Holiday Hazelnut Blended Drink, Fairies, & Spiced Almond Brittle

Holiday Hazelnut Blended Drink:

Blend:

9 cubes of frozen cashew milk

1 tbs honey

1 and 1/2 cups chilled Nutcracker Sweet tea

1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur

a pinch of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

This brittle is based on a recipe from a book my husband reads called, The Medieval Kitchen, Recipes from France and Italy. Andrew checked it out from the library after listening to a history podcast on iTunes, which talked about this book. He also made me candied orange peel for my birthday once, using another recipe from The Medieval Kitchen. It was awesome.

I changed the brittle ingredients notably because it originally called for honey and no oil. I thought that the honey made it way too sweet, and took away from the spices. I also added coconut oil because after Andrew made the recipe from the book it was very soft, like honey with nuts in it. I wanted it to be more brittle-like, although my recipe isn't as hard as a true brittle. (If you kept it in the freezer it would be very hard of course, which is why I take it out after 2 hours.) 

Spiced Almond Brittle:

First make the spice mixture:

1 tsp dried ground ginger

1 pinch ground black pepper

1 rounded tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 tsp ground cloves

note: you wont use all of the spice mixture in one batch, but you can save it for next time

In a saucepan bring to boil:

1 cup agave 

1/3 cup coconut oil

Add:

1 and 1/2 cups slivered almonds

1/2 tsp of the spice mixture

Simmer (so there are little bubbles) for 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat.

Add another 1/2 tsp of the spice mixture.

Spread on a cookie sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper. 

Place in the freezer for 2 hours.

Break into brittle.

Store leftovers in the refrigerator.