Now one of the recurring themes of my life is the importance of breakfast.  This was driven home to me during a writing project some years back.  I was to craft a trio of radio spots designed to persuade listeners to not only have breakfast but to also influence their children’s choices as well.  And it worked, the spots were great and well received and I coined the tagline, “Eat Breakfast, Have the World for Lunch!”

At the time my breakfast consisted of coffee and Doublemint, Spearmint or Juicyfruit gum.  Prior to quitting smoking I’d have the cigarette element, too.  But after working with a talented and knowledgable nutritionist employed by the local school district I was stopped in my tracks.  Everything I read said that eating breakfast had all of these wonderful effects on my body and brain.  But NOT eating had a long list of deleterious effects that I could definitely identify with .

So I set out to become a breakfast eater.  I experimented and discovered that if I ate sausage and eggs with toast and fruit I could sail through until lunch with no problem, and no midmorning muffin or pair of doughnuts.  And more amazing was the fact that I actually could enjoy a big salad for lunch and didn’t feel the overwhelming urge for my favorite deluxe burger, fries and Coke.  Not that I didn’t still enjoy that lunch, I just wasn’t jonesin’ for it from nine-thirty on.

But sometimes we just don’t have the time in the morning, do we?  So I’ve been working for years on a cookie that’s protein rich, flavorful, slightly sweet, loaded with fiber and can be eaten on the run or while working away.  Here it is.  And as the header notes, it’s gluten free which is a direction I’m definitely headed in.  Thank you, Tim Ferriss.

So here’s the ingredients:

1 cube unsalted butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground clove

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (Warms you up in the AM + meta-booster)

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. sea salt (Trader Joe’s is the real Mediterranean deal)

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup stevia powder

3 large (I buy Jumbo) eggs

2 tsp. real vanilla extract

2 cups buckwheat flour (Bob’s Red Mill is great stuff)

3 cups real oat meal, (Bob’s won planetary gold  with their steel cut)

1 cup dried cranberries, blueberries or raisins

Preheat your oven to 375.  Cream your butter with the sugar, stevia, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, sea salt, baking soda.  Beat eggs separately in a cup or bowl and combine.  Beat with a whisk to thoroughly mix ingredients, then add the dried fruit.  Now work in the buckwheat and oatmeal all at once and stroke with large spoon until you’re sure you’ve mixed it well.

Now what I do is use a small ice cream scoop and a cookie sheet they call the muffin top.  That’s what someone told me but it has about half inch deep mini-pie shapes.  I have a cookie sheet but that baby’s so burned over it’s got lots of texture.  And I put a cookie cooler rack on that for all kinds of roasting and broiling.  So I used this muffin pan and it worked well.  First batch I just dropped ball shapes into the indentations. second I kind of pressed them in.

If you made smaller cookies you could get five or six dozen.  I ended up with three dozen as I wanted these to be substantial enough so that two or three could fire up your metabolism in the morning.  And make no mistake about it, when you eat a good breakfast your metabolism takes off.  I cooked mine for 18-20 minutes.

I used to work for a company that had a large cooler.  If I just had a light breakfast I would be cold in the cooler.  If I ate two or three eggs and toast I would be comfortable but chilled.  If I had sausage links or patties, eggs, toast and milk I wouldn’t even notice the temp.  True story, want to lose weight?  Eat breakfast.

When I was on the Adkin’s diet my favorite breakfast was a steak and six eggs.  Lost eight pounds the first two weeks and was never hungry.  That’s not to say I didn’t crave carbs, I did, but I wasn’t hungry per se.

So the word is:  Eat Breakfast.  Break that Fast.  Think how long it is from dinner to lunch if you skip.  Your body goes into famine mode and you burn muscle.  That’s right, muscle.  You don’t want that.

Break your fast with these Fast Break Break Fast Cookies.  Then go have the world for lunch!

PS  I’ve had these for breakfast this week and I like them better cold than warm.  Next time I’ll cut the clove in half.  This is a feel-good-while-you’re-eating-them cookie.

