Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars for Daring Bakers Challenge!

After missing the Daring Baker's Challenge in December, I'm back in the new year with White Chocolate Nanaimo Bars!! The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/.

I wanted to be creative this month and try some amazing combinations of flavors but again, I didn't get enough time to put my ideas into action. Lauren encouraged us to try gluten-free graham crackers, but unfortunately in the end I had to go with what I had at home. I used a mix (half each) of wheat flour and all-purpose flour for my graham crackers. I halved the recipe for the crackers as it was advised in the forum that we just need 1/4 recipe for making the nanaimo bars given for the challenge. The dough indeed was very soft and was kind of loose, so I added probably 1/4 cup more flour to make it into a dough.

The dough was not super bad to work with but I should say it was very soft and delicate. Since I knew I am going to use the crackers for the bars, I didnt bother to cut them out of rolled dough. I just cut the rolled dough and baked as is. My crackers didn't need to be baked for even 20 minutes because I opened the oven around 20 minutes and the edges had actually started to burn! (Lesson: Keep an eye on the crackers!!). So there's no picture of the baked crackers! ;-)

I made the rest of the nanaimo bars according to the recipe given. Eventhough initially it felt like there wasnt enough of the custard middle layer to cover the bottom layer, it gradually gives away and spreads nicely. After reading a comment about how the chocolate top layer wasn't enough to cover the top, I doubled the amount of chocolate (white) but used the amount of butter specified in the recipe. There was more than enough to spread on top. A bit of butterscotch chocolate garnish on top finished off my nanaimo bars!!

VERDICT: Nanaimo bars sure are delicious!! The combination of all three layers work perfectly. My favourite is the bottom layer which is a mixture of all different textures. The soft cracker crumbs along with chewy shredded coconut and crunchy (yes, they stay crunchy!!) almonds are awesome! I could eat them all the time :-). I think I should not have used any more chocolate for the top layer than what was given in the recipe because taken together, the three layers would work the best (perfect sweetness) at the proportions given.

I have made Nanaimo bars before, and both times I found it too sweet for my tastes, though that doesn't mean that I wouldn't eat them!! JM loved the nanaimo bars too, lil LM was happy licking the butterscotch chips! ;-)

Preparation time:

• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.

Equipment required:
• Food Processor
• Bowls
• Parchment paper or silpats
• Cookie sheets
• Double boiler or pot and heatproof bowl
• 8 by 8 inch square pan
• Hand mixer or stand mixer (You may use a wooden spoon, but this makes it much easier!)
• Saucepan

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract



Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.



Nanaimo Bars

Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter



Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

-------------------------------
Additional Information:

These bars freeze very well, so don’t be afraid to pop some into the freezer.

The graham wafers may be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Mine lasted about that long.

If making the graham crackers with wheat, replace the gluten-free flours (tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, and sorghum flour) with 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour. Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.

For the Nanaimo Bars, if making with wheat, replace the gluten-free graham wafer crumbs with equal parts wheat graham wafer crumbs!

Have a great day everyone!!! Hoping to see you soon here on Tasty treats!

French Macaroons - a re-trial

Hi and welcome back to Tasty treats!! After my epic failure (just in the looks, that is!!) with french macaroons for the Daring Baker challenge, I was determined to make some "good-looking macaroons which can be seen all over the blogosphere - those cute, little, round, puffed-up thingies with cute lil "feet". I should say again that the DB recipe yielded deelicious results, but the looks didnt work out for me, neither did the absence of feet!

I was determined to try Helen's recipe which gave success to a lot of Daring Bakers after their failure with the challenge recipe. I also came across Bonbini! another awesome blog which featured tons of different french macaroons. So I decided to go with her recipe which seemed really simple and straight forward without scaring an amateur like me! Read on to know more about my attempt.

I decided to use "Egg beaters 100% egg whites" for my french macaroon trials. I test whipped some cold egg whites and even those whipped up beautifully. So I left the required amount of egg whites uncovered, at room temperature, overnight. The almond flour was ground at home with blanched almond slivers in a food processor with the specified amount of sugar so that the almonds dont get moist. The flour was sifted so as to make sure that the flour was really fine.

