Update

Hello, wonderful readers!

I haven't forgotten about you, I promise. I've actually just been very busy. First of all, I've been working on a product shoot for Olive & Sinclair Chocolate. Salt & Pepper is by far my favorite flavor.

Also, my recipe for gingersnaps will be in Foodie Crush Magazine on December 7th as one of the 50 Best Holiday Cookies (ahhhh!!!).

And last but not least, today is my 25th birthday. Hooray!

P.S. I have something VERY special planned for the week of December 19th. I can't wait to share it with you.

Beer is Delicious: Stout and Pretzel Truffles

I believe we discussed the similarities between stout and dark chocolate not too long ago? 

I was in St. Louis at the Schlafly Tap Room two weeks ago and I happened to meet the beer soulmate of dark chocolate: Raspberry Coffee Stout. It has the richness of stout, the bitterness of good coffee and the sweet fruity aroma of raspberries to finish. Needless to say, I love it. 

So this past weekend my new favorite stout got together with some 75% dark Olive & Sinclair chocolate and made truffle babies. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing, as you can see.  

Beer and Pretzel Truffles:

(based on this recipe from Honest Cooking)

3 bars (just under 9oz) Olive & Sinclair dark chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

2t coffee flavoring or raspberry flavoring (available at Whole Foods)

3T stout 

3/4 cup salted pretzels, crushed (or cocoa powder) 

Warm cream in pot over medium low. Add chopped chocolate and coffee flavoring and whisk to combine. Remove from heat and add stout. Whisk until the mixture looks like very thick ganache. Place in the fridge in a shallow dish for about three hours or until firm. Scoop into 1/2t balls and roll in crushed pretzels or cocoa powder. 

*Serve IMMEDIATELY if rolling truffles in pretzels. The pretzels WILL go stale in the fridge no matter how well you cover them. 

*Can't find this very special Schlafly beer? Try a milk stout. 

Sneak Peek: Dark Chocolate Brownies

Just wanted to let you know: I'm working on a new recipe for dark chocolate brownies, one that's really unique. I started my testing with a solid recipe and a classic flavor combination. I made David Lebovitz's gluten-free brownies and added a cup of fresh cherries instead of nuts. From here I get a little crazier. I look forward to sharing the results with you soon! 

Beer is Delicious: Chocolate Stout Sorbet

Stout and chocolate have so very much in common. For starters, I love them both dearly. They are thick, smooth, creamy, nutty and, if you're dealing with the good stuff, bittersweet. When combined they make an intensely deep and rich flavor.

For the last few weeks I haven't been able to get enough frozen treats. The weather has been hovering around 100 degrees every day and I'm certain I get sunburned just by looking out the window. Yesterday I made chocolate stout sorbet and we ate it just as the sun was going down. I put the first bite in my mouth and breathed a sigh of relief; for the first time in ages, I was cold!

The best part about chocolate stout sorbet is it's simplicity. It has only three ingredients: chocolate syrup, espresso, and stout. I used Rogue Chocolate Stout for extra chocolaty goodness.

The sorbet comes out looking like frozen brownie batter. It is not overly sweet, so I topped it with a light drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. 

Chocolate Stout Sorbet:

-serves four

1 1/4 cups chocolate stout 

1 1/2 cups of your favorite chocolate syrup 

1 shot espresso 

Make sure all ingredients are VERY cold. Whisk to combine. Follow manufacturer instructions for your ice cream machine. Let sorbet set in freezer for at least eight hours before serving. 

Cake is Delicious: Chocolate Orange

Katie is here, Katie is here!

I knew I wanted to be best friends with Katie the first time I met her. We were nine. She had a perm and white jeans and someone told me that her Dad worked for a candy company. It was a no-brainer.

When I think of Katie I think of chocolate. I think about how much we both love it. I think about the tour of Brach & Brock that her Dad, Jerry, gave us on her 13th birthday. I think about one night when we deliriously believed that there were chocolate Easter eggs hidden in her house in March. I could go on and on.

