March 16, 2012 by cindy

Recipe: Coconut Oil Granola

Tags: almonds, breakfast, coconut, coconut oil, dried cherries, granola, honey, oats

This is a far different breakfast post than the last. Rainbow doughnuts aren’t exactly the wisest of breakfast choices, but oats definitely can be.

We all know oats are a super healthful breakfast choice…the thing is, I kind of, sort of don’t love oatmeal. Not really at all. I know a lot of people that are big fans of the stuff, but I just can’t get with it. I can, however, get with granola. I think it’s the crunchy, toasty nature of the stuff that wins me over. Add in some nuts, spice, and any number of mix-ins and I’m sold.

This batch has is full of toasty coconut, as well as coconut oil, macadamias, sunflower seeds and almonds for nuttiness, chewy and sour dried cherries, a little lemon zest for brightness, a variety of spices for warmth, and honey for a little something sweet. There’s also a beaten egg white in there, making this granola the chunky variety. Granola comes together quickly and only requires a bit of baking and stirring before you have crunchy, golden brown goodness for topping yogurt or tossing into a cereal bowl with milk.

Coconut Oil Granola

Adapted from The Kitchn and this recipe.

You can switch up the nuts, seeds, and dried fruits to your liking. You can also use olive oil instead of coconut. Chocolate chips even make a great mix-in, but should be added after baking and cooling.

3 cups rolled oats

2/3 cup almonds, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup dried sour cherries

1 cup unsweetened coconut chips

pinch of salt

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg white, beaten

Preheat oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a large mixing bowl combine oats, nuts, sunflower seeds, cherries, coconut, salt, lemon zest, and spices, toss to combine well.

In a medium saucepan melt together honey and coconut oil, just to combine. Add vanilla, remove from heat and pour over oat mixture, stirring to combine and coat well. Add the egg white and mix to coat well. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet in an even layer and bake 15 minutes, stir and continue to bake in 10 minute intervals, stirring between each until granola is uniformly golden. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet before breaking up and storing in an airtight container. If you do not allow it to cool completely the granola will not be chunky, but just as delicious still.

To make the yogurt granola cups start by macerating some berries in a bit of sugar to taste, spoon into the bottom of a clean jar, top with greek yogurt, a drizzle of honey, and a handful of granola. If you use a jar with a lid, you can take this treat on the go.

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March 13, 2012 by cindy

Recipe: Rainbow Doughnuts!

Tags: baked, baking, doughnuts, festive, glaze, holiday, multi colored, rainbow, sprinkles, St. Patrick's day, vanilla

I am sort of obsessed with the trio of pink, purple, and teal together–though admittedly it’s not exactly a rainbow of color, it’s close enough for me. I always call it the Care Bear/Rainbow Pony color scheme. It’s the girliest and while I love, love it there aren’t a lot of applications of it in my life these days…as I am no longer 8-years-old and prone to hoarding my cache of Lisa Frank stickers. Those days are, sadly, long gone.

I originally purchased myself a heart shaped doughnut pan with plans for Valentine’s treats that never really happened, so when I was toying with the idea of something rainbow inspired for St. Patrick’s day I just knew it was time to make some heart-shaped, candy-colored doughnuts happen.

These doughnuts are the baked cake variety, all vanilla with a bit of pure maple syrup in the glaze for fun. They are tender, light, and unabashedly bright. I made them on a gloomy, rainy day…which we all know is just the sort of day that makes the best rainbows.

I made the little flags out of washi tape and toothpicks–I thought they came out super cute and they were really simple too. *Also, the plates, bunting, and cups were c/o Susty Party and were part of a fun, compostable party kit. You can find this kit, among other supplies on their website. The cups hold hot and cold liquids like a charm and the plates are SUPER strong. They also carry those paper straws we all know and love!

Baked Vanilla Cake Doughnuts

Adapted from Doughnuts by Lara Ferroni

I used vanilla sugar and vanilla extract in these, you can certainly omit the vanilla sugar for regular sugar if you do not have any on hand. This recipe make about 12 doughnuts.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup vanilla sugar

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup warm milk

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg, beaten

Gel food coloring, optional

Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly spray a doughnut pan with cooking spray.