I followed all the recipe instructions. I tinted the batter pink and didnt add any food flavoring.
The italian meringue technique by making the sugar syrup was also not complicated. But I didnt have a candy thermometer so I just went with an approximate time. The actual mistake that I made probably was that I didnt add the slightly cooled syrup slowly, but added them more or less altogether. So it took me a long time to whip the egg whites back to soft peak stage. Even after whipping for a long time I couldnt bring the egg whites to a confident soft peak stage. (I am thinking its either because I didnt use the thermometer, maybe I didnt give enough time for the syrup to cook into a more concentrated form or because I didnt add the syrup slow enough).

But still the whites whipped up to kind of a soft peak stage (was gradually getting to the whipped stage). So I decided not to add the whole meringue, but added half of the meringue to the almond flour "mass". The final texture of the batter was just as described in the DB challenge. When I piped the batter, it didnt spread out (as it had happened to me in the challenge) and I knew probably I am on the right path!!

Well, I guee everything turned out fine and these are what I ended up with. The cute lil feet, the smooth and shiny top and the crisp on the outside - chewy on the inside cookies!! Finally I get what all the rave is about!! This recipe gave me the confidence to tackle more french macaroon recipes! I am really thankful to Thip of Bonbini for sharing her recipe with us.....

VERDICT:

The recipe was really easy to follow. The taste was amazing, the texture and looks matching the description of succesful french macaroons!!! I sandwiched a few of them with chocolate ganache. But honestly, they are amazing on their own. The filling would make them a little more sweet than I would prefer. Next time I would like to make macaroons that are a little bit smaller (diameter), so that they will look like cute little colored puffy balls!!!

Guess what, I also baked the whipped Italian meringue without the almond flour "mass" and made these melt in your mouth meringue rounds/cookies!! They were delicious and literally melted in our mouths!!

I am really happy that I decided to attempt the French Macaroons again! Try these out and I am sure you wouldnt be disappointed. Thank you for visiting Tasty treats!!

Have a great week!

Bakewell Tart er... Pudding for Daring Bakers!

Revealing the Daring Baker Challenge for the month of May - Bakewell Tart er.. Pudding!!

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I just had to include this quote from our forum about what this tart er.. pudding is - Someone once said something like “The Bakewell pudding is a dessert. The Bakewell tart is that girl over there.” Flan-like desserts that combine either sweet egg custard over candied fruit or feature spiced ground almonds in a pastry shell have Mediaeval roots. By the latter half of the 1800s, the egg custard evolved into a frangipane-like filling; since then the quantity of jam decreased while the almond filling increased.

My experience:

This month I got a chance to finish my challenge early, I mean in the first week itself. We had been invited to a gathering planned at our friends house, with another couple who were also our close friends. They had always wanted to try my daring bakers creations and so I decided this is the perfect chance to give them a taste of what they see on all these blogs!! But I wanted a taste of this before I took it over. So in the same afternoon, at the same time, I made a smaller 5" tart for the taste test and a large 10" tart for taking over to the party!

I accomplished quite a few firsts from this challenge, my first pastry crust, my first tart, and ofcourse my first tart er... pudding!

I made the sweet crust pastry according to the instructions (one complete recipe for the 10" tart and half the recipe for the 5" tart) and chilled it for 30 minutes. I had some trouble rolling out the pastry and I started thinking that maybe I didnt add enough water to hold it all together really well. So I just wet my hands with water and gently kneaded it without crusing it too much. While transferring the pastry crust to the tart pan, the experimental 5" tart took all the beating with a lot of tears and I patched the holes up with extra pastry dough. I was more careful with my 10" party tart and rolled out the crust carefully and managed to tarnsfer it draped over the rolling pin, to the tart pan. Once again the small tears were patched up with extra dough.

The 5" tart took a red plum jam filling and the 10" tart got a strawberry jam filling (both store-bought). I put the crust in the freezer for a few of minutes, to harden. Making the frangipane was a delight!! I ground the almonds in the food processor until very fine. I made the frangipane separately for the two tarts, half the recipe for 5" and the actual recipe for the 10". Once the jam filling was a bit set, I spread the frangipane on top and proceeded to bake the 5" tart first!

