Welcome to the journey,the tale and the saga of our
Homestead.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Wintering in and Cashew Butter cookies















Halloween ended up being an early night here,we have a younger crowd of kids in the neighborhood theses days.Chance did have fun spooking a few young teens.When we pick our costumes Chance always picks something a bit scary while I pick a more lady like character to be,to guide the littlest ones up the walk to the door.
This year Chance was a space alien type someone and I was a 70's mama.I could not believe my luck when I found my suit esp.since it fit perfectly.

The next day was a stolen day here in the wet northwest,we awoke to thick damp fog only to have it clear up to brilliant blue skies.The day ended up being warm enough to be outside in just a tee shirt.Not wanting to waste such a treat for the first day of November we spent the day out side wintering things in.
Chance built a cloche over our young Swiss Chard bed out of parts he had in the shop. We are hoping it will work and allow us to have fresh Chard all winter long.
I planted a cover crop of Red Clover,raked leaves that I added to the path in the back yard,chopped down the Sunflowers which had trunks not stems.I left the sunflower heads out in the yard for the birds. I also cut down the Hop vines.Chance twisted the vines into wreaths; I am not sure what he has planned for them but they already look nice as they are.
Once I was indoors I baked a batch of Cashew Butter Cookies from a recipe I picked up at our local whole foods store.The cookies are super rich and no one was able to eat more than two due to the richness. (I am posting the recipe below for all of you.) I used the Cashew Butter Chance makes here at home, he makes it chunky and sweetened with honey, both of these points stood out in the cookies I will be making them again.

Cashew Butter Cookies - from New Seasons Market

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl stir together:
1 1/3 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Add to the above:
1/2 Cup Butter
1 1/4 Cups Cashew Butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together until mixed.Spoon heaping Tablespoons onto a cookie sheet and press down with your fingers.(These cookies don't spread much.) Bake 12 - 15 minutes or until edges are browned.Let cool before removing from cookie sheet.(This step was important,until the cookies are cool they will fall apart if you try and remove them while hot.)
The recipe says it will make 10 -18 cookies which I was thinking would keep me from trying them again due to the cost of the Cashew Butter but, I was able to make 24 medium sized cookies from the batch. I also was thinking about their crumbling so easily would not make them easy to transport or send in the boys' lunch boxes.But maybe if I made them into a sandwich filled with butter cream frosting they may be able to travel.
The weather report is saying it will be clear and sunny here this week.I hope it holds true,we are headed into the wet gray season, a few more days of dry sunshine is welcome.
Rois

1 comment:

  1. mmm can't wait to try these cookies.

    Do you know how to store pumkin seeds for planting next spring? If so zip me an email. Or post if you think others are interested. I've currently got seeds in the fridge.

    ReplyDelete