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Tag: dried cherries

Hazelnut and Cherry Italian Cookies

These are absolutely yum!

  • 1 cup soft unsalted butter (2 sticks)
  • ½ cup evaporated cane sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups white whole-wheat flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
  • 1 cup hazelnuts, chopped fine
  • ½ cup hazelnut liquor
  • ½ cup confectionery sugar in a small bowl

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the butter and sugar until fluffy in a mixer. Add the salt, vanilla extract, flour and liquor. Mix well and add the nuts and cherries.
Mix with both hands until well incorporated. Form a ball and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on the cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool and roll in confectionery sugar.
Hazelnut and Cherry Italian Cookies

Cherry and Walnut Couscous Served with Lamb Chops

Cherry and Walnut Coucous This is one of those meals that look really complicated but are super easy to make. One of the things I did with this particular dish- I bought the lamb chops frozen and already marinated. I usually never buy prepared proteins but these lamb chops are amazing and they are from my favorite store- Trader Joes.

I always have some on hand in the freezer. They are great to take out when you don’t have any plans for dinner and don’t have a lot of time. I served the chops with couscous. I always have whole-wheat couscous in my pantry. I cooked some with chicken broth and I added walnuts and dried cherries to it. I thought of serving a salad with the meal but then I decided to just add some lemon juice, olive oil and salt to mixed greens and placed them on top of the chops.

The meal was great to look at and best of all- it tasted delicious. The greatest thing about the meal was that it took almost no time to prepare…. definitely make this meal- it will be part of your repertoire.
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