Winter Wishes

The team of Service-centric Networking wishes you happy holidays, time for relaxing, reflecting on the important things in life, and all the best for 2014.

Cranberry-Macadamia Cookies

• 125g Macadamia nuts (roasted, unsalted)
• 125g butter or margarine
• 150g brown sugar
• 1 vanilla pod
• 2 eggs
• 2T whipping cream
• 300g flour
• 1 pinch baking powder
• 125g dried cranberries

Chop the Macadamia nuts. If the nuts are salted, wipe the salt off first. Melt the butter in a small pot and let it cool down a bit. Give the melted butter into a bowl and stir in both sugar and vanilla extracts. Whisk eggs and whipping cream and stir it in. Shift flour and baking powder and pour it into the bowl. Mix with your hands to form a dough. Finally, knead the Macadamia nuts and cranberries into the dough.

Form cookies from the dough (use approx 2T dough for each cookie) and arrange them on a baking plate. Bake for 12 minutes at 180°C/355°F.

Triangle Nut Bars

For the crust:

• 130g butter or margarine
• 130g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 300g flour
• 1t baking powder
• 1/4t salt

For the topping:

• 4T apricot jam
• 200g butter or margarine
• 200g sugar
• 2t vanilla extract
• 200g hazelnuts, grounded
• 200g hazelnuts or almonds, slivered
• 4T water
• Chocolate icing

To make the crust:
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add remaining ingredients and mix with your hands, until everything is well combined and mixture turns into a smooth dough. Transfer to lightly floured working surface and roll into a rectangle of the size of your baking sheet. Transfer to sheet and spread with apricot jam. Set aside.

To make the topping:
Combine margarine, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Over medium heat, melt margarine and stir until well combined and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add nuts. Spread mixture on top of the crust. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350°F/175°C until the topping looks golden brown and crispy. Cut into squares and then into triangles.

Transfer to cookie rack to cool.

Melt the chocolate and dip the corners of the bars into it. Transfer to cookie rack one more time until the chocolate is cooled and hardened.

Have fun trying out these recipes :-)