The holidays are here, and with the circumstances surrounding this weekend, we were more mindful than ever of the importance of holding our loved ones close and celebrating our many blessings. In this spirit, Jennie made some of her italian spice cookies to share and headed to the beach for a bonfire farewell party for London-bound Rebecca. Then, the evening turned into a double celebration when Jeff and Jennie announced some very special news. Congratulations to them both!

Sunday, everyone got down to business and helped Rebecca with the last of her packing and moving! She had lots of help from our friends, including a silly Melissa modeling the latest in basket-head fashions. When the job was complete, everyone posed for a picture and brought this lovely friend-filled weekend to a close.

How are you celebrating the season?

We are experimenting with nuts in our cooking this month, and last weekend proved to be a mostly successful experiment. Jennie and I felt fairly confident that we understood how nuts were used in baking and sweet treats, so we tried a savory nut dish instead. This pasta with walnut sauce sounded perfect and we set to work.

The recipe was incredibly simple. Thank goodness, because we were cooking it alongside about four other recipes in our usual Saturday fashion. Basically, you toast your walnuts in a skillet until they brown, then blend them with some milk-soaked bread, olive oil, parsley and parmesan cheese. Mix that with your pasta, adjusting the liquid levels of your sauce as needed, and you’ve got a delicious, protein-filled, heart-healthy pasta in about 15 minutes.

Well, sort of. That’s not quite the whole story.

To be honest, we tasted our walnut sauce and were a bit underwhelmed. It was quite nutty, but that was the only note it seemed to hit for us. Adjusting the salt and olive oil levels helped, but it was when we added a couple dashes of lemon juice that the flavors finally came to life.

With that extra citrus flavor, this pasta became a hearty, soul-warming comfort food. Perhaps it was the rush we were in to prepare several other dishes for a party, but we ended up eating most of this with our hands between photos, as it was too delicious to look at without tasting.

As leftovers, this has paired nicely with sun-dried tomatoes and feta or goat cheese which isn’t surprising. I think the lesson here is that nuts and nut butters add a rich and versatile base for other flavors, and we will probably experiment with more complex recipes in the future. I’d like to try a nut bechamel sauce, or maybe something with wine, cream, and more lemon.

What nut recipes have surprised you? What would you like to try?

This weekend we had our annual holiday party! We made many treats, but were having so much fun we forgot to photograph it – but we DID photograph just one new recipe I think you’re going to love – gluten free chocolate chips cookies.

This cookies were legitimately better than the traditional cookies, and had I not told everyone, you wouldn’t have been able to tell they were gluten free. They were chewy, chocolate, and delicious. I have been eating the ones that are left since the party…they are pretty much my favorite thing. (Can you tell I liked them?)

Here’s the recipe:

Oven temperature: 350
Bake time: 10-12 minutes

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup butter
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (I prefer King Arthur)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
8 -10 oz chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Take sugars and butter, cream until combined.
2. Add egg, and vanilla, stirring to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, xanthan gum, and baking soda (and cinnamon if using.)
4. Add to wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
5. Add chocolate chips. Make tablespoon sized cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes. Enjoy when warm!

What is your favorite kind of cookie?

I don’t think it will surprise anyone that I found this recipe for Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies on Pinterest. I was intrigued because the original recipe calls for no butter or flour. How does one make cookies without such things? Well, apparently if one is me, one in fact, cannot. One does have to include flour. I learned a very important lesson while making these cookies. Cornstarch does not equal cornmeal OR corn flour. However, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch does equal 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Thank you Internet!

Now, as I am currently cleaning out my kitchen pantry in preparation for a big move, I was a little short on baking supplies. Once I realized what I thought was cornstarch was in fact cornmeal and not helpful, I was left with two options: bread flour or whole wheat flour. All was not lost and hopeless though. I can now say with full confidence (after having eaten a completed cookie,) whole wheat flour was the way to go! Here is my adaptation on super chocolate chocolaty cookies.

Prep time: 20 minutes (it will take less time if you have a Kitchen Aid or hand mixer)
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yields: About 18 cookies

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
9 oz semi-sweet chocolate bars or chips
3 egg whites, room temperature
2 ½ cups powdered sugar, divided
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (or 1 tablespoon cornstarch)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:
Start your oven preheating to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a glass bowl or microwave safe container, heat chocolate bars until melted, about two minutes. Stir at the 1-minute mark. Continue to heat 30 seconds at a time until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

Whip egg whites in a large bowl until they are foamy and fluffy and look absolutely nothing like eggs. Add one cup of powdered sugar and whip until the mixture looks like fluff. NOTE: My entire kitchen was packed up in boxes, including my hand mixer, so my arms got a nice whipping work out. I wouldn’t recommend hand whipping this recipe, but it is possible if absolutely necessary.

Once you have a meringue-textured mixture, add an additional cup of sugar, cocoa powder, flour (or cornstarch,) and salt.

Finally, stir in melted chocolate. Don’t panic if your batter looks like it in no way will form into cookies and hold cookie shape. Form batter into small balls and roll in generous amounts of powdered sugar. My batter was very sticky, but once I rolled it in the powered sugar, everything held together perfectly!

Bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will have cracked on top and expanded when finished baking. Some of my larger cookies ended up very fudgy in the middle, but trust me, it was DELISH and not an issue. Be prepared for a delightful melt in your mouth chocolate cookie that is sure to be a crowd pleaser! Next time, I’m adding chocolate chips.

The weekend started with a holiday themed 10K race for Jennie, Jeff, and some other friends. They started their run in the morning fog at Venice beach, and despite being sick for nearly two weeks, Jennie ran a 13 minute mile average. Great work!!

Afterward, we hosted our annual holiday party and gift exchange. We made a few of our favorite party finger foods, and woke up the next morning to find notes from one of our party guests on how much they approved of the food.

Then, bright and early Sunday morning, Jennie drove me to the airport so I could head back East for the holiday season. Miracle of miracles, we were ahead of schedule, leaving us plenty of time to grab coffee and chat all the way to LAX. All our activities this weekend had something or other to do with the start of the holiday season. It has officially begun!

Did you do anything fun and holiday themed this weekend?