I’ve got a case of the lazy bones.  Serious and impervious to negotiation, lazy bones.

These lazy bones have coerced me into watching a solid five hour block of television last Friday night.  These lazy bones strong armed me into excessive Saturday and Sunday napping.  I also did that thing where you get up and make breakfast, eat it, hold you belly with the sheer joy of your accomplishment… then get back in bed… back in bed (!) for a nap.

I’ve had the best of intentions, but I learned early on this weekend (about halfway through watching my third bridal show on Friday night) that my to-do list was just going to have to sit tight and have some patience.  That’s how it goes some weekends.  Who am I to disrupt the flow?

Nuts.  I somehow roasted and fancied up hazelnuts.  This must have been done in one of the hazes between naps.  I have no real recollection, but I do have photographic evidence.  Thank heavens.  I may not fully remember making them, but I sure do remember the dream where I was shoving them into my face by the fistful.  True.

Ok…. maybe they’re not the prettiest nuts you’ve ever seen.  Delicious?  Oh.  So.  Yes.

These fancy roasted hazelnuts are part of a larger idea.  I’m thinking that these nuts are going to be a part of my holiday survival plan.  They’re great to give as hostess gifts, or to have on hand when guests arrive, or when you have a last minute invitation to a friend’s holiday sing along.  Always be prepared for the sing along… always.

I made this recipe with all hazelnuts.  Next time, I’ll use a mixture of hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts.  I think a mixture is best.  They’re sweet, somehow fluffy and lightly crisp with a touch of salt.  Now you know.

Salted Cocoa Roasted Hazelnuts

adapted from Essence of Chocolate

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3 cups nuts ( a mixture of hazelnuts, pecan halves and walnut halves would be best)

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks

2 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center.   Spread nuts out on a half sheet pan (17×12x1-inch) or a 9×13-inch baking pan works in a pinch.  Toast nuts for 10 minutes.  Remove from the sheet pan and set aside. Note:  If your hazelnuts still have skins like mine, the may loosen and begin to peel.  Just go through the nuts with your hands and loosen and remove any peels that might be ready to come off.  I left a lot of mine with skins on.. no biggie!

Scatter the butter pieces over sheet pan and place in the oven to melt.  This should only take a few minutes.  Remove the pan as soon as the butter is melted.

Now, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites.  When the whites just start to hold their shape, gradually add the sugar and continue to whisk on medium-high for two minutes.  The mixture will be sticky and shiny, but may be a bit thinner than meringue.

Sift the cocoa over the top of the beaten eggs and fold in.  Pour the chocolate mixture over the toasted nuts and fold in.

Spoon the coated nuts on top of the butter on the baking sheet.  Spread out into an even layer.  Not all of the butter may be covered by nuts, that’s ok!

Bake nuts for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and quickly stir a bit.  Return to the oven for 10 minutes, remove and stir once again.  The meringue will look like it’s drying out a bit.  This is when you add the salt.  Sprinkle it on top of the meringue and nuts.  Return to the oven for a final 10 minutes, remove and give it one final stir, breaking the nuts up a bit as you stir them.

When done, the butter should be absorbed and the nuts and coating crisp.  Let cool completely before handling.  Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Today’s Maple Pecan Muffins are dedicated to Tracey.  

Tracey, you are dear and darling… and 15, which is equal parts hard and rad, I know.  

Let me tell you a little about Tracey.  Tracey had her 15th birthday last week.  Tracey’s best friend Maggie sent me a pretty precious email asking me if I would send Tracey an autographed picture of myself for her birthday.  See,  Tracey is a great baker and a huuuuge fan of my site.  

I’m not the sort to have pictures of myself to autograph on hand… that would be totally weird,  so I sent Tracey a little birthday gift and handwritten note.  Easy enough, right?   In return Tracey sent me a very long, very excited, exceedingly adorable email to thank me for her birthday present.  Seriously friends… this girl is priceless.  

