Tag: Walnut

Spiced Walnut Peach Mini Bundt Cakes or Muffins

Note: I was sent a copy of Muffins (paid link) by Cyndi Duncan and Georgie Patrick in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.

One of the best perks of being a food blogger is the ability to receive and review cookbooks. Not only are they a great source of inspiration for me and my cooking journey, but they also provide a little peek into other fellow passionate cooks and bakers.

This latest cookbook, Muffins (paid link) by Cyndi Duncan and Georgie Patrick, focuses on one of my favorite foods. Muffins are one of my go-to choices for food prepping for the week.

From comforting favorites to spicy surprises, Muffins cookbook includes delicious recipes for more than 70 nourishing breakfast staples, fruity bites for brunch, and savory morsels that go great with soups and salads. The cookbook also includes ingredient substitutions, helpful baking methods, and other useful kitchen tips.

 

As my husband was paging through the cookbook, their recipe for Spicy Peach and Nut Muffins caught his attention. I used that recipe as inspiration to make these Spiced Walnut Peach Mini Bundt Cakes. Mini Bundt Cakes are essentially fancy muffins anyway, don’t you think?

And, if you have no interest in my fake fancy muffins, no worries! I’ve included info below to make these as normal muffins by using a cupcake pan.

Ingredients (makes approximately 12 mini Bundt cakes or 18 cupcake-sized muffins):

Cakes/Muffins:

  • 1 (15 oz) can peaches
  • ~3/4 cup buttermilk (see directions below)
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Glaze:

  • 4 tablespoons reserved peach juice
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Continue reading Spiced Walnut Peach Mini Bundt Cakes or Muffins

Banana Walnut Bread

I recently came home after a weekend trip to some of the saddest looking bananas I’ve seen in a long time. Which means I spent my Monday making this super delicious Banana Walnut Bread!

This recipe largely uses typical pantry items, so the next time you find yourself with overripe bananas, there is a good chance you will already have everything on hand to make this banana bread — if you don’t have any walnuts, you can substitute another nut or omit them completely.

If kept in a sealed container at room temperature, the bread will last for 4 days so it’s perfect for breakfast for most of the week!

If you want to store it longer, you can also freeze the bread by wrapping it completely in plastic wrap before adding to your freezer.

Ingredients:

  • 3 medium very ripe bananas
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Continue reading Banana Walnut Bread

Walnut Whiskey Cake

Whiskey Cake is something that has shown up to family gatherings since before I can even remember. My mom makes this cake for basically all extended family celebrations, and it has become a favorite of mine. Recently, we were celebrating a friend’s birthday and I thought a Walnut Whiskey Cake would be the perfect birthday cake for him!

My version is a bit different than the one my mom makes, but the general gist is still there. I added some candied walnuts on top because, why not, but feel free to omit them.

The best part of this recipe is it is made with cake mix and instant vanilla pudding mix, making this cake both super easy to make and incredibly moist! Using a Bundt pan makes this cake look like it took you all day to make, but the hardest part of this recipe is patiently waiting for the glaze to soak into the cake before removing it from the Bundt pan.

Walnut Whiskey Cake Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 (15.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
  • 1 (3.4 oz) box instant vanilla pudding
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
  • 2 oz whiskey or bourbon

Glaze:

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz) whiskey or bourbon
  • the juice of 1/2 orange
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Candied Walnuts:

  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Continue reading Walnut Whiskey Cake

Fesenjan Persian Chicken Stew with Walnut and Pomegranate Sauce

I am still working through my supply of pomegranates; I’m having so much fun finding different ways to use the arils!

This recipe caught my eye immediately during my search for pomegranate recipes. It uses both pomegranate molasses (made from pomegranate juice) and pomegranate arils.

Fesenjan is a Persian stew made with ground walnuts, pomegranate molasses, and typically chicken.

And, well, it’s not the prettiest dish I’ve ever made but the flavors are absolutely fantastic!

