Black Forest Dessert Sauce

Hi! How are ya? What's new? Good! Me? Well, let me tell you! I know it's been a month since I've promised to tell you about all the cakes, cakes and more cakes that have been flying out of my kitchen, but there have been so much happening since then that I barely know how I'll ever get you all caught up, so instead I'm going to just share everything and tomorrow we'll start fresh. Okay? Great.

A few weeks ago, I made sugar paste from scratch and created several of these:



And I put them on top of this:



A topper went on top of that (go figure) and turned it into this (picture pilfered compliments of South Branch Tavern and Grille):



It was a vanilla cake with lemon curd filling and italian meringue buttercream on the outside. Here's another pilfered picture of the insides:

And that one in the background up above? That was the groom's cake. A key lime pie cake to be exact, though there are no pictures of the insides. Guess the guy is a U of Miami fan?



Then there was this (ignore the bad lighting, it's what happens when you bake in the middle of the night), a rich chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge and fresh blackberries:



There was also an ENORMOUS cake covered in pink roses, but there are no pictures of that because it was finished and delivered at 2am, in the dead of night, under the cover of rain. Not kidding. I pulled the keys out of the mailbox, backed the car into the driveway, loaded the monster into the trunk, drove it two blocks to the clubhouse where the party was going to be and drove back as my drunk neighbors were coming back from a night of bar hopping.

There were cookies made, jam, gluten free scones (man do I need to keep working on those, they were NOT good), tarts and tartlettes and baked goods galore. There was a brunch with friends and lots and lots of wine. There was stress at work, lots of hours in front of the computer and many cups of tea. Oh yeah, and my tea kettle broke. Before you ask, it was an electric one and yes, the next one will be the old fashioned kind that doesn't require an outlet and never fails. And none of that even includes the half a dozen sewing projects I'd finished, including these two pillows (complete with zippers!):



There was also a LOT of greek yogurt. You see, I'm slowly working through my rather extensive stash of jams, jellies, sauces, and preserves of all kinds. I haven't even told you about HALF of my canning expeditions this summer (though I promise I will). And last week I have finally scraped clean the very last of the Black Forest dessert sauce that I made last summer. Since I've been eating it on top of yogurt, it's technically breakfast food. Plus there are cherries.



I had found a recipe for cherry sauce somewhere along the way and had heard of people adding cocoa to their canning projects, plus there's a bottle of kirschwasser hanging around in my liquor cabinet, and I had bought a giant box of dark black cherries for next to nothing from the back of a truck...ahem...so somehow all of these needed to come together. (And yes, I made another animated gif. I might be having too much fun with these).

And before I give you the recipe I have to tell you that right now I'm having a bit of a surreal moment. I've just come back from a walk on the beach where the ocean water is still warm enough to roll up your pants and walk barefoot along the surf. The moon is big and yellow and the sky is full of stars. I'm sitting on a sofa in a gorgeous beach house in Charleston, South Carolina and across from me is another late owl, Helene Dujardin, of the incredible blog Tartlette. I'll tell you about how THAT happened in a few days when this is all over, but in the mean time I'd just like to wish you all a happy fun filled weekend, because that's exactly what I intend to do myself.

Black Forest Dessert Sauce
Adapted from so many sources that I may as well call it my own.

3lbs dark black cherries, pitted
3 cups of sugar
1 cup cocoa
1 cup water
1/4 cup Kirschwasser

1. Combine everything except for the booze in a large pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring often for about 20 minutes.
2. Blend everything either with an immersion blender*, add the Kirsch and cook for another 5 minutes. 
3. Ladle into clean/sterilized jars and either boil in a water bath for 10 minutes if you want to keep it for a few months, or let it cool and keep in the fridge if you plan on eating it within a week or two. 
4. Pour over ice cream or yogurt and enjoy.

* I LOVE my immersion blender and highly recommend you get one, but if you don't want/have one I'd recommend blending the cherries before you cook them because blending hot sugar stuff is really scary. 

Roasted Eggplant with Goat Cheese

People have been passing germs around the office for the last month and despite taking vitamins and drinking more orange juice then I can ever remember, I finally succumbed to the cold this past weekend and have been miserable ever since. The worst part is that all I want to do is sleep, but as soon as I lie down, I start to cough. So instead of resting I've been jamming, working on forgotten sewing projects, cleaning and drinking tea by the gallon. I guess I'm not capable of curing up on the couch in front of the TV for very long.



Also, because if this cold I have also had almost no appetite and absolutely no desire to go grocery shopping, so dinners have consisted of odds and ends around my pantry and fridge. That's not nearly as sad as it sounds though because according to my sister, a person can live for a month on what's in my kitchen when I say I have no food.



I'd pinned this recipe from The Kitchn a while back and finding one lonely eggplant in my fridge and a tiny wedge of leftover goat cheese, I mixed what I had and waited while the oven did it's job. Since I'd halved the recipe, but kept all the spices and garlic at their original amounts, the flavors were stronger, but I loved it. It was warm and comforting and made for a quick and simple meal served over steamed rice. Just goes to show that you don't absolutely have to follow a recipe to the letter to end up with a delicious dinner (and I'm hoping the extra garlic helps me kick this stupid cold...I'm not good at being sick!). And tomorrow, I think I'll make soup out of the giant butternut squash my coworker gave me from her garden. Who knows? It might be another week before I have to go grocery shopping again.



Roasted Eggplant with Goat Cheese for Two
Adapted heavily from The Kitchn, partially because I don't like cilantro and mostly because I didn't have smoked almonds.

