More nuts for sweet roasted nut

After a few days of jetlage  and still getting over our colds we're getting into swing of things and having tons of fun. I always find it so much fun to be cooking in someone else's kitchen and this time I have a very nice view from it. We're staying in a very nice apartment middle of the city.

Today we went to a Christmas fair in Old Town. There so many wonderful homemade items and foods to look and buy. One thing my husband loves to get at the Swedish fairs are warm sweet roasted nuts off course that challenged me to go home and try to make them myself. It was a perfect snack to enjoy after dressing our christmas tree.

We're so proof of our tree who we bought and had to carry home. We still need more decorations and teach Noah not to try to climb it.

250g blanched almonds

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine the nuts, cinnamon and 1 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar in a frying pan and cook on low/medium heat while stirring the whole time until you hear a cracking sounds and the sugar has crystallizes. It takes about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 1 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and pour the nuts onto a parchment paper and separate the nuts. 

Rum cake with lemon glaze

I have to admit that I never tasted a rum cake before and never had any interest because I'm not a fan of rum. That's until yesterday when I tasted a rum cake for the very first time and it was love at first sight. Yesterday evening I could not the get that darn cake out of my mind so I made one and added lemon glaze which just took it from great to fabulous.

I based the recipe on one from Quirky knit girl who in her turn adapted it from Vegan Thyme. I changed it a just a little by using spelt flour instead of all-purpose flour, used almond milk instead of soy and added  lemon. This is a super moist cake with the perfect rum flavor.

3 cups white spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted veggie margarine ( 2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
5 tsp Ener-g Egg replacer mixed with 6 tbs warm water or use 4 eggs
Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Grate and juice from 1 organic and washed lemon
1/4 cup rum
1 cup unsweetned almond milk
1 tbs apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to F325. Mix egg replacer with water and set aside. Mix milk with apple cider ad set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a medium bowl cream sugar and margarine. Add slowly the egg replacer, little at the time until completely combined. Add vanilla beans. Alternating flour mix and milk, beginning with flour, add about of third of each beating well after each addition to mix in. With a spatula, fold n the rum and lemon grate and juice. Pour batter into a greased bunt pan smooth it out. Bake for about 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cook for 15 minutes in pan before trying to remove cake from pan.

Glaze:

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Peel, grated from one organic and washed lemon

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 tbs water

2 tbs butter, melted

Combine lemon juice, grated peel and sugar in a bowl. Beat in the melted butter and water. Poke holes in the top of the cake and pour glaze over. 

Ginger snaps in half a kitchen

Sorry for the lack of post lately but with no kitchen my cooking has been VERY simple. As of yesterday I now have half a kitchen meaning I have cabinets, fridge and stove but I'm missing counter tops, dish washer and a sink. For me I'm just happy to be able to cook and bake again so I celebrated by making ginger snaps. These are thin and crispy ginger snaps perfect to give away for Christmas.

100g margarine

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbs light syrup

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp cloves, grounded

1 tsp baking soda

250g all-purpose flour

Mix flour and baking soda and set a side. Place margarine, sugar, syrup and water in a pot and bring to boil while stirring. Remove from heat, add spices and let it cool of completely before start baking. When cooled place liquid in a large bowel and add flour little at a time. Work the dough really well and shiny before placing dough in a plastic bag or zip lock bag and make it air tight. Place in fridge over night.

Preheat oven to F450.

Before start baking, take out the dough from the fridge about 30 minutes before. Divide dough in half and use a rolling pin to roll out dough very thin on a surface sprinkled with flour. Use cookie cutters to make the cookies. Place each cookie on a cookie sheet and bake for about 5-7 minutes. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.

Holiday spiced nuts

Bella is finally but slowly recovering from her ordeal so Thanksgiving was a very mellow day fabulous feast cooked by James and my friend Jess. All I had to do was sit on the sofa with Bella and then come and make a chantarelle gravy which ended up being very nice too. We're moving out of Sunny yoga kitchen for three weeks because we're remodeling our kitchen. I'm so excited to have a brand new and more functional kitchen but I'm not looking forward to be moving out, especially so close to my due date. I will however be blogging from our "new" kitchen.

I've been itching to make Christmas goodies the whole week so today I made these gingerbread spiced nuts. They are perfect for a holiday party or just as a fun snack with tea.

200g or 7 ounces nuts, I used a mix of almonds and walnuts

2 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs pumpkin pie spice

1 tbs cinnamon

Preheat oven for F400

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, making sure all nuts get coated. You can also chop nut if so desire. Place on a parchment paper on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake until golden but not black (it happens very fast) about 10 minutes.