The tarts were baked individually. The 5" tart was baked at 400F for about 18 minutes. I didnt use sliced almonds on top while baking. It came out nice and puffy and golden brown, but becuase of my rough handling the part where my thumb poked into the edge of the tart, it got a crack on the side! I reduced the temperature of my oven to 350F for the 10" tart and baked the tart for a total of about 22 minutes. But for the 10" tart, I used sliced almonds on top during the final few minutes of baking. The reduced temperature actually made the tart cook properly and gave an amazing droolworthy light golden brown color.

I took pictures without the decoration and then took the 5" tart out of its pan, and did a chocolate cool whip swirls (which BTW dont look as cool as I thought it would). I also drizzled melted semi sweet chocolate on top. A few whole almonds on the chocolate swirls and the tart was ready to be devoured!! (Note the cool whip melting, becuase I just couldnt wait for the tart to cool down before cutting into it!!!). The 10" was topped with perfectly golden almond slices, which I took to the party!

VERDICT:

We absolutely loved the balewell tart er.. pudding!!! The amazing texture and taste of frangipane has to be mentioned!! My sweet crust pastry, eventhough looked patched up while it was unbaked, was flawless after baking! The cherry jam filling was amazing and went well with the whole thing!! I was sure that the 10" would be just as fine, if not better!! My only complaint was that the jam was too sweet (the complaint has nothing to do with this challenge recipe - its my own fault, really - using the store-bought jam and using it generously!! ;-)). I just cant say enough of the tart er.. pudding. It was awesome, it really was!!!

The 10" tart with the strawberry filling, was taken to the party, and I took a couple of pictures of that, but my dear JM deleted the pictures from the camera unknowingly &^%*@*&!! (Note the tactical use of "dear" before his name!). The reality was that everyone were full to their throats by the time we decided that it was time for desserts. There was an icecream cake which was devoured first and then when it was time for the tart, everyone was stuffed, I know I was!! Anyways, the tart was welcomed with both hands, and I guess everybody loved it. Many commended that the jam was pretty sweet (duh! My bad!!).

I also took a couple of slices from my 5" tart to my work place where my collegue jumped on it and ate both the slices with a happy grin on his face. He remarked that he loved it and it was amazing!! I was worried about the crust, him being a pie lover, but it passed his rating too!! So all in all, I got a lot of taste testers this time around and I would say everyone liked it and some of us loooooved it!!!

One more succesful daring baker challenge and a few more happy customers, with love in their tummies!! :-) Thank you hosts for helping us complete another challenge well done!! Cant wait for the next one.....

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)

Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)

Resting time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)

Bench flour250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability

One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)

One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart:

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:

• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.

• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.

• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.

Annemarie’s notes:

• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)

Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour

30g (1oz) sugar

2.5ml (½ tsp) salt

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)

2 (2) egg yolks

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)

15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Jasmine’s notes:

• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract.

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened

125g (4.5oz) icing sugar

3 (3) eggs

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract

125g (4.5oz) ground almonds

30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:

• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Signing off from Bakewell Tart er.. Pudding heaven, JZ! Check out all my previous Draing Bakers Challenges here! Have a great weekend!!

Iced Chocolate Nut Gateau

I have been eyeing this dessert since I bought the "Desserts 500 delicious recipes" book. It has all the stuff that I love - its sweet, its frozen, it has nuts and whipped cream with delicious sponge fingers. I finally got a chance to make it last weekend. My dad was visiting us from my brother's in Seattle, on his way back to India. I took it as a chance to try out a new dessert as it was an excellent chance to divide the calories ;-).... Am I evil, well, I dont think so! It was an awesome dessert, perfectly sweetened and light. The whipped cream made fresh at home and the light sweetness imparted by just the right amount of confectioner's sugar is remarkable. I personally love the taste of hazelnuts and this reminded me of the delectable Ferrero Rocher, one of my favorite kind of chocolate. The sponge fingers lend the spongy texture of a cake, and the whipped cream gives the feel of an icecream. The chopped hazelnuts and morsels of chocolate were exceptional, making for a delicious bite among the light and fluffy whipped cream! My favorite part of this dessert was the hazelnut bits and the soaked sponge fingers.

