Honey Almond Cookies with No Refined Sugar

Sometimes you want  need a cookie. A lot of times, it's too hot, or too fancy an occasion, or you've just already eaten too much to grab for your favorite chocolate chip or peanut butter buddy

(yes, cookies are friends, not food.) 

These cookies bridge the gap between satisfaction and grace perfectly. They're nutty, spongy, and so subtle sweet, they'll make you swoon like a real lady. And, you can have more than one and still feel like gliding, not thumping (or rolling)

Honey Almond Cookies
Makes about 24 cookies

1 1/2 cups almond meal
3/4 cup wildflower (or your favorite type) honey
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp powdered ginger (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350ºF, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and move the rack to the bottom of the oven.
In a bowl, mix almond meal, honey, and ginger until well combined
In another very clean glass bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until the eggs form stiff, shiny peaks, usually about 5 minutes, but it depends on your eggs, bowl and kitchen.
Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the almond mixture until just combined. Add the rest of the eggs and fold gently. Spoon with a real table spoon (the kind you use for eating) onto the lined baking sheets and pop them in the oven.
After 2 minutes, lower the temperature to 300ºF and continue cooking for 8-12 minutes or until golden and fragrant.
Enjoy!

Caramelized White Chocolate Cornmeal Macarons

Everybody Breathes

Everybody Sits
Everybody Sleeps
Everybody Eats Cornmeal/Grits/Polenta/Pap

Everybody likes Cornmeal/Grits/Polenta/Pap even if they don't like it by any other nam
Personally, I think it tastes just as sweet with any title.

Especially here. Thanks to the wonderful Clotilde at Chocolate and Zucchini, I have finally found the perfect corn meal cookie. I'm Italian, so I like my desserts either tooth-numbingly sweet and mushy or almost sugarless, crunchy, and dry. I adore cornmeal cookies. Usually, I group them into the latter category, but with the adjustments I made to her already-perfect-if-you're-looking-for-something-very-French recipe, these are a total mix of the two.
They remind me of the perfect slice of cornbread when you're a kid. Everybody knows what I mean, because I'm sure every person in the world gets nostalgic when presented with some form of corn meal--it's like a wrap, every culture has their own version. For me, it was the corn bread from Whole Foods, the Jewel stuff just didn't cut it. Like I've said, my mom isn't much of a cook.
The slight toasty butter taste of the caramelized white chocolate, the combination of crunchy exterior and chewy inner center have me melting. And then there's the combination of almond and corn meal, my two favorite cookie texturizers.

Caramelizing, cooling, and grating the chocolate may seem like a lot of work, but do not skip it. I repeat, do not skip the caramelization  process. Don't. Promise me. Good.
The rest of the cookie comes together in almost literally no time at all so the extra effort is more than well worth it. I'll promise you you won't regret it, if you promise me you'll do it.
Also, because you're really tampering with the structure of the chocolate, make sure you're working with a brand that uses 30% cocoa butter or over, like Green and Blacks or Scharffen Berger so it doesn't go all gritty on you. Also, use good quality vanilla extract. I'm really not too much of a snob about this and I have bought more than my fair share of the cheap stuff, but the vanilla in the white chocolate really needs to shine against the butteryness of the cocoa butter, and nuttiness of the almonds and corn. Pleas, again, you won't regret spending a little extra (Trader Joe's has good quality extract for much cheaper than any other specialty store).
Oh, and they're at their prime when served alongside just about any hot beverage, but they're also absolutely amazing on their own.

Caramelized White Chocolate Cornmeal Macarons
Makes about 30 cookies

1/4 c chopped candied (non crystalized) ginger
1 cup almond meal
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup raw turbinado sugar
1/3 cup cake flour
1/3 cup coarse stone ground corn meal--I like Bob's Red Mill
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For Caramelized White Chocolate:
Preheat oven to 250ºF
Line a small plate with parchment paper.
Chop your chocolate into small, even sized pieces and spread across a small baking pan (I used a pie plate because the quantity is so small)
Bake the chocolate on the center rack for 10 minutes, ten stir
Return to the oven for 10 more minuted before stirring again. Repeat this process for 30-40 minites, or until the chocolate is the color of caramel and very fragrant.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape all of the chocolate onto the lined plate and chill for at least 2 hours, or until solid.

