Egg Nog Coffee Cake

You must make this for Christmas morning breakfast or brunch. It is painless and effortless so you can spend time with your family instead of in the kitchen. You make the batter the night before and put it in the pan and into the fridge. Simply bake it in the morning and you are a hero. Enjoy your holiday and I will be back next week! Merry Christmas!

Egg Nog Coffee Cake

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup eggnog

1 container (8 ounces) sour cream

1 teaspoon rum extract

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Struesel Topping

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon  all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Egg Nog Glaze
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 to 2 Tbsp. Egg Nog

Directions

• Grease bottom only of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, with shortening.
•  In small bowl, mix all Streusel Topping ingredients with fork until crumbly; set aside. 
• In large bowl, beat 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. 
• Beat in 1 cup eggnog, the sour cream, rum extract and eggs until blended. 
• Stir in 2 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
• Spread in pan. 
• Sprinkle Streusel Topping over batter. 
• Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours. 
• Heat oven to 350°F. 
• Uncover pan; bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
•  Cool 20 minutes.
• In small bowl, mix all Eggnog Glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. 
• Drizzle over coffee cake.

Note: You can wait until right before baking to make the struesel topping and sprinkle it on the batter and then bake if you want a more crunchy-type topping.

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Sweet Destination: Algeria

Have you ever wondered why I named this blog, my flickr nickname and even my small, "never taken seriously" home business, SweetAlmond? It all started a few years ago, when I decided to start a small business from home: selling cookies and baked goods. My husband helped me build a website, then it was time to choose a name for that website/business. Since I was concentrating on selling Algerian specialties, Almonds were the first thing that hit my mind. Almonds are the base for most of our sweets. Sweets, Almonds......SWEETALMOND! There it is!





Algerian sweets are very elegant and tasty. They are sweet and nutty. A blend of wonderful flavorings: nuts, vanilla, lemon zest, orange blossom water or rose water. Some are dipped in honey syrup, others beautifully iced and decorated with almond paste flowers. There are so many varieties. New amazing designs, stunning colors and delicate decorations keep popping out. Every time I visit Algeria, I feel so "yesterday" when it comes to these delicacies.





Today's recipe is called "Mkhabez", which translates to "breaded". I know it sounds funny and has nothing to do with sweets. I have no idea where this cookie got its name from, and why such a weird name! Actually, most of our cookies have bizarre names, and even some savory dishes do: "drunk and falling in the stairs", "the judge and his team", and many more interesting ones, let's just leave this discussion for another post!
Back to the recipe. This cookie is very simple: just mix nuts, sugar and the flavor of your choice. Shape, bake for 10 minutes, and voila! All that is left is making the egg white icing and ice the cookies.
You can use any kind of nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans or even pistachios. You can also add lemon zest (especially with the almonds) or any flavoring of your choice.

Mkhabez (Pecan Cookies)

300 g pecans (or any other type of nuts)
80 g granulated sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

1- Preheat the oven to 350F. Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Let the nuts cool for 5 minutes.
2- Reduce the oven temperature to 300F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3-In a food processor, combine the pecans and sugar and pulse until finely ground.
4- Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and add the vanilla and salt.
5- Start adding the beaten egg little by little until you form a dough. It shouldn't be sticky. If you feel that that dough is a bit dry, add more beaten egg, 1 tsp a time. Do this step slowly because this dough will quickly turn wet and sticky and this would make shaping the cookies hard, and even affect the final result.
6- Roll out the dough on a very lightly floured surface to about 1 inch thickness. Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter (any shape would be fine). Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Leave the cookies to cool before icing.

Icing

1 egg white
1 to 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vegetable oil

Lightly whisk the egg white. Start adding the sugar little by little until you reach a white shiny icing. The icing should not be too runny nor too stiff. Add the vanilla, lemons juice and oil. You can add food coloring at this point if you would like.
Dip each cookie, one by one, in the icing and arrange them on a cookie rack (with a pan underneath it) to let the excess icing drip. Decorate with pecan halves.

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S'mores Fudge

Fudge is...not my absolute favorite holiday candy. It's too rich and sugary for me. I know, weird huh? I just can't eat a chunk of fudge easily. This fudge is better. It has graham cracker bits and marshmallows in it to balance it out. Much better. Maybe. Because now I'll be eating more fudge.

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Ingredients 

12 oz. bag of milk chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 graham crackers

1 c. mini marshmallows

Directions

• Melt chocolate and milk together over medium low heat or in a microwavable bowl in the microwave.
• Break crackers into small pieces and stir into the chocolate. 
• Add the marshmallows and stir all together. 
• Spoon into a buttered 9x9 dish. 
• Refridgerate 1 hour. 
• Cut into small squares. 
• Keep extra in the fridge.