I believe that this will taste just as delicious with almonds or cashews as well. Once the gateau is thawed in the fridge for about 10 minutes, the dessert will be ready to be sliced and served. I served the dessert with a simple decoration of cool whip swirls and a few cherry chocolate chips and hazelnuts. Try these out and I am sure you will love it. It makes for a really simple dessert with which you can impress your guests. Dust with a little cocoa and sugar and it will look stunning. Enjoy!!

Recipe (Serves 6-8) :

Hazelnuts - shelled, 3/4 cup
Sponge fingers - about 32
Cold strong black coffee - 2/3 cup
Brandy - 2 tbsp
Double (heavy) cream - 2 cups
Confectioner's (icing) sugar - 2/3 cup, sifted
Semi-sweet chocolate - 5 oz, chopped into small pieces
Icing sugar and Cocoa powder (for dusting)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Spread out the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 5 minutes until golden.

Turn the nuts onto a clean dish towel and rub off the skins while still warm.

Cool, then chop finely.

Line a 5 cup loaf tin with cling wrap and cut the sponge fingers to fit the base and sides.

Reserve remaining fingers.

Mix the coffee with the brandy in a shallow dish.

Dip the sponge fingers briefly into the coffee mixture and return to tin, sugar side down, to fit.

Whip the cream with the icing sugar until it holds soft peaks.

Fold half of the chopped chocolate into the cream with the hazelnuts.

Use gentle figure-of -eight action to distribute the chocolate and nuts evenly.

Melt the remaining chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Cool, then fold into the cream mixture. Spoon into the tin.

Moisten the reamining fingers in the coffee mixture - take care not to soak the fingers, otherwise they will collapse.

Lay the moistened fingers over the filling.

Wrap and freeze until firm.

To serve, remove from the freezer 30 minutes before serving to allow the icecream to soften slightly.

Turn out onto a serving plate and dust with icing sugar and cocoa powder.

Source: Desserts 500 delicious recipes; Edited by Ann Kay.

Tips:

1. I didnt use brandy with coffee. I used a bit of hot cocoa powder along with the coffee powder to make the dipping.
2. I used about 4 oz of semi-sweet chocolate.
3. I just had 24 sponge fingers (while the sponge fingers were in storage at my home, some in-home thieves stole the rest!), so I didnt top the dessert (when served, it lines the bottom) with moistened sponge fingers.
4. The gateau was served decorated with whipped cream, whole hazelnuts and cherry chocolate chips.
5. The dessert is very lightly sweetened. So if you are into sugar-high desserts, add more confectioner's sugar to the cream before whipping.

Have a great day!!

"Lets go nuts : Almonds" - Round-up

Hey Friends,

Welcome to the round-up of Lets go nuts : Almonds. Today, I have 56 entries including one entry of mine, for your culinary pleasure. It was amazing, getting a chance to guest-host the fun event Lets go nuts, started by Aquadaze of Served with Love. Thanks Aqua, for this wonderful oppurtunity.

I received a very good response all through the month of March, with many talented bloggers sending in their wonderful entries with almonds. They comprised of an awesome array of dishes ranging from snacks, cakes, sweets and beverages, to salads and even curries. I think this round-up gives a fair representation of the range of recipes showcasing Almonds. I've divided the entries into a few categories for your convenience. I thank everybody who sent in their wonderful dishes made with the nut-in-the-spotlight! In the unlikely event that I missed any entries, please let me know by sending an email to jz.tastytreats@gmail.com.

For a change, in addition to the pictorial round-up, I've also included a movie with the entries. It plays a song from the movie Delhi-6, a new favourite of mine, along with the slideshow. For those who dont know, the music of this song was done by the Oscar winner A. R. Rahman. The movie contains the entries that I received until noon, March 30 because I had to leave on a trip in the evening. I sincerely apologise for this drawback. But the picture round-up include those entries received the day after as well. I will be returning home by next week, but dont forget to check back because I will be posting regularly. I will update the movie with the missing entries when I get back home, I promise!! ;-)

Without further delay, feast your eyes on the entries showcasing the delicious nut, Almonds!! Dont forget to leave me a word if you loved the movie and the round-up.

WARNING : CHANCES OF FLASH FLOODS IN YOUR MOUTH!!

