Nuts About Nuts

I’m probably biased, but I have the best candied nut recipe ever. I made them as gifts over Christmas and have received rave reviews, so maybe I’m not too far off in my belief. We’re going to a NYE party this weekend and I have decided to make a huge batch to bring along.  After tasting these, your friends and family will be eating out of your hands (if you let them, that is).

Sugar & Spice [and everything nice] Nuts

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup of dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup of white sugar
• ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper (add more or less to suit to your tastes)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 1 1/4  pound of pecan halves (or mixed nuts)
• 2 egg whites

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees & line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper
2. Combine sugars, cayenne pepper, cinnamon & salt in a mixing bowl. Blend together with a fork.
3. Beat egg whites until frothy but stop before it is forming peaks
4. On a low speed, combine egg whites and sugar mixture until relatively smooth
5. Fold in the nuts and toss until evenly coated
6. Spread the sugar & nut mixture onto the parchment-covered cookie sheet
7. Bake for 30 minutes; pull out once every 10-15 minutes to stir
8. Remove from oven and separate the nuts as they cool
9. Once they are cool, they are ready to eat/store/gift.

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Mmm mmm! Delicious!

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Coquito: The New Nog

Ever since my laptop died I’ve been in serious withdrawal from updating the blog. I’ll be praying to the Geek Squad gods tomorrow and hopefully they’ll get my little baby to turn back on. In the meantime, my wonderful husband is letting me steal his computer. This is great because I’ve been waiting patiently to share the recipe for my favorite holiday drink: coquito (pronounced koh-KEY-toe).

Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without coquito in my husband’s family and I love it as part of our yearly tradition. It is practically a Puerto Rican egg nog (with no need to use eggs). If you’ve never had an opportunity to try coquito, you’re seriously missing out on the best beverage ever. Best beverage ever, you ask? YES! Best. Beverage. Ever. It’s creamy, seasonal, rich, and alcoholic… yum! Just like chocolate chip cookies, everyone has their own way of making it but I have started using the recipe below. It comes out *almost* as good as my mother-in-law’s but hers just can’t be beat so I’ll take that!

Ingredients

• 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 2 cans of coconut cream
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 3 cups of dark rum (DARK not spiced)

Simple Directions

1. Pour everything together in a blender.
2. Blend until combined — I’ve found that it’s easier to do the recipe half and half since it yields too much for an average sized blender. This means 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 can of coconut milk, 1 can of coconut cream, 1.5 cups of rum, and some cinnamon and salt blended together and poured into a pitcher and then repeat.
3. Refrigerate, serve cold!

Try it out, you won’t be disappointed! It’ll warm up the coldest night… and give you a serious blush!

"His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!" Santa must've enjoyed our coquito too...

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