Coconut Macaroons

When living in Toronto, we used to sign up for cooking classes with Bonnie Stern's cooking School downtown. It always a fun night out with your girlfriends. In this recipe,  you can drizzle melted chocolate on the macaroons (dark semi-sweet), for a finishing touch.
Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 1/2 cups unsweetened dried large flaked coconut
Directions
Place egg whites, vanilla and salt in a large stainless steel bowl. Stir in sugar and then coconut. 2. Set bowl in a skillet of gently simmering water and stir for 5 to 7 minutes with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until hot to the touch. Let batter rest 30 minutes at room temperature. 3. Mound about 2 tbsp of coconut mixture for each cookie on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 350F oven about 5 minutes until just barely starting to brown at the tips of the coconut. Reduce oven temperature to 325F, rotate pans and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer until cookies are different shades of cream, gold and brown. Cool on racks.

Almond Pistachio Cherry Bark

Use the best chocolate you can find for this recipe. 

Ingredients 

1 lb. bittersweet Callebaut Chocolate (chopped into pieces) 

1/2 cup roasted unsalted almonds

1/4 cup unsalted pistachio nuts

1/4 cup dried cherries

Directions 

1.  Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in a bowl over simmering water. 

2.  If you don't have roasted almonds, buy raw almonds and bake them in a 350F oven for about 10-15 minutes till they're lightly toasted.  Cool them before adding to the chocolate. Add the nuts/fruit and mix well.

3.  Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap or parchment paper.  Spread the chocolate mixture out to a thin bark.  Spread the nuts and fruit equally so it's about 1/4" thick. 

4.  Put in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to cool.

5.  Remove plastic and break the bark into pieces.  Store at room temp. 

You can use cashews, orange peel, raisins or other dried fruit to make different kinds. 

The chocolate is available at Whole Foods or Wild Oats or kitchen specialty shops.  Bittersweet is preferable, but semi-sweet works as well.

Tuna Fish Spaghetti

You see this tuna sauce in Italy. We had it growing up as my Italian grandmother would make it for us. It's lighter than a meat sauce and served with a thin spaghettini pasta.

Ingredients

1 jar of your favorite sauce (Hunt’s, RAO, Marinara) 

2 cans of Chunk or solid tuna in oil*

1 Tbsp olive oil 

¼ cup of chopped carrots

¼ cup of chopped onion 

¼ cup of chopped celery 

¼ cup pitted black olives (optional) 

3 whole cloves 

¼ cup chopped Italian Parsley 

1 package of dried or fresh spaghettini pasta. 

Directions

Fry the onions, celery and carrots in the olive oil till lightly browned.  Add the tomato sauce and heat through.  Add the cloves, olives and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tuna and heat through. Stir gently. You want to leave large pieces of the tuna in the sauce and if you stir it too much, the tuna will flake.

Add the fresh parsley and serve over spaghettini pasta cooked al-dente. 

Add capers as a garnish. 

* Look for the Italian brand Unico or Pastene tuna. There is also another brand called TONNINO which is sold in glass 6.7 oz jars. It is excellent and I prefer this tuna to canned tuna. 

Rugalahs (Cinnamon Crescents)

This recipe is from a 1980's cooking class with Bonnie Stern in Toronto.
Check - www.bonniestern.com for some excellent recipes. 

I’ve made these crescents every Christmas, and they are an excellent hostess gift if you can part with them! They’ll stay fresh in a cookie tin for a few days.

Pastry

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

4 oz cream cheese, cold and cut into pieces 

1/2 cup of seedless raspberry jam (to brush on the pastry)

Filling 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

1/3 cup finely chopped pecans (or walnuts) 

1 Tbsp cinnamon 

1 Tbsp cocoa 

1 tsp finely rated orange peel 

Glaze 

1 egg 

2 Tbsp cream  

2 Tbsp coarse white sugar to sprinkle on top 

1. Put the butter, flour, and cream cheese in a food processor and process until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Refrigerate until ready to use. If you don’t have a food processor, in a medium bowl, cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender. Add the cheese and blend until crumbly. Knead the dough a few times, then divide in half and refrigerate. (about an hour).
2. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon, cocoa and orange peel. 
3. Preheat the oven to 350F. 
4. Roll out each ball of dough into a circle, about 12” in diameter. Spread each one with a thin layer of jam (1/4 cup per circle). Sprinkle the filling over the jam and pat it down. 
5. Cut the dough into 12 wedges like a pizza. Roll each wedge up tightly from the wide edge. 
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the crescents on the sheet (12 per sheet) and curve them slightly.Combine the egg and cream by mixing them with a fork.  Brush the cookies with the glaze and then sprinkle with sugar. 
7. Bake about 20-25 minutes until golden. I find 22 is just about right.  Let cool slightly on the baking sheet and then remove to a rack to cool completely. 

Makes 24