Tag Archives: nuts

Breads and Pancakes

Carrot Bread

No one in our family was terribly inclined toward overly sweet desserts. Sweets were luxuries, not to be regularly partaken of. Mom’s and Grandma’s cakes and cookies were made more often of nutritious rather than decadent ingredients, with plenty of  nuts, poppy seeds, cottage cheese, and dried fruits rather than just sugar and flour.

It’s not surprising, then, that we  often opted for carrot bread  when we wanted a comforting snack or a satisfying breakfast: moist carrot bread with a touch of cinnamon, never too sweet, and laden with grated carrots and chopped nuts.

Carrots for carrot bread

Ingredients for Carrot Bread

  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup finely grated carrots
  • 1/4 cup chopped nuts

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Combine the oil and the sugar. Add the eggs and beat till fluffy. Add dry ingredients. Stir in grated carrots and nuts. Bake in oiled loaf pan at 350 F (180 C) for 55 to 60 minutes.

Desserts and Sweets

Wheat Germ Squares

This is a fabulous recipe using pure wheat germ and no regular flour at all. The taste is nutty and delicious.

This recipe is originally from the New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt and became one of our favorites in the 1970s. Carob is not a common ingredient in Mexico and the recipe in our hands suffered ingredient adaptations. Cocoa was used in place of carob, sunflower and sesame seeds were often mixed in with the nuts, toasted wheat germ used instead of raw, and vegetable oil used interchangeably with the melted butter.

Ingredients for Wheat Germ Squares

  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups raw sugar
  • 2 T carob or cocoa
  • 1 T melted butter
  • 2-1/2 cups raw wheat germ
  • 1 cups chopped nuts (or combined with sunflower and/or sesame seeds)
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 2 t vanilla

Beat eggs until thick and fluffy. Beat in sugar. Dissolve carob/cocoa powder in butter and add to eggs. Stir in wheat germ, nuts, salt and vanilla. Pour into a buttered 13 by 9″ pan.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes at 375 F.

Allow to cool in pan. Cut while warm.

Carob or chocolate is used in these wheat germ squares

Desserts and Sweets

Walnut Squares

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup margarine
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1-1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup coconut
  • 2 T flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1 t vanilla
  • pinch salt

Cream together the margarine and sugar. Add the flour. Press into lightly buttered 8″ pan and bake at 300F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Beat eggs with sugar. Add walnuts and coconut.

Mix flour with baking powder and salt and add to egg mix with vanilla.

Pour on top of base and bake at 300 F for 40 minutes more.

Desserts and Sweets

Boiled Raisin Cake

  • 2 cups raisins
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup oil or margarine
  • 1/2 t each salt, cinnamon, nutmeg
  • 1/4 t cloves
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1-3/4 cup flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Simmer raisins, sugar, margarine, salt and spices in hot water for 6 mins. Allow to cool. Add flour, baking powder, egg and nuts. Pour into greased 8″ pan. Bake at 325 F for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

 

Desserts and Sweets

Loretta’s Carrot Cake

With cream cheese icing

  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1-1/2 t baking powder
  • 3/4 t salt
  • 1-1/2 t baking soda
  • 1-1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/2 t nutmeg
  • 3 eggs
  • 1-1/4 cups oil
  • 3/4 cups nuts, chopped
  • 2-1/2 cups grated carrots

Sift together the flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, baking soda and spices. Add eggs and oil, nuts, and grated carrots. Stir well.

Pour into 9″ cake pan and bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. Cool and top with Cream Cheese Icing (see below)

FOR THE ICING

  • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 t vanilla
  • 1 lb. icing sugar

Cream Cheese Icing:  Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla and icing sugar.

Appetizers

Spicy Snack Mix

This recipe is here because Mom would sometimes throw together these ingredients to make a “homemade” snack, even though it was based on processed foods. I’m banking on the fact that cereals back in the 50s and 60s weren’t as laden with preservatives, sugar, and salt as they are these days.

