PISTACHIO HAZELNUT NOUGAT

some things you should know about nougat:

1. it is the best treat for a train ride because it will make you feel as if you're on the polar express. never mind that you've just coated your teeth in sugar and won't be able to brush your teeth until the end of your 12 hour ride. cavities don't form on trains.

2. unless you have had it in europe or made it yourself, it's unlikely that you've had nougat at its optimum chewiness. (i know this because every time i see it in a store in the states, i give it the squishy test. not one has passed.) three musketeers bars don't count.

3. eggboy does not eat sugar, but he has snuck little bites of this at least once every hour since i made it.

4. it has been the fuel of our of farmhouse kitchen remodeling efforts. (more on this later...)

5. it is stressful to make because it involves getting two separate mixtures to two separate temperatures within a quick few minutes, while you whip up some egg whites, and it makes you kinda feel like an air traffic controller. i failed the first time and created a big blob of burnt disgusting shit and it happened to be the christening of my kitchen aid, so now i am terrified that my kitchen aid thinks i'm an idiot.

6. it keeps well, so i have sent some around as little thank-yous to kristin for these amazing lip balms, sara for cranberry mead (!!) mustard, and eitan for hot chocolate and for being my surprise cousin. 

pistachio hazelnut nougat

based on this recipe from food & wine

ingredients

1/4 c cornstarch

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 2/3 c + 1 tb white sugar

1 3/4 c water

3/4 c honey

2 large egg whites

a pinch of kosher salt

3 c toasted hazelnuts, unsalted

3/4 c toasted pistachios, unsalted

clues

in a small bowl, combine cornstarch and powdered sugar. line an 8-inch baking pan with parchment, spray it with cooking spray, and dust it with half of the cornstarch mixture. set the pan and the rest of the mixture aside. 

get all of your other mixtures into place: in a large saucepan, combine 1 2/3 c sugar, the water, and 1/4 c honey. in a small saucepan, measure out the remaining 1/2 c honey. in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (have this set up near the stove), place your egg whites and pinch of salt.

heat the sugar mixture on medium-high. once it reaches 245ºf, turn the heat down to medium-low, transfer your candy thermometer to the small saucepan with the honey, and bring your honey to a boil over medium-high heat. immediately begin beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form. beat in the 1 tablespoon of white sugar. (do this while keeping an eye on the honey so you don't burn it...)

when the honey reaches 265ºf, add it to the egg whites in a steady drizzle with the mixer running at medium-high. reduce the speed of your mixer, and keep it going for the next step.

place your candy thermometer back into the sugar mixture, raise the heat to medium-high, and then when it reaches 305ºf, add it to the egg white mixture in a steady stream. beat on high for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture is pale. 

with an oiled wooden spoon, mix in the nuts, and then scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. press it into an even layer, sprinkle on the remaining cornstarch mixture and let cool. (this should take just a few hours, if that.) cut and serve, or store in an air tight container for up to two weeks.

enjoy! and then brush your teeth. 

-yeh!

PISTACHIO CALISSONS

do you ever have one of those weeks where you eat exclusively licorice, waffles, and tarts, and at the end of it all you break your streak only to eat a taco salad? and then the next day, because you broke your streak and because your pistachio kitchen aid arrived, you convert your kitchen into a pistachio-themed wannabe french candy shop, or, how do you call it, bonbonnière, by way of nougat and calissons?

hi.

i am pretty sure that last week's cavity-free dentist checkup instilled too much confidence in me, but that is ok because today i am reliving the old euroextraviganza 2011, when maria and i ate our way through nice and other fun places. back when i had bangs and wore grey nail polish and a fugly red leather jacket. 

one burning memory i have from that trip is having to resist too many calissons because, sweet cheeses, were they expensive. and for a college girl who perpetually saved up for marc jacobs bags and momofuku things? no. just no. 

now i am swimming in them and i wish i could tell a 2011 molly that it's ok: in three years time you'll live in north dakota with hundreds of calissons and you'll eat so many that you'll feel too much like a blob to do anything other than wear your boyfriend's sweatshirt and watch girls for an entire afternoon.

(2011 molly would be like who's your boyfriend? ronan farrow? and i would be like no, nick the trombonist that you haven't seen in two years. and 2011 molly would run out of the room in disbelief and utter delight.)

umm.. where was i...

oh!

so i read about a thousand calisson recipes yesterday, whose ingredients ranged from shit i don't even want to try to find in north dakota to things i think i could safely substitute. most recipes called for candied fruits, mainly citrus, and/or apricot things, and a bit of orange blossom water or grand marnier, ground with almonds and sugar. i ended up using dried apricots and a splash of lemon juice with my pistachios. the result was not so much of a omg i am in nice, but more of a ooh! these are a new kind of tasty and the perfect way to celebrate eggboy's first welding lesson.

pistachio calissons

(gluten free + dairy free)

ingredients

1/4 c dried apricots

1/2 c ground toasted almonds

1/2 c ground toasted pistachios

6 tb powdered sugar, plus more for dusting

a pinch of salt

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp water

glaze: 1 egg white beaten with 1 c powdered sugar

clues

in a food processor, grind the apricots to form a paste. add the ground nuts, sugar, and salt, and process until you have an even crumbly mixture. with the processor running, drizzle in the lemon juice and water. once the mixture comes together to form a dough, roll it out on a surface dusted with powdered sugar.

cut out little shapes, spread the tops with glaze, and let dry.

enjoy with a french accent, real or fake.

