Bavarian Vanilla Almonds

I have made the Southern Spicy Pecans (Those will be made another day....) and decided that the candied almonds would have to be good. I found this recipe from My Baking Addiction, actually I saw it on Pinterest first, but I have found a ton of recipes on this great blog.

These will be going into parchment cones with some type of cute embellishment....now who to give this special almond treat????

Enjoy!

January 2, 2012 Mexican Chocolate Cookies

Today is the first day for baking! I spent yesterday organizing recipes and listing ingredients, etc. Now I am ready for a new adventure.

I am also making bread today. I am going to make buns for sliders tonight. If I get a chance I will get that recipe posted too.

This is my first time using a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients.


Mexican Chocolate Cookies
from the December 2009 Cooking Light

Ingredients:
5 oz bittersweet (60% cacao) chocolate, coarsely chopped
3.4 oz all-purpose flour (3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
dash of black pepper
dash of ground red pepper
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to350 degrees
2. Place chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave on High 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through ground red pepper); stir well with a whisk.
4. Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat well. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla; beat until just blended. Drop dough by level tablespoons (or use a cookie scoop) 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven. Cool on plans 2 minutes or until set. Remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack.
Yield 32 cookies
serving size - 1 cookie; 80 calories

dough in the mixer

rounded teaspoons on the pan

finished product ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Mini Monkey Bread Cups

The dough - cutting into pieces

Butter and cinnamon sugar in the muffin cups

right out of the oven

Ready to dig in!! Yum!!!!

We love monkey bread, I mean we LOVE monkey bread. It is actually easy to make and something the entire family will eat.

This is my version. I usually make Monkey bread in a loaf pan, a bundt pan, or a springform angel food cake pan. This time I decided to make them in cupcake liners. You can also use store bought frozen dough or even canned biscuits. You don't have to make the dough from scratch. I just love to make bread. I know - I am slightly insane.

Monkey Bread Dough

1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup + 1 Tbs Sugar
1 egg
1 Tbs Salt
2 Tbs yeast (or 4 packages)
2 cups warm water
9 - 10 cups flour
1 cup of butter (more like 2 cups)

Scald you milk, add the 3/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup melted butter. I usually scald my milk in the microwave for about 2 minutes or so, depending on your microwave.
Let the mixture cool slightly.
Add 2 cups of flour, 1 egg and 1 Tbs salt. Stir well and allow to cool.
Combine 2 cups warm water, 2 Tbs yeast and 1 Tbs sugar - wait for it to bubble or develop.
Pour the warm milk mixture into the yeast mixture. stir. It will be a very liquid consistency.
Stir in the flour 1 cup at a time. I use my Kitchen Aid and dough hook. Add in the remaining 7 cups of flour.
Smooth into ball and cover the dough. Allow to rise until doubled in size.

For the monkey bread -
Melt 1 - 2 cups of butter
combine 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbs cinnamon

Cut the dough in small pieces, about a 1 inch ball. Dip the dough into the melted butter then into the cinnamon sugar. Place 3  - 4 pieces into a muffin cup, depending on the size of your muffin cup. Remember it will rise a but and your don't want it to over flow from the pan.

You will get about 100 muffin cups of monkey bread. I freeze mine immediately for future use.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes, depends on your oven. It may take up to 15 minutes if they are bigger and your oven bakes at a lower temp then mine.

If you freeze them, simply take then out the night before and thaw in your refrigerator.

They are ready to eat!! Let me know if you have any questions or comments. These would also be great if you do any freezer meal groups.

Enjoy!