nuts Archives - Sugar et al

Lucky Smart Snax + Giveaway

6|11|2014

Like many people, the last quarter of the year is my favourite time of the year. The festivities actually start right from October for me when I am getting ready for Diwali and probably end after I have finished wishing everyone a Happy New Year. In between there is a lot of cooking, eating, gifting and a whole lot of activity in my kitchen. Irrespective of the cuisine or mode of cooking, one thing that compulsorily finds its way into my pantry are nuts. Nuts are handy because they can be used in both sweet and savory recipes. From an Indian Badami Murgh (Almond Chicken) to my favourite pesto-s and all the nut-meal enriched cakes in between, I am constantly snacking on nuts while working on a recipe. So I was delighted when I got an opportunity to review Lucky Smart Snax and discovered their fabulous range of snacking nuts and seeds.

Lucky is a well known brand in Australia and I have been using their products in cooking/baking since the time I have stepped foot in Sydney. You cannot miss their products when you are walking past the Nut and Dried Fruit aisle in the supermarkets. The Lucky Smart Snax range has now been extended to include 6 new products. Each of these products have been specifically formulated to meet individual needs. These delicious mixes are a smart way to snack when hunger strikes. The resealable bags make it perfect to store it in your home, car or office which means you can enjoy the healthy nutritional benefits of nuts anywhere!

Dont’ forget to checkout the Lucky Nuts website for more information.

Here are the 6 Lucky Smart Snax Range products that I have sampled. Each of them are consistent in quality, packaging and taste.

Lucky Smart Snax Digestive – Oven Roasted Almonds, Peanuts, Hazelnuts, Cranberries, Sunflower Kernels and Pepitas. This pack s a source of dietary fibre to help maintain a healthy digestive system.

Lucky Smart Snax Recovery – Oven Roasted Almonds, Peanuts, Cashews and Pepitas. A good source of protein, a vital nutrient that is important for body systems, growth, muscle development and recovery from exercise.

Lucky Smart Snax Women- Cashews, Almonds, Brazil Nuts and Walnuts. This product has been formulated keeping in mind the busy lives that Women lead today and the nutrients that we need in our bodies to deal with our day to day demands. It is a source of Vitamin E, iron and good monounsaturated fat, as well as calcium folate and selenium. This is such a great idea!

Lucky Smart Snax Cardio – Almonds, Sultanas, Cranberries and Blueberries. This is a delicious mix of natural almonds and berries – to keep you pumping through each day.

Lucky Smart Snax Power – Oven Roasted Peanuts, Almonds, Walnuts, Hazelnuts and Dark Chocolate. Gives a boost of natural energy. The mix of oven roasted peanuts, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts combined with dark chocolate make this a perfect snack to help you power through each day. Now, if you know me, I am slightly biased towards this one. Nuts and Chocolate…you know where I get all the energy from-)

Lucky Smart Snax Low Carb – Brazil Nuts, Peanuts, Pepitas, Almonds and Walnuts. This one is a tasty mix of nuts and seeds that is perfect for people watching their intake of carbohydrates. Nuts and seeds are one of nature’s super snacks and fit perfectly in a balanced diet.

All these products are availablele at Coles, Woolworths and independent supermarkets – IN THE DRIED FRUIT & NUT AISLE along with other Lucky nut baking products.

Giveaway : There is a giveaway for one reader lucky of Sugar et al comprising of a Lucky Smart Snax Hamper (including all 6 products). All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me:

Which Lucky Smart Snax Product is your favourite and why?
Good Luck!

Rules of the giveaway :

This is open to Australian Residents only
The giveaway closes on 14th November 2014 midnight
Please do not forget to leave your email behind for me to contact you if you are the winner.

Disclaimer: Sugar et al. would like to thank Lucky and Nuffnang for this opportunity and for sending me these wonderful products. All opinions expressed in the post are entirely my own.

Coffee Pecan Cookies

5|12|2013

So I’m back! With more Cookies, of course. Sooner than you had imagined? You see, when you were reading all about the Nutella filled Linzer cookies, I was already baking a batch of these and making the tastiest glaze ever to decorate them with. You guessed it! I used the same dough to make these.

