Desert Roses

Desert Roses, unbaked candies, are like many other melt and stir recipes that I used to make in December with my children.

The main ingredients are butter, chocolate, and cornflakes, with various add-ins (coconut, dried fruit, nuts).

These candies have a more sophisticated taste than those confections from the past because the chocolate is bittersweet.  Though the recipe calls for sweetened coconut I used unsweetened because that is what I had, and I regretted that.  My candies could have been a little sweeter.

Unable to find dried cherries I used dried cranberries, which I was unable to taste in the finished candy.  The dried apricots were lovely.  I wished I had left the walnuts in larger pieces so that I could taste them.

I brought the Desert Roses to a gathering where they were all eaten and the recipe requested.  This is a recipe I will make again.

Kerrin's Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies made with oatmeal, nuts, and other interesting additions are one of my favorite things to bake and to eat.  I was keen to try Kerrin's Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies from Dorie Greenspan's Dorie's Cookies.

These cookies use a mixture of white, whole wheat, and buckwheat flour, as well as kasha.  Dorie specifies Wolff's granulated kasha, which I was unable to find.  I substituted finely chopped walnuts, which seemed to disappear on the dough.  The baked cookies were missing the crunchy, satisfying texture that I was anticipating.

I've never baked with buckwheat flour before and look forward to trying other recipes to use up what I bought for the cookies.  I will try this recipe again if I am able to find the kasha.