Date Blondies

The most yummy freakin recipe from Heifa, of Fufu’s kitchen! These blondies take fall spices in a new direction, and are a great alternative to the infamous fruit cake.

Get your fair trade dates sourced from small Palestinian farmers from Equal Exchange!

​​Ingredients

1 stick Butter, unsalted, melted equivalent to 1/2 a cup
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Flavoring
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Cardamom
1 cup Medjool Dates, pitted, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (we love Equal Exchange Dates!)
1/4 cup Pecans, toasted, chopped You can do 1/2 a cup of either pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup Walnuts, toasted, chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prep an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper. 
First, toast the nuts in a pan for 2-4 minutes until fragrant and browned then chop. Set to the side.
Mix the melted butter with brown sugar.
Add the egg and vanilla to this and stir. 
To this wet mixture, add flour, cardamom, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
Fold in the chopped dates and nuts.
Pour into the 8x8 baking pan and bake for 23-25 minutes on the top rack.
Cool the blondies to room temperature before removing from the baking dish and cut into 9 large pieces or 16 smaller ones.

https://www.fufuskitchen.com/date-blondies/#recipe

After Dinner Schnapps 

Sip, sip, sip and be merry. Rachel’s new favorite prezzie potion. Ginger spice makes digestion nice, while cacao enlivens cerebral circulation. The slight bitterness of the orange peel gets bile secretions rolling and rounds out the flavor perfectly.

Ingredients

A good handful of fresh ginger root
½ cup cacao Nibs
1 orange, chopped with peel on
Vodka, or spirit of choice to fill jar
1 Quart Jar

Directions

Chop enough ginger to fill the quart jar ⅓ full, add orange and nibs, cover with vodka. Let steep out of sun and high heat for at least one week. Strain, and add honey or sugar to taste. Bottle up and tie up with a bow. Serve (pre or) post heavy meal to ignite the digestive fire.

Nibs:

https://www.warfair.store/en/products/cocoanibs

 

Rosemary, Nettle and Almond Mushroom Bake

Fungi Perfecti. Your new (vegan) showstopper.

We are always looking to stack herbs into our meals, and this veggie mushroom bake makes it real easy to eat your medicine. Nettle tea is fine and all, but as a food, nettle offers a nice deep greens flavor and nutrition to knock your socks off. 

Ingredients

6-8 portobello mushrooms
1 large onion, sliced
¼ cup olive oil
1-2 cups (or so) almonds*
A few sprigs of rosemary and or sage and or thyme
¼ cup dried nettle
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
4 cloves garlic (more or less to taste)
Tamari sauce to taste
½ cup, or so, water

Directions

Preheat oven to 425.
Wash and destem mushrooms and lay them out in a pan. Slice onion and add to pan. Cover with olive oil.
In a blender, add all other ingredients, using tamari at the end to achieve the desired saltiness and the water to thin the mixture to a thick sauce. 
Pour sauce over the mushroom and onion mix, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Take off cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes until mushrooms are done and the top is slightly browned. 
Serve when hot.
*I like lots of sauce, but some like it more subtle…

https://shop.equalexchange.coop/collections/fruits-nuts/products/organic-natural-almonds-8oz