If coloring, place a small drop of food color in 3 separate bowls and set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, nutmeg, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry mixture, as if you were making a pastry crust, until evenly distributed. Add the milk, yogurt, vanilla, and egg, stir until just combined, OR if using gel color leave slightly under-mixed, divide evenly among 3 bowls and fold to combine with the color.

Using a piping bag or spoon, fill each donut well 3/4 full, making sure the center post is free of batter. Bake until doughnuts spring back to the touch–6-10 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from the pan. Glaze as desired.

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2-2 teaspoons milk–depending on desired consistency

In a medium bowl whisk together all ingredients except milk. Add milk 1/2 teaspoon at a time to reach your desired consistency for the glaze. Dip donuts, rounded side down, in glaze and add sprinkles as desired.

** For the sake of full disclosure, I have to note that these items were given to me by Susty Party, however I was not paid for my review and all opinions are my own.

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March 11, 2012 by cindy

A Photo A Day: Week 10

Tags: 366, a photo a day, daily, life, march

Week 10! Last week was crazy-ness and disarray around here…painting is finally done everything is back in it’s place…so, look forward to recipes and tasty-ness once again.

3.4.2012: Pancakes! I used to hate them, now not so much. Yay!

3.5.2012: chickpea salad–simple vinagarette, roasted sweet peppers, cucumber, red onion, goat cheese.

3.6.2012: beaded flats, sunny day, mossy sidewalk.

3.7.2012: I used this recipe, subbing peppermint castille soap for unscented. Super easy and smells nice too! I painted an old/clean spray bottle with some chalkboard paint and taped on a frame with washi tape.

3.8.2012: this girl cashed in on her upgrade…finally!

3.9.2012: strawberry/banana/greek yogurt smoothie and a pink straw for good measure.

3.10.2012: IKEA trip! strapping our new bed to the roof.

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March 9, 2012 by cindy

Random Stuff I Love: Pinterest

Tags: decorating, fun stuff, pinterest, random

In leiu of a real-deal post, I’m sharing some Pinterest love–I’m still painting/organizing/spring-cleaning like a maniac and the various states of disarray are distracting/uninspiring to say the least.

I cannot tell you how much I L-O-V-E Pinterest, though there does seem to be a bit of controversy over it. I don’t mind having my content pinned, in fact…saying it makes me a bit giddy is an understatement. I do try to pin from the original source and try not to pin something at all if it doesn’t seem to have a working link. That said, it is my number one source of inspiration AND time-wasting-management.

Double edged sword, that it is.

The screen shot above is just a little snippet of things I’m doing/coveting for sprucing up our place. In all honesty, we don’t plan to spend a long number of years in the midwest…we hope to be west coasters again in the next few years…but, we do want to make our place feel comfortable, homey, and reflect our style while we’re here. We want to enjoy dwelling in our dwelling, you know? So, it’s been a whirlwind of paint rollers, furniture re-mixing, and this weekend some new purchases are happening.

Do you Pin? If you do, I’d love to check out your boards! Leave me a link in the comments and feel free to check out mine as well!

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March 5, 2012 by cindy

A Photo A Day: Week 9

Tags: 366, a photo a day, daily, daily life, life

2.26.2012: I love icicles.

2.27.2012: Sewing projects. Throw pillows are expensive and often not cute/what I want. DIY’ing it up!

2.28.2012: Dried Shitakes. Those dudes got mixed into potsticker filling.

2.29.2012: Leap day! Check out that animal leaping on that label…North Peak has the best bottles of all the beers.

3.1.2012: Treat! Sweet Cherry Pecan bar from Wild Ophelia. Sean ate 90% of this bar, fyi…he liked it.

3.2.2012: Pillow talk. Old pillow meet new pillow.

3.3.2012: Spring is coming! Painting happened all weekend…furniture and decor remixing is happening too.

