World Baking Day is May 19 – the perfect occasion to whip out your apron, dust off your measuring cups and try a new recipe for tasty baked goods.

Browse the World Baking Day website, choose from one of 100 different cake recipes, and stock up on all the right baking supplies at Nuts.com. Or if you’d like to ease into your career as an expert baker, start with one of our easy and delicious baking mixes.

Cake Mixes

Funnel Cake Mix

Bring the festival to your house with our classic funnel cake mix. Just add water to the mix, blend into a batter and fry cakes on the stovetop. Finish with your favorite toppings – powdered sugar, ice cream, honey, cinnamon or sprinkles.

Gluten-Free Brownie Mix

Our gluten-free brownie mix will make any chocolate lover happy. Add butter, vanilla, water and one egg and get homemade flavor in a snap.

Cookie Mixes

Coconut Macaroon Mix

Whip up a batch of gourmet coconut macaroons in just 20 minutes with this easy mix. Just add water, and you will create cookies that taste bakery fresh.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Indulge in gluten-free chocolate chip cookies that taste just as good as Mom’s. Add butter, water and an egg to the mix and bake, and you’ll end up with soft, chewy, chocolatey cookies.

What’s your favorite kind of cake or cookie?

Today we’re celebrating Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! Just thinking about the smell of chocolate chip cookies takes us back to our grandmother’s house. Reminisce with us as you bake up a batch of your own, from one of these five chocolate chip cookie recipes!

1. Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie

This classic chocolate chip recipe from Martha Stewart calls for all of the traditional ingredients, including semi-sweet chocolate chips. The recipe also adds dark brown sugar into the mix, which gives the cookie a richer aroma and a unique depth of flavor.

2. Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie

This Food Network recipe for gluten-free chocolate chip cookies uses tapioca flour and brown rice flour instead of regular flour. The recipe also includes xanthan gum, which adds thickness and volume to gluten-free baked goods.

3. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

Taste of Home magazine’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe includes quick-cooking oats and your choice of chopped nuts. Nuts.com offers a variety of chopped nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts, and almonds.

4. White Chocolate Cranberry Cookie

This recipe comes from Trisha Yearwood’s own cookbook! It combines white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and chopped macadamia nuts to make a rich and tangy cookie.

5. Butterscotch Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie

This blogger’s recipe is a twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie. It adds chopped pretzels and butterscotch chips to give this cookie a little extra sweet and salty kick!

What’s your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? Tell us in the comments!

There are so many things that you can make with ingredients from Nuts.com. Bake cookies, cakes, and breads. Create a candy buffet for your upcoming wedding reception or party. For a healthy boost, create your own delicious trail mix and smoothies!

When you create something with our products, we encourage you to take a photo and post it on our Facebook wall. We’ll add it to our Cool Customer Creations album! To get inspired, take a look at these five customer photos of their yummy treats.

“My son Isaac helps to make blenderized food to go into his g tube – with moringa, almonds and quinoa from Nuts.com!” – Kimberly Gould Crawley

Koren Lynch shared this photo of Nuts.com pink candy for her daughter’s princess pony party.

“Dried pears with melted chocolate and topped with walnuts. Pears and walnuts from nuts.com.” – Lisa Schae

“I love your pistachio flour! Here’s another creation that I made with it. Gluten free pistachio-lime sugar cookies!” – Amy Shaffer

“Cranberry white chocolate chip muffins!” - Serenity Palmer

For more ideas, see our previous post, 5 Customer Creations with Nuts.com Products!

What can you make with Nuts.com products? What can’t you make?!

We love when customers photograph their tasty creations and share them with us on the Nuts.com Facebook page. We invite you to post yours, too!

Here are five photos of tasty customer creations to inspire you to make your own:

“I received my bags of pistachio flour the other day, and I immediately made the most scrumptious pistachio macaroons imaginable.” – Amy Shaffer

“A bag of your organic artisan flour, salt, dry active yeast, cool water = Best bread ever!” – Jenny Tardif

“We only use Nuts.com Almond Four in all our Macarons!!” - Le Pop Shop

“Order arrived. Chai Bubble Tea.” – Bianca Alicea

Find Black Tapioca Pearls (boba) and Bubble Tea Straws here, as well as other flavors of bubble tea!

“Thank you!!!
I love my lowcarb bread using your lowcarb bread mix.
European Style Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1 package dry yeast (Rapid Rise/Highly Active)
1 cup warm water (95-105°F)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg (room temperature), beaten
2 Tablespoons Splenda
2 Tablespoons butter, melted

I use my bread maker on plain/1loaf/light crust.
It comes out delicious every time.” – Kennda Varnum

What are the best things that you’ve made with our products? Share them in the comments!

You’ve hung the stockings on the mantel for Santa, put presents under the tree, and made your plans for the Christmas holiday. Now all that’s left to do is to figure out what to bake! Recipes made with nuts are perfect for the holidays (of course, if you have guests with nut allergies, let them know which items to avoid). Here are three nutty Christmas recipes that we think your loved ones will enjoy.

Glazed Nuts

Who doesn’t love the sweet and savory blend of glazed nuts, with that terrific crunch? Also called candied nuts, these treats are best enjoyed by the handful. This simple recipe combines ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground ginger with brown sugar and vanilla to create a sweetly spiced glaze. Choose your favorite kinds of nuts: walnuts, pecans, or even mixed nuts! Use raw nuts for this recipe, because you’ll toast them in the oven. And if you’re short on time, you can buy candied pecans or candied walnuts. We doubt your guests will complain!

Nutty Holiday Logs

This guilt-free recipe was created a by a registered dietitian, and it will still satisfy your sweet tooth! It combines chopped walnuts with sugar, spices, and grated orange zest, then rolls the mixture up into flaky phyllo dough. Once the logs are baked until golden and cooled, you’ll melt chocolate chips and drizzle the chocolate over the logs. Yum!

Christmas Fruitcake

Because fruitcake gets such a bad rap, it will be easy for you to wow your guests with this crowd-pleasing Christmas fruitcake recipe. It’s made from dried fruit instead of candied fruit and has a texture that’s light and cakey, less dense than you’d expect from a fruitcake. This recipe calls for dried cherries, dried mango, dried cranberries, and dried currants, though you can substitute your own favorite dried fruit in the same quantities. The chopped pecans add a nutty flavor and crunch. Top this fruitcake with a layer of almond paste, or just serve by itself! It’s delicious either way.

What are your favorite nutty Christmas recipes?

Image credits: Town and Country Gardens, Matthew Bietz 

There is nothing like waking up on a chilly December morning to discover that everything is covered in a blanket of fresh snow. But even if sledding and snow angels aren’t in your forecast, you can still enjoy decadent white chocolate treats that are perfect for a winter day at home.

White Chocolate Favorites

White Chocolate Chips

Our creamy white chocolate chips are great for baking, topping ice cream or other desserts or simply eating plain straight out of the bag. Use them instead of milk chocolate chips in your next cookie or cupcake recipe, or melt them for white chocolate fondue.

For a special everyday treat, make white hot chocolate: stir together milk (or a combination of milk, half-and-half and heavy cream), white chocolate chips and a splash of vanilla in a saucepan over low heat. Let the mixture come to a simmer (not a boil), then pour into a mug, top with marshmallows, whipped cream and a dash of ground cinnamon.

White Chocolate Toffee Cashews

Cashews are a versatile and healthy nut, full of protein, fiber, potassium, folate and Vitamin B. While they are delicious plain or in trail mix, they are a finger-licking good dessert or snack when they are covered with white chocolate and toffee!

White Chocolate-Covered Cherries

Our white chocolate-covered cherries are the ideal festive treat and a blend of sweet and subtly tart flavors.

White Chocolate Bark

Our white chocolate bark is a new spin on an old favorite. We take huge chunks of almonds and cover them in fine white chocolate.

What are your favorite white chocolate desserts?

As the holidays approach, you’ll find us in the kitchen, baking and cooking up a delicious storm.  Almond flour is one ingredient that we always keep on hand.  This gluten-free flour is one of our most popular and most versatile flours.

Recently, Chef Joe of PBS’s Taste This TV used our almond flour in three tasty dishes: almond flour encrusted chicken, almond flour breaded pork, and almond flour muffins.

After cooking with our almond flour, Chef Joe had this to say:

“Nuts.com Almond Flour is filled with flavor, including a delicious nutty taste.  This flavor packed flour can’t becompared to other products of its kind.  Its nutty taste blends well with so many other foods regardless whether you are cooking or baking with it.  When using Almond Flour the food comes out so moist, light, and tasty.  Even if you do not eat gluten free you will fall in love Nuts.com Almond Flour.  Not only is it delicious, but also filled with great vitamins and proteins.  Whether you put it in pancakes or use it to fry up chicken, you will not be disappointed!” 

Thanks, Chef Joe!