After reading Tracey’s email a handful of times (it was packed to the gills with information), here are a few things I want you to know about my new friend:

Tracey makes a mean lemon pound cake with blueberry sauce.  

Tracey almost set her house ablaze trying to make these doughnuts.  

Tracey is obsessed with muffins… and feeds them to her dog.  Let’s all just pretend like that’s normal.  

Tracey got a “Tracey the Baker” apron for her birthday.  Clearly I have competition. 

By sharing loads homemade cookies, Tracey is well on her way to becoming the most popular girl in school.  Don’t get too popular Tracey… it might be overrated.    

Tracey giggles a lot… not in emails, but this is just something I’ve surmised from being 15 and eating a lot of sugar once upon a time.

Tracey?  Is that Jesus peeking over your shoulder on your fridge there?  If so… awesome.  If not… awkward. 

Tracey these muffins are my little shout out to you because it seems like you get as excited about eggs and butter and sugar and flour as I do.  That makes me happy. Thank you. 

Oooh Maple Pecan Muffins.  Holy smokes these muffins are good. 

Here’s the trick with these muffins:  use real maple syrup.  Don’t even think about using the pancake syrup you might have hiding in your fridge.  No way friend-o!

These muffins are moist, sweet, drenched in maple flavor and just lovely for Autumn.  The pecans round out the sweetness and add just the right crunch.  Weekend breakfast?  Heck yes!  You win!

Maple Pecan Muffins

     adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

     makes 12-16 cupcakes

     Print this Recipe!

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1/2 vanilla bean scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 Tablespoons browned butter (start with 6 tablespoons and melt it down just over 5 Tablespoons)

3/4 cup maple syrup, divided

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, plus 12 pecan haves (or the largest pecan pieces of the bunch for topping the muffins)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.  

In a small saucepan, melt 6 tablespoons of butter over medium flame.  Butter should crackle and foam and then produce little brown bits at the bottom of the pan.  Turn flame to low, scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan (that’s where all the flavor is hiding) and remove from heat to cook a bit before using.  

In a large bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a small bowl whisk together buttermilk, egg and vanilla bean or extract.  

Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients and stir with a large spoon until just incorporated.  Add melted butter and carefully mix until incorporated.  Add the chopped nuts and half of the maple syrup (you can eyeball half of 3/4 cup) and fold until evenly dispersed throughout the batter.  

Fill the muffin cups until about two thirds full (I was able to make 16 cupcakes).  Place a large pecan piece on top of each unbaked muffin and drizzle all of the muffins with the remaining maple syrup.  

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a metal skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  

Allow to cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes before removing to serve.

Here’s a fun thing to do!  Take a few minutes to close your eyes and imagine yourself as an old person.  I’m not talking about late sixties.  That’s not old yet.  I’m talking about great great grandmother old.. pushing the mid-nineties.

Sounds crazy?  Why would you spend time picturing white hair in bobby pins, shuffling feet and rocking chairs?  I feel like getting old is a luxury.  Not everyone gets to do it, so why not sit and enjoy the thought a bit?

I imagine that I’m the kind of old lady that talks to her over fed cats, and yells across the house to her practically deaf husband.  I hope I’m the kind of old lady who has a piano in the house just so my grandchildren can come over and practice their scales while I shuffle around the kitchen baking them cookies.

I want to be the kind of old lady that always thinks a glass of champagne is a good idea.

I want to be the kind of old lady who always has something out on the living room table for that unexpected guest.  Maybe it’s those soft chalky mints.  Maybe a freshly baked pie.  Maybe it’s these Sweet and Spicy Baked Almonds.  These nuts, my friends, have me daydreaming of old lady times somehow… with a smile on my face.

So, you might be thinking… really Joy?  Nuts?  That’s all you’ve got for me today?  My answer to that… yes.  Nuts.  Live a little.

