Lavender Carrot Biscotti... sort of...

The Italians certainly have it right: cookies for breakfast!

I am absolutely head over heels for biscotti. Every year for Christmas, a really close family friend makes her famous Cappucino Biscotti for my dad and I. We usually take turns hiding the bag so we can have the last delicious morsel.

Well it's not really Christmas, but I'm in the mood for some crunchy Italian treats. With the temperatures rising, I wanted to bake something a bit lighter tasting than the rich flavors of cocoa and coffee. I opted for a mix of carrot with lavender and a hint of ginger.



Well, the result was a little more scone-like, but without the butter! Next time perhaps I'll try adding in an egg white or using only egg whites to keep it less moist. The flavor is still awfully delicious, though!

Lavender Carrot Biscotti
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/3 cup walnut pieces
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of nutmeg
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons very hot water
1/2 teaspoon lavender buds
2 medium carrots, roughly grated

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Oil a cookie sheet liberally with canola oil and set aside. Place the lavender buds in the hot water and allow to soak for at least 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine flours, walnuts, baking powder, salt, ginger and nutmeg. In mixer bowl using paddle attachment, add carrot, lavender mixture, extract and egg. Beat until well combined. Add flour and mix well. Switch to kneading hook and knead dough for about 2 minutes, or until the dough pulls away from sides of the bowl. Shape into a log on the cookie sheet. For smaller cookies, and probably crisper results, shape into 2 logs. Bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Slice on a slight diagonal and place flat on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until desired crispness is achieved. Cool completely before storing.

Trash Can Mistake Cookies

Want to know what can lift your spirits on a dreary Friday afternoon?

When your coworker gets a box of free cookies as big as your hand and SHARES them!



See? I wasn’t kidding! They were as big as my hand! And there were four stacks of six or seven cookies! There were dark chocolate with white chocolate and macadamia nuts, dark chocolate with mint, chocolate chip and butterscotch walnut.



They were so incredibly yummy! Crispy and buttery, yet so soft and chewy… mmm…

Of course this sent my baking senses a-tingling. I wanted to create a cookie to send to Kyle. Think how much I’ll save on postage when he moves up here! I dug into my recipe box and found an oatmeal cookie from one of my mom’s friends. I only have steel cut oats and, as I found out, they don’t work the same as rolled oats.

I’ll post the real recipe here in case anyone wants to make her delicious oatmeal cookies. But first, I’ll tell you my crazy story!

Not wanting to make too many cookies, I quartered the recipe. I substituted those steel cut oats for rolled, like I mentioned before. I used brown rice flour instead of an all purpose, peanuts and added in some chopped up dried chili mango.



When I went to roll the mixture into balls, they wouldn’t stick together. Here’s where I started to fret a bit. I added in an egg. Oh no, one egg with a quarter of a recipe… that’s a recipe for cooked eggs with some oats inside. So I added 1/4 cup of millet flour. For good measure I tossed in 1/8 cup of butterscotch chips.



I dropped four heaping tablespoons onto my cookie sheet and started the baking process, excited to see what was going to happen!



Well, they were a lot fluffier than I wanted them to be. Yep, that was the egg talking. So to the remaining batter I added 1/8 cup more chopped mango. At this point I’d already decided the cookies weren’t going to be what I wanted to mail out. I decided to mix it up a bit! I threw in 1/4 cup cocoa puffs, 1/4 cup raisin bran, 1 tablespoon fresh pineapple, and 1 tablespoon tahini.



Yep I know it’s weird, but they actually tasted pretty good! Unfortunately they still weren’t the right consistency. Maybe next time I might just trust the recipe… Tee hee!

Carole’s Oatmeal Cookies
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks of butter or margarine (1 cup)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer cream butter and sugar together. Add in baking soda and oatmeal. Stir in flour and nuts last. Roll dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Tolstoy and Tea

Lookie here!



Yep, I finally made it down to the library today to check out some classics from my mondo reading list. Tolstoy and Dickens made the first round. I’m going to tackle Tolstoy first!

In theme with my book choice, I wanted to make some Russian inspired cookies. You know to curl up on this grim and cloudy afternoon with Mr. Tolstoy and some tea, while nibbling on a yummy, yet sophisticated cookie. Well I searched and found a few recipes I liked. Unfortunately my choices are limited right now. I’ve been baking… and baking… and baking some more. Now I’m pretty much out of everything and anything until I get to the store.

