Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

            recipe from Rhonda of Shadow Jewels  /  post edited by Angela of Windy City Knits

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

In my quest to create recipes for healthier snacks, I have struggled with this one, probably my favorite snack of all.  I've tried many batches with different modifications, some better than others.  If you also long for crunchy, chocolatey goodness, but are tired of pre-packaged snacks full of high fructose corn syrup, too much salt, and even weirder stuff like sorbitan monostearate, this is the recipe for you.  Even my super picky health food freak of a husband goes for these (love you honey!).

1 cup soft butter

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1-1/2 tsp vanilla

1-1/4 cups white wheat flour

1 cup almond meal

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 10oz bag dark chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup dried fruit

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together.  Blend the dry ingredients, then stir into the butter mixture.  Add the chocolate, nuts and fruit and stir until well mixed.

Bake at 375* for about 10 minutes, just until the edges are starting to brown.

Easy peasy!  Now, I wouldn't go so far as to call these "healthy snacks", because they do have a lot of calories and you probably shouldn't eat a whole plate of them at once.  But they have a lot less sugar and salt, and way more fiber than packaged cookies.  If you are really brave, omit the salt completely and cut the sugar down to 1/2 cup.  There is plenty of sweetness in the chocolate and fruit.  If you can't find white wheat flour (I get mine at Trader Joe's), then use a mixture of whole wheat and plain white flour.  You can substitute wheat flour for the almond meal if you can't find that.

What are you waiting for? Mix up a batch and tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you.

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Cinnamon - Roasted Almonds

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Cinnamon - Roasted Almonds Recipe

  Written by Angela from Windy City Knits / Recipe courtesy of AllRecipes

I love almonds! They are a great snack and healthy for you too. Almonds contain healthy fats, vitamin E, magnesium and potassium. This is a great way to jazz them up a bit and it makes a great party snack.

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 teaspoon of cold water

4 cups whole almonds

1/2 cup of white sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Lightly grease a 10x15 jelly roll pan. (or use a Silpat nonstick mat on the pan).

Lightly beat the egg white in a large bowl. Add the water, and beat until frothy but not stiff. Add the almonds and stir until well coated. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, salt and cinnamon and sprinkle over nuts. Toss to coat, and spread evenly on the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour, stirring about every 15 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

You can switch the white sugar to brown sugar for a little darker color and you could add a teaspoon of vanilla for a different flavor. 

Enjoy!

Angela

Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
     recipe by Kelly from Galeaz Glass written by Angela from Windy City Knits


A wonderfully rich, warm and gooey Bread Pudding recipe with a creamy Bourbon sauce. An extra special dessert for your next occasion.

~12 Servings

Pudding
3/4 cup raisins
2 TBS rum

1 lb French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cup milk (do not use lowfat or skim)
1 cup half and half
3 eggs beaten to blend
2 cup sugar
3 TBS unsalted butter, melted
2 TBS vanilla 
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Sauce
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 
1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3 TBS Bourbon (or whiskey)

For pudding: Place raisins in a small bowl with rum.  Let soak 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325F.  Generously butter a 13x9x2 baking pan.  Place bread in large bowl.  Pour milk and half and half over bread.  Let soak 5 minutes.  
Whisk eggs with sugar, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Pour over bread; add rum soaked raisins and toss together to coat.  Transfer bread mixture to prepared 
pan.  Bake until top is deep golden brown (bread may puff above rim of pan), about 1 hour.

For sauce: Melt butter with both sugars in heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugars dissolve.  Whisk egg in small bowl to blend.  Gradually whisk in some
of the melted butter mixture.  Return mixture to saucepan and whisk until smooth, 1 minute.  Do not boil.  Whisk in bourbon (or whiskey)

Serve pudding with sauce while warm or reheat.  Add French vanilla ice cream or homemade sweetened whipped cream.


Kelly is a Stained Glass artist with over 20 years experience. You can see her beautiful work in her Etsy shop. 

Stained Glass Jewelry Box

Galeaz Glass

Mulled Spiced Wine

                      Mulled Spiced Wine
                                                              written by Angela from Windy City Knits

I first tried "Gluhwein", mulled spiced wine, last year at the Christkindl Market here in Chicago. This wine based beverage is served warm to warm you up on the coldest of winter days. Here is a simple recipe for you to give it a try.This recipe can be made and served in your Crock Pot or a large pot on the stove.

                                                 32 oz. Apple cider
                                              32 oz. Red wine
                                              1 orange, sliced thin
                                              a handful of cinnamon sticks
                                              1 teaspoon ground cloves
                                              sugar to taste
      --Mix all ingredients in a large crock pot slow cooker. Simmer 2-3 hours. Serve warm.


Enjoy and stay warm!

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Gingerbread House Fun

                   Gingerbread House Fun

                                         written by Angela from Windy City Knits

Every year around this time my two girls and I make a gingerbread house. We have so much fun putting it all together and decorating it with colorful gumdrops and candies. It is a wonderful memory making experience. This year we are going to try something new. If you have ever watched any of the cake competition shows on Food Network you know that they use rice krispie treats for a lot of their cake construction and I thought that would be a great way to do a gingerbread house. And what do you know, I was at my local Target and what did I see? A kit for a Crispy Rice House. Perfect! It comes with the cereal, marshmallows, icing, candies and molds for the cereal. I am planning on making this with my girls this weekend and will be back shortly with photos, but in the meantime I thought I'd leave you with some awesome gingerbread houses I've found on Pinterest !

Swedish Gingerbread House

Old Country Gingerbread House

Are you an experienced Gingerbread House builder? I'd love to hear some of your special touches or secrets.

Happy Holidays!

Potato Leek Soup

Potato Leek Soup recipe
Written by WindyCityKnits, Recommended by Shadow Jewels

Hi, Rhonda here from ShadowJewels, with a wonderfully delicious cold weather recipe to warm you up! My husband has requested that I make a pot of his favorite soup, potato leek (and how can I say no to someone so cute?). This is another one that I don't use a recipe for, so I'll write it down for you all as I go along.

Potato leek soup

Ingredients
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 leeks
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 12 cups water
• "Better than Bouillon" vegetable base
• rosemary
• sage
• herbs de provence
• 12 cups diced potatoes



Preparation
• First prepare the leeks. Cut off the very bottom, and a couple of inches from the tops.
• Now remove the white part in one chunk, rinsing well, and dice into small cubes. Start to peel the leek apart one layer at a time, discard the tough outer layer of greens. Rinse thoroughly as you work, saving all of the lighter green parts. Dice into small pieces.
• Rinse and chop the carrots and celery.
• Melt the butter in a large soup pot and add the chopped vegetables.
• Cook over medium heat until the vegetables start to turn translucent and the flavors are well blended, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the water, salt and pepper to taste, 2 spoons of the better than bouillon, 1 tsp dried sage leaves, 1 tsp herbs de provence, and 1 tsp dried rosemary (or a few sprigs of fresh rosemary if you have it).
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
• Add the potatoes, bring back to a boil, then simmer 30 minutes more, or until potatoes are tender.
• At this point, you can leave the soup as is and serve chunky style; or you can make a cream soup by blending  it with a hand held mixer, or in your blender.
• Then stir in  a small carton of cream or half and half. Reheat if necessary, but do not boil once the cream is added.
• Serve with grated cheese.

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Featured here on the left is one of ShadowJewel's beautiful designs, a bracelet with vintage Swarovski Medeira topaz crystals. Check out ShadowJewel's shop for more wonderful shabby chic and Victorian style jewelry using vintage rhinestones, lampwork glass, crystal beads, and genuine gemstones. 

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