Ginger Glazed Almonds With Dried Fruit Food

GINGER ALMONDS

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.
• Combine the ginger and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil and sesame oil in a 12-inch saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the arbol chile and cook, stirring frequently, until the chile begins to give off an aroma, 30 to 45 seconds. Add the almonds and cook, stirring frequently until lightly toasted, approximately 5 minutes. Add the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and cook until reduced slightly and the pan looks dry, approximately 1 minute. Immediately remove the nuts to the large bowl and toss with the ginger mixture.
• Spread the coated nuts into a single layer on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pan to a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes or until completely cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

GINGER-GLAZED ALMONDS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Melt butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat. Add remaining ingredients except almonds and cook, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, then add almonds and stir until coated.
• Spread almonds in a lightly oiled shallow baking pan (1 inch deep)and bake, stirring occasionally, until insides of nuts are golden (cut 1 open to test), about 25 minutes. Cool completely.

GINGER AND ALMOND BARS

Steps:

• Center a rack in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line the pan with baking parchment, letting the parchment hang over the sides. (This will make it easier to remove the dessert once baked.)
• Prepare the base:
• In the saucepan, melt the butter. Add the almond meal, fresh ginger, honey, egg, salt, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. The mixture should be thick and sticky.
• Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan. To help make a level and even base, place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the base. Using a flat-bottomed glass (or your fingers), smooth out the base by pressing gently to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Remove and discard the plastic wrap. Bake until the base is slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the topping:
• In the same saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the almonds, candied ginger, honey, salt, and vanilla. Stir just until the ingredients are incorporated.
• When the base is baked, spread the topping evenly over the base and bake until the topping is dark and sizzling, 12 to 15 minutes. Do not underbake.
• Transfer the pan to the baking rack to cool. When the dessert is completely cool, remove it from the pan using the overhanging parchment as handles and cut it into 16 even squares.
• Do Ahead
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
• Variation:
• Chestnut Honey Squares: For the base, replace 1 cup (90g) almond meal with 3/4 cup (120 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour and use a strong honey, such as chestnut, in place of the mild honey. For the topping, replace the candied ginger with organic candied orange or lemon peel, cut into tiny cubes.

FLOURLESS APPLE, ALMOND, AND GINGER CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Grease and line a 26 cm (10 1/2 inch) springform cake tin.
• Peel and core the apples, then cut into wedges.
• Over medium heat, melt the butter in a frying pan large enough to fit the apples in one layer. Add the apple wedges, caster sugar and cloves and toss to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are well coated, soft and starting to colour, about 5-10 minutes. There should be no liquid left in the pan. Remove the cloves, add the raisins and cook for another minute or so to soften. Remove from the heat and cool.
• Process the ground almonds, whole almonds, ginger and baking powder in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Set aside.
• In an electric mixer, whisk the eggs, raw sugar and maple or golden syrup until light and fluffy. Fold in the nut mixture and cooked apples. Pour into the prepared tin.
• To make the topping, core and thinly slice the apples and arrange over the cake batter, overlapping slightly. Scatter the almonds on top, pour the melted butter over and then sprinkle on the sugar.
• Bake the cake for about 1-1 1/4 hours until golden and cooked through and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the cake is browning too quickly, cover with some foil.
• Cool completely in the tin and serve at room temperature with plain yoghurt or vanilla ice cream.

GINGERED RICH FRUIT CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1. Lightly oil a 71⁄2cm deep, 25cm round cake tin, and line it with a double layer of baking parchment.
• Mix the dried fruits, ginger and syrup, Cointreau, spices and lemon zest. Put the olive oil, sugar and eggs in a bowl, whisk together until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and tip in the fruit. Fold and stir together well.
• Spoon the mixture into the cake tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 2-21⁄2 hrs, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover with foil if the cake begins to over-brown. Take from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Remove, leaving the baking parchment in place until you decorate.
• For the topping: warm the jam and Cointreau together until the jam is liquid, allow to cool. Arrange the fruit on the cake and brush with the jam.

APPLE CRISPS WITH DRIED CHERRIES AND GINGER

Steps:

• Make topping:
• Mix oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Add butter and rub in until coarse crumbs form. Mix in almonds and ginger. (Topping can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
• Make filling:
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter twelve 1 1/4-cup soufflé dishes. Combine apples, cherries, sugar, lemon juice, flour and ground cinnamon in large bowl. Mix to blend well. Divide filling among prepared dishes.
• Sprinkle topping over apples. Bake until topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

GLAZED ALMONDS

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with foil. Grease the foil with 1 tablespoon butter; set aside. In a large heavy skillet, combine the almonds, sugar and remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until sugar is golden brown., Remove from the heat; carefully stir in vanilla. Spread onto prepared baking sheet; immediately sprinkle with salt. Cool before breaking into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

GINGER-GLAZED ALMONDS WITH DRIED FRUIT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat.
• Stir in sugar, water, fresh ginger, salt, and ground ginger.
• Cook until sugar dissolves.
• Stir in almonds and remove from heat.
• Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray.
• Spread almonds onto foil, and bake 25 to 35 minutes, stirring once, until almonds are golden (cut one open to test).
• Transfer almonds on foil to a rack and cool completely.
• Loosen with a spatula and combine with dried fruit.
• Store mixture airtight for up to 3 days.