These nuts are simply almonds sprinkled in magic, aka fennel seeds.  They’re sweet.  They’re spicy.  They’re salty and crunchy.  They make a super yumtastic snack to have around the house, a snazzy hostess gift, or they’re great to bring to a cocktail party.  All around winners, that’s what these almonds are.

Sweet and Spicy Baked Almonds

from Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes

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1/3 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon fennel seeds

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 cups raw almonds

2 Tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix sugar, fennel, salt and pepper flakes in a medium sized bowl.  Add the almonds and water and stir until coated.  Pour onto the foil lined baking sheet and spread out evenly.

Bake the almonds for 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven and stir almonds around.  Return to the oven and bake for another 17 minutes, checking and stirring the almonds 2 to 3 more times.  Almonds will turn beautifully dark brown.  Remove from the oven and separate with a fork.  Cool and remove from the pan to a serving bowl or an airtight container for storage.

Some things in the world are just too too easy.  Peanut butter is one of those things.

I suppose those easy things work to compliment the tasks in life that are far too complicated for their own good.  These complicated tasks include, but are not limited to, matching your socks fresh out of the dryer, finding your other slipper in a closet full of shoes, and emptying your vacuum bag and finding replacements of the same size and shape… seriously, why is that so hard!?

Where these little bits of life are difficult, some things, like homemade peanut butter, are easy peasy.  Thank goodness for the little things.

This recipe is so easy that I almost feel bad typing it out for you.  In essence, if you throw shelled peanuts into a food processor, with or without a pinch of salt, whirl it up for several minutes, you’ll have the magic of peanut butter in your kitchen.  It’s really that easy, and you skip all the dirty hydrogenated oils that sometimes complicate our food.

Peanut butter…. make it.

Homemade Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

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makes just over 1 cup of peanut butter

1 1/2 cups honey roasted peanuts (you can also used roasted unsalted peanuts, or roasted and salted peanuts, adjusting the salt to taste)

pinch of salt

Place shelled peanuts in the bowl of a food processor with blade.  Make sure the lid is on tight and turn on the food processor.  Nuts will move from course to finely ground then begin to form a paste.  Feel free to stop the food processor once the paste begins to form to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Turn on food processor again until the peanuts resemble a thick, but mostly smooth, and shiny (from the peanut oil) peanut butter.  This took me about 4 minutes of food processing

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.  Place in a warm water bath or in a low microwave for 30-45 seconds to soften and spread.  Delicious!

I remember when I was a kid, I used to entice my little sister into the kitchen to cook with me. That sounds sweet and cozy, right? Well… I had slightly more selfish intentions. I had plans for my sister once we hit the kitchen: I would do all the fun stuff like measuring out sugar and chocolate, and she would do all of the not so fun stuff, like getting the flour containers out of the pantry, reaching for bowls, and doing all the dirty dishes. Baking always seemed like more fun if I had someone to do all the grunt work for me.

That sort of fun in the kitchen with my sister didn’t last long. Lauren very quickly caught on to my tricks, and before long we were sharing the dirty dish responsibilities.

Since then, I’d like to think I’ve become a much more accommodating kitchen partner. Ask Simon. You know Simon, he’s that crazy kid from Foodproof. We made Almond Banana Bread together. It went swimmingly, and I don’t think I made him do the dishes.

This banana bread was an excuse to accomplish two things: to watch Simon use a spatula and to experiment with Almond Oil. Do you bake with nut oils? I was surprised at how mild, if nonexistent the nut flavor was. We used a bit of oil, and a bit of melted butter. The oil definitely made for a more dense and moist banana bread experience. Tossed together with toasted, coarsely chopped almonds, this nutty banana bread was pretty delicious.

And… there’s video proof of what an awesome baker Simon is, and what a great camera person and giggler I am. Check it.

Almond Banana Bread

thank you to SmittenKitchen who thanks SimplyRecipes

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3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter (or in a 1/3 measuring cup measure out half almond oil and half melted butter)
3/4-1 cup light brown sugar, depending on the level of sweetness you prefer
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

3/4 cup coursely chopped almonds

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter and almond oil into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, mix. Add the almonds, and stir until just incorporated. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

I have birds.