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March 2, 2012 by cindy

Recipe: Brown Butter Cookie Ice Cream

Tags: brown butter, cookie, cookie crouton, custard, frozen, ice cream

Sometimes we don’t get to all the cookies in the cookie jar before they get all stale and sad. In this case the cookies were those delightful bars I made last week. I l-o-v-e those bars, but sometimes even I can’t eat a whole batch…and most of the time, I really shouldn’t. Instead of letting them go stale on the counter, I chopped them up and toasted them crouton-style in the oven.

Cookie Croutons!

That happened and it was a pretty amazing idea…not to high-five myself or anything. Anyway, I’ve been wanting to try out a brown butter ice cream for a while now and I thought it would be great with the cookie croutons as a mix-in. This ice cream is toffee-like from the brown butter and brown sugar, crunchy from the cookies, and creamy-dreamy from all that cream and those egg yolks. It’s definitely a special treat.

Those little cups up there are compostable, super cute, and the perfect size for a decadent little sampling of this crazy ice cream. I got them c/o Susty Party, home of biodegradable, eco-friendly party supplies.

Brown Butter Ice Cream with Cookie Crouton Mix-In

Adapted from Epicurious

I put rum in this ice cream to keep it from freezing solid…and because, butter + rum = love. Feel free to leave it out for kiddos or if you don’t want to add it.

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

5 egg yolks

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon rum (optional)

1 cup cookie croutons*

Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat, until solids brown and turn fragrant like toffee. Be sure to watch closely so the butter doesn’t burn. Pour into a small heatproof bowl and set aside.

Pour rum into a large bowl, set a fine mesh strainer over the top, and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, and salt to combine. Set aside and heat cream and milk in a saucepan to scald (just before boiling, look for tiny bubbles along the perimeter of the saucepan). Slowly whisk hot milk mixture into the egg yolks to temper. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and whisk in the browned butter. Stir constantly over medium-low heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon and thickens. Remove from heat and pour the custard mixture through the fine mesh strainer into the bowl and stir to incoporate rum (if using). Set the bowl over a large bowl of ice water and stir to cool. Cover the surface with plastic and chill well (I like at least 6 hours).

Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. Fold in cookie croutons by hand before storing in the freezer.

*to make the Cookie Croutons, chop up 4-5 cookie bars (or cookies). Preheat oven to 300F, place cookie pieces on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast until golden brown and crunchy.

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February 28, 2012 by cindy

Chocolate Stout Waffle Adventure with Take A Megabite

Tags: beer, chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallow, s'more, stout, waffle

Sometimes I come across a recipe that I just have to share with my blogger pal, Megan of Take A Megabite. I just know she’ll be as weirdly excited as I get about food-stuffs. Sometimes this leads to us scheming up something delicious to make together. This happened before with fried pickles and Nutella-filled doughnuts.

Some things are just so good you have to share in the making with a friend. Last week I came across a recipe that used beer in pancake batter. As I know Megan is big fan of beers AND breakfast, I shared the link with her via AIM (yeah sometimes–actually, all the time–we chat on AIM…throw-back!) and we quickly began a back and forth that led to the idea of Chocolate Stout Waffle S’mores. OMG.

This past Saturday I made my way over to the Detroit area for a ladies lunch and beer waffling adventure. The beer combined with plenty of leavening agents makes these waffles light and full of airy bubbles. These waffles aren’t exactly breakfast fare with the addition of cocoa, chocolate stout (we used Young’s Double Chocolate Stout), a marshmallow drizzle, and graham cracker + chocolate chip sprinkles…but more of a lunch/dinner dessert type of thing. Though anyone having these for breakfast or brunch would be a champ in my book.

See Megan’s take on this waffle deliciousness HERE. Also! Megan was nominated for a Homie on Th Kitchn for Best Recipe Blog… if you’re feeling inclined, vote for her HERE!

Chocolate Stout Waffles, S’mores Style

We suggest making the waffle batter first and allowing it to rest while you make the marshmallow sauce–as the marshmallow will set up. If you do make the marshmallow sauce ahead of time, simply reheat it in 10 second bursts in the microwave. We used store bought grahams to sprinkle on top, feel free to make your own if you’re feeling extra fancy. I like this recipe.

Adapted from Serious Eats

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 Tablespoons quality cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

2 Tablespoons sugar

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk

1 cup stout beer

2 large eggs

Marshmallow Sauce, graham crumbs, and chopped chocolate for topping

In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. Set aside.