Ingredients

1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
olive oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
55g/2oz dark brown sugar
50ml/1¾fl oz dark soy sauce
300ml/10fl oz tomato ketchup

Preparation method

Watch video

Barbecue sauce

The St. Louis barbecue style of preparation involves slow open grilling until done, then simmering in a pan of barbecue sauce that is placed on the grill.

 

Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated BBQ sauce) is a flavoring sauce or condiment ranging from watery to very thick consistency. As the name implies, it was created as an accompaniment to barbecued foods. While it can be applied to any food, it usually tops meat after cooking or during barbecuing, grilling, or baking. Traditionally it has been a favored sauce for pork or beef ribs and chicken.

It sometimes carries with it a smoky flavor. The ingredients vary, but some commonplace items are tomato paste, vinegar, liquid smoke, spices, and sweeteners. These variations are often due to regional traditions and recipes.History

The precise origin of barbecue sauce is unclear. Some trace it to the end of the 15th century, when Christopher Columbus brought a sauce back from Hispaniola, while others place it at the formation of the first American colonies in the 17th century. References to the substance start occurring in both English and French literature over the next two hundred years. South Carolina mustard sauce, a type of barbecue sauce, can be traced to German settlers in the 18th century.^{[citation needed]}

Early cookbooks did not tend to include recipes for barbecue sauce. The first commercially-produced barbecue sauce was made by the Georgia Barbecue Sauce Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Their sauce was advertised for sale in the Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1909. Heinz released its barbecue sauce in 1940. [Robert F. Moss, "Barbecue: The History of an American Institution," University of Alabama Press, 2010, pp. 189–190] Kraft Foods also started making cooking oils with bags of spices attached, supplying another market entrance of barbecue sauce.

Variations

Different geographical regions have allegiances to their particular styles and variations for barbecue sauce. For example, vinegar and mustard-based barbecue sauces are popular in certain areas of the southern United States, while in the northern U.S. tomato-based barbecue sauces are well-known. In Asian countries a ketchup and corn syrup-based sauce is common. Mexican salsa can also be used as a base for barbecue sauces.

South America

The sauce for asado, similar to barbecue in Argentina and Uruguay, is called chimichurri – a parsley based green sauce used as a condiment on the table, a marinade, and a grilling sauce. Chimichurri is used on beef, lamb, pork, goat, fowl, venison and root vegetables.

In Brazil, the typical barbecue sauce is called vinagrete {made with vinegar, olive oil, tomatoes, parsley and onions}.

Australia

In Australia, “barbecue sauce” principally refers to a condiment added after cooking, not as part of the cooking process. In this regard, it is a close cousin of ketchup (which is universally referred to in Australia as “tomato sauce”), but with a darker colour, and a richer, smokier flavour. Australian barbecue sauce made at home is sometimes simply a blend of tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Commercially, the various brands in the market range from somewhat fruity to something very like a brown sauce.

United States

Hunt’s barbecue sauce. A nationally distributed Kansas City–style sauce brand.

The U.S. has a wide variety of differing barbecue sauce tastes. Some are based in regional tradition.

• East Carolina Sauce – Most American barbecue sauces can trace their roots to the two sauces common in North Carolina.^{[citation needed]} The simplest and the earliest were supposedly popularized by African slaves who also advanced the development of American barbecue. They were made with vinegar, ground black pepper, and hot chile pepper flakes. It is used as a “mopping” sauce to baste the meat while it was cooking and as a dipping sauce when it is served. Thin and sharp, it penetrates the meat and cuts the fats in the mouth. There is little or no sugar in this sauce. Due to the sharp taste, it has more of a cult following amongst people not of the region.

• Lexington Dip (a.k.a. Western Carolina Dip or Piedmont Dip) – In Lexington and in the “Piedmont” hilly areas of western North Carolina, the sauce is often called a dip. It is a lot like the East Carolina Sauce (above) with tomato paste, tomato sauce, or ketchup added. The vinegar softens the tomato.

• Kansas City – Thick, reddish-brown, tomato or ketchup-based with sugars, vinegar, and spices. Evolved from the Lexington Dip (above), it is significantly different in that it is thick and sweet and does not penetrate the meat as much as sit on the surface. This is the most common and popular sauce in the US and all other tomato based sauces are variations on the theme using more or less of the main ingredients.

