The Best Coffeecake You’ll Ever Have

Hey guys, we’re excited to announce that our recipe for our very favorite Coffeecake is being featured over on Cup of Jo today!  Go check it out, here’s the link. 

Hint: the cake is almond scented and studded with raspberries. Mmmm!

Top 10 Almond Butter Recipes

We’ve been regularly enjoying whipping up nice big batches of homemade almond butter.  It’s made from one ingredient – freshly roasted almonds.  The taste and smell of super fresh almond butter is to die for!  It’s really much more delicious than the store bought stuff in jars. And bonus – much cheaper to make at home.  So, let’s celebrate this lovely ingredient with ten delicious ways to use Almond Butter.

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups

Similar to these, but made with almond butter instead of peanut butter.  And sprinkled with flakes of sea salt.  These little treats, by Sprouted Kitchen, are a great way to spoil yourself – they’re made with all natural ingredients, whole foods, no weird stuff.  And the taste is unbeatable!

image credit: Sprouted Kitchen

Almond Butter Banana Bread

A classic banana bread recipe with a twist – add 1/3 cup fresh almond butter to complement the sweet mellow banana flavor with fragrant nuttiness of almonds.

Almond Butter Granola Bars

These bars, by Anja’s Food 4 Thought, are packed with goodness: almond butter, bananas, almonds, seeds, rolled oats and dried fruit. Tasty and filling. The perfect snack between meals to keep hunger at bay. Definitely a keeper.

image credit: Anja’s Food 4 Thought

Simple Black Bean Burgers

These lovely veggie burgers, by our friend Ashley at Edible Perspective, are packed with black beans, corn, and tons of amazing spices.  Plus the surprise ingredient that helps bind them all together – almond butter!

Pumpkin Almond Cake with Almond Butter Frosting

I never thought to use almond butter as an ingredient in frosting, but what a genius idea.  This pumpkin cake plus almond butter frosting looks amazing!

image credit: Eats Well with Others

Flourless Almond Butter Cookies

A simple recipe for crisp almond cookies – made with just a few ingredients – really lets the fresh almond butter flavor shine through!

Simple Almond Butter Smoothie

Milk (or nutmilk) combined with banana, cinnamon, and a few Tablespoons of almond butter create a thick and nutritious smoothie that would make a filling breakfast or snack.

image credit: Healthy. Happy. Life.

Chocolate Almond Butter Brownies

Chocolate and almond is a flavorful match made in heaven.  Don’t try to argue.  Just check out this recipe for chocolate & almond butter brownies.  Yum!

image credit: Gluten Free Canteen

Almond Butter Square Energizers

These squares, by Scandi Foodie, are like pared down granola bars.  They’re made with nutritious whole food ingredients, they are packed with flavor, and it all comes from the good stuff.  You know, flaked coconut, dried cherries, and other goodies like that!

Almond Butter Cake

This rich but simple cake includes the goodness of butter and the fragrance of fresh almond butter.  This dense cake is not too sweet, so it could be a dessert or breakfast.  Or snack.  You know!

image credit: Inspired to Bake

Tangerine-Almond Tart with Chocolate Drizzle

In the summer, it is so easy to be inspired by fruits and vegetables. In the spring, anything new and green is a promise of all the deliciousness to come. And even in fall, pears and pumpkins feel cozy and fun. But in the winter, it can be hard to muster up that excitement that comes so easily throughout the rest of the year. 

But when I received a handful of juicy tangerines in my Door to Door Organics box, a few still holding onto their vibrant green leaves, I was both inspired and excited. A mad googling ensued, and being the tart-lover that I am, I came up with this delicious creation.

 Tangerines, almonds, and chocolate? I know, it is a trifecta of winter flavor. Better yet, this tart has a fabulous shortbread crust. The recipe that I am working from is from EatingWell. Their recipe called for a rather laborious crust involving whole wheat pastry flour and lots of kneading and rolling. No thanks! This shortbread crust takes fewer ingredients (that we all have), plus you just press it right into the pan.

I loved the way this tart turned out. The citrus and almond flavors were in perfect balance. The chocolate is, well, always a pleasure. If you don't have picture perfect tangerines on hand, oranges will absolutely do the trick.

