David Lebovitz' Best Sweet and Spicy Party Mix Ever

This party mix saved my life this holiday season.
Whether my husband forgot to tell me people were coming over, whether I needed a last minute hostess gift, whether I forgot to eat a meal and needed a quick snack, this sweet and spicy pretzel and nut mix was there to save the day.

Really, though, you'll want to save this all for yourself to nibble on over a chilled glass of wine as your coq au vin simmers away. (That's the scenario in my dreams, anyway.)

It was so quick to whip up, so delicious, that I have already made nearly two-and-a-half pounds of it in total.

David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies

When my craving hit, it was sudden and strong. I wanted a chocolate chip cookie.

But not just any run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookie, a homemade one with dark chocolate chips that was slightly gooey and chewy on the inside.
Some of my readers may or not remember my day job (at least when I am not on maternity leave) is as a journalist. And so I approached this self assignment much as I would approach any assignment.

Chocolate-dipped Florentines

This recipe comes by way of London-based restaurant Ottolenghi, then through Paris, where former Chez Panisse pastry chef and acclaimed cookbook author David Lebovitz wrote about it on his popular blog.

You can find the recipe, including Lebovitz' helpful tips at this link.

Substitutions:
Unlike Lebovitz, I did in fact use orange zest rather than orange oil. However, I almost wished I had the extract on hand, because some bites of orange zest imparted a more acidic than sweet taste.

Would I make this again?
Yes, however, they weren't quite as easy to make as I thought. Sure, the recipe consists of throwing things in a bowl and mixing them. And yes, there was no danger of these cookies spreading as you watch in horror.

In the future, I will try to have a lighter hand with the chocolate to give it a more elegant finish. But who am I kidding? Chances are, I will become impatient and try to work faster than the hardening chocolate. Either way, these Florentines are delicious.

However, next time I will use my Silpat, as some of the cookies stuck the to parchment paper and I did not have a 100 per cent success rate. I suppose you could also use milk chocolate but I think dark chocolate is a better match for the almonds.

You could even make these in advance, seal them tightly, and have them ready when you serve coffee to unexpected guests.

Or even consider placing them atop a scoop or two of ice cream when you want to jazz up a simple dessert.

Grade:
Four stars out of five. The ones that did survive the parchment paper were crispy, delicate, and the dark chocolate was the perfect companion to the almonds.

For those of you out there who worry about gluten, it's also gluten-free. In short, an ideal cookie. If it hadn't been for the stickiness factor, I would have given these full points.

Butterscotch pudding

When I began collecting bone china tea cups - Aynsley, Royal Albert, and Limoges - I vowed to myself that I wouldn't just put them in storage, dust them once a year and gaze at them longingly. So I've been on the hunt for a recipe to showcase in my beautiful tea cups.
And finally I found the perfect recipe for butterscotch pudding while perusing pastry chef David Lebovitz's scrumptious food blog.
It's the perfect solution when you're entertaining several people and don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen away from your guests. Not only can you create individualized portions but you prepare them in advance. Then once it's time for dessert, all you need to do is pull them out of the fridge and accept heartfelt compliments.
Lebovitz tells his readers that if they are the kind of people who want to press plastic wrap on top of the pudding to prevent the skin from forming, he wonders why they are eating pudding in the first place? I can't say I'm a pudding purist. In fact, I'd probably try to avoid the skin from forming if I could, but there was no need to worry in this case - after chilling these for about four hours, they came out just right.

My substitutions: My only additions were dollops of homemade whipped cream, raspberries, and white chocolate hearts made of compound chocolate - which does not need any tempering. Also, I used dark brown sugar rather than cassonade and despite Lebovitz's warnings, there was no curdling.

Would I make this again? Yes, it would make a delightful dessert alternative for a young girl's birthday party, or even for a spring-time tea party. The recipe came through without any problems and it hit just the right notes. Gorgeous to behold, a treat to taste. And the dash of whisky elevated this dessert from a childhood favourite to an adult indulgence.

Grade: Five stars out of five. This one covers all the bases - straightforward directions, short list of ingredients, easy to prepare in advance, and easy to plate for even the most amateur pastry chef.