raw cookies: sweet n' ooey + gooey + chewy and a delight of food friends

these raw cookies are aggravatingly addicting: a mixed bag of crushed raw almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, pistachios + dried coconut, mangoes, pineapples, apricots in a tizzy of honey, almond nut butter and a slight drenching of vanilla + cinnamon you'd think would go a long way but....


sticky ooey gooey play dough like fun sized up on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I had a slight freak out initially because I kept 'spreading' the cookies apart as if they were going to 'spread' upon baking ~ like in the 'fridge that is......


something old: reminds me of granola or uhmmm remember *gorp*??!.....something new: raw nut + fruit cookies keeps the energy up + waist line thin trim!

Recipe for NO-BAKE RAW-LIKE COOKIES posted below.

First off ~ I must say, I have been enjoying getting to know all of you via the blogging world! Recently ~ well I'll admit......a bit back ago I received awards from my fellow bloggers......I am filled with gratitude and so THANKFUL that you thought of me!

I am sorry it's taken me awhile to post and pass on.

It's been a whirlwind of deadlines, travels, mishaps, more deadlines and dramas ~ I finally feel like I've come full circle so I can give ample credit to the food bloggers that have presented these awards to me and in turn, pass it on.......

I dedicate this post to my fellow food bloggers.

Long overdue, I wanted to thank Nicole at Art and Aioli for the Blogging with Purpose Award ~ do check out her engaging site where she explores delightful + sunny approaches to her cooking that gives a sense of a personal visit every time I stop by. I love her outlook on cooking and life. She's great fun and I do love her 'art' and flow of blogging conversation.

While visiting, I feel as if I want to pull a chair up, have a glass of wine and just hang out with the engaging hostess she is......!

Thank you Art and Aioli!

This was totally hard to figure out whom to pass this onto as I read so many inspiring blogs. I'd like to pass the BWAP Award onto......

Teczcape ~ Awesome photos and outlook on world cooking. I love visiting this blog as it makes me feel like I am on a food lover's adventure.

Nina's Kitchen ~ Visit Nina's Kitchen and really.....need I say more? Inspiring recipes, tantalizing dishes and beautifully prepared......

Café Chocolada ~ She bakes and makes delightful pastries, cakes, rolls, savories and mouthwatering savories as well ~ not to miss this site!

Vegan Lifestyle ~ Vegan Lady does good! Her posts are great reflection of her commitment to health and well-being in her daily life. Other inspirations include the natural beauty of her surroundings as well.....

My Life as Chef Erik ~ Not to miss either! I love visiting his blog for fresh, healthy yet soul satisfying fare. A true chef at heart and by profession....he is honestly 'blogging with a purpose' with great recipes that will get your salivary glands going!

So I guess to the recipients ~ do post your award on your blog and would be lovely to have a mention of moi + link back. Don't forget......pass it on!

Then there is the Arte y Pico Award gifted to me from the multi~talented multi-tasking pastry enchantress Medena at Café Chocolada!

Thank you Café Chocolada!

Again, a challenge to whom to forward to......and some of you may already have this so please mind my bloops if so! Arte y Pico Award goes to:

Art and Aioli Nicole is also a art school trained artist and business woman ~ do check out her adventures in the kitchen, on paper and about town!

The Left Over Queen Jenn as we know her! Jenn the social butterfly and foodie networking pioneer ~ thanks mucho for your enlightenment, getting us together and your passion for food, life + love! So much to do and so much to SEE: You'll find yourself twisting and turning about her site from one great read to another.....

My Cake Wardrobe ~ fashionista, designer and girl about town......also designer of delicious sweet cakes + delights from the inside and out. Don't miss her beautiful cakes, hand made edible flowers and other sweet tales from the big apple!

Real Juice Daily ~ Oh my ~ truly inspiration in a glass! I cannot say enough about her because she has been on this incredible journey of health and realization. She has inspired me to juice and strive for balance in my love for food and healthy eating.....yet all at the same time she's stays so passionate about her quest - not to miss read!

