MADCookie

Basic Recipe:

1 Cup almonds

1/2 Cup sugar

Note: this ratio will be lots of sugar coating. Double the almonds to reduce the final sugar coating. 2 C almonds is a good coating.

Add sugar to a nonstick skillet

Turn the heat to high. Add the almonds.

The sugar is melting

Most of the sugar is melted. The color continues to darken as it cooks. The almonds might pop under the blanket of the hot melted sugar. Watch the heat. As the sugar melts, lower the heat so everything doesn't burn. The goal is to have all the sugar melt without burning.

Once the sugar melts completely, you need to pour it out to a metal mixing bowl to cool and seperate. This gets a little tricky (and hot). Tip: pour it out to a large cookie sheet and push it all down to make a simple layer. Cool a bit and seperate the almonds from the motherload.

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Now time for some variations

Sweet Cayenne Pepper

Basic recipe plus 1 T cayenne pepper and a dash of salt

Brown Cinnamon Sugar

Basic recipe plus 2T brown sugar and 1 T ground cinnamon

Candied Pecans

In the basic recipe, swap out pecans for the almonds. These are the very best on salads.

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For small group tonight, I made macaroons. Les has been requesting these little guys, but I thought they were going to be difficult - WRONG. It was simple.

Mix together
2/3 C   Sweetened condensed milk
1   large egg
1 1/2 t   vanilla extract
1/8 t   salt

Add
3 1/2 C   sweetened coconut

Drop batter onto cookie sheet and bake 20 - 24 minutes at 325 degrees.

Let cool slightly on the cookie sheet and then move to a drying rack. I dipped & decorated the cookies with the ganache cholocate you'll find on this site.

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Camping time. I committed to making a chicken stew to be served at my boy's group's upcoming Camporee. I made it a few nights before the Camporee and froze it. The plan was to warm it up at the campsite.

Onion-cutting protection. I put it on after doing all the cutting. Oh well.



I started by using my dutch oven to build a rue. This is my first time ever doing this. I did not cook the rue for long, so this is like a blond.

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While Les is at the Big Fat Meetup. I was experimenting with my sourdough starter. I really want to get this to work. This weekend, I made three batches of bread. With the remains of one batch that didn't have a sour taste to it, I made french toast.

Tip: if you are cutting a loaf, cut the slices thin. I had made really thick slices only to find the insides dry.


Tip: the electric griddle is at 325 degrees which is just hot enough to melt the butter without burning it. So the implied second tip is to coat the griddle in butter.

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