1 large eggplants
Kosher salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 ounce goat cheese, crumbled and divided
Steamed rice (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Cube the eggplant into 1-inch pieces and put in a large bowl. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and set aside while making the marinade.
2. Whisk together the olive oil, cider vinegar, honey, smoked paprika, and cumin. Dab away any extra water that has beaded up on the eggplant and toss with the marinade. Stir in the garlic. Spread the eggplant on a large baking sheet, lined with parchment and slide onto a rack placed in the center of the oven. Roast at 400°F for 40 minutes, or until very tender and slightly browned. Stir it halfway through to make sure it browns evenly. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
3. Whisk together the lemon juice, soy sauce and most of the goat cheese (reserve a little to garnish). Return the eggplant to the bowl and toss with the lemon juice mixture.
4. Serve on it's own or over steamed rice. Go back for seconds.

Irish Cream Brownies

The alternate title to this post should be "Cleaning out the liquor cabinet" because these brownies really and truly live up to their name. These are not "Hint of Irish Cream" or "Touch of Irish Cream" or "There was a bottle of Irish Cream in the kitchen when I was making these and therefore might possibly have absorbed some by osmosis". These are most definitely "Hey, I'z gots Irish Cream and might get you drunk. Let's hang out!" brownies.



A year or two ago I hosted an all-out Halloween party at which one of the things I did was re-label all the bottles in my liquor cabinet with creepy cool labels and it has stayed that way ever since. Mostly because I get a kick out of pulling out a bottle labeled "Contaminated Blood" when I make margaritas, or "Vampire's Kiss" when I make martinis. It has been a while since the party though and slowly my cabinet has regained it's upstanding (boring) constitution, however in the very back there was a giant handle of Irish Cream still labeled "Ye Olde Spider Venom" and I'd decided that it was time for it to go.



I have a favorite brownie recipe that I've been making off and on ever since I'd discovered it, and in addition to churning out incredibly dense, moist, flavorful brownies, it easily absorbs a large quantity of liquid of your choosing, making it perfectly adaptable. Originally I had made it with a concentrated glug of Guinness, and really the only difference this time around was that I replaced the 1.25 cups of beer with 1.25 cups of Irish Cream. That's right, I said 1.25 cups of Irish Cream for a single batch! And they came out amazing! So click on the link above (or here) if you have some extra booze lying around and you want to give these a try. They travel great and are perfect for sharing.Oh yeah, and if you eat the whole batch they might get you drunk :D

Plum Jam Bars

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind in the kitchen. I've been re-organizing everything and putting away the things I don't use very often, but as soon as I got one box into storage I got an order that sent me right back into the basement to pull everything back out again. I've had a wedding cake, a grooms cake, three birthday cakes (one almost as big as the birthday kid herself), and 201 jars of blackberry wine jam! I'll definitely tell you all about all of this as soon as I catch my breath and sort through the hastily taken pictures, but today I want to share with you a super simple, everyday recipe in case your life is just as hectic as mine and you're craving a bit of sweetness.



Plum Jam Bars
Adapted very slightly from Munchkin Munchies

2 cups flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 cups packed brown sugar
3 cups oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups butter, melted
1 1/2 cups plum jam (or any jam you like)
1 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 325F degrees. Line with parchment and lightly grease a 9-inch square pan.

2. Combine all ingredients except jam and almond extract. Pat half of the mixture into prepared pan. Mix jam and almond extract. Spread over oat mixture. Pat other half of oat mixture on top.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely and cut into bars. Don't forget to share!

Pink Lemon Cupcakes

Today's post comes to you compliments of the fact that I can't actually raise my arms higher than the keyboard. Last week has been a whirlwind of activity including work, showing an out-of-town guest around the city, more work, running after my amazing sister as she did the Chicago Triathlon (to take pictures, of course, no way am I doing THAT anytime soon), and helping move a friend's parents halfway across town. It is not an understatement when I say that everything hurts. For example, did you know that the muscles in your fingers could be sore? I surely didn't. Somewhere in that insanity I had also found time to make two dozen lemon cupcakes for a bridal shower for a friend at work.



I hadn't actually had time to go grocery shopping in weeks, so the fact that these cupcakes came out with all my substitutions and tweaks is actually a bit of a miracle, but they came out great, tender and just the right combination of tart and sweet, and were devoured by my coworkers in just a few minutes.



Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe adapted from My Baking Addiction
Cupcakes:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
lemon zest from two lemons
1/4 cup lemon juice, from the two lemons you zested
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 Tbsps (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (or lemon oil if you have it)

Frosting:
2 - 8oz packages cream cheese, at room temp
8 Tbsps (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 lb confectioners’ sugar (or to taste)
2 tsps vanilla extract
juice of one lemon

Cupcakes:
1. Center a rack in the oven to 350F. Prepare two cupcake tins by using liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Whisk together the milk, lemon juice and egg whites in a separate bowl.
4. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer or another large bowl and thoroughly mash it up with a whisk until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Use the same whisk from steps 2 and 3. No need to dirty more stuff. Add the butter and, working with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. It will clump up at first, but will soften and gain volume the more you beat it.
5. Add in the extracts and one third of the flour mixture and beat on medium speed just until combined. Beat in half of the wet mixture, then another third of the dry, the rest of the wet, and finally the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. I like to stop the machine for each addition and stir the mixture in by hand for a few seconds first to avoid wearing half of it when I turn the machine back on.
6. Finally, give the batter a 30 second beating to ensure that there are no lumps left and scoop/pipe the batter into the cupcake tins, filling each well 2/3 full.
7. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Frosting:
1. Using a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.
2. Gradually add in the confectioners' sugar until fully incorporated.
3. Mix in vanilla, lemon juice and any food coloring, if using, and beat until smooth.
4. Taste the frosting and add more confectioners' sugar if you like your frosting thicker or sweeter.
5. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes, and enjoy!

Note: They keep well in the fridge in a tightly sealed container and taste even better on the second day.