Cookies from my Swap Partners

Thanks to Michelle at Amour Beurre for these great cookies with Pomegranate frosting!

Thanks to Alyssa from Everyday Mavens for these great Whole Wheat Gingerbread Biscotti!






This was a great Swap and I hope to do it again next year!

We will be back to our regularly scheduled recipes in the next day or two.

Great cookie swap!

I got my spatula ready and whipped up some cookies for the Blogger Cookie Swap this year. I think these turned out great! I hope my swap partners enjoy them as much as I did! Thank you to Alyssa Brantley of Everyday Maven and Michelle of Amour Beurre for being my swap partners. Your cookies were amazing! Posting pictures of them tomorrow. Thanks to everyone, it was a great swap! 

These cookies are based on a Dutch South African favorite spice cookie called soetkoekies. 

Spiced Wine Cookies

1/2 cup chilled Olive Oil, I used Vanilla

2 cups flour, whole wheat

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup port wine

1 tbsp almond meal or slivered almonds

Cinnamon Pear Frosting

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup cinnamon pear balsamic

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease your cookie sheet.

Sift your dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add olive oil and cut together.

Add the eggs and wine. Mix until the dough starts to come together into a ball. Dough will be sticky.

Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Flatten lightly.

Bake 12-15 minutes. They should be lightly browned. Cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:

Stir the balsamic and confectioner's sugar together. It will be very thick and sticky. Frost and allow to set before putting in tins.

Pizza for lunch!

I have been so busy this past weekend that I haven't gotten to make anything new. Which is also awful because it left me with nothing for lunch!

Thankfully, we have lots of amazing restaurants in the area. I called our neighbor Villa Vito's and got a pizza for lunch. They make the best pizza.

I got a pizza with no cheese, peppers and onions.

I drizzled it with our newest Sicilian olive oil and some Toasted Onion salt. Mmmmmm.....

Robin's Eggplant

Customer Robin sent in an idea for roasting eggplant. Sorry I didn't get to make this one. It sounds great! Thank you Robin!

Robin's Eggplant

Slice eggplants (don't peel).

Spray with olive oil, plain. Brush each slice front and back with Pear Balsamic.

Bake at 350degrees until crispy but not burnt.

Pasta a la Gypsy

Big thanks to Joumana of Taste of Beirut for this amazing recipe. I'm sorry for not following it more closely, but I just can't make things easy for myself. What can I say? I'm just too impatient.

Pasta a la Gypsy
adapted from Taste of Beirut

1 eggplant
1 16oz can tomatoes, chopped or crushed
2 onions
2 anchovies*
1/2 cup milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp red pepper paste*
4 tbsp fresh parsley
1 bag Maesti Pastai Penne*
1/4 cup Garlic Olive Oil

Peel and cut the eggplant into small chunks. Toss with salt and let sit in a colander about 30 minutes.

Chop the onions thinly and saute in the Olive Oil over medium heat until they start to soften. Rinse the eggplant and shake dry. Add to the onions and add to the pan. Saute for another 5-10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and simmer about 15 minutes.

Mash the anchovies and stir in the milk. Add the mixture and the parsley into the pan and simmer another 10-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta to al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water or use 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Stir the pasta and water or broth into the eggplant sauce. Mix well and serve warm.

*All starred items can be found in out store or ordered by phone.

Mulling Spices

Our newest spice blend is a Mulling Spice blend. I am very excited about it. Besides smelling absolutely amazing, they are just so pretty. I am a big fan of star anise.

We had a cider tasting this weekend at the store witch was a big success. Everyone loved it. And at the end of the weekend, we still had a little left and I have to say it's great cold too.

My favorite thing is the small bags we got to go with it! Small muslin bags you can put the spices in so you don't have to fish them out later. And you can reuse them too. So it's a win-win.

Customer Recipe: Steamed Edamame with Balsamic Vinegar

We recently got a very nice email from one of our customers. They sent us a recipe for steamed edamame with balsamic vinegar too. 

Thank you Chris and Jaime! 

Here is a picture of the edamame that we made tonight. Basically, just steam up a fresh batch of edamame, and place it in a bowl. Drizzle with your favorite balsamic, Chocolate Mandarin in this case, add fresh ground salt and pepper to taste, then a quick toss with a pair of tongs. Absolutely delicious! 

Thank you for bringing these great flavors into our home! 

-Chris and Jaime