Vanilla Pomegranate Oatmeal Cookies
As we enter the holiday season, we wanted to share this recipe that has our mouths watering. What a delightfully perfect time of year to use those colorful pomegranates along with your Lágrima vanilla. Thank you Zainab at Blahnik Baker for sharing your favorite recipes that feature Lágrima!
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
½ cup plus 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used Lagrima Vanilla extract)
1 cup cake flour, sifted
¾ cup bread flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup pomegranate seeds (drained and dried on a paper towel)
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt and oatmeal. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Using a stiff rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips and pomegranate seeds.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
Using a medium cookie scoop, arrange dough balls 2 inches apart. Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for to minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Cool completely.
Adapted from Baked by Rachel
St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake by Allie from Baking A Moment
For those of you who don't know, St. Louis holds a special place in the hearts of Rebekah and Neil. They went to college in St. Louis.
What does all of this have to do with recipes? Allie from Baking A Moment has a butter cake with its origins in St. Louis and it takes us down memory lane. Also, our stomachs rumble -- it looks amazing.
Please, pour out the love to Allie at Baking A Moment and visit her wonderful site and explore her wonderful recipes.
Walnut Apple Snack Cake by Yvonne at Tried and Tasty
Yvonne of Tried and Tasty is at it again. This time it is serious: Walnut Apple Snack Cake - meaning she is serious about her love for apples, cake, caramel, and ice cream.
Everyone of her posts have a 'My 2 Cents' section. This one is quite flattering to Lágrima - *ahem*. Head on over to Tried and Tasty for some humor and apple passion. We just love her!
Pecan Pie Cheescake from Yvonne at Tried and Tasty
Who doesn't love cheesecake?!? It is cheese after all so it must be healthy. Don't worry about the butter, sugar and cream.
We met Yvonne at a vanilla party in Salt Lake City in early November and became instant fans with her site: Tried and Tasty. She posted this wonderful recipe just in time for the holidays. Plus, her post is hilarious and she is a fan of Lágrima. What else could one want in life?
Really Vanilla Crepes from Erin at Wholly Delicious Dishes
We spoke with Erin from Wholly Delicious Dishes after her family cooked crepes with Lágrima vanilla. The story goes: crepes are made quite frequently in their family. However, most recently when the crepes were prepared with Lágrima vanilla her children remarked that they were extra delicious and something was different. Indeed, something was - the vanilla, of course.
We just had to quote from Erin's post because she summarizes what we are hearing from just about everyone who has incorporated Lágrima vanilla into their cooking.
This stuff is awesome! There is vanilla and there is vanilla, but this my friend, is VANILLA. The flavor is pure and sweet, very fragrant yet not over powering. What comes to mind with this particular formula is it provides a “clean” taste element to the end product. It’s interesting how changing up one ingredient can turn food from so-so to Sooooo-good. Lagrima vanilla is one such product.
Thank you Erin! We are so thrilled that you love the product and share our values for great food.
Lágrima Maple Vanilla Blondies
It was our turn to bring desert for a weekly family get together and we had everything in the house to make a wonderful combination:
- Caramel Sauce
- Spice Pecans
- Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey Snoqualmie Ice cream
We were just missing something to tie everything together. This is when we dug out the old family cookbook that Nei's mother had assembled when he and Rebekah were married nearly 15 years ago and we found an unattributed recipe that seemed just perfect. This recipe mixes up really fast and makes an gooey blondie (not a brownie) that is great to melt ice cream over.
Lágrima Maple Vanilla Blondie:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
1.5 tablespoons Lágrima vanilla extract (that's right - tablespoons)
1.5 to 2 tablespoons real maple syrup (depending on taste)
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Optional: a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Whip the butter and combine with the brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla extract and maple syrup. Combine the dry ingredients (add the cinnamon here if you wish) and fold into the wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in the nuts if you are using them.
We like our blondies thick and gooey so an 8 x 8 inch or 9 x 9 inch square pan is great. (don't forget to grease the pan).
Bake for 30 minutes and check for a knife that they are done. I find these are still great a day after baking, but for a real treat, eat them just 15 minutes out of the oven.
Let us know what you think.
Lágrima Manhattan
1 dash bitters
How to mix this cock:tail:
Place ice in a mixing glass. Pour in vermouth, then bourbon, and stir. Strain into a cocktail glass. Add a dash of bitters if desired, and garnish with a cherry.
Vanilla Cake with Black Tea Caramel from Vanessa at Sweet Lab
We woke up to a delightful surprise this morning and learned of a new convert to vanilla broadly and Lágrima vanilla specifically. It is rare to find someone who doesn't like vanilla. Vanessa could be considered a 'hard sell'. The view here at Lágrima was that she just hadn't encountered the right vanilla in the right recipe.
Long story short - Vanessa found that magical combination in her Sweet-Lab and told the world us as much with her post and recipe for Vanilla Cake with Black Tea Caramel. But don't take our word for it, read for yourself - Vanessa made our day, I hope she makes yours, too. We are happy to have her on board as a Lágrima vanilla fan.
Nonna's Biscotti adapted by Jesseca at One Sweet Appetite
Okay, so this post and link is a bit of a victory lap for us at Lágrima and Nonna (and every Nonna everywhere). Jesseca from One Sweet Appetite adapted our biscotti recipe and gave it glowing reviews. Her adorable and quite gushing post required us to read it out loud - twice. Favorite quotes:
"I love, love, loved this biscotti'" - notice the past-tense on that last love(d) = gone!
This one is about the biscotti + pumpkin spice coffee: "A-MAZ-ING! Really… there are no words."
So, pop on over to Jesseca's biscotti post and go ahead, smile a little. We certainly did.
Thanks Jesseca!
Cardamom Vanilla Bean Layer Cake by Jennifer Farley at SavorySimple
Well, here is a work of art that you can eat. Jennifer Farley of Savory Simple has combined two of our favorite flavors (her's too) into this masterful layer cake. Her photography is delightful; her use of vanilla is generous (tablespoons!) plus she uses the vanilla beans themselves. We can't do the recipe or the imagery justice here - click on over to Savory Simple and see for yourself.