• Memphis – A variant of the Kansas City style typically having the same ingredients but these tend to have a larger percentage of vinegar and use molasses as a sweetener.

• South Carolina Mustard Sauce – Part of South Carolina is known for its yellow barbecue sauces made primarily of yellow mustard, vinegar, sugar and spices. This sauce is most common in a belt from Columbia to Charleston, an area settled by many Germans. Vinegar-based sauces with black pepper are common in the coastal plains region as in North Carolina, and thin tomato- and vinegar-based sauces are common in the hilly regions as in North Carolina.

• Texas – In some of the older, more traditional restaurants the sauces are heavily seasoned with cumin, chile peppers, bell peppers, chili powder or ancho powder, lots of black pepper, fresh onion, only a touch of tomato, little or no sugar, and they often contain meat drippings and smoke flavor because meats are dipped into them. They are medium thick and often resemble a thin tomato soup. They penetrate the meat easily rather than sit on top. Bottled barbecue sauces from Texas are often different from those used in the same restaurants because they do not contain meat drippings.

• Others – There are also many glazes, fruit-based sauces, and novelty sauces (including chocolate-based) scattered around the nation.

Asia

• Hoisin sauce, a type of Chinese-style barbecue sauce, serves as a base ingredient in many other recipes for Chinese barbecue sauces
• A spicy, yogurt-based barbecue sauce is used for tandoori chicken, an Indian dish
• A sweet soy sauce marinade (tare in Japanese; “teriyaki sauce” in the west) is used for teriyaki, a Japanese-style grill (traditionally fish), before and during the grilling process.
• For Korean Galbi, a ganjang-based sauce is used, often referred to as Galbi or Kalbi sauce. It is used as a marinade. The sauce is generally made from soy sauce, garlic, and sugar, though variations with sesame oil, rice wine, hot pepper paste, fruit juice, lemon-lime soda and honey are common.

• 170g Unsalted Butter
• 150g Dark Brown Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs – separated
• 225g Dark Chocolate
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 250g Plain Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 365g Semi-Skimmed Milk
• 100g Oreo Chunks

Frosting:

• 56g Unsalted Butter
• 250g Icing Sugar
• 60g Semi-Skimmed Milk
• 130g Smooth Peanut Butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 100g Oreo Crumbs – finely crushed

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line your cupcake pans with cases. In each cupcake case place half an Oreo, the half with the cream filling still on it.  Put the other half to one side to be used later in the frosting

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg yolks. Mix in vanilla and melted chocolate.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the butter/sugar mixture. Crush Oreos in a blender, or a zip loc bag and a rolling pin if you don’t have a blender

Stir in Oreos.

This is an easy and delicious sandwich that you can make ahead and have for dinner for a few days! I like to make a simple BBQ sauce so I can control the sweetness and smoke. If you do not have time, you can use your favorite bottle sauce. This sandwich pairs nicely with many side dishes and can be part of your summer menu! You could make this in a larger quantity for a party. Just purchase small sandwich rolls and you have a great appetizer!

Ingredients
Pulled Chicken
1 ½ pounds Chicken breast, boneless and skinless, cut in half
1 can Chicken Broth
Rolls, buy a quality freshly baked roll

Smoked BBQ Sauce
1 – 2 Sweet onions, diced
2 cups Ketchup
½ cup Tomato Paste
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
1 Red Sweet Pepper, chopped
1 tbsp Liquid Smoke
½ tsp Kosher Salt
½ tsp Black Pepper
1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce
½ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
¼ tsp Hot Pepper sauce, or to taste

Tips
I always have a jar of minced Garlic in my refrigerator. To save time you could purchase your onions and red pepper diced. You can add more or less of certain ingredients to control how sweet you want your sauce. This recipe makes about 6-sandwiches. If you are a sauce person, you may want to adjust the recipe to make a larger batch allowing you to add sauce to the individual sandwiches.

Preparation
Pulled Chicken
Place chicken in a slow cooker. Add chicken broth and add water to cover chicken. Cook on high a couple of hours until the chicken starts to pull apart. Remove from slow cooker; discard the broth. Using two forks pull chicken apart ensuring the chunks of chicken are not too large.