(For those who might be checking this out at the office - the slideshow has a music playing, so you might want to turn off the volume ;-))

Fried Snacks

Daktyla from Ivy of Kopiaste... to Greek Hospitality
Kajjikayalu from Vijaya of Daily Meals
Gujhia & Thekua from Priyanka of Asankhana

Cakes & Muffins

Eggless Orange Almond Cake from Gopi Shah of Health N Taste
Chocolate Almond Muffins from Apu of Annarasa - Essence of Food

Eggless Banana Muffins from Trupti of Recipe Center

Dundee Cake from Poornima of Tasty treats

Armenian Chocolate Cake with Almonds from Bindiya of In Love With Food

Cherry Almond Cake from Bhagyashri of Taste Buds

Sacher Torte from Aquadaze of Served with Love

Almond, Flax & White Chocolate Nutella Pizza from Jennifer of Savor the Thyme

Puddings, Halwas, Burfis & Brittles

Rose Kalakand from Priya of Priya's Easy Tasty recipes

Pineapple Pudding from JZ of Tasty treats

Almond Cashew Pista Slices from Shree of ShreeZ
Cashew - Almond Halwa from Anupama of Mitho Limdo
Almond Choco- brittle from Gayathri of My Adigemane..

Carrot Halwa from Sharmilee of In my passionate world.... :)

Almond/Badam Burfi from Poornima of Tasty treats
Almond Burfi from Aparna of Sumi's Weblog
Coconut ladoos by Uma of Essence of Andhra
Almond Cashew Choco Burfi by Madhumati of Madhu's Food Journal

Almond Halwa from Shri of Ecouter
Dates and Almonds Sweet from Vidya of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes

Almond Pedas from Trupti of Recipe Center

Kheer/Payasam from Aquadaze of Served with Love

Cookies

Almond & Oat Cookies from Poornima of Tasty treats
Spice Cookies from Swapna Pravin of Cooking with Swapna
Eggless Almond Cookies from Trupti of Recipe Center
Almond Crescent Cookies from Divya Kudua of Easy Cooking

Lemon Snaps from Bharti of Veggie Foodist


Beverages : Shakes & Kheer

Almond - Carrot Kheer from AnuSriram of Chandrabhaga
Masala Milk (Saffron and Cardamom scented Almond Milk) from Usha of Veg Inspirations
Beets n' Broken Wheat Kheer from Priya of Priya's Easy Tasty Recipes
Strawberry Jam Badam Milk from Priya of Priya's Easy Tasty Recipes

Dates and Almonds Milkshake from Vidya of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes

Badam Milk from Madhu of Madhu's Cooking Gallery
Strawberry Power Shake from Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen

Watermelon Almond Smoothie from Priyanka of Asankhana

Savouries

Apple - Almond Salad from Divya of Dil Se..

Carribean Rice from Uma of Essence of Andhra

Murgh Nizam from Asha of Foodie's Hope

Chicken with Almond and Coriander Sauce from Superchef of So I Married a Meat-a-holic..
Spiced Almond Powder from Uma of Essence of Andhra

Chivda from Bhawana of From My Palate

Badaami Tangri from Swapna of Swapna's Cuisine
Almond Pate from Yasmeen of Health Nut
Shahi Badam Shorba from Curry Leaf of Tasty Curry Leaf
Cucumber-Almond Soup from A&N of Delectably yours,

Rice Krispies Snack from Uma of Essence of Andhra

Shahi Vegetable Kurma from Madhu of Madhu's Cooking Gallery

Microwave Chivda from Vidya of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes

Crustless Asparagus Mini-Quiches from Bee & Jai of Jugalbandi


Navaratna Kurma from Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen
Chilled Almond Soup from Priyanka of Asankhana

Almond Pilaf from Hema of Simply Spices

Baked Chicken Tenders / Fingers from Jennifer of Savor the Thyme

Meyer Lemon & Almond Green Beans from Jennifer of Savor the Thyme

Thank you once again for your enthusiastic participation and making this round-up a beautiful collection of awesome recipes!! The next "Lets go nuts" will be hosted by Poornima of Tasty treats.. and the theme is "Lets go nuts with Cashewnuts". Check out her event announcement.

Signing off from "not-so-sunny" California, JZ @ Tasty treats! Have a great day!!

PS: To those who sent in entries after the 30th, I'm so sorry for not responding to you till now, I will be visiting you all as soon as possible. Thanks for understanding!!