In a small dish whisk eggs to break up and set aside. In a small saucepan heat butter with milk until butter is melted. Measure out a cup of stout. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and whisk in the egg, warm milk and butter, and finally the stout to combine. Set batter aside and heat the waffle iron (cook waffles in iron according to manufacturers instructions) while you make the marshmallow sauce.

Marshmallow Sauce

From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1/2 cup, plus 1/4 cup water, divided

1 envelope (1/4 ounce) unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 large egg white

Big pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small dish sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water, set aside to soften.

In a medium saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer heat remaining 1/4 cup water, sugar, and corn syrup. Put the egg white in the bowl of a mixer with the salt. Bring the syrup to a boil, once it reaches about 225F begin beating the egg white. Once the syrup reaches 240F and the egg white is stiff, carefully pour hot syrup into the mixer bowl in a steady stream with the beater on medium speed. Add the gelatin to the still hot saucepan, swirling to melt, and pour that into the mixing bowl as well–continuing to beat until the mixture is white, glossy, and room temperature. Beat in the vanilla. Use immediately.

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February 26, 2012 by cindy

A Photo A Day: Week 8

2.19.2012: Liège Waffles. Recipe here.

2.20.2012: Chocolate and Walnuts for these guys.

2.21.2012: BEETS, about to get roasted! I love them.

2.22.2012: A few of my favorite Essie polishes–Chinchilly, Splash of Grenadine, Lilacism

2.23.2012: Whipped up egg whites and sugar for angel food cake.

2.24.2012: Snowy days need boots.

2.25.2012: Beer, chocolate, waffles, with this lady…recipe coming this week!

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February 21, 2012 by cindy

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Tags: baking, bars, brown sugar, browned butter, chocolate chip, cookie, cookie bars, walnut

These cookie bars are after my heart.

They are everything I crave and love about a chocolate chip cookie–all crisp edges, chewy middles, toffee-like butteryness, dark chocolate, and crunchy nuts–except, there’s none of that portioning/scooping business. This means that these go from oven to mouth in a little less time with a bit less hassle.

Cookie Heaven.

When I spied this recipe on Not Without Salt, I needed it in my life with a quickness. I made them the same day, with what I had on hand–sharing them with neighbors and Sean’s co-workers–then, made them again 2 days later with a few adaptations of my own.

It’s not often that I make the same recipe twice in a month, let alone in a week. This is a recipe for the recipe box. It deserves a handwritten card and coveted space among the favorites…the ones you go back to over and over again, endlessly adaptable, always familiar.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Adapted from Not Without Salt

I used black salt for sprinkling over the top. It was a purely aesthetic decision and I had some on hand in my salt hoard–a gift from my brother-in-law–you can use any sea salt you have or like. I think smoked salt would be a nice as well. Also, I would encourage switching up the mix-ins if you like…different or no nuts, peanut butter or butterscotch chips, toffee bits, etc.

1 stick (4 ounces), plus 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, browned

4 ounces (1/2 bar) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup granualted sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1/4 teaspoon sea salt for sprinkling

12 ounces dark chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate

5 ounces nuts–I used walnuts–toasted and cooled

Grease a 9×13 pan, line with parchment and grease again. Preheat oven to 350F.

Toast nuts on a sheet pan for about 5-10 minutes, being careful not to burn. Remove from oven and cool.

Brown the butter in a skillet over medium low, until milk solids are brown and fragrant like toffee. Remove from heat and scrape into the bowl of a mixer, allow to cool slightly while you gather your ingredients.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a seperate bowl, toss together chocolate and nuts and set aside.

Add sugar and cream cheese to the browned butter in the mixing bowl and cream for 5-7 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl and add the eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping the bowl. Mix in vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix to just combine, allowing a few streaks of flour to remain, it will be incorporated when you fold in the mix-ins. Fold in the nuts and chocolate by hand so as not to overmix.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan–I used clean and oiled fingertips–and bake in the center of the oven for 30-40 minutes until the edges are deeply golden and the center is just set. Remove from oven and cool in the pan.

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