Living in Los Angeles is like living in a jungle.  Instead of dense tropical trees and dangerous pumas, Los Angeles has obnoxious cars and… actors.  There is very little visible animal life besides dogs on leashes, squirrels rummaging through the trash bins and pigeons just walking around being pretty gross.

But I have birds.  I call them my Midnight Song Birds.  They live in the tree outside my bedroom window and sing to one another all night long.  All night!  Sometimes I’ll be up until 1 in the morning and the birds are still going at it.  They keep up the chatter all night long.

I’ve come to love sound of these birds chirping as I fall asleep.  It helps erase the occasional helicopter or  paramedic siren. My birds sound beautiful.  And though they sound completely out of place at 1 in the morning, they remind me to be thankful for the little things- like the simple joy of chirping birds, or chewy chocolate cookies.

How about some cookie adventures?  Follow me.

I’m convinced that these cookies are actually brownies in disguise.  They’re super soft, full of chocolate, and my favorite part- they have that brownie crackled skin on top.  I think it’s the slightly flaky chocolate top and soft center that won my heart.

Topped with darling chocolate covered sunflower seeds, these cookies are perfect to snack on with a glass of cold milk sitting in front of the TV watching dvds of Big Love… or maybe that’s just me.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

recipe from King Arthur Flour

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yields 26 cookies without chips, 30 cookies with chips

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped or in chips)

3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter.  To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat.  Stir till all the chocolate melts.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined.  You don’t need a mixer, just do it in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon.   Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you’re using them.  Refrigerate the batter like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.

Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets.  A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple.  Leave about 2″ between the dough balls, as they’ll spread as they bake.

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked.  They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’re done.  The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy.  Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a bittersweet chocolate wafer, or a chocolate covered sunflower seed.  Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

There are countless reason why I love making brownies.  All they require is a bowl and wooden spoon.  They’re moist and satisfy that deep chocolate craving.  But more sentimentally, brownies are one of the first things I remember making with my sister growing up.  We’d take out one bowl, one pan, follow the directions on the back of the unsweetened chocolate box, and about 45 minutes later- warm brownies!  We’d burn our fingers trying to get the hot brownies out of the pan.  But it was worth it to sit down with a plate of warm brownies and cold milk to watch episode after episode of I Love Lucy.  Those were the days.  These old school Fudge Brownies with walnuts and chocolate chunks were made in an effort to reach back to those days eating brownies on the living room floor with my sister.  The amazing thing is that one bite into the warm chocolate  took me right back to being 10 years old, baking with my sister.  It’s pretty remarkable what a brownie can do!

I took the recipe for these brownies right off the chocolate box, just the way my sister and I used to rock it.  The result was a dark, fudgey and nutty chocolate brownie.  Just perfect!  And you must eat at least one piece hot out of the pan with a glass of milk.  It makes life worth living.  You think I’m exaggerating… well I’m not.

Old School Fudge Brownies with walnuts and chocolate chunks

adapted from Toll House

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1 2/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup butter

2 Tablespoons strong coffee or water

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate bar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9×13-inch baking pan.  (I used a 10-inch round cake pan.)

Combine butter and cocoa powder in a small bowl, and place over a pot of simmering water.  Make sure that the simmering water down not touch the bottom of the bowl.  Add the coffee or water and stir to melt the ingredients.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar.  Add the vanilla extract.  When the butter and chocolate have melted and come together, slowly stir the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir to combine.  Fold in the nuts, saving a small handful for the top of the brownies if you like.

Pour the batter in the pan, sprinkle with chocolate chips or chocolate chunks and remaining nuts.  Bake for 18-25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cut into bars.