This recipe is from Simply Recipes.

Ingredients:

Chicken Stew:

  • 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 5 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (recipe below)
  • 1/2 pound walnut halves (about 2 cups)
  • 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces,
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • Salt
  • 1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds, for garnish
  • chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Pomegranate Molasses:

  • 2 cups pomegranate juice
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Continue reading Fesenjan Persian Chicken Stew with Walnut and Pomegranate Sauce

Farro Berry and Walnut Salad

This recipe from Cooking Light is actually supposed to be a side dish. But I thought this Farro Berry and Walnut Salad would make a great summer lunch! I have been looking for something that can be made the night beforehand and transports easily so this salad seemed perfect. I added in some blueberries because my boyfriend is allergic to cherries and I wanted him to still be able to enjoy a fruit within the salad (he’s fine with cherries being in something, he just has to pick them out).

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups uncooked farro
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 3/4 pound sweet cherries, pitted and halved (about 2 cups)
  • 1/3 cup blueberries
  • 2/3 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
  • 1/4 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • the juice of one lemon (about 2-3 tablespoons)
  • 1 tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon honey (or agave nectar)
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Continue reading Farro Berry and Walnut Salad

Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

I personally am not vegan. But as more of my friends dabble in veganism, I have been getting more requests to do some vegan friendly recipes. I’m honestly finding vegan baking to be relatively easy; most of the substitute ingredients are already in my pantry!

I received a bag of One Degree Organics Sprouted Spelt Flour along with some vegan baking recipes that sounded really tasty! I have never made a vegan cookie before so I appreciated the nudge towards trying and decided to make some Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.

Sprouted Spelt Flour works generally like normal flour, you just need to adjust your dry-to-wet ingredient ratio (less dry ingredients or more wet ingredients). Sprouted Spelt Flour contains more fiber, vitamins, and essential fatty acids than regular flour so it seems like a generally good switch to make. (I’m not giving up eating cookies, but hey, at least I’ve increased my fiber!)  🙂

 

One Degree Organics prides itself on using only organic foods grown using natural veganic methods for its grains used in its cereal, bread, and flours. The company also does not add any synthetic ingredients and practices sustainable growing methods. One Degree Organics actually includes a QR code and alphanumeric code on each package so that you can learn about where that specific product came from and the family of farmers behind it. Pretty cool right?

 

So I was really excited to use their Sprouted Spelt Flour in this recipe! Because this is my first time baking vegan cookies, I kept the recipe mostly intact. I did add some walnuts for a bit of crunch which resulted in these Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/3 cup One Degree Organic Sprouted Spelt Flour
  • ¼ cup Coconut Palm Sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla powder or extract
  • ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
  • ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup walnut pieces

Continue reading Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Sweet and Salty Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am on a bit of a cookie kick at the moment. I’m blaming the particularly brisk weather. I also realized that Christmas is only 7 weeks away so it’s time to test out cookies that I can give away near the holidays. Cooking Light always has really delicious sounding recipes, and this one was no exception. The original used peanuts instead of walnuts, but I happened to have walnuts on hand.

 

Ingredients
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Parchment paper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium sized bowl. Stir to combine.

 

Add sugar, brown sugar, and butter to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer until well blended (about 2 minutes)

 

Add vanilla and egg and beat until well combined.

 

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Beat on low until blended. Stir in the walnuts, salt and chocolate chips.
Add the dough to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, about one teaspoon per cookie. Keep them 2 inches apart so they don’t run together while baking.

 

Bake for 12 minutes and cool on pan for 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

 

I cooked mine for 14 minutes, and I found them to be a tad too cooked, so I suggest trying 12 minutes. You can always pop them in for a minute or two longer if need be.

I loved the random burst of salt that just enhanced the chocolate chip flavor.

I wanted a bit more walnuts though, so I’d suggest bumping the walnuts from 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup.

Past that, these were really tasty cookies!

Exit mobile version