When people think about making Baklava, they assume it’s really hard. In fact, it is quite easy when you use pre-made phyllo (or filo) dough. Interestingly enough Greek Baklava is made with walnuts, white sugar and honey while Middle Eastern Baklava is usually made with pistachios and white sugar, but no honey. We are going more with a Greek version, but with only brown sugar (which has a little more flavor) because our goal is always 4 ingredients! The dark brown sugar produced marvelous results!
Read moreNutter Butter Cookies x 3
Who doesn't like fresh baked cookies? Here is a way to make them extra, extra good. The first secret is using browned butter. (The other night we had some cookies made by a friend named Jenni Rouanzoin. She used browned butter and they were just that—extra, extra good.) And who doesn’t like nuts in their cookies? I love nuts cause they make cookies crunchy and not so sweet. The second secret that makes these cookies so good is caramelizing the nuts. This gives the cookies a sort of toasty, buttery taste. Here's what you'll need:
A package of either Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal or Peanut Butter cookie mix (can be gluten-free)
A stick of salted butter + 2 tablespoons
1 & 1/2 cups of chopped nuts. (pecans for Chocolate Chip, walnuts for Oatmeal, and honey roasted peanuts for Peanut Butter)
1 egg
Optional: 1/2 cup of chopped raisins for Oatmeal and a 1/2 cup of Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips for Peanut Butter
Optional: Maldon Salt Flakes
Preheat the oven to 350
Step 1. Brown the butter. (Melt a stick of butter in a small sauce pan on medium high. Next swish butter around in the pan till it is past the super frothy stage and is deep golden brown. You then pour the browned butter into a small container and put it in the freezer.
Step 2. Wipe any browned butter residue out of small sauce pan and melt 2 more tablespoons of butter on medium. Next using a wooden spoon stir in 3 tablespoons of cookie mix. (Try to avoid any chocolate chips when you are using a choc. chip cookies mix.) You then stir in 1 & 1/2 cups of the nuts suggested for each mix until nuts are caramelized and golden brown. (**You don’t need to caramelize the peanuts because they are already honey roasted.) Cool mixture in freezer.
Step. 3 Once browned butter and caramelized nuts are cooled, mix them throughly in a bowl with an egg and rest of cookie mix.
Step 4. Follow baking directions on the package. (It does help the cookies hold together if you roll each cookie into a smooth ball of dough and use a spatula to flatten them.)
*If you are a major salt person like I am, you can sprinkle your cookies with just a bit of Maldon Sea Salt Flakes right when they come out of the oven. Beyond Delicious!
**Of course nothing goes better with warm fresh-baked cookies than a glass of milk! My Daddy used to always put the glass of milk right in the freezer to get ice cold. The best!
Looking Back
When I was at Auburn back in the dark ages, let’s just say the name Bo Jackson, a friend of mine taught me how to make “Mr Mike’s” cookies. They are much healthier than regular cookies and super scrumptious! Check ‘Em Out!