of a perfect winter evening would be to simply stay at home with Ryan, quietly sit, talk, and read together by a crackly fire, with hot mugs of cocoa, and a heaping plate of biscotti. Make it a biscotti tree and it would be even better. Then of course this biscotti tree seems much too large for just two, so perhaps it would make a better holiday centerpiece or party dessert. Whatever the occasion, biscotti trees are so much fun to make and eat and I hope you will find some excuse to give this a try. Although I would love to take all of the credit, the idea comes from this site that I came across a few years ago. I’ve modified the dimensions a bit and changed the recipe, but the concept is the same.

April 3, 2015

Strawberry Almond Cake

A couple years ago Ryan asked me to bake him a simple no frills almond cake for his birthday. Because I don’t make cakes often, I really like going all out on birthday cakes, decorating them, and making them beautiful. A request for a simple unfrosted undecorated cake was a bit disappointing to me, but since it was his birthday I obliged. And wouldn’t you know, the cake in all of its simplicity was outstanding and it far surpassed any expectations I had for a “plain” cake. I knew it was a cake that I would be making again. So here it is, although this time I did dress it up with some fresh strawberries and mascarpone cream. (Although it’s not quite strawberry season here in Michigan, I couldn’t resist the recent sale I came across on organic strawberries.) Even with the strawberries and cream, it’s still quite beautifully simple and rustic. One bite of this and my daughter declared that this was what she wanted as her birthday cake. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to wait that long until I make it again.

Strawberry Almond Cake

Ingredients

Almond Cake

1 cup spelt flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
7 ounces almond paste
¾ cup evaporated cane juice sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs, at room temperature

Mascarpone Cream

1½ cups heavy cream
¾ cup mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons evaporated cane juice sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Assembly

1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
powdering sugar for dusting (optional)

Instructions

Almond Cake

Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Butter two 9-inch cake pans. Use a cake pan to trace two 9-inch diameter circles out of parchment paper. Carefully cut the circles slightly smaller than outlined and place in the cake pans. Lightly butter the parchment papers.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium mixing bowl.
In a stand mixer, mix together the almond paste and sugar on medium speed until almond paste is in very small pieces. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
Using the stand mixer again, beat the butter until creamy and lightened. Add the almond paste mixture and the vanilla. Cream together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down sides of the bowl when necessary. Add flour mixture half at a time, mixing until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes and then turn cakes out of the pans onto wire cooling racks and remove the parchment paper. Allow cakes to cool completely before assembling.

Mascarpone Cream

In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a handheld mixer), whip the cream and sugar until fluffy and soft peaks begin to form. Add the mascarpone and vanilla beat for an additional minute, until thickened with soft peaks.

Assembly

Spread half of the mascarpone cream onto one of the cakes, leaving a 1 inch border around the edge. Arrange with half of the strawberries. Top with the second cake and layer remaining cream and strawberries. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired. This is best served the same day it's made.

Notes

inspired by Sara Forte's The Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook, almond cake adapted by Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food