Smoked BBQ Sauce
Place all ingredients in a heavy soup or sauce pan. Simmer for a couple of hours until flavors are blended and desired thickness.

Smoked BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich
Lightly toast your sandwich roll. Warm your pulled chicken with the Smoked BBQ sauce. When heated through serve on your roll adding more Smoked BBQ sauce if desired. Enjoy this sandwich with my Kicked up Baked Chips!

Aah beer, you wonderful stuff…how can I introduce more of your wonder into my life with out getting drunk…Oh I know…CAKE!

It has been so long since I had some Parkin…you don’t seem to find too much of it down south. So I thought it time to bake myself some. There is a little difference between Yorkshire Parkin & Lancashire Parkin, so I stuck true to my routes & went down the Lancashire path…

INGREDIENTS

100g butter

100g soft dark brown sugar

130g syrup

100g oatmeal

150g plain flour

2tsp bicarbonate of soda

3-4tsp ground ginger (depends how gingery you like it)

2 beaten eggs

100ml ginger beer

1. Pop the butter, sugar & syrup into a saucepan & melt together.

2. Mix the oatmeal, flour & bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl.

3. Pour the melted mix into the flour mix, stir then add the beaten eggs & ginger beer – mix well.

4. Pop into your greased, lined tin & bake for about 20mins at 150c.

It a super firery ginger blast! Goes smashing with a proper coffee. I am thinking of trying this with a deep, dark, thick, tasty porter, for that extra deep flavour…mmm can’t wait to try it!

Last month my boss announced that he was moving the lab to California.  What resulted can only be described as a workplace full of whispers.  Murmurs of who will be going, will there be raises, and the phrase, “did you hear…” repeated over and over again.

I’m kind of over it.

Not one that likes to bring home their workday, I often turn to the kitchen to let out any stress that may remain.

Did your colleague take the last of your solution and not replace it?  Knead some dough.  Picture it’s his face.  Much better.

Did a granny that smelled like moth balls hiss at you on the bus, because you were applying a “smelly lotion?” Don’t say you’d do the world a favor by calling her kids to tell them to pull the plug in a few months.  Instead, segment some citrus.

Did you lose one of your favorite technicians because they’re being transferred? Make them a cake.  Or two, because if it’s going to be a dark chocolate stout bundt, surely you’d want one for yourself.

.

This cake is intensely chocolatey but not too sweet.  It’s slightly malty with depth from the brown sugar and chocolate stout.  The best way I can describe it is that this is a more adult chocolate cake; moist, but delicate, with icing that’s creamy, rich and dark.  It’s what I’d want a chocolate cake to be, especially after a Monday.

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Makes 1 Bundt Cake

-

Equipment

A Small Saucepan

A Whisk

A Spatula

A Small Mixing Bowl or A Two Cup Measuring Cup

A Large Mixing Bowl

A Medium Mixing Bowl

A Bundt Pan (I used a 12 cup), buttered and floured, buttered and cocoa powdered, or sprayed with baking spray

A Cooling Rack (or a large plate if you don’t own one)

-

Ingredients

For the Cake

One and three quarter cups of unsweetened unflavored soy milk (or your choice of non-dairy milk)

3 tablespoons of ground flax seed

1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

2 cups chocolate stout or porter

6 tablespoons of butter (like Earth Balance)

Three quarters of a cup of cocoa powder

1 cup white whole wheat flour (you could use all purpose in a pinch)

1 cup all purpose flour

One and a half teaspoons of baking soda

Quarter teaspoon of fine sea salt

1 cup of dark brown sugar

Half a cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce

For the Icing

Two tablespoons of soy milk (or your choice of non-dairy milk)

Three quarters of a cup of powdered sugar

Quarter cup of cocoa powder

-

Place the oven rack to the middle position.  Preheat the oven to 350F.

Pour the beer into a small saucepan and simmer over medium low heat until it’s reduced down to 1 cup. (For me, this took about twenty minutes, so prep your other ingredients while you wait.)

