The recipe comes from Disaronno Originale almond liqueur. The website has a trove of cocktail recipes for almond lovers.

To get the coconut flavor, add flaked coconut as a garnish. Or, if you have coconut liqueur, add 1part to the recipe.

Enjoy this Almond Joy as an after-dinner drink…or drinkable dessert. You can serve an actual piece of Almond Joy or Bounty candy bar, chocolate-covered coconut patty, chocolate chip cookie with almonds and coconut, or a coconut macaroon on the side.

ALMOND JOY COCKTAIL

Ingredients Per Drink

1. Combine amaretto, white chocolate liqueur, fresh cream and a sprinkling of powdered cocoa in a cocktail shaker.

2. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with another sprinkle of cocoa.

TIP: We keep our “garnishing cocoa” in an extra salt shaker, with a piece of plastic wrap between the shaker rim and the cap, to keep it fresh between uses. If you don’t want to keep it in a shaker, use a small sieve to get a fine sprinkle of cocoa on top of the drink.

Find more of our favorite cocktail recipes.
  

The mild-flavored classic whites, the cultivated, smooth, creamy-looking reliables found fresh at every market and—gasp—also sold canned, were sidelined by anyone with pretensions to a fine palate.

Chanterelles, chicken of the woods, creminis, enokis, maitakes, morels, porcinis, portabellas, shiitakes and baskets full of other exotic and lovely fungi provide more flavor, texture and eye appeal (check out all the mushroom varieties in our Mushroom Glossary).

Now, there’s a new reason to take a bite of buttons. Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., Director of Tumor Cell Biology at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, and his team have discovered that Agaricus bisporous, white button mushrooms, are a potential breast cancer and prostate chemopreventive agent. Components in the mushrooms suppress aromatase activity and estrogen biosynthesis (here’s the full article, written for a medical audience).

*Other foods also contain anticarcinogens. For example, pomegranates can inhibit estrogen production and limit breast cancer cell growth. Blueberries may be effective in fighting an aggressive subtype of breast cancer.

So feel free to add white button mushrooms back into your repertoire. Tell critics that they’re a proven anticarcinogen. (It’s likely that other mushrooms are similarly helpful, but they weren’t part of the research study).

Ingredients

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large deep skillet over medium heat. Add shallots. Cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Add mushrooms and asparagus. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until asparagus is tender yet still crisp.

4. Add garlic during last minute of cooking. Sprinkle flour over vegetables. Cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in broth and simmer 3 to 4 minutes or until sauce thickens.

5. Drain pasta, divide among four plates and top with sauce, cheese and basil.

Makes 4 servings.

Serve with a large green salad topped with sliced raw mushrooms and/or pickled mushrooms.

*Recipe courtesy City of Hope.
  

The easiest way to juice citrus. Photo
courtesy Krups. Information about the juicer.

But if you regularly use citrus juice—or would like to have fresh grapefruit juice or orange juice every now and then—it can get tiring. Plus, a citrus reamer does not strain out pulp and seeds, so you have to sieve the juice.

Consider an electric juicer, officially called a citrus press. It doesn’t take up much space; this model, from Krups (in the photo), is just seven inches wide. You can find an affordable model, or spring for the Krups deluxe stainless steel juicer ($127.48).

Then, instead of working out your arm to juice the citrus, you simply hold the halved fruit against the juicing cone (with the Krups juicer, you can use the lever); the machine does the work.

FRESH LEMONADE RECIPE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. In a 64-ounce pitcher,* bottle or other storage device, stir together sugar and cup boiling water until sugar dissolves.

2. Stir in lemon rind, lemon juice and 5 cups cold water. Chill. Serve over ice.
*If you don’t have a large pitcher (or room for one in the fridge), you can divide the batch into two quart bottles. We save the bottles from store-bought juice for this purpose.

LEMONADE TRICKS

Fancy Ice

 
Gourmet Lemonade Flavors

You can flavor the lemonade or set out a “flavor bar” so guests can add their own: