Rasaswad

Here's an easy, casual cake, which can add a special touch to a nice, relaxed evening with friends. For me, the recipe really worked when our friend, D. said that it reminded him of his childhood in Spain. Here's the original recipe, but I made a whole bunch of tweaks: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/flourless-lemon-almond-cake-385 I added some flour, baking powder and almond extract, got rid of the cinnamon and added a lemon glaze and sliced almonds. Here's what I did: Preheat oven to 375. Butter and flour one 9 inch cake pan. Separate 4 eggs. Beat the yolks with a pinch of salt, and 2 Tbsp sugar until pale. Add the zest of about 4 lemons, a small dash of almond extract (~1/2 tsp), 1 1/3 cup almond flour,  2 Tbsp flour, and 1/4 tsp baking powder. Remove this thick paste (almost dough-like consistency) in another container. Clean the mixer bowl and whisk really well. Beat the egg whites and 1/8 tsp cream of tarter until soft peak forms. Add about 5 Tbsp...

This makes for a perfect hostess gift, packed tightly in a mason jar, with a nice card with instructions on using it.  Use all nuts in raw form unless specified. Also, they should all be unsalted. 2 cups almonds 2 cups cashews  2 cups walnuts, very lightly toasted  1 cup pistachios  1 cup flax seeds, toasted until they start popping.  2 tbsp cardamom seeds (not pods, but seeds) 3/4 whole nutmeg 1 really big pinch saffron 2 1/2 cups sugar  In a food processor, grind each nut separately until fine or coarse. Towards the end, add a quarter cup of sugar for each cup of nut to aid grinding. The nuts Should not turn to butter. Grind flax seeds finely in a grinder or magic bullet. Grind each of the spice separately with a couple of tablespoon of sugar in a spice grinder. Mix everything together nicely and pack in air tight container.  For serving: mix 2-3 tbsp of powder with a cup of milk. Microwave for a minute, let steep...