Oregon Love: Beer, Bears & Blackberries

I travel as much as possible and I tend to fall in love with the majority of places I visit. Oregon was no exception, somewhere between the cool, artsy vibe in Portland, the dramatic pacific coast, and the vistas from the Rogue river I fell for it hard. Sadly my affair only lasted a week before I had to return to real life. But of course I wanted to commemorate it in the kitchen, and chocolate-stout cupcakes with ganache and blackberries seemed appropriate. 

Everyone knows that Oregon has amazing craft beers and I certainly sampled a number of them. It turns out that stout beer is quite good in baking especially with strong flavors like chocolate. Blackberries seem to grow everywhere in western Oregon. It was fabulous to pick them for breakfast every morning. The bears seemed to have the same idea- and we saw quite a few of them on the hunt for the sweet, perfectly ripe berries. Lucky for us there were enough berries that we didn't need to compete with the bears for them. I hope to make it back to Oregon sooner than later, but in the meantime I'll just have a cupcake..

CHOCOLATE-STOUT CUPCAKES WITH BLACKBERRIES
 

Cupcakes
2 cups stout beer
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream

Ganache
2 cups whipping cream
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter 2 muffin tins. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin tins. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Turn cupcakes out onto rack and cool completely.

For the ganache: Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add the chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until ganache is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.
Cover the cupcakes with ganache and top with blackberries.

This recipe is based off of Epicurious's Chocolate Stout Cake recipe.

Homemade Granola Bars with Chocolate, Cranberries, and Pistachios

I had never made granola bars before today, but these are definitely going to become a regular in our house. I'm about to head off to Oregon for a white-water rafting trip and I figured homemade granola bars would be the perfect snack to bring along. However they're so delicious, I'll be surprised if they make it past the airplane door. Packed with cranberries, pistachios, and chocolate, they're downright addictive as well as filling. I think they are going to become my go-to weekday breakfast. They're easy to make and you can swap the cranberries and pistachios out for your favorite fruit and nut combinations.

CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY PISTACHIO GRANOLA BARS

Yields 24 bars

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped pistachios
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped chocolate (milk or dark)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 stick of butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 13" x 9" baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Stir the oats, pistachios, cranberries, and chocolate together in a large bowl and set aside.
Using a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and honey together. Once the mixture becomes light and fluffy, beat the egg and vanilla into it.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

Slowly beat the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until they're just combined. Then stir in the oat mixture slowly and thoroughly.

Spread the batter evenly throughout the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack and then slice into bars.

Fresh Apricot Muffins

I've always been a huge fan of dried apricots, but I've overlooked the fresh ones until recently. While they're lovely on their own, or in a fruit salad, I really wanted to take a stab at baking with them and muffins seemed like the perfect vehicle. I wasn't disappointed- the muffins themselves aren't too sweet and the unique sweet-tart tanginess of the apricots shines through. 

I'm not a fan of big cakey muffins- I always use greek yogurt in the batter which makes the more moist and fluffy than dense- something to with the lactic acid in the yogurt tenderizing the flour. It's better for you and (I think) it tastes better too.

The muffins themselves are quite small compared to the average American muffin, so you may want to consider making a double batch- I wish I had!

FRESH APRICOT MUFFINS

Makes 12 small muffins

1 vanilla bean

1 lemon

1 cup chopped fresh apricot + 1 fresh apricot sliced into 12 thin strips

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg

1 cup greek yogurt
3 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp honey

Preheat your oven to 350F and butter a 12 cup muffin tin. 

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and zest the lemon, then add both to the chopped apricots, along with 1 tbsp of sugar; stir together; set aside.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg into a large bowl.

In another bowl combine beaten eggs with the yogurt, the melted butter and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, beating slowly, and then add the chopped apricot stirring just til everything is combined. Spoon batter into the muffin pan and  then top with the sliced apricots. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until a fork inserted in the top comes out clean.

Let cool for a few minutes and.. yum!

Double Chocolate & Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches

Last week I spent a few hours doing research on homemade ice cream sandwiches for an upcoming book, and after a while I had an unbearable craving for them. So this weekend I whipped up some homemade peanut butter chocolate chunk ice cream and double chocolate cookies, stuck them together and voila- craving satisfied. The end result was ridiculously decadent- I could barely finish one. These would be perfect for one of those nights when you skip dinner in favor of dessert, which sometimes just has to be done.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHUNK ICE CREAM

1 cup peanut butter (not natural)
3/4 cup sugar
11/4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
11/2 teaspoons vanilla

pinch of sea salt
1 cup chopped chocolate (from your favorite chocolate bar)

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the peanut butter and sugar together until smooth, then add the milk and mix on low speed until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream, vanilla and salt.
Pour the mixture into freezer bowl of your ice cream maker, and let it mix until it's thick, about 30 minutes. Just before it's finished, add the chocolate through the top and let mix in completely. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, and freeze.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

1 stick of butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3/4 cup flour (I used white whole wheat flour but all purpose will do)

2/3 cup good quality cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup chopped chocolate (from your favorite chocolate bar)

Preheat your oven to 375. 