While the beer is simmering, add the soy milk, ground flax seed and apple cider vinegar to your small bowl.  Whisk till combined.  Set aside.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the medium mixing bowl.  Whisk till combined.  Set aside.

When the beer has reduced, remove from heat and add the butter.  Stir in till melted.  Add the cocoa powder and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.

Once the beer mixture has cooled, add the sugars, applesauce and soy milk mixture to the large mixing bowl.  Stir till the ingredients are well combined.  Slowly, add the cooled beer mixture and stir until well combined.

Add the flour mixture to the large mixing bowl, and fold the ingredients in.  Be sure to scrape down and up the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure that everything is incorporated.  Try to mix the ingredients till they’re just combined.  Do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 55 – 65 minutes, or when a cake tester (like a toothpick or a knife) comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for about ten minutes.

Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool till room temperature prior to icing.

While waiting for the cake to cool, make the icing.  Give your medium mixing bowl a good rinse (the one used for the flour), then use again.  Add the powdered sugar, cocoa and soy milk to the medium mixing bowl.  Whisk the ingredients together till smooth.  It should be creamy and shiny with very little (if any) lumps.  It takes a good while to whisk everything together, so you may find yourself doing this for a minute or two (by hand).

When the cake is at room temperature, ice the cake with a spatula and let it set prior to serving.

At Syracuse, the dining halls have (in my opinion) great applesauce cake and zucchini bread. Those desserts are a few of the dishes I actually look forward to when I eat at the dining hall. I haven’t baked anything with zucchini in a long time, so I wanted to try something new with these—Berry Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins!

First of all, this batter smells heavenly. The spices filled my kitchen with a warm, autumn-y aroma, it was awesome. The zucchini and the applesauce keeps the muffins moist, and they were already going to be moist and fresher longer because of the liners (a little tip I learned from Giada on the Food Network—bake muffins in liners because it helps them stay moist). The spices came home in the flavor of the muffins, too, adding that warm autumn-ness behind the star flavors from the berries and the chocolate chips. I loved how bright and slightly tart the berries were, even after being baked, and how their flavors contrasted with the deep, almost roasted flavor from the chocolate chips. And the presentation is just great. I love how the green from the zucchini and the purples and pinks of the berries marble, freckle, and stain the muffins—they look so unique and pretty in their Easter liners.

Berry Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Yields about 18 muffins

Ingredients:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (I use 1/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar)

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about one large zucchini)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup frozen berries, thawed

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare muffin tins with liners, or spray with non-stick spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, applesauce, vanilla, and sugars. Fold in zucchini.

3. Add flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon to wet ingredients. Fold in berries and chocolate chips gently.

4. Transfer batter into muffin tins using a 1/4 cup measure. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove and let cool in tins on wire rack for five minutes. Remove muffins from tins and let cool completely on wire rack. Store in an air-tight container.

Ingredients:
14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat, heat 10 tablespoons butter until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to the heat-proof bowl of a stand mixer. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter to melt; set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
2. While butter is cooling, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In shallow baking dish or pie plate, mix granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, rubbing between fingers, until well combined; set aside.
4. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
5. Add remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and salt to bowl with cooled butter; attach paddle and mix on medium-low speed until no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg, yolk, and vanilla and mix on medium-low speed until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
6. Roll two heaping tablespoons of dough into ball between your palms, roll the ball in the sugar mixture, and then place it on the prepared baking sheet spacing the balls about 2 inches apart (you should be able to fit 12 cookies on each sheet).
7. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone); 12 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking.
8. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes then using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.

Yields: 24 cookies

Source:  Sweet Peas Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 sticks softened salted butter

2 eggs

1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tbs. fresh lemon juice

1 tbs grated lemon peel

2 1/4 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven 350*

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, eggs, fresh ginger, lemon juice and lemon peel. In a separate bowl combine flour and all other dry ingredients.

Then blend together well.

Place 1 tbs. balls on cookie sheet and cook for 8 to 10 minutes at 350*

They are soft and filled with flavor!!! Eat and Enjoy!

• 2 Cups dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oleo/shortening (I use butter.)
• 2 Cups flour

Mix until crumbly. Remove one cup of the crumbly mixture to sprinkle of top of cake before baking.