Here are a few ideas for using almond flour in your holiday (and everyday) cooking and baking:

• Substitute almond flour for regular flour or bread crumbs when breading fish and meats.  Not only does almond flour add a bit of texture, it contains healthy fats, vitamin E, and plant-based proteins.  That’s why the flour is one of our Health Nut’s Top Picks!
• As a substitute for wheat flour, almond flour adds depth to gluten-free pancakes, gluten-free muffins, gluten-free chocolate scones, and gluten-free shrimp cakes.
• If you’re baking an apple crisp, substitute almond flour for regular flour to make the “crisp” part of the recipe even nuttier and more nutritious.  This is one dessert that’s melt-in-your-mouth-good without being sinful to your waistline.

If you’re just getting started with gluten-free baking and gluten-free cooking, you will love our gluten-free flour bundle, which includes The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide Part 1, as well as one pound each of our almond flour, coconut flour, and millet flour.

And don’t forget to check out our Guide to Gluten-Free Flour Blends for other ways to use gluten-free flour substitutes in your kitchen.

The real question is: What can’t you bake with almond flour?

Almond flour, also called almond meal, is a low-carb, gluten-free baking alternative to standard wheat flour. Nearly everything you can bake with wheat flour, you can bake with almond flour. It has a flavorfully nutty taste that works well in both sweet and savory items.

Because almond flour is made of finely ground almonds and nothing more, you’ll find the same health benefits in the flour as in the almonds. Almond flour is high in protein and low in carbohydrates and sugar, which makes it appealing for customers on low-carb diets. Almonds have been associated with lower cholesterol and reduced risk of heart disease because of their monounsaturated fat and high levels of vitamin E. In addition, almond flour contains high amounts of calcium, iron, and dietary fiber, nutrients that people with gluten-free diets sometimes lack, as well as many other minerals.

Here are five of our favorite recipes that use almond flour:

Almonds are such a versatile nut! We love to snack on chocolate-covered almonds and hickory smoked almonds, sprinkle our casseroles with slivered almonds, and spread organic almond butter on sandwiches. One of our most favorite ways to eat almonds is in the form of almond paste.

Almond paste is the lightly sweet treat that you’ll find inside chocolates and pastries such as almond croissants. Our high-quality almond paste is made with 67% select grade almonds. Use it to add a delicate richness to almond cookies, fruit tarts, or even wedding cakes!

Marzipan is the sweeter cousin of almond paste. You can make your own marzipan by combining equal parts confectioner’s sugar and almond paste and adding a touch of light corn syrup. Bakers love marzipan because it can be easily molded into a variety of colorful creations. Using our almond paste, Roberta Rhodes-Beeson at The Marzipan Pig made these gorgeous candies (pictured) in the shapes of fruits and vegetables!

Even though almond paste is sweet and rich in flavor, it is also nutritious! More than 60% of fats in almonds are monounsaturated fats. According to the American Heart Association, these fats help lower harmful cholesterol levels as effectively as pharmaceutical drugs can.

Did you know that 1 oz of almonds has more protein than a whole egg? An egg contains 5.5 grams of protein, while 1 oz. of almonds has 7.6 grams! This protein maintains healthy muscle growth in your body. In that same 1 oz. of almonds, you’ll also find as much calcium as 1/4 cup of milk for strong bones.

If you won’t use all of your almond paste right away, don’t worry. You can freeze it for up to one year!

What is your favorite way to enjoy almond paste? Tell us in the comments!

We know that our human customers love to gobble up baked goods made with our products, but what about your loyal pups? Dogs love peanut butter almost as much as we do! We discovered a recipe for peanut-buttery dog treats that’ll make your canine companion go wild!

To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk together 2 eggs, 3/4 cup of plain pumpkin puree and 1/4 cup of creamy and unsalted organic peanut butter. It’s important to use a peanut butter with no or very little added sugar and salt when baking for dogs because plain peanut butter is more healthful for them. Also, try to steer clear of crunchy varieties, as pieces of peanuts can present a choking hazard in small dogs and puppies.

Add 1/2 tsp. of salt and 1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon to the dough. Slowly knead in 2 to 2-1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour. You want the dough to be smooth, elastic and just slightly sticky.

Turn the peanut butter dog biscuit dough out onto a floured surface and roll the dough into a 1/4-inch-thick sheet. Cut the dough into shapes with cookie cutters and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake the peanut butter dog treats for 30 to 40 minutes, or until they’re hard and crunchy. Allow them to cool completely and store them in an airtight container for several days, or in a baggie in the freezer for up to a month.

If rolling the dog treats out seems like too much work, just roll the dough into balls and space them about an inch apart on the baking sheet. Mash the balls flat with the bottom of a drinking glass, or by using a fork to make a criss-cross pattern in the top (similar to peanut butter cookies).

What are some of your pup’s favorite nutty treats? Are there any specific peanut butter-based recipes that he can’t get enough of? We’d love to hear all about them!