The chocolate drizzle is something that I haven't done before, and you can see that my work is not so very beautiful. But even my amateurish job impressed my dinner mates. TIP: Spoon your melted chocolate into a sandwich bag, and then cut the tip of a corner off. Squeeze away.

Tangerine-Almond Tart with Chocolate Drizzle

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp grated tangerine or orange zest
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbs unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
• 1 large egg yolk (save the white for the filling!)

Filling:

• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup tangerine juice (about 3 tangerines) or orange juice
• zest of 3 tangerines (about 3 tsp)
• 3 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter the bottom of a 9.5-in two piece tart pan. In a food processor, process the flour 1/3 cup sugar, zest, and salt for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk (don't forget to save the white for the filling) and process just until it comes together in a ball. Pat the dough into the tart pan, prick the bottom all over with a fork, and then bake for 18-20 minutes. Set aside.

2. Turn oven down to 375. Clean out your food processor. Place almonds on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Let cool for a few minutes.

3. Place the almonds and 1/3 cup sugar into the food processor and process until almonds are ground. Add eggs, egg white, tangerine juice, and zest to the processor, and process until well blended. Scatter half of your chocolate chips over the crust. Pour the tangerine filling into the crust.

4. Bake the tart at 375 for about 25-30 minutes. The filling should be set. Melt your remaining chocolate chips in a double boiler (I used a small metal bowl placed over a pot of boiling water -- the bowl should be above and not touching the water), or you can use a microwave if you have one of those newfangled gadgets. Drizzle the chocolate decoratively over the tart (see my tip in the paragraph preceding the recipe!)

Almond Biscotti

Around the time that temperatures begin to drop, I experience a craving for almonds. Almond butter, almond cake, even almond-scented dish soap. (Similarly, towards the end of winter, I experience an all-out lemon frenzy.) But here we are at the beginning of fall, and all I want is some almond biscotti to dunk into my morning coffee.

I already had a very favorite biscotti recipe which I've shared previously. But there are times, I hate to admit, when chocolate is a little too much early in the morning. My 3-year-old now wants to eat just what I'm eating, and I do not feel like parent-of-the-year when she's enjoying an 8am chocolate cookie. These almond biscotti are not exactly health food, but they aren't so bad for you either. Unlike our chocolate hazelnut biscotti, there is no butter (and no oil either).

This recipe combines both almond extract and a heaping pile of toasted chopped almonds to intensify that nutty flavor. And as all biscotti are, they are baked in long logs, sliced, and then baked again to get that crisp texture that just begs to be dipped into a piping hot cup of coffee or tea.

Almond Biscotti

adapted from joyofbaking.com

• 3/4 cup whole almonds

• 3 large eggs

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp pure almond extract

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Place the almonds on a baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes, until toasted and fragrant. Let cool, and then chop coarsely.

2. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs with the extracts.

4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the almonds, and then add the eggs and combine until a dough forms. (If it seems very dry, add just a few drops of water until dough comes together.) 

5. Divide the dough in half, and on a floured board, roll each half into a log about 7 inches long and 3 inches wide. Transfer logs to the parchment paper and bake for about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes.

6. Transfer the logs to a cutting board, and using a sharp knife, cut into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices onto the baking sheet, and bake for 12 more minutes. Then, flip slices over and bake for 12 more minutes, until very crisp. Remove from oven, let cool, and then store in an airtight container for up to several weeks. Makes 35-40 biscotti.

Homemade Almond Butter

If you’ve got a food processor, you can make homemade almond butter in a few minutes.  No preservatives, stabilizers, sugar, or salt here.  Just pure creamy almond goodness.  I am loving this homemade stuff much more than store bought, and I can’t put my finger on why.  It seems a little creamier, and the almond flavor is a little more intense.  Maybe I am appreciating the lack of salt and sugar, too? 


Whatever the reason, this recipe is simple, healthy, and delicious.  My top two ways to eat it are on tart apple slices or with toast.  Look how creamy it is!




There are two things to keep in mind when making almond butter.

