Holy Crud. I've had so many things to blog about in the last months. But most of them were Christmas related and the clock just never stopped tick tick ticking. Now it's all over Oh, alright, we still have two actual Holiday's left. But it seems very anticlimactic to share anything that might no help until oh, next Christmas. But I just have to share this one. I only wish that I'd taken more pictures...

As usual I went looking on the web for something I wanted to do to see if anybody had done it. And they hadn't. Something similar yes, but not the same and you just never know if what you're going to do will turn out, especially if no one paves the way with a tutorial beforehand. I was intending this to be the only thing I gave to most of my family, which is a LOT of people when you add it all up. In other words I needed to make sure they were good and that I didn't waste the whole lot without it turning out well. Here's what I made...

I call them , Cocosinalmonish Delight. I imagine that in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Evil Winter Queen gave Edmond something like this...Yes I know what she really gave him.

I guess it's time to explain one of my kitchen quirks...I (almost) only use one kind of sugar. I use other natural sweeteners, but as for sugar, I tend to stick with demerara. I have been persuaded in the past by some unmentionables, that sugar was an evil evil thing and I tend to agree. But I like to think that by using something in it's raw and unrefined form, I'm doing myself and my family a favor. It drives Ariel crazy (every once in a while he shows up with a bag of white sugar), but he has adjusted to drinking mate with it (I have yet to persuade him to use agave syrup, which is my next evil conniving plan), which is the most important thing in our house.  But the problem I find is that without enough moisture to disolve the large crystals of demerara, whatever I make comes out a little too sugary. Delicious. But the one thing I might change about this recipe is the Demerara. I think next time I'll try blending it in a dry blender to break the crystals down more, or YOU could just use white sugar as was in the closest original recipe found here. You COULD use their recipe. But then you wouldn't know how wonderful my magic ingredient is.

So the journey to this recipe included at least three different tries, one was made with maple syrup and wasn't nearly flavorful or sweet enough (scratched completely), one I forgot to add the magic ingredient, and the last was ALmost perfect.  

Here is the recipe

Cocosinalmonish Delight

2 Egg Whites, 

4 Tbsp vanilla extract

4 cups raw almonds

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 c dry unsweetened shredded coconut

Very simple to make, combine dry ingredients in one bowl(minus almonds. In a larger mixing bowl beat egg whites until frothy but not stiff. This is very important. Definitely the touchiest part of the recipe. The egg white are used to bind the sugars and other ingredients together, if it is too stiff, the egg whites won't want to stick to the nuts and you'll have a crumbly but delicious mess. If you want a dryer powdery nut instead of a golden crisp nut use another egg white or two as in picture just above. When you've frothed the egg whites, add the vanilla, Do Not Forget To Add the Vanilla. I believe at some point I did a small batch with no vanilla, There was a severe flavor deficit. 
Now add the almonds, stir them into the egg white mixture until everything is evenly coated. 
Now pour in the dry coating. Stir again until everything is evenly coated. 
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. spread them out evenly not allowing them to touch too much on the paper. You may have to use multiple baking sheets or mulitple oven sessions to finish them all, It's important to keep them evenly spread out on the pan, so NO CRAMMING! 
Allow them to cool before breaking apart and bagging. A fun wrapping idea that will save you wrapping paper: use parchment paper instead and tie it with some twine. I loosely line small baskets with parchment paper and filled them. 

If you haven't figured out what my magical ingredient is, it's coconut.

 

ENJOY!!!!