OMGtellmeaboutit.

Minifobette has a teacher, two aides, and a speech therapist at school, plus 6 more therapists at private therapy. Then back at school there's Minifob's teacher, plus the nurse, special ed coordinator, librarian, and counselor, each of whom spend personal one-on-one time with one or both of my kids. I didn't even bother with the rest of the staff who only interact with them the same amount they interact with all the other students.

(For the record, I made glatt's wife's awesome spiced nuts for all of them. They've become a yearly tradition at our house, and everyone I give them to always raves about them.)

I just read Glatt's awesome nuts.
















































I'm sure they are.

If you liked reading about them, you should try putting them in your mouth.

Where are Glatt's nuts? I wanna see! :D

I just read the recipe, or rather, looked at the instructional pictures (the best kind in my opinion :D ) and it sounds absolutely wonderful. I will try this. I know a number of people who love nuts. Gonna buy some nuts and clove tomorrow.

Glatt's nuts sound delicious!

By the way, I went back to read Clod's post. I initially misread that she gave Glatt's wife some spiced nuts. That's why I was wondering where was the post about the nuts. :p: :lol:

Clod: regarding the spiced walnuts, does it matter if you use canola oil or not? can it be vegetable oil?

Any type of oil is fine. Well, olive oil might taste weird. But I've used canola, grapeseed, and sunflower, at least.

Ugh! I couldn't find ground cloves at the store today. :( I was really hoping to make the spiced nuts tomorrow. I'm thinking of smashing the whole cloves that I have, hehe.

I made a second batch of pastisettes last night and they turned out MUCH better. So for anyone wanting to try -- this time I upped the oven to 310F and baked for 15-18 minutes per batch. Way better texture.

Yes, I quoted myself. :lol: Anyways, I'm just gonna omit ground cloves. I've ran out of time. I'm going to make the spiced walnuts then chocolate pound cake first thing tomorrow morning before my sister needs to cook. I made another version of fruit cake cookies today but forgot to take pictures. I have a few of them left of which I'll take pix tomorrow.

People liked them except for my mom who said they tasted good in a "meh" attitude. She hasn't eaten them again since the morning that I made them. By the way, I burnt some nuts. Those definitely tasted "meh." :lol:

The spiced nuts are perfect for that. This year we didn't make enough for me to give any away. They barely made it to Christmas before we ate them all.

Nuts are so expensive to buy though. Where do y'all get yours?

Nuts are expensive. We get ours at the grocery store.

Albany, Georgia. The best you can buy and great people to deal with.

Plus, they keep in the freezer forever (over a year at least,) so if you know you'll eat them eventually, it's worth it to buy in bulk.

I get mine at the grocery store too, that's why I asked. I'm thinking of giving the teachers spiced nuts rather than my usual homemade cookies. Thanks to Bruce's link and Clod's suggestion, I may just do that. This girl who ate the spice nuts mentioned several times that she thought they were really good and wondered if I'd serve them for Vietnamese New Year.

I have plans to make a batch of these spiced nuts. I bought a two pound bag of walnut halves for $18 bucks at Cash and Carry. That seems like a fairly good price.

We don't have Casy and Carry here in Houston. I looked it up and found it to be a wholesale and restaurant supply store. We have those kind of stores here. I can look around to see and compare prices before I order. I've decided not to make any for New Year anyways. Blah, feeling like a humbug so I'm not gonna cause extra work for myself. Thanks, V. :)

You're welcome. :)

Do these look burnt to you? Hihi....I burnt them the last I did it. This time, I reduced the temp, and thy still burn. Ugh! I didn't smell it like last time though. My mom said how come they're all burnt. I replied that the nuts aren't burnt, that's how the color supposed to be. She popped one, right out of the oven, into her mouth. "They're burnt!" She exclaimed. Darn , I couldn't fool her. Hehehe.....I guess I'll be eating them by myself. :P

Anyways, Clod, how did you manage NOT to burn your nuts?

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Gas or electric oven? What temp? What rack, top, middle or bottom?
Inquiring minds need to know.

Bottom rack will almost always burn things
Electric ovens are a pain in the ass and will often burn things
I think nuts are usually cooked at less than 300°f, like 250° or something.

You also have to stir them every five minutes, literally. The upshot to this is you'll be watching them so closely, they can't possibly burn.

Also, like foot said: middle or top rack only, and turn down the heat if your oven tends to be overzealous.

Electric oven, mid rack, 300 F. I followed the recipe, which said to stir after 10, 10, 5, 5 minutes. Next time I'll set the temp at 250 and stir every 5 mins. If the nuts still burn, I'll switch to top rack. :P

I toast nuts in a heavy cast iron pan, takes about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, high heat.