The first step is roasting the almonds, and you have a choice to make here.  Roast the almonds on the lighter side for an end product that is lighter in color and more almond-y in taste.  Roast the almonds longer, until they’re turning brown and are almost too roasted (we tested this out for you…you know, by accident) and you’ve got a much darker almond butter with strong bitter (almost chocolatey?) undertones.  I think the middle ground (about 10 min at 350) is best, but it’s fun to experiment with how the taste changes as you roast the almonds differently.

The second thing is that you need to let the almonds blend in the food processor for longer than you expect to get a truly creamy almond butter.  The first step is sandy, then the sand starts to clump and you may need to scrape down the sides a few times.  Then the almond butter begins to get gradually more and more creamy – let it go at this point for 2 minutes or so.  Done.

Homemade Almond Butter

• 2 cups raw almonds

Preheat oven to 350, then roast almonds on a rimmed baking sheet for approx 10 minutes or until fragrant and just beginning to turn golden brown.  We roasted our first batch of almonds a bit too long, which resulted in a very dark and slightly bitter almond butter (see notes above)
Let almonds blend in the food processor as they move from sandy to clumpy to smooth and liquid-y.  When they seem like they’re getting smooth, let them run for 2 minutes or so…otherwise our final product tended to be a little more firm than we liked.

Homemade Coconut Almond Granola

Homemade granola is another one of those things that tastes much better than the store-bought variety, is incredibly simple to make at home, and in the end costs a lot less than buying a box of cereal at the grocery store.

You know how we try to avoid things like Yellow Dye #5 and high fructose corn syrup?  I just read about a new one the other day – cellulose (wood pulp)!  Are you kidding me?  *shudder*

But back to the delicious granola! Dulcie was a little worried that homemade granola would have a sort of weird 70s hippie commune vibe, but I won her over by using big curls and flakes of real unsweetened coconut, local honey, coconut oil, and a smattering of tiny sesame seeds for their delicious taste and texture.



Making one huge batch of granola is super easy. After baking, I let it cool completely on its baking sheet then store it in glass jars in my pantry and enjoy its prettiness all week.



We’ve been eating our latest batch topped with fresh blueberries and whole milk.  Mmmm!

After mixing together the dry ingredients, you need to melt the sweetener and oil together stovetop, then drizzle over all the dry ingredients. I like to use honey and coconut oil but you could sub in equal amounts of maple syrup or agave for sweetness; vegetable oil for the fat.



Thanks to the lovely and talented Sarah at My New Roots for the recipe inspiration. Check out her recipe if you’re a granola lover - she has lots of great suggestions for alternate flavor combinations and ideas to spice things up and make the granola your own unique creation.

Homemade Coconut Almond Granola

3 c rolled oats
1 c large flake coconut (unsweetened)
1 c coarsely chopped raw almonds
1/2 c raw sesame seeds
1/2 c honey
1/2 c coconut oil

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Melt the honey & coconut oil together in a small pot on the stovetop.  When melted, drizzle over the dry ingredients and toss with your hands to coat thoroughly. 
Spread the raw granola thinly and equally over two rimmed baking sheets
Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes, or until toasty golden brown. Check in after 10 minutes to monitor done-ness, and give a quick stir at this point to help everything brown evenly.

Almond Cake with Caramelized Clementines

This is a great wintery cake – very rich, buttery, almond-scented, and simple.  We topped it with tart clementine segments that had been quickly caramelized.  The combo is delicious – an excellent case of the sum being greater than its simple parts. 

We hit on this dessert after discovering a large portion of our homemade almond paste in Dulcie’s freezer.  The cake is based on an Alice Water’s recipe in this cookbook.  It’s very similar to a pound cake due to the large quantity of butter and eggs, and then the almond paste lends its signature warm and nutty flavor.

The caramelized clementines are inspired by a Martha Stewart recipe – we subbed in the cute and seasonal clementines for her suggested navel oranges.