That’s ok, though. It’s me The Improviser! I should have a big “I” on my chest!

I turned to my dad’s almond crescent recipe. Well I have no almonds, but I do have peanuts. I subbed in some peanuts for almonds, peanut butter for shortening, added some milk. Then, just to make things that much more interesting, I quartered the recipe. Here’s what came out of it!



Do peanuts go well with tea? They aren’t supposed to be very sweet cookies, which might make them go better with said tea. We shall see, young grasshopper, we shall see.

Update: I had a patty with my orange tea this morning... it was delicious!

Peanut Patties
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons crushed peanuts
6 2/3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
Pinch of salt

Cream together butter, peanut butter, tahini, milk, extract and sugar in a mixer. Add in peanuts and flour, mix until mixture starts to pull away from sides of the bowl. Take dough out and form into a ball. Wrap dough in wax paper and refrigerate for an hour at least. Remove dough and roll into little balls, placing on a buttered cookie sheet. Bake cookies 10-15 minutes, or until cookies are firm to touch.

Banana-Rama Muffins

So today my Uncle Jerry, along with my cousins Serena and Kyle, from Missouri were visiting. They’ve been visiting quite a bit this past year. I’m big on family. Of course, you could tell that from my blog description I’m sure…

While I was so graciously washing the dishes for my parents, Serena sat on the bar stool next to me so we could chat. She just finished up her first year of college. Pre-med! I’m so proud of her! So proud I’m beaming!

*beam*

I wish she didn’t live so far away, though. It makes me sad.

On the plus side of her living so far away, this means I’ll get to mail her care packages! I love to send out care packages! I know how happy it makes my friends or family to get them. And college kids will eat anything, so I can put together some of my crazier recipes to send off to her! She put in a request for chocolate chip cookies… I can spice those up a bit! It’s so exciting!!

Of course I’ve got the whole summer before she goes back to school, but hey, I have something to look forward to!

That’s not what this recipe is about, however. This recipe comes from the banana sitting on my mom’s counter. It was overripe and I knew that the trashcan was it’s fate if I didn’t rescue it! So I swooped in and made it into some banana muffins! These muffins are of a crumbly Red Lobster biscuit type consistency. If you’re into super dense and moist muffins, I’d add about a 1/4 cup more milk to the batter.

Banana-Rama Muffins
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon garam masala spice mix
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 mashed banana
1/4 cup peanuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, garam masala, salt and peanuts in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk, oil and banana. Add wet mixture into dry and stir with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Fill muffin liners almost to the top and bake about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes about 11 muffins.

Sweet Potato Granola

I’d like to start off this post with a shout out to Kankakee Natural Foods. This is and has been my favorite store in the area since I discovered its existence about a year ago. Best unsweetened dehydrated banana chips this side of the Rockies. Well maybe. I don’t really know what the deal is with banana chips over there in California. Probably pretty substantial, though. Maybe if I go over there someday I’ll find out.

Anyway, so I’m standing at the checkout counter with my granola-making purchases when I suddenly acquired a taste for dried blueberries. I asked the girl behind the counter if they ever dried their own blueberries. She said they didn’t, but they did get in packages of them. She walked over and grabbed them off the shelf to show me. It saddened me that they were teensy bags.

Damn blueberries for being so tiny and delicious and not being grown in my area – therefore expensive!! I thanked her for showing me and proceeded to the door as she returned the blueberries to their shelf.

Then the clouds parted! She waved me down and walked toward me carrying several shiny, beautiful bags of dried blueberries. It turns out that they were a few months past their shelf date and they weren’t allowed to have them on the shelf anymore. She said they were mine if I wanted them and all I’d have to do is just throw them out if they weren’t any good.

I thanked her profusely, practically jumped up and down like a child going to Disney World! Free dried blueberries! Woo-hoo!!

I rushed home to make my granola!



This recipe is inspired by a recipe for Maple Pumpkin Granola I ran across on Sugar Plum. I already have a favorite granola recipe, but it’s not exactly the most figure friendly one. It has lots of peanut butter, butter, honey and chocolate... I have to save it for special occasions.