Add to remaining crumbly mixture:

• 1 Egg
• 1 Cup sour milk (Make sour milk by adding lemon juice to milk and waiting 15 minutes.) (Butter milk also works.)
• 1/2 Teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon cloves

Stir until mixed. May still be slightly lumpy.

Prepare a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

The instructions say to grease the pan and put waxed paper on the bottom.

I have found that spray lubricant for cooking works fine, even without the waxed paper.

Pour batter into 9 x 13 inch baking pan. (You may use a smaller, deeper pan. Adjust cooking time)

Sprinkle the salvaged mixture on top of the batter.

Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees f.

My mother made this spice cake frequently when I was a child. My wife makes it occasionally. My older daughter makes it slightly more than occasionally. I make it when I can no longer stand not having it.

The drink of choice for Sam Axe: The Minty Mojito.
Gin + Juice
I like it chunky: Guacamole!
Campfires and the double marshmallow, Special Dark chocolate s’more!
Bourbon Tasting at the Lake
The first post! Honey Roasted Tomato Bruschetta
You know you want one…the creamy root beer float!
Gooey, earthy, creamy, pungent French camembert.
The NOLA Margarita
Blimey! That’s a good ale!
Yes, I really did drink prehistoric plant matter deposits.
I want Mahón!

Now that you’ve worked up a thirst, on to the bourbon + spice! This is the cocktail I prepared for Chef Mark’s Thanksgiving feast. It’s a marvelous combination of rich, spicy and sweet. Infusing the flavors of ginger, cinnamon and cloves into dark brown sugar simple syrup is step one. Combine one cup each of water and dark brown sugar in a saucepan.  Bring the mixture just shy of a boil while stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add 3-4 slices of ginger, 5-6 cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks, remove the pan from the heat and let steep for about an hour. Strain before use.

Over ice in a rocks glass add 2 oz. bourbon, 1 oz. cinnamon ginger clove simple syrup, 1 oz. Trader Vic’s Kona Coffee liqueur, and 3-4 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged bitters. Stir, garnish and enjoy. (Bottle and store the remaining syrup in the refrigerator.)

Cheers to the Addy judges and all those who work hard to make the Addys a great event!

The Bourbon + Spice cocktail!

The rich, sweet and spicy ingredients!

Willett Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was my choice for Bourbon + Spice.

With Fat Tuesday just around the corner, I thought I’d try something new this year in addition to my traditional King Cake. I had the idea to make something with the traditional Mardi Gras colors of gold, green, and purple, and I wanted it to resemble beads.

And then it hit me: caramel corn! It’s sweet and decadent, perfect for Fat Tuesday. And with a few drops of food coloring, the caramel turns the popcorn into little sweet salty bead-like nuggets of love.

I searched the ‘net for a caramel corn recipe to use as a base, and ended up taking ingredients, amounts, and techniques from several recipes, which I combined to come up with my own version.

Here are some hints, tips, and tricks to make things easier:

• 2 regular sized bags of microwave popcorn make just the right amount of popcorn. You could also use about 6 quarts of popped regular popcorn.

• Keeping the popcorn warm before adding the caramel will keep the caramel from seizing up and will make it easier to mix.
• If you want more uniformly coated caramel corn, put the popcorn in bowls before adding the caramel. This will allow you to mix it more thoroughly (but will also result in three unnecessary dirty dishes). Using roasting pans or other pans with high sides will also make it easier to stir the caramel corn.
• The caramel has to be used as soon as it’s ready, or it will start to cool and harden, so mise en place it key to this recipe. Having all of your ingredients and equipment set out and at hand will enable you to manage making three separate batches of caramel corn all at once.