In that case, just taste one every time you stir. When they're crispy but not burnt, eliminate all the rest of the instructions and stop cooking them. :) (You did boil them first, right? That's also part of the recipe.)

Yes, I boiled them first. I don't know how to cook/bake, so I always follow the recipe. :P

There is nothing worse than burning your nuts!

Thought I'd put the question here although it might be better elsewhere. Teacher's Appreciation week is next and I still haven't decided what I want to do. I thought making cookies would be boring because I've been doing that for the last few years. I give them cookies for Xmas and Teacher's Appreciation week. However, a friend said the teachers would appreciation home baked goods because they hardly get these. She suggest I could give brownies or cupcakes since I make good ones. Or fruit tarts because she'd want one or two if I decide to make these. :rolleyes: I've thought of the spice walnuts but nuts are expensive since there are many teachers to give to. So, should just bake them cookies like usual? Or something else?

Cupcakes. :yum:

I think I'd prefer the real fish and chips. :lol: Looks interesting. I'll check out the recipe later. Don't wanna spend too much time doing these.

Has anyone tried seven-layer cookies? Heard of it in a TV show, so when I saw HEB selling them, I had to buy some to try. They were absolutely yummy! Found the recipe but not sure if I'd want to make these to give because it'd be my first time trying it out and I'm not very handy. Anyways, if you haven't tried these, do so!

Got a link to the recipe?

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/fo...Cookies-233296

or

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/...layer-cookies/

I haven't tried either so I decided to give you both. Let me know which one is better. :D

Not much chance of me making them, I print recipes for my 93 year old aunt.
She doesn't bake a lot anymore but loves to collect recipes.:rolleyes:

Wow, these both take a seriously long time... one chill step is 8 hours, in both recipes.
The second recipe as some good tips at the end for avoiding problems.

Oh yeah, one of the note says you don't really need 8 hours. Rather than measuring 8 hours, just stick it in the fridge overnight.

If all you want are recipes, I have plenty to give you. :D

Since Bruce's suggestion was too complicated and no one else offered any, I am making Duncan Hines cupcakes for the teachers. :D someone did recently tell me I make excellent cupcakes...lol. :D

Sorry darling, with my appetite down an no staff to cook for, I've been a bit lazy about keeping up with your culinary advdentures.

PM me next time to tell me to get my lazy arse into your thread :)

ETA - those fish & chip cupcakes are stunning.
But I'd rather have the real thing
Nice find though, Bruce. too ;)

Oh, it's okay, Sundae. I wasn't really whining (I hope). I've been feeling lazy lately. This year has not started good and things aren't looking up yet. Anyways, I'd rather have the real fish and chips too. :lol:

I made brownie with white cake cupcakes. Bought the boxes from Michael's. When we (my nephew and I) gave the box to the principal, she asked if I run a bakery. Hehe....I hope that implies that all the past baked goods I gave her were yummy. :D Well, she could just asked because the box was nice. :P
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Yummy! They look super cute, Lola!

Maybe you should run a bakery, Lola! Those look professional! :yum:

Thanks, Chocolat and Ortho. :) These were super easy to make too. I used cake mix and brownie mix, hehe. My mom thought they were delish. :D

Hmmm....now I have to go make cupcakes! Thanks lola!!!

Made cookies to give to the ladies who open doors for the kids in the morning at school and the crossing guards.
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Lucky volunteers! I'll take half a dozen thanks. :)

Mmmm. :yum:

I'm no Lola Bunny, but I have plans in the works to open a bakery booth at the local farmer's market twice a month. I'll be specializing in whoopie pies -- which are like if an Oreo and a cupcake made a baby, if you've never had them. :yum:

Wish me luck!

Attachment 45065
A s'more whoopie

Attachment 45066
A classic chocolate cake with marshmallow filling

Well, if you send me some, I'll let you know if they're good enough. :lol: Just kidding. :p: They look good though. Good luck!

Thanks, Lola! I started a donations page to help me drum up start up money, in case any one has "extra money" they feel like throwing my way. :lol: A girl can dream, right?

I didn't make these butt I thought they were kool.

Fargon, those are amazing! My grandfather would've loved those. :lol:

Objectively speaking, they look delicious.
Objectifyingly speaking, they make me drool in anticipation of tasting them.

I forgot to snap a picture until later at the party. I received many compliments. :-D

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Well done. :thumb:

Star Wars cookies

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...iwifl3syji.jpg

That is so kewl.