So here’s my granola recipe. And if by some chance there’s some ingredient you find appalling, just swap it out with something you like! This mixture seems to be pretty delicious completely unbaked or even partially baked. Filling and delicious in any form!

Sweet Potato Granola
1 cup steel cut oats
1/3 cup rye berries
1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup unsweetened banana chips
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/8 cup flax seed
1/4 cup All Bran cereal
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cooked
3 dried figs
1 tablespoon tahini paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon mango extract
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet with canola oil and set aside. In a bowl mix oats, rye berries, pumpkin seeds, banana chips, blueberries, flax seed, cereal and peanuts. In a food processor, puree sweet potato, figs, tahini, olive oil, butter, extract, water and salt. Combine oats mixture and sweet potato mixture. Spread onto the cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring the ingredients up halfway through.

Who Wants a Special Homemade Brownie??

Nutcrackers, giant rats, dancing sugar plum fairies...



It's Christmas in May! I have discovered a new (to me anyway) blog that has tickled my fancy like it’s never been tickled before. Normally I will not openly drool all over my keyboard at work, but that is exactly what the recipe for Mayan Mudslide Brownies over at Sugar Plum had me doing. Chocolate... mmm… avocado… mmmmmmm… more chocolate…Yep. Big ole’ puddles of drool shorting out the keyboard.



I made a few smallish adjustments to the recipe, so I’ll reprint it here, but I cannot take any of the credit for this idea! It was all Miss Sugar Plum. Her website is truly amazing. I spent hours reading through her recipes and laughing aloud at her fun-loving rambling wit. In one post she even remarks that she has an ice cream truck that drives down her street playing Christmas melodies… that’s quite a distance for that guy to travel in a few months just to sell ice cream, let me tell you.

Anyway, for months I’ve been looking for a brownie recipe I can be satisfied with. I usually end up with something too sweet, too fluffily cakey, too ordinary. I like my brownies uniquely dark tasting and dense. I believe I’m nearing the end of my search for Brownie Perfection with help from the SP Fairy!

Have a chocolate filled day!



Mayan Mudslide Brownies (the reproduction)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I’d say unsweetened baking chocolate would work here too)
3/4 teaspoon coffee grounds
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, finely ground up plus 1/8 teaspoon
1 large avocado, peeled and pitted
1 cup granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1/4 cup chocolate chips, give or take depending on taste
1/3 cup chopped peanuts
1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup dulce de leche, canned

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 8x8-inch baking dish with foil and coat with canola oil.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low to medium heat. Turn heat off and stir in chopped chocolate and coffee until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt until well combined. In Kitchen Aid mixing bowl, beat avocado on medium speed until it starts to get creamy. Beat in sugar and molasses until well incorporated, then add in vanilla and egg until combined thoroughly. Beat in melted chocolate mixture, then reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture until combined.

Spread batter evenly into prepared dish. It helps to oil the spatula you’re spreading the mixture with so it doesn’t stick. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the surface of the batter, followed by the peanuts, coconut and the remaining salt; bake 15 minutes. Remove dish from oven and heat dulce de leche in microwave until its liquid-ish then drizzle over brownies. Return the dish to the oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until well risen and set. I stuck a toothpick in the center and when it came out mostly clean along with the other signs I decided it was done. Cool completely on a wire rack (or upside-down pizza pan if you’re ghetto-ing it up like me) and refrigerate for easier slicing.

To slice, lift out foil and slice brownies into bars. Supposed to make 16 brownies.

Update: These brownies were a HUGE hit both with my mom and at the bank. One of the loan officers even asked for the recipe. I happily passed it on! =)

Confessions of a Bake-aholic

Last night we had a benefit out at Gunther's in Plainfield for my cousins, Kylie and Taylor, and in memory of my uncle, Jeff. Out late and partying hard with my family left little time for sleep. So there's no reason I should want to bake anything tonight.. says the bake-aholic..

I discovered this recipe a few days ago over at Tartlette. I figured after the amount of sugar I injested over the past few days, this recipe would be perfect to get me back on track. They're very tasty and very filling with tons of fiber! I plan to try them warmed up with some milk poured over the top. Yum!