Almond Cake

• 1 cup flour
  
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 7 oz almond paste (a scant 1 cup)
  
• 1 1/4 c sugar
  
• 2 1/2 sticks butter (1/2 lb + 4 Tbsp)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 6 eggs

Butter a 9-inch round cake pan thoroughly and line the bottom with parchment.  This cake tends to stick, so don’t skip the parchment step! Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a food processor (or in another large mixing bowl if you’re up for a workout) whip the almond paste & sugar together until it’s in very fine pieces. Next, add the butter and beat it together with the almond paste and sugar until it is light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs.  Finally, add the dry ingredients in to the wet, bit by bit, until fully combined. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Let cool completely before turning out and slicing.

Caramelized Clementines

• 4 peeled clementines, pulled in half then cut into thin half-moons

• 2 more clementines, juiced

• 1/2 cup sugar

Dissolve the juice and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer, then stir occasionally until the sauce reaches a golden caramelized color. Add the clementine half-moons and sauté until they’re coated in the caramelly glaze.  Remove them to a serving dish, then spoon the warm sauce over slices of almond cake.

Chewy Almond Cookies

These cookies may be the best way to use our homemade almond paste.  These are very simple with only three ingredients (almond paste, sugar, and egg whites) which lets the fresh taste of almond paste shine through.

The dough is easy to make with a food processor, then needs to be piped onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.  We didn't have a pastry bag so filled a ziploc bag with a corner snipped off.  It worked perfectly!  Just make sure part of the bag doesn't pop open while you're squeezing the dough out. That may have happened to us...

They are chewy and sticky in the best possible way.  Make sure you let them cool completely before peeling them off the baking sheets.

Chewy Almond Cookies

• 1 cup homemade almond paste (or one 7oz tube of store bought paste)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 egg whites, brought to room temperature
• pinch of sea salt

Recipe inspiration thanks goes to Chewy Amaretti Cookies at Smitten Kitchen.
Preheat oven to 300.

Put the almond paste, sugar, and salt in the food processor and pulse until combined.  Then, let the food processor run while you drizzle in the egg whites and a silken thick paste forms.

Scoop the dough into a pastry bag (or a ziploc bag if you’re ghetto like us).  Snip off the end and pipe 1.5” round cookies onto a pan lined with parchment.  We used foil because we were out of parchment, and although the cookies did come off OK it was nerve wracking. So we don’t recommend it.  Unless you’re desperate.

Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes until just turning light brown on the under-edges.  Cool completely before removing from tray.

Top 10 Almond Paste Recipes

We made a nice big batch of homemade almond paste a few weeks ago.  It tastes delicious and it’s the most fragrant almond paste I’ve ever come across.  Only three ingredients, and multiple times less expensive than imported tubes of the stuff you’d find at the grocery store.  So obviously we began hoarding recipes using almond paste immediately.  This is the result.  Enjoy!

Stick to your Teeth Chewy Sugar Cookies

by Food 52
Simple sugar cookies that are made better than usual with their addition of lemon zest and almond paste.

Almond Cream Coffee Cake

by Two Tarts
This decadent yeasted coffee cake is filled with almond cream, topped with crunchy almonds, then drizzled with icing before serving. We served it at a Spring Brunch.

Limoncello Macaroons

by 101 Cookbooks
A really simple cookie made from egg whites, almond paste, lemon, and sugar. The flavor of homemade almond paste will really make a difference on this one.

Almond Cake

by David Lebovitz
A dense simple cake, reminiscent of a pound cake but with floral almond aromas. Delicious served with fruit and whipped cream!

Almond Lovers Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Picky Palate
Chocolate chip cookies that are spiced up with crunch almonds for texture and almond paste for tons of flavor.

Cherry Almond & Chocolate Mini-Cakes

by Canelle et Vanille
So rich and delicious looking, with just a few quality ingredients.

Dutch Almond Bars

by Whipped the Blog
A traditional treat served at Dutch bakeries.  These little bars have a moist almond filling sandwiched between flaky pastry dough.

Pine Nut Cookies

by Martha Stewart
These Italian cookies are rolled in pine nuts for a unique flavor combination.  As the cookies bake and the pine nuts slowly roast, their flavor deepens.

Almond & Cherry Scones

by Serious Eats, via Nicole Rees of “Baking Unplugged”
Almond paste gives these rich, traditional scones a grown up flair.

Nectarine Almond Tart

by Two Tarts
A moist almond-cake-custard layer topped with fresh sweet nectarines. So pretty, too!