See all the bits of graham crackers? So yummy.

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Caramel Popcorn

My husband's Grandma makes popcorn balls every year for Christmas for whoever stops by or for all of us to munch on. She just has a stash of them ready to go. They are wonderful. When I make them, I just leave it all in a big bowl to dig at. The best is when you get to the bottom and there's all this extra caramel hidden away. So soft and gooey...I love this recipe. It makes a great gift as Popcorn Balls or you can leave it in a bowl and wait for the gooey suprise at the bottom.

Caramel Popcorn

2 c. brown sugar

1 c. Light Corn Syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 stick margarine (1/2 c.)

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Place the brown sugar, corn syrup, and margarine in a saucepan and stir until the margarine is melted. Add the vanilla and stir. Add the sweetened condensed milk and stir all together. Stir and cook slowly over medium heat until it reaches the softball stage. To test this, just get a mug of cold water and drop some caramel in. If it stays somewhat together and not turn the water soupy, it's ready. Pour over a large bowl of air popped popcorn. That's about 1 1/2 c. kernals. Shape into balls and wrap in plastic wrap, or leave it in the bowl.

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Gluten-Free Apple Cake with Cranberries

A gluten-free cranberry apple cake- with a sweet-tart kick.

No philosophy today. Instead, a cake. A beautiful gluten-free cake to bake for the holidays- or any day you feel like celebrating. So dust off your cake pan, Babycakes.

This is a moist and tender apple cake laced with a hint of cinnamon and studded with fresh tart berries. After seven eight nine years of baking various gluten-free incarnations of my tried and true Jewish apple cake recipe, this could be our favorite. Maybe it's the sweet-tart combo. The subtlety of flavors. In a food culture obsessed with kicking up recipes with more for the sake of more (white chocolate peanut butter bacon swirled maple mouse drizzled in dulche de leche coconut marshmallow and dusted with sugared lime zest and shaved dark chocolate, anyone?) the clean and classic flavor contrast of apples and cranberries is somehow new again. Even, refreshing.

I don't need dessert to taste like candy. I like my cake to taste like cake.

How about you?

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Gluten-Free Cranberry Bread Recipe

Gluten-free cranberry bread for the holidays.

Christmas and cranberries. The two go together like Beatles and Sunday. Brad and Angie. Milk and cookies. I was imagining a tea bread that might work for gluten-free French toast, you see. The sort of breakfast you'd like to wake up to on Christmas morning. Something warm with melting butter and cozy cinnamon. Something festive. Special. Not your average grab-on-the-go with coffee nosh. A gluten-free bread worthy of a holiday. That's how it all started. When it dawned me. Cranberry bread. Why not? It's simple. And not too sweet. It flirts magically with maple syrup. So I started daydreaming about the tart little berry that is a bog's ruby jewel.

And a gluten-free cranberry bread recipe was born.


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Broken Glass Jello

Another recipe that when I saw it, I knew I had to make it. My kids loved these. I was skeptical on how they would taste, but they are a new favorite way to eat Jello in my house. Who wouldn't love these? So pretty and you can make them in any color combo for any occasion. Red and Blue for the 4th of July, multi colored for a birthday or any day, and whatever else you want. I chose red and green for Christmas. Have fun with these babies...

Broken Glass Jello

4 (3-oz.) packages assorted Jello (in coordinating colors)

2 packets unflavored gelatin

 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Spray 4 small food storage containers (like Tupperware/Gladware/Rubbermaid) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Combine 1 c. boiling water with 1 package of Jello, stirring until dissolved. Place the dissolved Jello in one of the prepared containers. Repeat with the remaining packages of Jello. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferable overnight.

When the Jello has set, bring another 1 1/2 c. of water to a boil. While the water is heating, sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 c. of cold water. Allow to stand for about 4 minutes. When the water is boiling, pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over the dissolved gelatin and stir to combine. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix well. Allow to come to room temperature.

Lightly spray a 9x13" pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully cut the colored Jello into cubes and gently toss to combine in the 9x13" pan.

Pour the cooled milk mixture over the colored Jello and, if necessary, rearrange some of the colored Jello to make sure it is evenly distributed and not sticking out of the white mixture too far.

Place the 9x13" pan in the refrigerator and chill overnight. Cut into squares, rectangles, or various shapes with cookie cutters and serve.

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