Blog 1 + Cashew Butter Cookies

I’m not going to lie, this has taken me about 2 weeks to even begin writing. It’s very intimidating to start a blog when there are so many talented, funny, beautiful ladies out there who blog on a regular basis and create uplifting and delicious looking pieces. So, to start, a disclaimer. I am very armature – both at cooking and writing blogs! I’m also probably one of the worst photographers in the world. So please be nice!

I’ve loved cooking my entire life, and I do think I have that ‘natural’ ability to determine what flavours go well, or easy shortcuts, or when food is cooked, but until recently, it’s always just been to eat, not for enjoyment.

Now though, in my changing life, I bake to relieve stress/sadness/anxiety/boredom, when I'm happy/excited/celebrating....basically everything. I love it. Although what I mostly love is the smiles baking brings to others. You can't be sad when you have a mouthful of cake!

This blog will mostly be about sugar-related foods, however if I happen to stumble across an amazing dinner meal, I will certainly post about it, since everyone enjoys a healthy, hearty meal amongst all the sugar....

Cashew Butter Cookies

Ok, now onto the first recipe. In hindsight, it’s probably not the best for my first recipe considering how plain it is, but I wanted to do it, so I did! These appealed to me on the basis that I love cashews. Plain and simple. They were super easy, and I think possibly one of the yummiest dough’s I have ever tasted....

I did 2 batches of these. The first I rolled into balls just like the recipe said, and was going to roll them in icing sugar like advised. I didn’t though, since I was late for a meeting, so the balls just didn’t look very appealing. So the second batch I flattened into a cookie and these were much better. If you like cashews, I recommend whipping up a batch of these!

• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/8 tspn salt
• 115g butter
• 1/4 cup of icing sugar
• Dash of vanilla

Toast the cashews in a single layer until a shade darker, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely.

Place cooled cashews, flour and salt in a food processor. Grind the mixture to a fine powder. Pour mixture into a bowl and set aside briefly.

Add butter and icing sugar to the empty food processor and run the machine until the mixture is creamy and combined. Add vanilla and mix. Add the nut-flour mixture and pulse the machine until it is just combined. Scrape the soft cookie dough back into the bowl that held the nut-flour mixture, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it until firm, about an hour.

Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of the chilled cookie dough into your palms and quickly roll them into little balls or flatten into cookies. Place them evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet an inch apart. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until they feel dry on the outside, but still quite soft.