Anyone have any other favorite ways to use almond paste?  Leave a comment!

Nectarine Almond Tart

Our homemade almond paste asked us to pair it with whatever fruit was in season and on sale at the grocery store.  It requested to take the form of a tart.  I said OK, I guess I can do that for you.

I’m really happy I did. The crust is a typical flaky pastry crust. The filling is our fresh homemade almond paste, combined with egg yolks, butter, and vanilla.  It starts off creamy and silky and is transformed to a dense moist almond-cake-custard upon baking. The juicy nectarines are thinly sliced and arranged prettily on top. Recipe inspiration courtesy of epicurious.com

Nectarine Almond Tart

Crust

• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons vodka or kirsch
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Filling

• 1/2 cup packed almond paste (about 5 ounces)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 Nectarines

Preheat oven to 375.

For crust:

Whisk egg yolks and vodka in small bowl to blend. Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add chilled butter and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolk mixture and process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. Roll dough into a rough circle shape, then press evenly onto bottom and up sides of 11-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; chill while preparing filling. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)
 

For filling:

Blend almond paste and sugar in processor until almond paste is finely ground. Add 1/4 cup flour and 3 tablespoons room-temperature butter and process until thick paste forms. Add eggs and vanilla extract and process until smooth. Spread filling in crust; cover and chill while preparing nectarines.
Cut each nectarine in half and remove the pit from each half.  Slice each nectarine half into thin 1/2 moon slices. Arrange nectarine slices in concentric circles, starting at outer edge of tart.  A little overlapping is fine.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Brush over nectarines.
Bake tart until fruit is tender and crust is brown, about 50 minutes. Cool 30 minutes. Remove from pan and serve warm or at room temperature. (Tart can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)  Serve with cool whipped cream.

Homemade Almond Paste

If you’ve got a food processor and the willingness to *pop!* blanched almonds out of their loosely fitting brown skins, you can make your own almond paste! 

It will be a little less smooth than the grocery store kind that comes in a tube, but it will be much more flavorful, with tons of that lovely sweet almond essence that really only comes from freshly ground almonds.  It will also be less expensive, and you will rest assured that its three ingredients are not weird chemicals or preservatives: almonds, sugar, and egg whites.

Your food processor will do most of the work once you’ve blanched & peeled your almonds.  Peeling the almonds, however, is one of those jobs that takes a little time.   I never knew how loose almond skins would get after a quick bath in hot water, or how perfectly the little nuts would pop out of said skins.  I recommend tackling this job with a friend, preferably while sitting on a porch swing.  Or something along those lines.  Try to avoid having toddlers grasping at your ankles and saying Mommy! Hold me!  This mars the romance of peeling almonds.

Really, though, peeling the almonds is not tough at all. Dulcie and I peeled the 3 cups of blanched almonds for this recipe in less than 20 minutes.  The rest of the recipe takes about 5 minutes.

Homemade Almond Paste

• 3 cups raw almonds (not roasted, or the blanching step will not work correctly)
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 egg whites

Heat a big pot of water to boiling.  Dump a scant 3 cups of almonds into the boiling water (they’ll expand quite a bit as they boil) and boil for one minute.  Drain immediately and let cool for a few minutes before peeling their loose brown skins off.  Discard skins.

Re-measure the 3 cups of blanched almonds to make sure you have exactly 3 cups - you may have a few extra due to how they expand in the hot water.  Add the 3 cups of blanched almonds to a food processor and let run until the almonds are broken down into very very tiny pieces – 1-2 minutes.

Next add the 3 cups of powdered sugar and let run for another 1-2 minutes.  Take your time on this step – you want to get the mixture as finely ground as possible.  Once you add the egg whites, the whole mixture will ball up into a very firm and sticky mass and unless you have a really powerful food processor you will not be able to process it much past this point!

Last step – add the 2 eggs white and process until they’re fully incorporated.  Store tightly sealed in airtight containers in the refrigerator for a week.  I’ve frozen my almond paste for a few months with great results.

Nectarine Almond Tart

Chewy Almond Cookies
Almond Cream Coffee Cake
Almond Cake with Caramelized Clementines