In fact after making about 12 Linzers, I rolled the dough into a log, covered it in plastic wrap and refrigerated it. Later on I rolled the log on chopped nuts to get a nice nutty coating around the circumference of the cookie when sliced. Then it was a matter of just baking them and dropping a spoonful of coffee glaze on to them. The glaze is super simple and ready in 2-3 minutes. Though in doubt about the quantity of coffee to add to the glaze, I am glad I went with my instincts. The glaze is gorgeous and so strongly tasting and smelling of coffee which is why I loved it all the more.

Isn’t it fantastic that you can get two completely different cookie recipes…both tasting and looking great from the same dough. And quite a generous number of cookies too. I got 12 Linzers and 14 of these. I thought it would make such a great gift idea when you are looking to simply things and yet come up with an assortment of cookies.
Think about it…12 Linzer cookies, 6 filled with Nutella, 6 filled up with jam or lemon curd. And 14 of these cookies, 7 with a coffee glaze and other 7 with some other flavour…probably peppermint considering the season. A few drops of pink food colouring would do the trick with peppermint. And there you have it…a box of different flavoured, colourful looking cookies. You can play around with different ideas, I guess.
Please note, the recipe below is for the entire dough. You can halve it accordingly.

These cookies are by far the best I have made this year. And that’s not small because I bake at least 3-4 different cookies every month. I love baking cookies and gifting them to my friends. I do it all the time.
I think the best way to tell someone that you like them is to make them a cookie.

Coffee Pecan Cookies
Yields 28 large cookies

For the Cookies
1 cup hazelnut meal/ground hazelnuts or any nut meal of your choice
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup pecans or any nut of your choice, finely chopped
Pecan halves, for decoration

For the coffee glaze
adapted from Taste.com

3/4 cup icing sugar mixture
1 tbsp boiling water
1 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp espresso coffee powder

In a bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract and egg yolks. Finally, beat in the ground hazelnuts and then the flour mixture.

Divide the dough in half, roll each piece of dough into a 5 cm diameter log. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

Once the log is firm, take it out and keep aside for 5 minutes. Unwrap and lightly roll in the chopped nuts till evenly coated. Wrap each log in plastic wrap tightly again and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step ensures that the nut coating adheres to the cookies while baking.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut logs into 1.5cm-thick slices. Place on lined baking trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes, swapping trays over in oven in between (baking time will depend on the size of the cookie. Mine took 20 minutes as the cookies were large) Bake till crisp or until edges begin to turn light brown. Allow to cool on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the Glaze, sift icing sugar into a bowl. Combine boiling water, butter and coffee powder in a separate bowl and stir until coffee is dissolved. Add to icing sugar and stir until mixture is smooth.
Drop 1 teaspoon of glaze onto centre of each cookie. Top with 1 pecan. Allow icing to set. Serve.

Mocha Mousse with Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts and Cocoa Tuile

5|08|2013

Isn’t it ironical that I am posting about coffee when my morning coffee has just been replaced by a cup of masala chai (spiced tea)! Life has been wonderful. Despite travelling 5000 miles over, I am anything but jet lagged and loving every bit of my break. So have I been missing coffee? Well, not really. I did make sure I had loads of it in my dessert, before I left.

This is the first time I am contributing to the Chocolate Party hosted by Roxana’s Home Baking and I couldn’t be more excited. Chocolate is one word that is probably scribbled all over my blog and has the most number of recipes dedicated to it. When I learnt the secret ingredient for August was coffee, I didn’t want to miss it though I knew it would be a little early on a vacation to open my laptop and think ‘blog’. So I prepared my dessert and photographed it well ahead in time.

I love this pairing! Needless to say it’s a decadent, rich mousse, heady with the triple dose of coffee. If you love coffee, this is the dessert for you. To make it totally coffee-ish I glazed the hazelnuts (along with a few cashew nuts) with a bitter-sweet coating of coffee and baked them to crispness. One spoonful of this and it takes all your willpower to stop. The tuile makes the dessert look stunning though you can leave it out if you think it’s a hassle. I added it because I wanted to give equal weightage to both the ingredients.