In a stand mixer beat the butter and sugar together until they are creamy, then add the egg and the vanilla and keep mixing until everything is combined. At that point add your dry ingredients; once the mixture starts to look like batter add the chopped chocolate.

Drop 2" rounds onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. When done, let cool on a rack.

Once your cookies are thoroughly cooled you can start to assemble your ice cream sandwiches. The yield is 6-8 sandwiches and you'll still have ice cream left over.

Basil Ginger Lemonade

Hello again- I know it's been a while, but I hope this amazing lemonade will make up for it! Last month I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks in Panama and what an amazing place it was—beauty everywhere, and some seriously friendly locals. Although the food is very good and very fresh, we didn't eat a whole lot. A plate of eggs in the morning, as many pineapple and banana batidos as it took to get through the sweltering heat, and if we were lucky (and had the energy) we would finish the day with fish tacos. My culinary highpoint was the lemonade that we found in a few expat cafes. Seems a bit strange- but it was no ordinary lemonade; fresh squeezed lemons mixed with things like basil, ginger, coconut, and rosewater. Seeing as it was too hot to eat much (as it is right now), these exotic lemonades were the perfect remedy.

Upon my return I recreated a basil-ginger combination and was not disappointed. Try it, it's easy, nutritious and will keep you cool and happy.

BASIL GINGER LEMONADE

makes 1 pitcher

6-8 lemons

6 cups cold water

2 large bunches of basil

Ginger Simple Syrup 

Ginger Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

fresh ginger, peeled and cut into three 1" pieces

Make the simple syrup first; put the sugar into a saucepan with the water and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer, add the ginger, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Take off heat and cool to room temperature and store in a jar in the refrigerator. 

Once the simple syrup is cool, remove the stems from the basil and puree the leaves in a food processor. Juice your lemons, strain out any seeds and combine the juice with the basil and cold water in a large pitcher. Add the simple syrup to taste. Enjoy!

Honey-Lemon Ricotta Cups

This came about on one of those nights when I was too tired and too busy to cook, but still wanted something sweet and comforting. Inspired by a cannoli craving, I mixed some honey and lemon zest into ricotta cheese and sprinkled hazelnuts and berries on top. The result; so good and better yet, so very quick and easy. For a more decadent version, you can add chopped dark chocolate. Substitute berries as you wish... or swap the hazelnuts, for almonds, pecans, pistachios, or whatever you have on hand. Might as well be creative because it's such an easy thing to 'make.'

HONEY-LEMON RICOTTA CUPS
Makes 2 servings
 

1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese

3 tbsp honey (more or less to taste)

Zest of 2 lemons
 

3/4 cup mixed blueberries and raspberries

1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
 

In a medium sized bowl, stir the honey and lemon zest into the ricotta mixture. Transfer into 2 cups or jars and top with the nuts and berries.

Vanilla-Rhubarb Jam with Earl Grey from Food in Jars

I had never seriously considered making my own jam before met Marissa McClellan author of the wonderful blog Food in Jars, and upcoming cookbook from Running Press with the same name. I designed the book, and it was one of those projects that really made an impact on me. After reading the manuscript it was impossible not to want to attempt some sort of preserving. When we did the photo shoot I couldn't resist sampling a bit of every jam, jelly, marmalade, pickles, and all of the other amazingly good stuff in the book. And after watching Marissa do a demo on how to make her Strawberry-Vanilla Jam, I was pretty sure I could do it too. 
So, it being springtime, what better choice than rhubarb? There are two rhubarb jam recipes in the book, and one for jelly. I went with the Vanilla-Rhubarb Jam with Earl Grey because I can never get enough vanilla, and it's so, so good. It was fairly easy to make and now that I've made it, I can't imagine not making more of it. Try it and see! For more resources, check out www.foodinjars.com.

VANILLA-RHUBARB JAM WITH EARL GREY from Food in Jars

Makes 4 (1-pint/500 ml) jars

8 cups chopped rhubarb
(about 3 pounds/1.4 kg rhubarb stalks)
4 cups/800 g granulated sugar
1 cup/240 ml double-strength brewed Earl Grey tea
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch salt
1 (3-ounce/85 ml) packet liquid pectin

Prepare a boiling water bath and 4 regular-mouth 1-pint/500 ml jars
according to the process on page 10. Place the lids in a small saucepan,
cover them with water, and simmer over very low heat.
In a large, nonreactive pot, combine the rhubarb, sugar, and tea and bring
to a boil. Add the vanilla bean and seeds, lemon juice, and salt to the pot
and let the mixture bubble gently over medium-high heat for 15 to 20
minutes, stirring regularly, until the rhubarb has broken down.
Add the packet of liquid pectin and increase the heat to high, to bring the
jam up to a rolling boil. Let the jam boil vigorously for 3 to 4 minutes,
stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from burning.
Remove the pot from the heat and ladle the jam into the prepared jars. Wipe
the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for
10 minutes.