Stacey Makes It

I wanted to make something non-chocolate for the holidays. Yes, I know, there's white chocolate in there, but white chocolate isn't really  chocolate, right?  It has cocoa butter in it, but no chocolate solids, so I figure that's fine for someone not wanting chocolate. Stacey's Nutty Cookie Ingredients 1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, organic 1 c brown sugar, organic 1 c white sugar, organic 1/4 c peanut butter, organic 2 tbs sunflower seed butter (found this at Trader Joe's) 1 tbs Vanilla Bean Paste 2 c almond meal/flour 2 c unbleached white flour, organic 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder cookie sheet(s) Stacey's Nutty Lemon Filling Ingredients 6 oz Guittard white chocolate couverture (you could probably use white chocolate chips or any white chocolate block) 2 oz heavy cream, organic 1 tsp  Vanilla Bean Paste 1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 tsp citric acid, powdered First I made the filling since it needs to sit ...

I think most people don't recognize there is a difference between buttercrunch and toffee.  I blame See's.  See's Victoria Toffee is actually buttercrunch, at least, according to  Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner , which says that toffee has to have milk proteins in it.  As a result, "real" toffee sticks to your teeth, which is why I love buttercrunch.  It's crunchy, sweet, and rich, but doesn't hurt my old lady sensitive teeth.  I started with a recipe from the book, scaled it back a bit, and then added nuts to the buttercrunch portion.  The book recipe says to put the nuts on the chocolate, but I thought it would give the nuts a better chance at staying crunchy if they were inside the candy. Stacey's Chocolate Nutty Buttercrunch Ingredients : 2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter, organic 1c sugar, organic 1.5 oz water 2 tsp vanilla bean paste ~1.5c mix of raw (untoasted) peanuts and pepitos (pumpkin s...

My mom's favorite candy is when I make these and use them to make rocky road (of course with homemade marshmallows and premium chocolate). Stacey's Candied Spiced Hazelnuts Ingredients : 7.3 oz hazelnuts, peeled (instructions below) 1/2c sugar, organic (3.5oz) 1 tbsp (.5oz) butter, salted organic 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/8 tsp nutmeg (freshly ground) I usually only find hazelnuts that are in the peel (if shelled - I've never tried to shell my own hazelnuts) so the best way to peel them is to toast them a bit, then rub them against each other in a towel.  I used my toaster oven.  I keep my nuts in the freezer to make sure they don't go rancid.  So, I put them into a baking tray straight from the freezer into my toaster oven at 350F for 15 minutes.  When they came out they looked like this, peels cracked. I then dumped them into a towel (as many as could fit comfortably without falling out when I gathered the edges together). Once the edges were gathered together...