Mocha Mousse with Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts and Cocoa Tuile
Serves 4

Mocha Mousse

½ Cup heavy cream for the custard (Crème Anglaise)
1 tsp instant coffee powder
4 Egg Yolks
¼ Cup Sugar(or to taste)
3/4 cup Dark Chocolate, chopped
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream for whipping

1 Tablespoon Coffee Liquor, optional (I used Kahlua)

Heat the ½ cup cream over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the instant coffee powder and stir to dissolve. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. When the cream reaches boiling point take it off the heat, add 2 tsp of the coffee cream mixture into the egg mixture and whisk. Gradually pour the remaining cream over the egg mixture whisking constantly till combined. (This is done gradually so as to ensure that the eggs don’t scramble) Return the egg-cream mixture to the pan.

Heat the mixture under a medium-low flame, whisking constantly till the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This is called a Creme anglaise/custard.

Place the dark chocolate in a bowl. Remove the custard from heat and pass it through a sieve into the bowl of chocolate. Let the mixture remain undisturbed for a while. Stir to smoothen out the chocolate. Cool to room temperature. While the custard is cooling, whip the remaining 1/2 cup cream to stiff peaks. Add the coffee liquor if using and stir slowly to combine. Store in the refrigerator till needed.

When the chocolate mixture has cooled down completely add it to the whipped cream little at a time & fold in till no white streaks appear. Pour into serving glasses. Refrigerate till set, about 4 hours or preferably overnight.

Coffee Glazed Hazelnuts

1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup or light corn syrup
1 cup hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.
Add all the ingredients except the hazelnuts to a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil stirring constantly till the mixture has blended completely and looks dark brown. Remove from heat and add in the nuts and mix till evenly coated. Spread on the baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring once in between. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Break into pieces and store till needed.

Cocoa Tuile

20 g all-purpose flour
20 g butter, room temperature
20 ml water
20 g cocoa powder
70 g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl till a smooth paste forms. Spread evenly in a thin layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about a minute. Break into desired shapes and let harden for about 2 mins.

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Chocolate Pistachio Muffins

18|07|2013

Muffins were probably the first things I learnt to bake. As a child, I only knew two flavours. Vanilla and Chocolate. We had an old fashioned portable round oven which would sit on the floor during baking times and otherwise tucked away in one corner of the house. Baking was not very popular in Indian homes and my mother was probably one of the few bakers I knew existed at that point in time. Before I was allowed to take complete control of the oven, my job was to butter the muffin tins which were of all possible shapes and sizes. And to ward off my then toddler sister and crawling brother from attacking the oven. I enjoyed the first but loved the second one! Because it meant sitting close to the oven.

Its funny when I think about how I would sit right next to the equipment and peek into its glass face to see the muffins rise before my eyes. Sometimes I would see my mother adding dried orange peel or nuts. Pistachios and cashew nuts were a favourite in my house and they would make an appearance in all sweet treats, Indian or otherwise.

I took out coloured liners to bake these muffins but on an impulse decided to bake them in different sized tart pans. Just like I did when I was a little girl. We didn’t even know then that muffin liners existed. I am very nostalgic lately. And with good reason. I will be meeting my family after a year…in fact going back home after 2 years. I am more excited for my boys and of course their grand parents who find joy in nothing more than holding them close.

Coming back to the muffins, they are simple, moist and soft on account of the buttermilk and quite chocolatey too. No creaming of the butter so I love it all the more. The original recipe called for chocolate chips but I have replaced them completely with chopped pistachios. Hence they have a nice nutty crunch to them. It goes without saying that you can use any of your favourite nuts, chocolate chips, sultanas etc. These are perfect for the lunchbox or a tea time snack.

And even better accompanied by stories that you share with your children about what you baked or ate as a child…

Chocolate Pistachio Muffins (adapted from Joy of Baking)

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 Cups (230 g) all-purpose flour
2/3 Cup (60 g) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
11/4 Cups (265 g) Light Brown Sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
extra pistachios for garnish

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Butter or line muffin cups with paper liners (I used tart pans).

In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the melted butter, eggs, buttermilk and Vanilla extract.

In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the chopped nuts. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Sprinkle with the extra chopped pistachios. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean, about 15-20 mins. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 mins before removing from pan.

Note: Baking times will vary according to the size of the muffin cups. If you are using two different sizes like me, you will need to check the smaller ones after 10 mins as they will bake in lesser time.