Dipping jumbo Guittard milk chocolate chips into freshly ground peanut butter brought to mind one of my favorite candies – Charles’ Chocolates Peanut Butterflies.

While most peanut butter filled chocolates are creamy, or maybe have a slight bit of soft crunch like peanut butter brittle (mmmm), Chuck fills these butterfly shaped wonders “with our smooth, creamy homemade peanut praliné (a combination of caramelized peanuts and chocolate).”

Now imagine miniscule pieces of hard caramel, ground up, adding the slighest bit of sugary crunch to your peanut butter confection.

Which led me to David Lebovitz’s “killer” caramelized peanut / almond recipe. It is his go-to recipe and surely will be mine, especially in my experiments with grinding the nuts into butter and pairing with chocolate.

On a side note related to using sea salt, I’ve become addicted to the Maine Sea Salt’s Applewood Smoked Sea Salt, with an aroma that’s as if you’re right there in the smokehouse – nothing subtle about it…just smoky flavor that nearly equals a wood burning fireplace. Note large salt chunks in photo.  (Dear Bay Area readers I have some on hand if you want a sample!)

Smoky Salty Sugarless Nuts

If smoked sea salt and nuts if what you’re going for rather than sweetness – I’ve got the ultimate cheap and fast trick. Lazier than lazy: I mix a little of the sea salt in a bowl with water then toss the nuts in it before toasting in a toaster or dry roasting in a pan. Amazing with pecans.

The decadent and messier version would be to toss the nuts with oil before coating with salt. If you do this, the salt’s going to be grainier so saltier than the diluted version.

(Photos will definitely come, along with future experiments.)

1. Win a cooking contest!

How could the person who told a story about someone hunting for “walnut tusks” in Alaska not win the walnut baking contest?!

2. Help people all over the country start successful food businesses

3. Help millions of people discover the most unique and interesting foods available!

4. Lead community fruit harvests in the San Francisco bay area East Bay

5. Try marketing my own artisan food! I’ve talked about it long enough

Five more goals to come…What are yours?

If you’re old enough to remember Orange Julius or love those orange creamsicle ice cream bars, you’ll drool at this demo of Lou Bustamante from St. George Spirits making a drink of his own invention using their “insanely great” Hangar One Mandarin Blossom vodka. (Check out all their recipes!)

The only think missing is a little cream for the true creamsicle effect. But after enjoying a pear martini, made with their pear eau de vie, who am I to complain?

When you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit St. George Spirit’s tasting room in an amazing hangar at the old Alameda Naval Air Station.

In honor of my relatively new-found love of figs (which drove me to sneak to the backyard at a party to gather figs), I’m excited at the new address for this blog: nuttyfig.com.

Why nuttyfig?

Well, is there anything better then lightly toasted walnuts smashed into a nearly dry fig? Simple, lovingly produced ingredients crafted into the best foods on earth. That’s what this blog is about. The symbolic fig perfectly expresses the passion I exude for good food. And my nuttiness for nuts – hazel, walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, macs, etc etc etc

NPR recently wrote and podcasted a nice article Perfection Is A Fresh Fig, along with a few good recipes. It reports that sales of fresh figs have increased by 30 percent each year for the past five years!

If you hated figs growing up as I did, try some not-too-dry figs with cheese, nuts, and/or chocolate. Maybe you’ll find you’re a fig nut too!