sweet miscellany

seasonal plant-based recipes

Pecan Raspberry Linzer Cookies

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Just dropping in to take a short break from all of the holiday baking and gift making so that I can share the last cookie month recipe.  I think these are the prettiest and most festive of all of the cookies because they unintentionally came out looking like little wreaths.  Making these yesterday definitely put me in the holiday mood, and I have a feeling they will do the same for you.

Though these require a lot of different steps from start to finish, they are rather easy to make.  And, they allow a certain amount of wiggle room in terms of what shapes you make them, what nut meal you want to use (if any), and what type of jam to sandwich in the middle.  I chose a naturally sweetened raspberry jam because it provides a nice tart contrast to the sweet cookies, but any jam will work.  Just about everyone can enjoy these beauties because they are vegan, gluten free, soy free, and nut free if you follow the suggestions for leaving out the nut meal.

If you don’t feel like going to the trouble of assembling these cookies, this dough makes great sugar cookie cut-outs.  Simply cut out whatever shapes you want, decorate them with sugar or sprinkles, then bake for the same amount of time (removing them when the edges are golden).  You can also ice or glaze them with whatever your heart desires.

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Chai-Spiced Hot Cocoa Mix

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This time of year always has me thinking about my dad.  Losing him when I was so young always makes me wish he could have seen me do various things, like graduating, getting my first job, or “digging ditches” as my grandmother kindly referred to my job as an archaeologist.  Actually, today is his birthday and he would have been 67.  But, considering all that has gone on in the world lately, I don’t want to make this a sad post.  Instead, I’ll share some hot cocoa with you and encourage you to spend time with the ones you love, cherishing every minute of it and soaking it up while you can.

This was actually the first time I made my own cocoa mix.  Whenever the mood strikes for cocoa (which isn’t too often), I typically just throw a few things in a pot until it tastes right.  But, the mix takes the guess work away and lets you have spiced cocoa bliss in a matter of minutes.  It isn’t too sweet (which I like), and the spices make it so much better than regular cocoa.  If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you’ll notice I’m pretty fond of chai spices, so it should be no shock that I added them to the cocoa.  If you don’t like them, simply leave them out.  If you are still looking for gift inspiration, make up a batch of the mix, package it in a pretty jar, and give it away with homemade (or store bought) marshmallows.

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