I have already shared with you my opinion that coming home is a perfect occasion for sharing food. Visiting is much the same way.

I visited Katie in Chicago two months ago. My eyes were drawn to one thing upon entering her kitchen: a giant, five pound five KG (12 pound) bar of chocolate that her Jerry had lugged home from Europe. She had waited for me to open it! We left it on the counter with a paring knife all weekend and chiseled off pieces every time we walked by. Of course I wanted to have something equally special waiting for her.

So I made this: chocolate orange upside down cake. It was just the perfect amount of batter because it made one 10 inch cake and two cupcakes. That meant one cupcake for me, hot out of the oven, and one cupcake for her, sitting in my car when she got off the plane.

We had a fantastic weekend that was over all too quickly.

In less than 48 hours we went to the Nashville farmer's market, 12th South Taproom, the downtown art crawl, Manny's House of Pizza, Marche, Hot & Cold and Taco Mamacita.

On Saturday night we threw a party at my house and in classic Hannah-Katie fashion, we ate strawberry ice cream, drank a good deal of wine and promptly fell asleep at 11:30, before the party was even over.

We laughed. A lot. I am worn out, to say the least. I cannot wait for her to come back again.

<-- Katie at Marche.




Chocolate Orange Upside Down Cake
6 T butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 oranges
5oz chocolate (I used 4oz dark, 1oz milk)
1 cup almond flour
1/3 cup honey
4 eggs, divided
1/2 t baking soda
pinch of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350. Place 2T of butter in 10 inch cake pan to melt while oven warms up. Slice one orange very thin. When butter is melted, sprinkle brown sugar over it and layer orange slices so that they cover the mixture.
Beat egg yolks, almond flour, honey, baking soda and salt in one bowl. Add about 2t of zest from the second orange. Melt the chocolate with the rest of the butter and fold in with spatula.
Beat egg whites until they have at least doubled in size, but not so much that they are forming peaks. Fold egg whites into the rest of the batter. Pour on top of the oranges and bake immediately for about 35 minutes.
* Remember, you WILL have slightly too much batter. Pour accordingly.
* This cake is best served fresh with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. It DOES need to be refrigerated.

Cookies are delicious: chocolate chip

Chocolate chip cookies. 

Licking the spoon. Waiting patiently by the oven. The smell. The feeling of warm chocolate oozing onto your fingertips as you pick the first cookie off of the sheet. It's downright nostalgic. In fact, the process of making and eating a chocolate chip cookie is the very first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word "delicious." 

Chocolate chip cookies know no bounds; they are craved during every season; the rich, the poor, the old and the young love them equally (although children are notably more open about their affection for the cookie). 

This is a recipe I made on a lazy Sunday afternoon after taking a walk around Nashville's capitol building. It is adapted from Elana's Pantry. I used almond flour for a nice, roasted flavor and agave nectar for a subtle sweetness. The dough itself isn't very sweet so I topped each cookie with a pinch of turbine sugar, which happens to make them look even more appetizing when they come out of the oven. I also used a touch of cinnamon because that is what my Mom puts in her cookies. After all, it is Mother's Day. 

I ate one cookie (for lunch, no less) and saved two for later. The rest are packed up for an office full of hungry co-workers.

I have an exciting day of shooting ahead of me; my beau is brewing a fresh batch of Summer IPA and then we are going to The Smiling Elephant for a delicious Thai dinner.  

Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups almond flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

pinch of salt (about 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt)

1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter (or 1/2 cup of grapeseed oil)

1/2 cup of agave nectar

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1 cup of whichever chocolate chips, nuts or dried fruit you like

turbine sugar

Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls. Add wet to dry and stir. Fold in chocolate chips. Make balls (2 teaspoons is the size I used) and dust generously with turbine sugar. Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. As with most cookies, you will know they are done with the color of the dough changes and the top cracks every so slightly. Makes about 30 cookies.