-yeh!

RECIPE: ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH SAUSAGE AND GOCHUJANG

i've lost more than ten pounds since i moved to north dakota. it doesn't really match up when you consider that local cuisine requires creamy soups and pounds of butter and that all recipes for "salad" call for jell-o and/or cool whip. oh and i work in a bakery and i've yet to join a gym.

but i attribute my loose jeans to two things:

1. i no longer have a running list of new bakeries/ice cream shops/burgers to try, like i did in new york. (the last new restaurant that opened up in town was a panera, three months ago...) and afternoons with nothing to do can never turn into a donut tour of the village. occasionally it's a bummer, but for the most part i enjoy not having the pressure of needing to be in the know with the latest pastry. is that silly? is the pressure to be in the know about pastries the worst first world problem ever?

2. eggboy and his family are all about the vegetables. a typical meal includes vegetables as the main, and meat and grains as sides. one back in new york, i had this massive mac and cheese party and lived off the leftovers for days. afterwards i felt all gross and chubby, so i asked eggboy, the resident health nut in my life, what i should do. he reads a lot of health books and he said that i shouldn't think about eating less of anything, but rather i should think about eating a lot more vegetables. that did the trick! it was yummy and i felt way better. since moving here, i've had the time to plan and cook most of our dinners, and i've needed to pack eggboy full of nutrients for his long farming days... i suppose i've done this whole vegetable thing without totally thinking about it.

we love our brussels sprouts. 

multiple times a week, our dinner is roasted brussels sprouts and then whatever meat we have on hand. local turkey, fresh elk, or sometimes breakfast sausage. and i like to drizzle the sprouts with my favorite sesame sauce.

i've lately gotten into adding gochujang, a korean condiment made from fermented red peppers. it's smoky and spicy, but not too spicy, and a little bit sweet. it can luckily (and surprisingly?) be found at most grocery stores here, so my koreatown withdrawal hasn't been too bad. i like that gochujang adds a kick and another flavor dimension, and i think it goes really well with sprouts!

roasted brussels sprouts with sausage and gochujang

makes 2-4 servings

ingredients

2 tb olive oil

3/4 pound brussels sprouts, halved

salt, to taste

2 sausage links, uncooked and with casings removed

2 tb soy sauce

2 tb tahini

1 tb gochujang, or more to taste

a drizzle of honey, optional

clues

preheat oven to 400f.

coat the bottom of an oven-proof skillet with olive oil and place the brussels sprouts face down. depending on the size of the skillet, you may need to use two in order to fit all of the sprouts. sprinkle with salt and set over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, until bottoms are browned (do not stir the brussels sprouts, keep them face down).

once sprouts are brown, give them a little stir. if you used two skillets, combine the sprouts into one. stick them in the oven for about 15 minutes, until cooked through.

meanwhile, cook the sausage, breaking it into crumbles with a spoon. also, make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, tahini, gochujang, and honey. if it's too difficult to stir, heat it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.

combine the sprouts, sausage, and sauce, and enjoy!

-yeh!

RECIPE: MOLASSES & WALNUT BUTTER COOKIE BARS (GLUTEN FREE + DAIRY FREE)

in the craft cave of my dreams, walls are lined with spools and spools of candy striped string. drawers house every rubber stamp ever made. and endless stacks of earthy colored felt sit artfully on a rustic wooden table. 

glitter glue runs from a faucet, and yarn from my pet alpaca gets dyed with berries from the tree out back.

maybe a kiln will double as a pizza oven.

sigh.

the things we think of in anticipation of a craft workshop.

a craft workshop! i haven't been to a craft workshop since grade school art class when lisa frank was my bff. but now i am anxiously testing recipes for some goodies that i'm making for the guests at the be crafty workshop in fargo this weekend.

i'm so excited. i'm going to smear elmer's glue all over my hands and then peel it off.

(no i'm not.)

i'm in the early stages of a molasses obsession. i can feel it. i've never before had such strong feelings about molasses, but the other day at the bakery i was making about 12,000,000 gingerbread boys and the molasses smell approached me in a way it never had before. i suddenly needed molasses in all corners of my life.

is this what growing up is?

and speaking of the bakery, one of the owners was in the newspaper this week with a great recipe for walnut butter! i made it. and then i mixed it with molasses and a few other things to produce really delightful, chewy cookies!

i think they'll be the perfect crafting snack.  

molasses & walnut butter cookie bars

makes six large bars

ingredients

1 c walnut butter

2 tb molasses

1/2 c brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 c almond meal

a pinch of ground ginger

a pinch of salt

clues

preheat oven to 375.

line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

in a medium bowl, mix together the walnut butter, molasses, brown sugar, and egg.

in a small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients.

add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. (mixture should be a bit goopy, but manageable. if it's too moist, add a bit more almond flour.)

shape dough into bars, place them on your baking sheet, and bake for 18-20 minutes.

-yeh!