Falafel-Seasoned Cashews

Cashews roasted with falafel mix

Let's talk about spiced nuts. Actually, that's not the best term, "spiced", as it implies that the nuts are spicy-hot or enrobed in cinnamon and nutmeg. While that's not a bad thing, "spiced" omits such lovely seasoning ideas such as olive oil and za'taar, falafel mix with a pinch of cayenne and sugar (as in today's recipe), or simply a great curry powder blend. Is "seasoned" a better adjective?  Maybe. Or "savory" even though technically nuts are savory. Spices, spice blends, fresh and dried herbs, and other seasonings add an incredible amount of flavor without adding many, if any, calories. At any rate, nuts roasted with some kind of seasoning are delicious and are a great choice for a snack.

I made these for a baby shower and they may have been more of a hit with myself and the hostess than with anyone else. Luckily, I tripled the batch so there was more than enough for everyone.

Ingredients:

2 c unsalted cashews
2 TBSPS unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c falafel mix
1 TBSP granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
Salt to taste (*see the notes for further discussion)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper or foil and lightly grease. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the falafel mix and sugar.

Place nuts in a medium bowl and toss with the melted butter. Add the falafel mix and toss again to coat evenly. At this point, add the cayenne a pinch at a time and taste, taste, taste!

Spread nuts in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9 or 10 minutes, stirring a couple times, until the nuts are golden.

Let cool completely before storing in a covered container at room temperature for up to a week.

Cook's Notes:

1. Let's discuss the seasonings first. I have found that brands of falafel mix vary in spiciness and people's individual tastes vary as well, so the best thing to do is to add the cayenne a pinch at a time to the seasoning blend as I stated in the recipe and taste, taste, taste.
2. The sugar in the recipe helps the falafel mix adhere to the buttered nuts and it adds a great contrast to the cayenne as well, kind of a sweet'n'spicy flavor. Don't omit the sugar.
3. As you can see, the recipe calls for unsalted nuts and butter and has no added salt. Check the falafel mix, it probably has salt in it, so again, taste and adjust the salt to your liking. You can also add salt after the nuts are removed from the oven and are cooling.
4. If you don't care for cashews, you're weird, but I love you anyway. You may choose your favorite variety of nuts; pistachios, almonds, walnuts or pecans would all pair well with this blend.
5. While the recipe specifies butter, feel free to use your preferred type of fat; olive oil and coconut oil are both great choices or you can use a neutral flavored oil such as grapeseed to really let the seasoning shine through.

I'm planning on buying nuts in bulk at WinCo and making up some yummy snacks. If you try this recipe, let me know what you think!

Blondies

Not mine; this is a stock photo, but WOW!

I don't much like baking cookies. I like making cookies because I like eating the raw dough. I don't enjoy portioning out sticky globs, standing around for 12 minutes, and then coaxing the cookies off the the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack. Sooooo very boring.

I really like making bar cookies, though. After mixing up the recipe, you get to smush the dough into one baking dish, put it in the oven, set the timer, and walk away for 40 minutes. Plus, the entire thing needs to cool once it comes out of the oven and that takes a couple more hours which gives you more than enough time to sit down with a book or whatever it is you do to relax. I had a friend ask me what I did to relax and when I said that reading relaxes me, he looked at me in disbelief. His idea of relaxation was skiing or mountain biking. To each their own; I'm sticking with my books.

Oh, and also? There is no such thing as a brownie blondie or a blondie brownie; it's one or the other. If the dessert is primarily chocolate and looks dark brown and tastes fudgy, it is a brownie. If the dessert is a light golden brown, it is a blondie. Maybe it's pedantic or nit-picky; I prefer definite definitions.

Ingredients:

3/4 c butter, melted

1 c brown sugar, packed

1/2 c granulated sugar

1 TBSP vanilla extract

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

2 c flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Optional: up to 1 1/2 c of any kind of nuts, candy pieces, chocolate bits, and/or dried fruits.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease the sides and bottom of a 9" by 13" glass baking dish and set aside.

Combine the melted butter and the two kinds of sugar; cream for two minutes til it looks pale. Add the vanilla, the whole egg, and the egg yolk. Beat together for an additional two minutes.

Add the dry ingredients and beat thoroughly. At this point, use a spatula to fold in whatever optional nuts, candy pieces, chocolate bits, and/or dried fruits you wish to include.

Transfer the dough to the prepared baking dish and use your hands to press the dough down evenly.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the entire pan to cool on a wire cooling rack before cutting into squares. The recipe yields between two and three dozen cookies, depending on what size you want.

Cook's Notes:

1. Wire cooling racks. If you don't have any, why not? You can pick some up at your local dollar store and while they're not the highest quality, they get the job done and that job is to allow air to circulate around and under your baked goods so the don't steam and become soggy. I have a really nice cooling rack which is laid out in a small square pattern and it provides better support to more fragile baked goods. The cheaper racks generally consist of parallel wires and are better for cooling glass baking dishes and loaf pans. 
2. The original recipe from which this one as adapted, calls for those lovely mini Cadbury eggs that are only available at Easter. I'm not much of a candy-eater (candy-consumer? candy-devourer?) any more with two exceptions; those crunchy, chocolatey eggs and the milk chocolate Lindt balls. Those things are lusciously, meltingly evil. I digress. You can customize the blondies in any way you choose; white chocolate chips and craisins or M&Ms (plain or mint or peanut butter) or butterscotch chips or whatever.
3. Unlike many cookie recipes, this one calls for melted butter. Why not make beurre noisette? That's French for browned butter. Since it imparts a nutty flavor to baked goods, enhance that flavor with some toasted, chopped almonds, with chunks of high quality dark chocolate and maybe some chopped dried cherries.