It all started out so beautiful and promising- with diced dried fruit, wholesome nuts and old-fashioned oats. I was my day away from the bakery, and I thought I’d use my kitchen to experiment with homemade granola bars. I seem to have trouble eating normally, standing on my feet all day, working in front of a mixing bowl. I notice that I’ll turn occasional bites of dough into a meal. To help solve my intake dilemma, I thought I’d make granola bars to have on hand when hunger strikes but break time does not.I had the greatest of intentions, and the stickiest of results.

Granola bars are simply the goodness of oats, fruit and nuts in convenient bar form. My granola was a hands down winner in the wholesome goodness department, but a total failure in the bar department.

When my pressed granola had baked and cooled and it seemed like slicing time, that’s when my cookie (granola bar) crumbled. It didn’t want to hold it’s bar shape at all. It wasn’t even thinking about it. When I gave up the fight and mounded the cooked granola up on a plate, I noticed that it looked almost exactly the same after it was cooked as it did before I popped it in the oven. Hmm….. not good. But still a deliciously edible treat.

The above picture is the granola mixed with warm honey syrup ready to be pressed in the pan and put in the oven. The picture below is the failed bars turned delicious breakfast cereal.

Thank goodness some mistakes are still mouth watering!

I’m debating whether or not I should give you the recipe. This obviously wasn’t the keenest granola bar recipe. As a granola, while it was still gloriously edible, it was really sticky from the honey. This made is slightly hard to store, because it’s kinda one big sticky mess.

Do you have a good granola or granola bar recipe I should try? I need a little help with this one.

With these Honey Pistachio Biscotti, I would like a do-over.  Please and thank you.  You know what a do-over is: another chance, a big pink eraser for life, apple Z on a Mac.  See, this biscotti recipe called for dried cranberries to accompany the pistachios.  Cranberries would have been lovely, right?  Well I was completely out, and couldn’t muster up the gumption to get to the store to buy any.  Well that was a mistake, and as mention before, I would like a do-over.

Here are a few other things I would like a do-over on… since I’m here-

-Dressing up as an Old Granny for Halloween when I was 17.  That was the year when all the female costumes got a little more risque.  I didn’t get the memo that French maid and slutty witch were in fashion, and it was just awkward.  Who wants an Old Granny at a Halloween party?  I think it was my Mom’s idea.  Do-over please.

- Cheating on a spelling test when I was in 5th grade.  I was a horrible cheater and would have done better on the test if I had just tried myself.

-Not telling Hayden, my first crush that I was was dreamy eyed over him.  Those were back in the days when my bangs were doing strange things with hairspray… yea.  Do-over on both the secret crush and the bangs please.

Ok, enough is enough.  Back to the cookies.  These biscotti turned out crisp and crunchy, with a round sweetness from the honey.  They weren’t a complete disaster.  I did manage to eat most of them myself.  I just can’t help but think how much more glorious they would have been with the cranberries.  I bet they would also be good with if you left out the honey and added chunks of white chocolate!

Cranberry Honey Pistachio Biscotti

adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook

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1 1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

scant 1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup shelled, salted natural pistachios (not dyed red)

1 large egg beaten with one teaspoon of water, for an egg wash

Soak cranberries in boiling water to cover in a small bowl until softened, about 10 minutes.  Drain, then pat them dry with a paper towel.

Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter and flour a large baking sheet, knocking off excess flour.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Add eggs, vanilla and honey and mix with an electric mixer at medium speed until dough forms.  Add cranberries ad pistachios and mix at low speed.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead several times.  Halve dough.  Using floured hands, form each half into a slightly flattened 13-by-2-inch log on baking sheet, spacing logs about 3 inches apart.  Brush logs with egg wash.

Bake until golden 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool logs on baking sheet on a rack for 10 minutes.  (Leave oven on.)

Transfer logs to a cutting board.  With a serrated knife, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices.  Arrange slices, cut side down in one layer on a baking sheet (it’s fine if slices touch each other).  Bake, turning once, until golden and crisp, 20-25 minutes.  Transfer biscotti to racks to cool.

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