buttery lemony lace cookies

Friends. It has been quite a month. I often find myself crashing on the couch at the end of the day and dreading hopping back on the computer. As a Social Media Manager, I spend most of my waking hours tuned-in…hardcore. In the evening, sometimes, I just want to unplug. Ya feel me?

This post will be brief and to the point. The take away? An easy-peasy recipe for buttery lemony lace cookies. These lace cookies contain ground almonds by the way. I love almonds, they’re good and good for you! They’re good for your heart and packed with antioxidants and nutrients.

I found a great recipe for classic lace cookies, but decided to take a fresh and uplifting spin on it by adding freshly grated lemon zest to the batter. Also, my friend Roger put in a special request for something lemony. Roger…enjoy!

Buttery Lemony Lace Cookies
Inspired from a recipe from this book

Print Recipe

– 1/2 cup raw ground almonds
– 5 Tbls unsalted butter
– 1/3 cup organic unrefined sugar
– 2 Tbls light corn syrup
– 1/3 cup all-purpose wheat flour
– pinch of sea salt
– zest from one lemon
– 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the butter, sugar and corn syrup. Stir often until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium-high, stir constantly and bring to a boil. Once the contents begin to boil, remove from the heat. Stir in the flour and salt until well incorporated. Finally, stir in the ground almonds, lemon zest and vanilla extract.

Using a teaspoon, drop the batter onto the baking sheet. Bake the cookies until evenly light brown, about 10 minutes. At the 5-minute mark, turn the baking sheet around in the oven to ensure even baking. The cookies won’t begin to spread till about 6 minutes into baking.

Cover a cooling rack with paper towels. When the cookies are done baking, place them on the paper-toweled covered wire rack and let cool.

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sweet porridge

It’s true. This post is about porridge. You may be thinking…”Ok, earth to Allison, this is 2010 not 1824. Who’s eating porridge these days?!” Porridge is actually another term for oatmeal or warm breakfast cereal, and it’s a traditional food in Northern Europe.

When you think of porridge, do you think of the childrens’ story Goldilocks and the Three Bears? I do! If Goldilocks likes cinnamon, walnuts and dates, she’ll find this bowl of porridge jussst right.

I found a recipe for wild rice porridge and I decided to make a lighter version by using 1% milk rather than heavy cream, and swap out the wild rice for pearl barley. I love pearl barley, just love it! I also used chopped dates and walnuts rather than pistachios and dried apricots.

Nutritional benefits of pearl barley, ground cinnamon and walnuts!

What’s great about this recipe is that it’s more of a method because you can use other grains or oats, dried fruits, nuts or preserves!

Porridge with Cinnamon, Walnuts and Dates
Inspired by this recipe

Print Recipe

– 2 cups cooked pearl barley
– 1/2 cup 1% milk
– 1 Tbls agave nectar
– 1 Tbls organic maple sugar
– 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1/2 cup dates, roughly chopped
– 2 Tbls chopped raw walnuts

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine pearl barley, milk, agave nectar, maple syrup and cinnamon. Stir frequently until the mixture becomes thick and heated through. Stir-in the dates and walnuts. Continue warming the mixture for another minute or two.

Pour into your favorite bowl and why not drizzle a tad bit more maple syrup with a dash of cinnamon on top! Goldilocks would approve!

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mango almond milk

Mango Almond Milk, how fierce!

Whether you’re a regular, soy, rice or almond milk drinker. You’re going to like this! You’ll like it because it’s easy to make, it’s tasty and because this recipe is more of method; you can swap-in other fruits!

Imagine berry almond milk, banana almond milk, citrus almond milk…ok, now I’m getting thirsty. I’ll save those for another post.

I chose mango because I’ve only seen mango in bottled smoothies or mixed in orange juice, in a carton. Nevertheless, is the mango in those beverages really mango? Perhaps if it’s organic but nothing beats homemade especially when homemade is easy and low stress. This recipe (i.e. method) is exactly that!

Nutritional perks –

Mango – Excellent source of Vitamins A and C and dietary fiber. Mangos actually contain more than 20 vitamins and minerals. Love it!
Almond – Helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels, excellent source of Vitamin E, magnesium and fiber. Almonds are the tree nut with the highest amount of protein, fiber, calcium, Vitamin E, riboflavin and niacin.

Mango Almond Milk
Inspired from this recipe. I halved the recipe because I didn’t have a pitcher large enough for six cups

Print Recipe

– 1 medium to large mango, chopped
– 1/4 cup raw almonds
– 2 cups cold water
– 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
– pinch of sea salt

I omitted the agave syrup as recommended in the original recipe, because the mango was so sweet. I felt the added agave syrup was unnecessary.

Soak the raw almonds in water for at least 8 hours in the fridge.

After soaking, drain the almonds and add to a blender with the two cups of cold water. Pulse until combined. You’ll see a milky white liquid forming. Almond milk!

Add the vanilla extract, mango and pinch of salt and blend on high for two minutes. Take in the gorgeous light orange color!

Strain the liquid mixture to separate the solids of the almond and mango, so that you are left with a silky sunset-hued healthy beverage. Good morning noon and night.

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pb&j granola

“Granola.” There is an innocence to the word. The sound of it, the meaning. It rolls off the tongue quite nicely.

I hear granola and I think sweet, crunchy, nutty and earthy. I also think of what “granola” is also defined as, according to Urban Dictionary – flower child or tree-hugger! Well, whether you are a flower child, tree-hugger, banker or designer I think you’ll like where this is going.

If you’ve read the “about me” page, you’ll know that I love cooking and baking for people I care about. When I learned that my cousin loves granola I started to pester her with granola-esqe questions like, “Do you like dried fruit? What kind?!” “Do you like peanuts?” and on it went. I was looking forward to making this batch of granola because I knew she’d been particularly stressed lately and granola can be a cure-all, right? Especially on yogurt or ice cream.

What I love about granola is that it’s flexible because it allows you to swap in different dried fruits, spices, nuts or sweeteners and also that it’s packed with nutrition. In this recipe I chose the flavors of a PB&J sandwich with banana! Yum city!

Nutritional perks –

Rolled oats – good source of dietary fiber, manganese and thiamin. heart healthy!
Almonds – good source of riboflavin and manganese. a very good source of Vitamin E and protein.
Pecans – a very good source of manganese and protein.
Peanuts – a very good source of monosaturated fats, promotes heart health. a good source of Vitamin E, manganese, folate and protein.
Honey – a natural energy booster. a good source of riboflavin, calcium, copper, iron, potassium and zinc. contains a variety of flavonoids.
Banana – obviously a great source of potassium but also of Vitamin A and a full range of B Vitamins. considered one of the healthiest fruits.

PB&J Granola (aka “Nicki Granola”)

– 2 cups rolled oats
– 1/2 cups unsalted pecans, chopped
– 1/2 cups unsalted almonds, chopped
– 1/2 cups unsalted peanuts, chopped
– 1/2 cups craisins, chopped
– 1/2 cups banana chips, broken into medium size pieces
– 1/2 cup honey
– 1/4 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients until well combined. Spread out evenly on the baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes and stir the granola mixture occasionally during the baking time.

Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy on your yogurt, ice cream or on its own!

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