Almond Crescents

The powdered sugar dusted on top of these almond crescents remind me of the first falling of snow. When I was a child, my mom used to buy boxes of these off the supermarket shelves. They reminded me of crescent moons hung up on a night sky and were so powdery with the icing sugar that it seemed like snow on my fingers. So during the midst of a recent blizzard, I cracked open the front door at night to take a peek outside and suddenly I was reminded of almond crescents and wished for it!

The cookie I wanted was buttery and crunchy, with the toasty-ness and the warm comfort of earthy nuts and essence of almonds. After some searching, I found a promising recipe that offered elbow room for experimenting and imagination to dress it up. I wasn't about to head out into the blizzard outside to buy almonds since I only had a handful left, so I also used pecans. The result? Buttery, nutty and lightly sweet, and it just melts in the mouth. Keeper recipe in my book.

Almonds Crescents
Adapted from Southern Food

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2/3 cup sifted powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (preferably almonds, pecans and walnuts)
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy with an electric mixer. Beat in the extracts, then stir in the nuts. Add the flour and beat or use your hands to knead the dough until well combined.

With your hands, scoop a golf ball-sized amount of dough and form it into a ball. Roll it into a 2 inch cylinder and shape it into a crescent. Place it on the prepared baking sheet, with cookies 1 inch apart, and repeat with the rest of the dough.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack and then dust it with powdered sugar by putting it in a sieve and tapping it lightly over the cookies.

Cranberry and Orange Soda Bread

It's late but Happy New Year! Wishing you all a great year of good food and happiness with your loved ones!

So, about the bread here ... I was watching Barefoot Contessa on Food Network and Ina was making her Irish Soda Bread. She used traditional black currants and added a teaspoon or so of orange zest, which was her own personal take on it. She said if you were Irish you could omit the orange zest. Well, I didn't have black currants so I used dried cranberries instead, and with the addition of orange zest, I don't think I have the right to call it an Irish Soda Bread at all now. But I do love the flavor combination of cranberries and oranges. It's very festive, no?

It's a piece of cake putting this together ... but the dough was very wet. Ina did warn it'd be quite wet, but I had reason to worry because whenever I scored an X on top of the bread, it just disappeared. So back into the mixing bowl. After a few handfuls of flour kneaded into the dough, I suddenly felt scared it'd be too dry, but it was not. It was very moist and absolutely gorgeous too! And the crust is so crunchy and toasty.

Cranberry and Orange Soda Bread
Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 3/4 cups cold buttermilk**
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 cup dried cranberries, mixed and coated well with 1 tbsp flour

** = I had no buttermilk on hand, so I substituted it with 1 3/4 cups of milk mixed with 1 1/2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice and left it to stand for 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a measuring cup, lightly beat together the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest with a fork. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. It will be very wet.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it a few times into a round loaf. Add more flour if necessary. Transfer the bread to the prepared baking sheet and lightly score an X on top of the bread with a serrated knife. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a skewer poked into the center of the bread comes out clean. When you tap the loaf, it should have a hollow sound.

Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with butter, jam or by itself.