• If you want to make an insanely large batch of caramel corn for a party or to give away, you could make three separate batches, one of each color. In that case, you could bake each batch of caramel corn on two pans.
• Spraying the measuring cup before measuring the corn syrup will make the sticky syrup slide right out of the cup.
• I like the mixture of light and dark brown sugars, as it gives the caramel corn a nice color and depth of flavor; but you could use 2 cups of either.
• When adding the food coloring, remember — less is more. Start with just a few drops and mix it in well before adding more. You can always add more food coloring, but you can’t take it out. I used a bit too much in my purple batch, as the caramel was a deep golden color, and I thought it would take quite a bit to color it. It really doesn’t take much at all.
• If you like nuts in your caramel corn, add 2 cups peanuts, pecans, or mixed nuts to the popcorn in the pans before adding the caramel.
• Run the saucepans and spoons under hot water as soon as you’re finished with them. The caramel will scrape off easily.

Mardi Gras Caramel Corn

Ingredients

• 2 bags Natural microwave popcorn
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• purple and green food coloring

Directions

1. Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 200°F. Line three roasting or jellyroll pans with foil and grease with cooking spray.
2. Pop popcorn and divide evenly among the three pans. Place pans in oven to keep popcorn warm.
3. Measure vanilla and baking soda into small prep bowls and set near stove. Fill small saucepan with hot water and set aside.
4. Place butter, brown sugars, corn syrup, and salt in large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until butter and sugars melt and mixture comes to a boil. As soon as it boils, stop stirring and set a timer for 4 minutes. While the caramel is cooking, empty and dry the small saucepan, setting on the stovetop to stay warm, and take one pan of popcorn out of the oven. When the timer goes off, remove the saucepan from heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda. The mixture will foam up a bit at first.
5. Pour 1/3 of the caramel over the first pan of popcorn and immediately return the pan to the oven (don’t stir the popcorn). Pour another 1/3 of the caramel into the small sauce pan. Set the large saucepan aside.
6. Add a few drops of purple food coloring to the caramel in the small pan and mix well, adding more food coloring if necessary to get the desired color. Remove a second pan of popcorn from the oven, pour the purple caramel over the popcorn, and return the pan immediately to the oven (don’t stir the popcorn).
7. Add a few drops of green food coloring to the caramel in the large pan and mix well with a clean spoon, adding more food coloring if necessary to get the desired color. Remove the third pan of popcorn from the oven, pour the green caramel over the popcorn, and stir the popcorn to coat with caramel. Return the pan to the oven, then take the other pans out one at a time and mix well, using a different spoon for each pan.
8. Bake the caramel corn for 60 minutes, taking the pans out to stir well every 15 minutes.
9. Dump the caramel corn out onto waxed paper and use a wooden spoon to break up any big chunks. Allow to cool, then mix all three colors together and store in an airtight container.

Makes about 22 cups.

This recipe came to me from my friend Lily who adapted it from a Bobby Flay recipe.  These blondies are chewy and delicious and will definitely satisfy any sweet tooth craving.  

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 sticks butter, unsalted
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (you could substitute milk chocolate)
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp toffee chips (you could also chop up 3 Skor bars)
• Optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon

HOW TO MAKE IT

• Butter and line a 9 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing a 2-inch overhang – butter the lining, too
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt
• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan; add in both sugars and whisk until combined and the sugar is melted
• Transfer the mixture to your mixing bowl and allow it to cool slightly
• Mix in the eggs and vanilla until combined
• Add the flour and mix until just combined
• Fold in the chocolate chips and toffee chips and pour into the prepared baking pan
• Bake at 350°F for 24-27 minutes or until the top cracks slightly, is firm to the touch and a cake tester come out with moist pieces clinging to it (definitely make sure you bake this until you see the crack on the surface, even if it means going over the 27 minutes)
• Let the blondies cool completely – once they are cool, remove the blondies by lifting out the parchment paper “handles” and transfer to a cutting board
  • If you want the blondies to firm up more quickly, put them in the fridge for 30 minutes

Nothing is worse than running out of an essential ingredient when you are in the middle of baking or cooking. Last week I was whipping up a batch of oatmeal cookies and realized I was out of brown sugar. No problem. I mixed up my own.

Add 1 tablespoon molasses to 1 cup of white sugar. Stir together…you have light brown sugar. Do you need dark brown sugar instead? Add 2 tablespoons of molasses to the sugar and mix.

After I tried this I realized I found the taste is heartier and much better than the store bought brown sugar. I’m hooked on making my own now.

Tip: Use your food processor for even faster results.