Ingredients for Spicy Snack Mix

  • 1/3 c. butter
  • 1/4 c steak sauce
  • 2 tsp seasoned salt
  • 2 cups Rice Chex cereal
  • 2 cups Wheat Chex cereal
  • 2 cups Corn Chex cereal
  • 1 cup nuts
  • 1 cup pretzel sticks

Melt butter. Stir in steak sauce and salt. Add cereals, pretzels and nuts. Mix over low heat until coated. Place on cookie sheet or flat pan and heat in a very slow over (about 250 F) for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes or so. Spread on paper towels to cool.

Spicy Snack
Desserts and Sweets

Mexican Wedding Cakes

Also known as Viennese crescents: delicious little nutty cookies.

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup with pecans)
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup ground walnuts or chopped pecans
  • 1 t vanilla
  • if using pecans, 3 t water

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour, nuts, vanilla and water if pecans are used. Combine well and shape into crescents or balls. Bake on greased baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes. Dust with icing sugar.

Breads and Pancakes

Kifli

Rich crescent rolls filled with nuts or cheese, very similar to Hungarian beigli.

  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 2 T yeast
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 lb. butter
  • 1 t salt
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1-1/2 cups sour cream

Dissolve yeast in warm milk with 1 tbsp sugar. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, flour, butter and salt until crumbly.

Form a well in center and add the yolks, sour cream and yeast mixture. Knead lightly.

Refrigerate overnight, covered. Roll into tennis-sized balls. Roll each ball into a circle. Fill and roll into crescents (see fillings, below). Let rise.

Bake at 350F until golden.

Nut Filling:

Beat 1 egg. Add 1 cup ground nuts, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar and 1 T cinnamon.

Cheese Filling:

Combine 1/2 lb. cottage cheese, 2 to 4 T sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp lemon peel, 1/2 cup raisins

Desserts and Sweets

Halvah

Halvah is an addictive Middle Eastern sweet traditionally made with honey and ground sesame seeds, called tahini, and often studded with nuts. Apparently there are versions made with semolina flour, seeds, beans, and even vegetables, but I have not tried any of those. I can’t get past the honey and tahini combination. It’s just too good. Especially swirled with dark chocolate.

An uncooked Halvah:

  • 1 cup ground sesame seeds (tahini)
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup toasted, slivered almonds, optional

Mix all ingredients just until creamy but not sticky. Form into balls or place in a pan lined with waxed paper and weigh down with heavy weight. Store in refrigerator.

A cooked version of Halvah:

2 cups honey
1-1/2 cups sesame tahini
1/2 to 2 cups toasted sliced almonds, pistachios, or other nuts (optional)

Place the honey in a heavy pot and the tahini in a smaller pot, and set the tahini aside for the moment. Heat the honey over medium heat to soft ball stage (235-240F or 118-120C), which is when a drop of the honey placed in cold water forms a soft ball that loses its shape when taken out of the water.

Once honey has reached soft ball stage, set it aside and place the pot of tahini on the heat until it reaches 120F (50C).

Pour the heated tahini into the honey and stir well with a wooden spoon until it is smooth and well combined.  Add the nuts and continue to stir as the mixture cools and stiffens. This may take five to eight minutes.

Pour into a greased cake pan or spring pan. Let cool to room temperature, then wrap the whole pan tightly in plastic wrap and store in fridge for 24-36 hours. Crystals should form in the halvah during this process. Remove halvah from pan and cut into slabs with a sharp knife.

Wrap individual slabs tightly in plastic wrap. Keeps well for several months in the fridge if tightly wrapped.

Desserts and Sweets

Bread Pudding

Old stale bread and breadcrumbs can be baked into something heavenly with ingredients that almost anyone has in the kitchen.  This simple dessert is popular all over the world and has hundreds of variations

Ingredients for Bread Pudding

  • 2 cups coarse dry bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 quart hot milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 t vanilla

Options: 1/2 cup coconut, nuts, raisins, dates

Preparation

Butter a baking dish. In it put the bread crumbs, butter, and hot milk. Mix and cool.

Add sugar, beaten eggs, salt, and vanilla. Stir well.

Add 1/2 cup of any of the suggested options, or devise some of your own.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 F. Serve with milk or sweet cream.