Thursday, December 16, 2010

FFWD - Sweet & Spicy Nuts & Speculoos

It's a French Fridays with Dorie two-fer! I was on vacation last week and didn't have a chance to write a post about the Speculoos I made before I left.



I had some issues with the Speculoos. The dough was too sandy and wouldn't come together even after chilling. I kept thinking that the recipe should have called for an egg. More on that on a minute. I rolled out the dough, cut out a few small cookies and tossed the remaining mess. Fully expecting these to be a disaster, I was extremely pleased to find the cookies were delicious! Crunchy and full of warm cinnamony/gingery flavor! My daughter commented they tasted like Biscoff cookies, those yummy treats Delta often hands out on their flights. I kicked myself for not being more patient and throwing out half the cookie dough.



Fast foward a couple of weeks and while reading through other blog posts about Speculoos, I remembered the ERRATUM! My baking instincts were correct - the batter should have had an egg. So, I can't wait to try these again with the corrected recipe because they were pretty dang good even with my goof up!



The Sweet & Spicy Nuts were just okay. I like to make David Lebovitz's Candied Peanuts (or almonds or pecans) around the holidays and was excited to try a spicier version of a candied nut. While they tasted fine, I thought they were kind of generic and lacking a bit in spice and heat. I followed the recipe to a tee, and even hand picked each of the pecans out of the batter. I thought this step was a bit tedious especially since I still had to seperate the nuts after baking. Not a bad recipe by any means, just not what I was hoping for.







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12 comments:

  1. Your cookies look nice, even without the egg! Your nuts look good too. I agree, they need a little more spice. I made them with curry powder the second time and they were really yummy (and more cayenne!)

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  2. I am laughing at your not adding an egg. I have not made these yet and I just know, I am going to forget that egg.

    The nuts at first did not seem spicy enough but on the second day, mine livened up.

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  3. I agree with Steph... even without the egg, they look wonderful! And the nuts are so pretty in that Christmas dish. I love it! :)

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  4. Well heck the cookies look splendid even if you messed up..I think the nuts look great even if they werent' your fav. Happy Holidays to you and yours!!

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  5. I hand wrote the egg in my book, because I just KNEW I would lose that little slip of paper. But they made a really pretty picture!

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  6. So sad about the egg! I hand wrote a egg into the recipe...but it made me feel badly that I wrote in my new cookbook...but I'm glad I did or I would have forgotten the egg too!

    Your nuts are beautiful, and I played with the spices...put in a big more. I will have to check our David Lebovitz's recipe to compare...but...everyone loves my nuts, in fact, today someone was comparing them with a package from David and Harry (or Harry and David...) anyway, they are expensive and a special treat and mine got the rave reviews...way over the top of the specialty store bought nuts!

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  7. The nuts are one of my favorites so far. I think the cookies are next, and I keep reminding myself to write in the missing ingredient so I don't forget it. I'd never have known because your cookies look delicious.

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  8. This was the first time I made candied nuts, and they tasted great. Now I have to go look for David Lebovitz's recipe and Miss Kris's!
    I have the little paper on my desk, but I am fairly sure that I will forget all about the egg when I make the cookies next week.
    Thanks for another reminder:)

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  9. I've never heard of speculoos! I hardly ever fly Delta anymore but loved those cookies when I did. Bookmarking these to make in the future!!

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  10. I;ve been hearing tons of stories about Biscoff and have never had one before, so I'm looking forward to these cookies so that I can get an idea of what they would taste like. You're cookies and nuts look super yummy!

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  11. Your cookies and nuts both look great! I placed each nut on the sheet individually, but I don't know what it accomplished. Next time, I'll add more spice and also just spread them in the pan. A fast recipe will be even faster!

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  12. I can't believe how well your cookies turned out without the egg! They look great.

    I think it's really important to experiment with the nuts until you've got a spice mix that suits you. I've tried them a couple of times now and they've been quite tasty.

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Tell me what ya think!

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