Brown Sugar Cashew Cookies
The weather was perfect on Saturday … perfect day for a motorcycle ride. The motorcycle comes complete with a dog carrier. The Chihuahua’s mobile; she’s always up for adventure. I pulled the bike out of the garage and the shriek of three girls screaming “WAIT! We want to see your motorcycle!” stopped me in my tracks.
I live on a military base… way out east of Colorado Springs… thirty minutes from town… tumbleweed rolls down the street providing endless entertainment… Not a lot going on in the neighborhood… But, the neighborhood kids are sweet as pie. Like the time I was in the house playing the piano and the doorbell rang. I opened the door and there was 9-year-old Colin, “Hello Miss Lynn. I hear you playing the piano when I walk by to my friend’s house and I just want to tell you I really like it” …and then he ran off before I could barely get out an “Ahhh, thank you Colin!”
So super sweet!
I placed my motorcycle helmet on the ground and said “Hi girls!”
“We love your bike, we want to see you ride it!” Shriek!! “OMG, is Chica going with you?!”
“She sure is” I said nodding…
I kept pulling together my riding gear.
“I love your bike! It is so cool! I want to get one someday! I’m almost 13. My mom says when I’m 13, I can have a boyfriend.”
Me: “Boyfriend? Wait until you’re 30.”
“But my mom says I can have a boyfriend when I’m 13.”
Me: “Boyfriends are overrated. Wait until you’re 30.” (got a slightly cocked head, quizzical stare on that one)
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Me: “No.”
“We are going to find you a boyfriend!”
Me: “Ok. Make sure he likes Chihuahuas.”
Got my gear on, strapped the dog in and pulled away on the bike …..with three girls running behind me screaming, laughing and WHhhooo’ing.
Totally sweet and nutty.
And my inspiration to make Brown Sugar Cashew Cookies.
- 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1/2 cup butter (softened)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup finely ground cashews
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 cup cashew halves
- Heat oven to 350 degrees
- Spread cashews on a cookie sheet and lightly brown (about 10-15 minutes)
- In a mixer, combine the brown sugar and butter until creamy
- Add the egg and vanilla and continue to blend in the mixer
- Add the flour, ground cashews, baking powder, baking soda and sour cream and mix on slow speed. When the flour is incorporated, then you can turn the speed up and mix until creamy again
- Stir the cashew halves in by hand
- On an ungreased cookie sheet, drop a heaping tablespoon of dough and space the dough drops a couple inches apart
- Cook for 10-12 minutes
- Cool completely
Rocky Mountain Brown Sugar
In keeping with the theme of “recipes for an arid climate”…. I introduce to you “Rocky Mountain Brown Sugar!” Ok, so there’s really ‘no such thing’ as Rocky Mountain Brown Sugar… but, if you’ve lived in a humid-free zone you may know the “I’m big time bummed” feeling of reaching into your pantry to grab the brown sugar (when making your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe) only to find a brown sugar BRICK. Something had to be done.
It’s real easy to make your own brown sugar! Sugar + molasses = brown sugar. Ta da! Two tablespoons of molasses will give you a perfect medium brown sugar. If you want dark brown sugar… easy… just add another 1-2 tablespoons of molasses!
I was wondering how I was going to evenly distribute the molasses. Was I supposed to mix it with a fork? a whisk? with my most prized possession….
So, the KitchenAid was the perfect tool for whipping the molasses and sugar into this light, fluffy mixture. You do have to give it a good run in the mixer though…
When you first start to mix the sugar and molasses, it will get a little clumpy. No fear!
Your sugar and molasses will continue to blend together, just keeeeep mixing….. persevere
I always lick the batter from a whisk and this was no exception. I highly recommend turning the KitchenAid off first though.
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- Combine the sugar and molasses in a mixer
- Mix on medium speed for several minutes
- Store in an airtight container
