Written by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms

Happy March Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks!!

Oh, was that just TOO cheery? Do you get the ‘blahs’ after the holidays end? Most people do. I know that I usually feel a bit let down, although it could just be exhaustion. Holiday times are fun but there is usually a lot of extra cooking and cleaning involved. Sounds counter-intuitive, but I find that it helps to spend some time in the kitchen trying new techniques, new ingredients or using that new bit of kitchen gear that ‘Santa’ gave me. I also like to try recipes that I’ve never made; they seem new even when made with familiar ingredients.

Walnuts are an old standby ingredient; a pantry staple. Lots of goodies, like brownies and bundt cakes and chocolate chip cookies, have walnuts as sort of a secondary ingredient. For some fun in the New Year, I went looking for recipes where walnuts are either the star ingredient, or an essential one.