Boozy New Year “Fortune Cookies” with almonds

When I went shopping for Christmas cookie cutters recently, I found those really cute lucky charm shaped ones – and I ended up walking home with them instead of any festive shapes. So, this year it’s New Year cookies instead of Christmas cookies! And since New Year calls for a little booze, I decorated them with Amaretto frosting, so make sure not to hand those to kids. If you don’t like almonds or amaretto, you can always use hazelnuts or walnuts and any other kind of liqueur you like. 

Apple cinnamon streusel cake with raisins and almond flakes

Ok, posting a admittedly not very guilt-free cake recipe shortly after New Year’s eve is probably not very supportive of your resolutions towards healthy food (if you made any), but this one is just too delicious to keep from you. Besides, you don’t have to bake it right now, do you? And there’s loads of fruit in it! And, ok, as in every streusel cake quite a bit of fat, but sometimes you just have to reward yourself for your amazing restraint regarding chocolate. (Self-deception? Me? Never…).

This recipe is calculated for a 23 cm diameter springform tin, and when my father and his girlfriend came over to my place for a ‘post Christmas tea’ the three of us managed to polish off half the cake – it’s seriously this good!

Spicy pumpkin muffins with almonds and dark chocolate

Yes, we’re not even close to Halloween, but I saw the first pumpkins in the store this week and I just couldn’t resist… Since any hearty pumpkin dish screamed way to much ‘summer’s gone!’ for my taste, I raided my pantry for any inspirational ingredients for something sweet, and this is the result! Pumpkin and dark chocolate always make a great combination, and the ground and flaked almonds add just a hint of marzipan flavour to it. To jazz things up a little bit, I also added some cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg to the batter. The muffins came out absolutely delicious, with just the right blend of chocolate and pumpkin flavour. Admittedly, this is not a low calorie treat, though I did try to make them a little more ‘healthy’ by using mostly wholemeal flour. If you don’t trust your self control to not eat them all in one go (they are tasty enough for this), they also freeze really well, so just put them in a freezer bag and have a nice, delicious snack for you ready at anytime!

Colourful lamb’s lettuce salad with joghurt dressing

Even if it’s getting cold outside and autumn has finally displaced the last warm summer days, I still enjoy a fresh salad for a small lunch or supper. Admittedly, it doesn’t warm you like a hot soup or stew, but gives you plenty of vitamins and is quick and easy to prepare. Lamb’s lettuce is the perfect base for any autumn salad – it has a very mild taste and can be combined with sweet or hearty other ingedients. This salad combines lamb’s lettuce, crisp ball pepper, almonds and fruity cranberries for the perfect mixture of flavours. Give it a try!