Honey Almond Cheese Spread

 

This is such a simple idea and such a good one. When I get up in the morning, I’m not particularly functional. (Heck, I’m not sure how functional I am as the day goes on.) A quickly toasted bread product with something delicious spread upon it can do wonders for my ante meridian attitude. And so I jumped on this recipe as soon as I came across it.

Well, that’s not exactly how the story goes. If you’ve been paying attention to The Messy Apron at all (or if you actually know me), you know that I don’t exactly get to anything right away. I’ve had the cookbook from which this recipe came for many years, and I had neglected it for almost as many (which is a shame because it’s great.) It was, however, only a matter of weeks after I re-discovered this recipe that I made it. We don’t have to talk about how long it took me to get it to these pages.

Anyway, the good part of the story: this is delicious, especially for how little effort it takes to make (assuming you have a food processor.) All it involves is toasting some almonds, grinding them, then whirling them with cream cheese, cottage cheese, and honey. Toasting the almonds is worth the extra time for the extra flavor, and if you can get good honey produced close to home, all the better.

I like this spread on toasted bagels, but just about any toasted bread without competing flavors will do. I think it would be great on a sturdy muffin, as the original recipe suggested, heavenly on a scone, and over the top on a croissant. It’s not especially sweet, with the cream cheese keeping it kind of tangy, but if you want it sweeter, more honey might be pretty good. I also think changing up the nuts, swapping in ricotta for the cottage cheese, swirling in some jam, or adding warm spices, like cinnamon or nutmeg would be great ways to vary the flavors without increasing effort.

This spread lasts at least a week in the refrigerator (I’ll admit that it was in mine longer, and was still just fine), so easy breakfasts on slow mornings are in the bag for a little while. Of course, so are mid-afternoon pick-me-ups and perhaps a midnight snack or two, if that’s how you prefer to roll.

Honey Almond Cheese Spread

Adapted from The Best Quick Breads by Beth Hensperger

¼ cup almonds

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup cottage cheese

3 tablespoons honey

1. Place the almonds in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Warm the almonds, stirring or tossing frequently, just until they are beginning to brown, about 5-8 minutes. Be especially careful not to burn them. Cool.

2. Place the cooled almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Process until finely ground. Add the remaining ingredients and process until well blended. Keep refrigerated for about 1 week.

Makes about 1 ¼ cup.

Another recipe like this one: Chocolate Cookie Butter 





 

Featured Ingredient: Rhubarb

I’m not sure that if rhubarb could only grow in tropical or sub-tropical climates that anyone would bother to eat it. It may simply be this bold plant’s early emergence from the cold ground in regions that have just endured a frigid, fruitless season that gives it a chance to be a culinary darling of spring.  I know I start peeking at the ground in the sunny spot next to the shed in my back yard as soon as the dirt seems mostly thawed. The first homely knob of proto-leaf and stem poking through the soil has me digging through my recipe files for the next rhubarb recipe to try.

These thick, super-sour stems (the leaves are poisonous, so don’t eat them) need a bit of doctoring to make them palatable, although I remember dipping stalks in a bowl of sugar before crunching on them when I was a little girl. The good news is that something very simple to make, such as a stewed sauce, can be very, very good, and rhubarb goes well with many fruits as well as warm seasonings, such as cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger.

My first cuttings of rhubarb usually go into a sauce, such as this one with vanilla and brown sugar. When good strawberries are available, I make this Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce.

 
And since rhubarb grows all summer long, I make this delicious one with blueberries when the occasion calls for it.

Take a little more time with sauce and it’s jam. I like to make this Strawberry Rhubarb Freezer Jam, and, though it has been a while since I’ve been able to make them, the Bluebarb Jam (blueberry-rhubarb) and Gingered Rhubarb Jam with Honey in The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard are very good. (Both are canned jams.)

Rhubarb pie is probably the most common use of rhubarb historically. Apparently, rhubarb has often been called “pie plant,” although I’ve never heard anyone call it that myself. Whatever you want to call it, it’s great in this Rhubarb Custard Pie, which is big and rich.

It’s also great in simpler creations like Rhubarb Ginger Galette and Berry and Rhubarb Galette.

Two other rhubarb desserts I love are Rhubarb Custard Bars, which are quite different from Rhubarb Custard Pie,

and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Graham Cracker Topping.

And this crumb-topped Rhubarb Yogurt Cake is a simple coffee cake that’s good for breakfast and afternoon snacks.

While I absolutely love rhubarb in sweet settings, it has some delicious savory applications as well. This Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce, which is chunky and sweet-tart, behaves sort of like a chutney.

I’ve also seen savory recipes in which rhubarb plays the same role as tamarind, providing an exotic tartness in a lentil stew, for example. I hope to try such a recipe this year and tell you how it goes.

Since rhubarb is quite prolific and grows in my yard with no effort on my part, I’ll be equipped with plenty of it to revisit my favorite recipes and try new ones - like upside down cake, old fashioned pudding cake, and rhubarb-lemon cookies! - all spring and summer long! I hope you like it too!

10 April Favorites

There are two themes that seem to cover most of my cooking in the month of April. First, since the calendar is more convinced that it is spring than much of the great outdoors seems to be, this month is kind of in between seasons. Winter cooking is out of fashion, but it’s a bit too soon for even the earliest of spring harvests (although some local hot houses are producing pretty little lettuce heads, bok choy, and kohlrabi!)

The second theme is harder to explain, but really exciting: it seems that an unusually large proportion of my absolute favorite recipes have been posted in Aprils past. Some of them were made in celebration of this blog’s birthday (I started The Messy Apron on April 16, 2009), but others were simply celebrations of the simple and delicious meals, desserts, and snacks I make often and really love.

Here is a list of 10 favorite recipes posted in the month of April, the month in which this space took form. I hope you enjoy at least some of them as much as I do.

The first recipe I ever posted was Italian Chickpeas, a simple and absolutely delicious tomato and chickpea sauce loaded with garlic and served over pasta. I still make this whenever I need a low-maintenance meal and crave its savory flavors.

Another recipe I make a lot is this Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. I try to make a few loaves a month.

This Oatmeal Bread is also great. It bakes up lovely and the oats give it some extra-delicious flavor.

And there are 3 other oatmeal-intensive recipes that qualify as April favorites:

Oatmeal Cherry Bars, which I love!

Peanut Butter Granola, which is my favorite granola recipe.

And Apricot Almond Oatmeal Cookies, which can be endlessly varied to include your favorite add-ins.

I haven’t made many Easter-themed posts, but I always keep egg salads, like this Lemon Fennel Egg Salad, in mind for using up hard boiled Easter eggs. (This egg salad is good, too!)

 

Bananas often fill in the fruit gap for me until the rhubarb comes up and the strawberries are in. I love to make this Banana Bread when they get extra brown.

For April celebrations, like a blog birthday, I love these Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting.

And just about anything you can make for celebrations will go well with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

 

Enjoy April, everyone!