Lavender Oatmeal Bars
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup millet flour
3/4 cup oats
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/8 cup flax seed
1 teaspoon lavender
1 egg
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix flours, oats, walnuts, flax seed, and lavender. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, yogurt, agave nectar, and vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to flour mixture and combine well. Spread onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove, let cool, and cut into sections with pizza cutter. Enjoy!!

My "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Cookie

So after a slightly stressful day, I enjoy coming home and whipping up something in the kitchen. It's my relax time. I start with a recipe and change it up until it's no longer recognizable. This is what I did last night, creating what I call the Fruit Cookie (aka Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cookie). With no refined sugar and a bunch of fruit, it's a little more like a muffin than a cookie. Delicious with a dollop of peanut butter for breakfast. =) I think next time I might try adding in some fresh minced ginger..

Fruit Cookie
1/2 cup applesauce (I used homemade with plums in it)
1/2 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup butter
1 banana, mashed
1 egg
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup coconut, sweetened

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside. In your trusty mixer, beat together applesauce, tahini, butter, banana and egg until well mixed. Incorporate flours, baking powder and salt. Stir in remaining ingredients until your yummy batter is created. Drop dough by spoonful onto cookie sheet, lightly spreading batter with the back of the spoon. I discovered after the first batch that this dough won't spread. If you want a more muffin-y cookie, you can skip spreading the batter out - they're just as yummy that way! Sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, then place cookies on a cooling rack to cool.

Molasses Flax Cookies

So, in leiu of going to the gym this morning I decided to make these "cookies". I don't have any maple syrup, so I used molasses. I have no coconut oil, so I used peanut butter. You get the picture.. A link to the original recipe can be found on this page of Diet, Dessert and Dogs. The first batch I cooked for 13 minutes and they burnt a bit, the second batch I cooked for about 8 was a bit gooey-er. So I'd say just eyeball it somewhere between those times and you should be good! This stuff tasted yummy and I'm excited to eat the cookies. They seem fairly healthy and have lots of fiber, so they can't be bad for lunch right?? Anyway.. enjoy!

Molasses Flax Cookies
1/2 cup whole oats
1 tablespoon peanut butter
3 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely ground flax seeds
3 tablespoons whole flax seeds
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 (if you can get it to WORK - grumble, grumble). Grease a cookie sheet and set aside. In a food processor, grind up oats until powdered. Add in remaining ingredients and blend well. Drop onto cookie sheet in roughly tablespoon sized amounts. They will spread pretty far. Cook these between 8-13 minutes and allow to cool before removing from the cookie sheet. Cookies harden as they cool. Then enjooooooooooy!

Nectarine Chipotle Pizza

Last night I had the brilliant idea of making a "fruit pizza". I haven't had the courage to attempt making my own pizza dough, so I use the stuff in the bag, Chebe. It's pretty tasty for being prepackaged. I followed the directions on making up the dough, but made up my own rules as far as baking went. I love the combination of sweet fruit with salty cheese on my pizza, so this really hit the spot!

Nectarine Chipotle Pizza
1 nectarine, thinly sliced
1 small apple, thinly sliced
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1 chipotle pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sliced or shredded cheese, I used monterey jack
Handful of walnuts
1 package Chebe GF pizza dough mix

Prepare Chebe dough according to package directions, using 3 tablespoons of milk rather than 2. Roll out and transfer to ungreased pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and saute onions and chipotle together until almost carmelized. Spread onion mixture evenly over pizza crust, then sprinkle with walnuts. Arrange nectarine slices and apple slices on pizza, then cover with cheese. Return pan to oven and bake until the cheese gets all melty and delicious. Remove from oven, slice up and ENJOY! Mmm!

A New Twist on Blue Cornmeal

I discovered this recipe months ago and finally made them last night. Boy were they worth the wait! The original recipe can be found here as I have changed some ingredients involved. Be careful, she wasn't kidding when she said the dough almost won't make it to the oven..

Blue Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup Smart Balance 50/50 butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup blue cornmeal
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together the Smart Balance and sugar, then add vanilla and yogurt. Add blue cornmeal, flour, and baking powder. Mix well. Add in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Place heaped spoonfuls of the dough on ungreased cookie sheet and pat down so they're sorta flat. Sprinkle some sea salt on the flattened dough. After the first batch, I noticed that my cookies didn't spread and the color doesn't change much. I altered my baking time to 15-20 minutes or until they were a nice golden brown on the bottom. Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool.