Foodhoe's Foraging ~ Love Love this blog! Awesome photos on food adventures, mouth watering cooking insights and glorious travels about one of favorite parts of the country - yes! northern california to die for.....don't miss her tails of foraging, feasts + travels......

I cut and paste this clip on the bottom from Café Chocolada about this award ~

The Arte Y Pico award comes with these rules:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Thanks everyone and to all: Many great adventures in the world of food blogging!

Easy No-Bake Raw-Like Cookies
©2008 Ingar Brunnett, TasteMemory.com

Bowl #1 ~ combine ingredients below
• almonds, walnuts, pistachios (crush in plastic bag w. mallet or food processor, but keep it chunky)
• pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds
• dried coconut flakes (I found some organic sulfur free dehydrated ones at health food store that were very cost effective + yummy)
• dried apricots, mangoes, pineapples (trim to small pieces with kitchen scissors)
***Other stuff you can add + whatever to your liking: sesame seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds, cashews, raisins, other dried fruits, raw chocolate pieces or cacao chips, etc.
***Use unsalted nuts, preferably organic and raw when possible.


Large Bowl #2 ~ combine ingredients below
• 1/2 cup nut butter (almond butter, cashew nut.....choose a favorite)
• 1/2 cup honey and slightly more as needed(I use orange blossom honey, because I love the floral taste and another important tip: ob honey is very heavy in texture which is great in binding these cookies. Raw honey is good to with the added nutrients. The heavier the honey the better.)
• generous dash cinnamon
• dash sea salt

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Add nuts, seeds + fruits from bowl #1 to bowl #2. Combine thoroughly with a spatula. I found you have to adjust the amount of nut butter and honey to get the right consistency to get all the ingredients to somewhat 'stick' together. I add more honey to get everything binded together because I don't like the heaviness of the nut butter ~ you decide.

Don't worry if the whole thing doesn't stick together immediately. You want to bind everything just enough and the refrigeration will take care of the rest.

Don't forget just at least a delicate pinch of sea salt. The touch of salt with the nuts and fruit turn out quite savory.

I found using an ice cream scooper effective to drop generous spoonfuls of the mixture on the lined cookie sheet. Using the scooper and fingers, nudge the fallen away pieces to clump and form the cookie shape as needed.

On the bottom of my 'fridge, I found two slots to perfedtly rack up my cookie sheets!

They are best when left to chill overnight and even better after 24 hours. These cookies were gone before they were ready set chilled. If you're desparate to begin the tasting experience, you could chill a few in the freezer for a quickie.

I love this recipe and am still developing it to make it more 'transportable' yet raw. There are several versions of this recipe out there and a great one that inspired me is ShannonMarie's on We Like It Raw, an informative raw foods/lifestyles website.

p.s. they must remained chilled to keep their form - taste best straight from the refrigerator.

Danish Layer Cake: Freedom to exercise

my attempt at baking something masterful....please don't laugh....esp. Medena over at Café Chocolada, pastry aficionado!

I am reading M.F.K. Fisher again.

She has been a delight to read because she breaks tradition.

Her voice is dauntless at times that I wonder how she ever survived the early years with her sense of clairvoyance and attitude toward the sedated just mix a highball crowd back then.

Last few nights I have been reading and re-reading through The Gastronomical Me and realized something about her.

Absolute pure genius she was.....

She was purely a different breed; so exact as a matter of fact and I imagine was perceptive as hell. If you sat clear across the room from her, she would be able to sop your soul through like dense bread over meat drippings.

Then on a flip coin I read vintage The Cooking of Provincial France.

I actually grew up reading this book not realizing M.F.K. Fisher was a woman.

I cherish this book with dear life.

If a tornado were to run through this house.....I'd grab my kids, my purse, this book and my eyelash curler ;-)

With the 'munchkins' we decorated this cake with a make-shift pastry bag from parchment paper.....frosting is made of cream, white sugar, vanilla, a touch of gelatin, drained chopped fresh pineapples, hand shaved semi-sweet chocolate....

