Triumphant Return!

Good news for me on the allergy front! My boys' allergies have improved a lot. My youngest son grew out of his egg allergy and his peanut allergy lessened considerably. My older son is no longer allergic to almonds, macadamia nuts, sesame seeds, and coconut! (Though some other nut allergies remain).

I can't tell you how much I have missed almonds over the past few years! When the allergist told me that it was time to reintroduce these things back into my sons' diets, I was more than happy to comply.

Here are a couple of my favorite almond recipes that I have recently been able to make again. Yay!

Almond Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup chopped, sliced almonds, toasted and divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup fat-free milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup amaretto (or 1/4 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, 1/4 cup almonds, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Combine milk, butter, amaretto (or water and almond flavoring), and eggs; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Spoon the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle batter with remaining almonds. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. 

Recipe note: this cake freezes well. Bake it ahead, cool completely, ,and store in a freezer bag. To serve, thaw at room temperature.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition information: 286 calories, 11.1 g fat, 5.8 g protein, 42 g carbohydrate, 1.4 g fiber, 71 mg cholesterol, 1.7 mg iron, 349 mg sodium, 108 mg calcium.

Source: Cooking Light, December 2000. You can find it here. 

Notes: I LOVE this coffee cake. It is so delicious. Please excuse the picture. I have made this cake a number of times down in the valley and it rises beautifully. Up on my mountain, it fell a little in the middle. It still tasted just as wonderful as ever though!

Above: We served our almond cake with some crepes filled with cook and serve lemon pudding (crepes and lemon pudding had been off limits due to my younger son's egg allergy). You can find my favorite crepe recipe here.

Almond Scones

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup butter (not margarine)

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in sour cream, milk, almond flavoring, and eggs until just moistened.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth (about one minute). Divide dough in half. Roll each half into an 8-inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with additional sugar, if desired.

Bake for 13-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 16.

Source: We have had this recipe for years. I am uncertain as to where my mom found it.

Notes: Holy cow, these are so good. When my mom made them for the first time, years ago, she had also made some homemade blueberry freezer jam. We used to eat this with that blueberry jam and it was just heavenly. I didn't have any blueberry freezer jam, so I served mine with a little strawberry freezer jam. So delicious! They are great plain, just on their own, too!

Above: Who couldn't go for a homemade scone and a cup of cocoa on a cold winter day?