Cream Cheese Almond Cookies

I have been on a fatty craze lately so this is my latest creation which definitely fulfilled my love for butter.  That being said, this is definitely not a
recipe for the faint of arteries.  Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Almond Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, soften

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 tb vanilla extract

1 egg 

2 & 2 tb cups flour

1 ts baking powder

3/4 cup almond slices

 

Makes about 30 cookies. 

- Beat butter & cream cheese together until smooth & fluffy.

- Add sugar, vanilla extract & egg.  Mix until smooth.

- Carefully fold in flour & baking powder until just incorporated.

- Place dough in the refrigerator for about half an hour to allow the dough to set & firm up.

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

- Take dough out & roll dough into 1 tb balls.

- Lightly flatten each ball & place the flattened dough into the almond slices so that it is completely covered on one side.

- Place the dough down onto the cookie sheet with the almond side up.

- Bake for 14-18 minutes.

 

Blueberry Cheesecake Tart

One of my most popular requests is my blueberry cheesecake tart so I decided to share the goodness with everyone here.  The blueberries can easily be replaced with any other fruit.  I made red, white & blue versions this time around in honor of Independence Day. 

Here's an individual strawberry cheesecake tart.

Blueberry Cheesecake Tart

1 cup flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold & cubed

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 & 1/2 ts vanilla extract

4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/3 cup sliced almonds

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

- Lightly coat a 9" tart pan with butter or oil.

- Combine the flour, powdered sugar & butter in a bowl.  Mash butter into the flour & sugar with your fingers until pea-sized chunks of butter, sugar & flour form.  Press the mixture onto the bottom & sides of the pan.

- Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, egg & vanilla extract until smooth.  Pour cheese mixture over the crust & spread evenly.

- Toss blueberries & remaining sugar (1/4 cup) in a bowl until blueberries are coated with the sugar.  Pour the blueberries over the cheese mixture.

- Sprinkle sliced almonds over blueberries.

- Bake for 30 minutes or until the filling is almost set.

Here's an individual raspberry cheesecake tart.

Vegan Sweet Potato & Quinoa Muffins

I'm sure it is quite obvious that I love carbohydrates so I made another attempt to at least put a little bit of "health" into my carbs.  I had a lonely sweet potato that had been left out of my quiche with sweet potato crust so I decided to make vegan sweet potato & quinoa muffins.  *Nomnomnom*  Of course I ended up with left over quinoa so a savory quinoa recipe will follow this one.  

Vegan Sweet Potato & Quinoa Muffins

1 & 1/4 cups wheat flour

2/3 cups brown sugar

1 ts pumpkin spice
1 ts baking powder

1 ts salt
3/4 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup almond milk
1 sweet potato, cooked & mashed (skin discarded)

4 tb Earth Balance spread, melted
2 ts vanilla extract
1 tb canola oil

Topping

1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tb wheat flour
1/2 ts pumpkin spice
2 tb Earth Balance spread, melted 

Makes 12 muffins.

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

- Combine wheat flour, brown sugar, pumpkin spice, baking powder, & salt in a bowl.

- Thoroughly mix sweet potato, almond milk, Earth Balance spread, vanilla extract, & canola oil in a separate bowl.  

- Slowly mid the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Stir until just combined.

- Fold in cooked quinoa.

- In a separate bowl, combine all the topping ingredients.

- Either grease & flour a muffin pan or use cupcake liners.

- Fill 3/4 of each compartment with the batter & top with the almond topping.

- Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Yuuuummmmmm!!!

Almond-Quinoa Muffins

I bought the Veganomicon book a couple of months ago and came across a recipe for almond-quinoa muffins yesterday.  It intrigued me quite a bit because I adore quinoa so I thought I'd give it a whirl and see how it turns out.  The muffins didn't puff up as much as I thought they would but that's okay.  The texture was good (if you don't mind quinoa) and are really moist.  However, I wish I had added another 1/4 cup of apricots to make the muffins sweeter - maybe next time around.  Here's the recipe for anyone else who wants to try it.  Let me know what you think!

Almond-Quinoa Muffins

1 cup vanilla soy milk (I used almond milk)

1 tb ground flaxseeds

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/2 ts vanilla extract

1 & 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup almond meal

1 & 1/2 ts baking powder

1/2 ts salt

1/2 ts ground cinnamon

1/2 ts ground cardamom

1 & 1/4 cups cooked quinoa

1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots (I'm using 3/4 cup next time)

Makes a dozen.

- Preheat oven to 350F and grease muffin pan.

- Whisk together soy milk and flaxseed.  Allow to sit for 1 minute.

- Whisk in oil, agave nectar and vanilla.

- Add flour, almond meal, baking powder, salt, and spices and mix until just incorporated.

- Gently fold in cooked quinoa and apricots.

- Pour batter into muffin tin & bake for 21 minutes.

Trail Mix Cookies

Cookies are one of my biggest weaknesses.  I'm bound to sniff out the one cookie in the entire house and devour it within seconds.  I absolutely love cookies because they are filled with carbs and come in an endless array of possibilities.  I haven't had a cookie in a couple of days so I decided to whip myself up a batch.  These cookies were inspired by a Trader Joe's trail mix that I have been obsessed with all of last year - wow, it feels weird to think of 2010 as last year.  The trail mix is made of peanuts, dried berries, chocolate chips, and almonds.  It's one of those mixes where you open up a bag and the next thing you know the entire contents of that bag is in your tummy.  What better thing to do than to make a cookie out of it?  It'll be in my tummy in milliseconds!

I just made up the recipe today so it's definitely not perfect yet.  I think it ended up being a little too sweet so I'm going to cut the sugar from 1 cup to 2/3 cup.  Feel free to try it out with less sugar and let me know what you think.  :o)

Berry Trail Cookies

1 cup chunky peanut butter 

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tb unsalted butter, softened

5 tb canola oil

1 large egg

1 cup wheat flour

1/2 ts baking soda

1/2 ts salt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup dried berries of any kind (blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, and etc)

- Preheat oven to 350F.

- Beat peanut butter, sugars, butter, oil, and egg until thoroughly blended.

- Stir flour, baking soda and salt in until thoroughly incorporated.

- Stir in chocolate chips, almonds and dried berries.

- Scoop balls of dough onto baking sheet about 2-3" apart.

- Bake about 12-15 minutes.

Yum!