Crunchy Cinnamon Almonds

I took my family to the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in Daly City for the first time this year, which I heartily recommend. I called it "The Christmas Renaissance Fair", which it resembles in its cosplay aspects. You can get in some shopping, watch fun stage plays, and eat food you don't find just anywhere, such as meat pies, or bangers and mash.
One thing we all enjoyed were freshly roasted Crunchy Cinnamon Almonds, served hot in a paper cone. If course I wanted to find a recipe for it, and I did at "The Chunky Chef".
Altogether now: and then I modified it...
Here's my version:

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 egg white
3 Cups raw almonds

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside. Combine vanilla and egg white, and then whip to a froth using a wire whip or hand mixer. Mix in almonds, thoroughly coating them with the egg mixture, and then add the dry ingredients and stir to coat thoroughly. Turn out the mixture into the cookie sheet and spread out into a single layer. Bake for one hour, stirring them every 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before attempting to eat them. Store in an airtight container for up to a month.

English Toffee

Folks-
This time of year it's a tradition in my family to make my Aunt Carolyn's English Toffee. It's not the simplest candy I make (that would be the truffles) but it tastes SO much better than anything you could buy. If you like Heath Bars or Almond Rocha, you owe it to yourself to try this recipe.

English Toffee

Ingredients:

1 lb butter + extra for coating jelly roll pan

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups sugar

2 cups chopped almonds, toasted if preferred

Melted chocolate for dipping

Coat a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with sides with butter and set aside. Melt 1 lb butter and add sugar and cream of tartar, stir until thermometer reaches 275 degrees. Add chopped almonds and stir to 300 degrees. Spread into the jelly roll pan and immediately score into 1" pieces with a sharp buttered knife. Cool for about 7 minutes and break into pieces. Dip into melted chocolate and roll in chopped nuts. Refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Note: it appears most people don't realize cream of tartar is a powder, not an actual cream. You can find it in the spice section of most supermarkets.

Banana Bread Mix

Banana Bread

Folks-

My wife loves banana bread, especially mine. The problem I've had with making it consistently has been having buttermilk in the fridge at the same time that I have overripe bananas. In fact, buttermilk has been as issue for me for some time since I seldom can use it up before it spoils.

Technology has come up with a solution: dry buttermilk. You can get this at most well-stocked grocery stores in the baking isle near canned or dry milk. This recipe also calls for my vanilla sugar.

My recipe, given here, is a variation of the one in the Betty Crocker cookbook. It's so easy to work with that Zhenie, who is afraid to bake, often fixes it for breakfast. I first make a bunch of mixes of the dry ingredients and store them in ziplock bags. Then when we have the bananas for it, we break out a mix and we have banana bread! Here it is!

Mix:

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 Tbsp dry buttermilk

1 Teaspoon vanilla sugar

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Teaspoon baking powder

1 Teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Just measure out the dry ingredients into a large ziplock bag, label it, and store in a cool, dry place. Include the following on a piece of paper in the bag:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas

1/2 cup water

Banana bread mix

Place oven rack in lowest position and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of two small loaf pans or one large loaf pan. Combine butter, eggs, bananas, and water and mix until smooth. Stir in mix until well smooth and well blended. Pour into pans and bake 1 to  1-1/4 hours or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.