Almond Sesame Truffles

So I didn't exactly measure out amounts in this recipe, so its more of an idea booster! Plus the picture was gorgeous and I wanted to use it! This recipe was inspired by the Sesame Seed Truffle recipe on Elana's Pantry. I took some tahini paste and combined it with some awesome ingredients to produce these decadent little treats. It was just an experimental recipe and only made about ten truffles. I brought them to a family gathering and those who were brave enough to try them enjoyed them (my family is a bit odd on the texture front). So here is my "sort-of" recipe!

Almond Sesame Truffles
3 tablespoons tahini paste
1/2 cup almonds
4 dried figs
1 teaspoon (give or take) milk
Agave nectar to taste
Mixture of unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, and cinnamon (to your tastes)

Mix tahini paste, almonds, figs, milk, and agave nectar in food processor until a smooth paste is formed. Refridgerate overnight. Roll mixture into balls and roll in cocoa powder mixture. Serve immediately - they're more firm when cold

Tomato Basil Bread

I'm so proud of this recipe! The original recipe I discovered on Fran's House of Ayurveda (her Olive Walnut Bread) and thought it sounded delicious. Of course, empowered by my banana bread success, I sought to convert it to a gluten free recipe. I glanced in my pantry.. no olives. Why does this always happen? I did, however, have one sun dried tomato and one plum tomato. I changed changed a few ingredients here and there and Tomato Basil Bread was born! I know walnuts and tomato sounds like an odd combo, but the result was just divine. In the future I might add a tad more oil or take the bread out of the oven sooner to keep it a bit more moist, but on the whole I was pleased with the results!



Tomato Basil Bread
2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup GF all purpose flour
1/8 cup flax seed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 large egg
1 plum tomato, diced
1 sun dried tomato, diced (more if desired)
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 cup walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan. In a large bowl, thoroughly combine flour, flax seed, baking powder, salt, and basil. In your mixer, combine milk, olive oil, egg, and agave nectar until well blended. Add in flour mixture along with tomatoes and walnuts. Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Enjoy with some hummus or walnut butter.. mmmm..

Homemade Granola

So there I was at work, surfing the gluten-free blogs, when I ran across Gluten Free Mommy's recipe for homemade granola. Of course I printed it off right away! I've found a few recipes but I hadn't found any that really piqued my interest like this one! I tweaked it a bit since I've never ever been able to just follow a recipe to the letter. Here's my variation of GFM's granola! In fact, this recipe is so delicious it might even replace brownies in my book..

2 cups oats
1/3 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup banana chips
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
2 heaping tablespoons natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I LOVE Watkins)
3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a small saucepan combine peanut butter, honey, butter, oil, and vanilla. Once the peanut butter mixture is combined, stir it into the dry ingredients until oats are well moistened. Spread granola onto a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. The granola gets crispier as it cools. Cool at least 20 minutes before storing in a sealed container.

Update: A few days ago I made this recipe with molasses instead of honey (not quite a 1/2 cup).. I don't think I've ever tasted such granola perfection. Munch munch munch..

The Butter Files

So the past few days I have been experimenting with my Christmas present.. my brand new food processor. Now let me tell you - this thing is AWESOME! I have no idea how I got along without one for so long. It makes me feel like a kid in a candy store! It can do everything. Blend up soups, make hummus (which will be making a blog appearance of its own later on), and all sorts of nut butters! I'm still perfecting my recipe, so I haven't posted one yet. I have tried a raw walnut butter made with raw walnuts out of the freezer, extra virgin olive oil, cinnamon and agave nectar to sweeten it up. This one tastes amazing with cut up apples, though it was missing a little something. Tonight I tried roasting the wanuts over the stove with some ground ginger, salt, and a tiny bit of mango extract (courtesy of my mom through the Watkins she sells). After roasting I added them to the processor with some light tasting EVOO and a little agave nectar. This is also good, but next time I will try soaking or blanching the nuts before buttering them! Eventually I'll get this whole thing right, though I am enjoying eating the mistakes!! =)