In the mean time...

For the Cookies:
Increase your oven temperature to 400ºF and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the almond meal, salt, flour, corn meal, and sugar. Add in the egg whites and vanilla and mix until a thick dough forms.
Grate your newly hardened caramelized white chocolate on the coarse side of a box grater. Fold the shavings into the dough very gently.
Spoon onto baking pans by the teaspoon and place in the oven. Immediately lower the heat to 325ºF and bake for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden around the edges but still soft and delicate.
Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Enjoy!

Red Velvet Almond Tart

Graduation parties are confusing. I've always thought that if a party's being thrown to commemorate a specific time in somebody's life, you're supposed to bring that person a gift. It get's awkward, though, when you (and just about all of the other guests) have just graduated as well. It get's even worse when there are no less than three of these parties every weekend. That's a whole lot of gifts.
I think I've come up with an answer to this situation: Food Gifts.

These are always my favorite gifts to give because they are home made, different, personalized, and, unless you brought chocolate chip cookies from a tube, you know that the recipient doesn't already have one lying around somewhere.

My go to gift is candy because there are millions of candies that look super impressive   and that only take about 15 minutes to make from start to finish. Candy making gets old, though, especially when you've sworn off caramel making for at least 2 months (or as long as it takes you to get your head when it comes to gooey, salty sugar) so it's always good to have a few non-candy recipes up your sleeve.
Enter the red velvet almond tart.

The Caramelized Malt (I said it's optional, but only in emergency situations)

It's vegan(-ish), and can easily be made gluten free (though the nuts pose a challenge in making it allergy proof) and is amazingly tasty. The light flavor of the chocolate in the crust is the perfect complement to the almonds. Because chocolate and almonds really are amazing together but sometimes you don't really want  a ton of chocolate flavor. It's great for cleaning out the fridge, or making when the fridge is already pretty cleaned out (how I came up with the recipe) and is versatile enough to be served at a barbecue, formal dinner, or packaged and frozen for gift giving.
This lasts in the freezer for a week, probably longer, but I've never had to store it for longer than 7 days.

The tart is extremely chewy and the almond topping sort of sinks into the crust, making it super delicious. The flavor of the chocolate in the red velvet crust is just peeking out enough to complement the almonds, but not nearly enough to make this a chocolate dessert. It is not a tall tart at all, so there's no need to line the edges of the pan with parchment, and if you don't want to bother with a springform, you can use a 9 to 10 inch part pan with a removable bottom and it will work just fine.

For the Crust
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 Tbs vegan shortening
1 tsp red food coloring (more if you want it really red)
2 Tbs light corn syrup
2 Tbs almond milk (may not need all 2 Tbs)
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1Tbs corn starch
1 1/2 Tbs cocoa powder
Pinch of salt

For the Filling
1 1/2 cups raw sliced almonds
3 Tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 Tbs malted milk powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF, grease and line a 9-10 inch spring form pan with parchment paper.
In a bowl, with a rubber spatula, cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the corn syrup and food dye and mix until evenly combined.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt, corn starch, and cocoa powder. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined, adding almond milk until the mixture reaches the texture of soft cookie dough. Press into the bottom of your prepared pan.
In a bowl, mix the almonds, brown sugar, lemon zest, corn syrup, almond extract, and salt.
Spread evenly over the top of the crust and bake for 10 minutes at 350º.
After 10 minutes, turn the pan and lover the oven temperature to 275º for another 5-7 minutes, until the crust has risen and set.
Turn off the oven, remove the tart and sprinkle with the malted milk powder. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes, or until the malt powder has dissolved and begun to caramelize.
Remove from the oven, loosen the sides from the pan with a knife and cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan and slicing into wedges.

Cut it into 16ths for gift bag size slices

If you're going to freeze the pieces, make sure they cool to room temperature before wrapping and freezing, in order to prevent condensation from ruining the texture of the tart.