I made this Danish cake referring back to my taste memory when I worked as a designer in Los Angeles some years back. I also found an old recipe from another out of print book that re-played similarities of ingredients from the Danish cakes I used to love so much.

There was a Danish bakery nearby where our breaks were taken.....in between hunkering over the drafting board, cigarettes....I recall the treat of layer cake and for later a sweet roll with slivers of Havarti cheese with thick wedges of cucumbers.

I love Danish cakes and also some French pastry because it is not cloyingly sweet like some American cakes aka Betty Crocker inspired.

This cake was a killer to make ~ supposed to be a three layer cake but I couldn't fathom how that was done as explained in the recipe, so instead of creating a pile of crumbles I relented to the simplicity of two layers.

Too many increments, too precisely oriented and already naturally uptight because of Asian descent (ha!).....Korean to be exact.....I'd rather let loose on a savory dish......marinate + roast a bone marrow for pete's sake......spend an afternoon with a mallet and a side of beef would be nice, or perhaps cram a bag carrots through a juicer to get my aggression out.

Bake a cake?

I do things for love ~ esp. for the love my family and friends.....

Okay so far MFK Fisher, Danish layer cakes, vintage cookbooks, family and friends which leads to my official thank you to Medena at Café Chocolada for recently presenting me the E Award!


I am enamored to receive this especially from the pastry priestess herself for my blogging.......Thank you! Whenever visiting her site I feel inspired by her passion for the art of baking.

Thank you so much Medena for thinking of me and I look forward to reading more about your pastry sensibilities.....

Sharing a slice of cake among friends: at the end of it all.....it did taste good. It had a light sponge cake appeal and I mixed in fine shaving of the rind and juice of half a lemon.

In tradition to this cyberspace exchange.....I pass on the E Award to the following bloggers:

Nina's Kitchen ~ Do check out her masterful creations. I am constantly waiting at her door stoop like a puppy to admire her culinary creations. Visually stunning yet also salivary gland inducing.....She may have already be granted an E award with all she has done, but here goes....

Sweet Home and Garden Chicago ~ Carolyn is a garden blogger but has enticing food insight and recipes. Another twist is her take on traditional Korean recipes that have been lovingly passed down to her from family. I love her take on Soul food and Seoul food! A master gardener as well ~ she inspires me to go beyond growing herbs when she writes about her bountiful gardening....

Mochachocolata Rita ~ I love mocha girl's savory, fun + often times outlandish approach to cooking and blogging. Melting pot cooking with Asian inspirations that is delight to look at as well as ponder......'Hey - I would have never thought - but looks enticing enough to try!' I like how she takes my thoughts out of safeguard as she introduces Indonesian + Chinese + more with her personal touch.

Food Mayhem ~ Okay she cooks, she dines, wines, dices and promotes food happenings. Amidst invitations to food centric events and her own dining escapades. I often times wander over to her side of the cyber globe and feel like Carrie Bradshaw of the food world with stilettos on trying to keep myself from tipping over each tantalizing post! Talk about the queen of food posts.....over here in the slow balmy South ~ I am trying to keep up with each day's douse! She's about a dozen posts ahead of me and going strong!

Passionate Eater Like moi, a California transplant in the South. Read + See her dining adventures from San Francisco and now in New Orleans and then some. Beautiful photos, glorious rousting of well executed dining finds and always a fun read. I love everything she orders and imagine I am dining there right alongside every bite from oysters in chardonnay sabayon or an earthy bowl of gumbo to a serving of ooey gooey nachos @ Lakers game......!

Bloggers awarded: please feel free to pass on + cut & paste this E Award as needed + would be lovely to link it back to me @ TasteMemory!

Next up another gracious award! Thank you kindly to Nicole at Art and Aioli for the Blogging with a Purpose Award

More words to follow about BWAP Award......


Adieu, till next time!