I've had a huge bag of cranberries in my freezer since Christmas (and it's April), so I decided it was about time I used them in something. I'd considered doing cranberry cheesecake, but decided to cross cheesecake with bars instead. (I like bars!) They came out so good, that I made another batch with the remaining cranberries to send with Justin to work so he could share (and double-checking my recipe writing!)
The topping and crust is a little salty, the cream cheese filling is lemony and the cranberry sauce is tart with a cinnamon and vanilla warmth. All three layers just seem to compliment each other so nicely, I was way pleased with this recipe! It's a little time consuming but I've made them twice now and they're really not that hard - you just have to dedicate some time to them.
Justin was feeling like something early from The Offspring. "Jennifer Lost The War" from their 1989 self titled album. This was actually the first time I've heard this song, I think. -jen
1.5 cups rolled oats (also known as old fashioned oats)
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
Cheese Filling:
8oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
zest of 1 lemon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Make the
cranberry sauce first by bringing water, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon
and salt to a boil in a large sauce pan. Add cranberries and bring back to a boil, then
lower to a steady simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring intermittently - cranberries will pop and
begin to break down. (Careful not to let it boil over!) Remove from
heat and refrigerate to cool while you continue with the other steps.
Grease a 13"x 9" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, butter or coconut oil. Set aside.
For
the crust, combine the flour, oats, pecans, brown sugar and salt in a
mixing bowl. Stir in melted butter and coconut oil until combined and all flour is absorbed.
Mixture should be slightly clumpy but break up easily. Set aside 1.5
cups for topping but spread the remaining mixture into your prepared
baking dish, pressing it evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350
F for 15 minutes. Set aside.
While crust is baking
and sauce is cooling, make the cheese filling. Using a hand mixer or the
whipping attachment on your stand mixer, whip the softened cream cheese
on high for 2-3 minutes until very smooth. Add remaining ingredients
and mix thoroughly on high until smooth (remember to scrape the bottom).
Spread the cream cheese mixture
evenly over your baked crust. Stir in corn starch to cooled cranberry sauce, then gently dollop over
the top of the filling and gently spread it evenly with the back of a
spoon, trying not to mix it into the cheese filling. Sprinkle the
remaining flour and oat mixture evenly over the top. Bake at 350 F for
40 minutes. Let cool completely before serving. I like to refrigerate them overnight.
Blueberries and whiskey... yes please! I like to keep frozen fruit on hand to make smoothies with or throw into some Greek yogurt. I usually only have one bag at a time, but somehow I ended up with two open bags and a whole bag of blueberries. So I just decided to make a crumble with them. I still had a bunch of Piehole Pecan Pie whiskey sitting around after making the Liquored Up Leftover Pie Pops (which you could use with this blueberry crumble!)
I'd been thinking about the movie SLC Punk, so I decided to use a song from the soundtrack - The Suicide Machines' cover of "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden". -jen
*1 tablespoon of corn starch will leave your filling still a little runny - not soupy, but not gelled. If you're looking for a firmer, gelled filling, use 2 tablespoons of corn starch. Everyone has their own preferences!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray an 8"x8" baking dish with non-stick spray, particularly up the sides.
In a food processor, combine oats, pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and cubed butter. Pulse until combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine blueberries, cranberries, corn starch, cinnamon, whiskey and vanilla. Pour into prepared baking dish and spread them into an even layer. Spoon crumble topping evenly over blueberries, then gently press down with your hands to lightly pack it. Bake at 375 degrees for 50-55 minutes, topping will be golden brown.
Let rest for 10-15 minutes so the filling can set. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Stuffed pumpkinsrock! I'm definitely one of those annoying people that look forward to everything-pumpkin in the fall. I'd never stuffed a pumpkin until a few years ago and it's become one of my most favourite autumn dishes.
We have a recipe for a sweet Apple and Oats Stuffed Pumpkin, but we also enjoy doing savoury stuffed pumpkins, so I thought it was time to get a recipe up! This stuffed pumpkin was so delicious. While I chose wild rice and sausage, you can really put anything you like in one! Change up the meat and use chicken or shredded beef. Change up the grain and use barley or white rice. Add nuts - try dried apricots instead of cranberries. Try a theme - Mexican, Italian, Moroccan, Chinese...
How about The Hollowpoints - The Sickness. -jen
WILD RICE AND SAUSAGE STUFFED PUMPKIN Prep Time: 30 minutes Bake Time: 60 minutes Difficulty: Easy to Medium Serves: about 6
1 pie pumpkin (like a Sugar Pumpkin or a Winter Luxury)
5 links maple sausage
1 tablespoon coconut oil + 2 teaspoons, melted
1 small carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 medium onion, diced (about 3/4 cups)
1 large stalks of celery, diced (about 1/4 cup)
1 small green pepper or poblano, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 apple, diced (like a Gala or Fuji) (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon ginger, minced (1 tbsp)
2 large cloves of garlic, minced (1 tbsp)
2 tablespoons maple syrup (brown sugar would be a suitable substitute) + 1 teaspoon
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon salt + 1/4 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon pepper + a pinch
1/2 teaspoon curry powder + 1/4 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage + 1/4 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1-2 cups cooked wild rice (recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Like carving a jack-o-lantern, cut the top of your pumpkin off and scoop the inside and the base of the lid clean. (Save your seeds and make Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds!) Discard the insides, keep your lid! Make sure you get all those stringy pieces out... it's worth the extra effort to make it totally scraped clean. Set aside.
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook sausages through. Set aside. In same skillet with the remaining sausage fat, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and the carrots, cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the onion, celery, and green pepper. Saute about 5 minutes, until vegetables become tender. Add the apples, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, cranberries, salt, pepper, curry powder, sage, cinnamon, marjoram, and red pepper flake. Cook another 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.
Once cool, dice the sausages and add the sausage and the rice to the vegetable mixture. Add 2 teaspoons of melted coconut oil, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1/4 tsp salt, pinch of pepper, 1/4 tsp curry powder and 1/4 tsp of sage to the inside of the pumpkin, . Using your hands, massage oil and seasonings all over the inside of the pumpkin, as well as on the bottom of the lid.
Stuff the pumpkin completely full with the stuffing. Place the lid back on the pumpkin and place on a sheet
pan. Cook at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour. A sharp knife should slide easily through the skin and the flesh if the pumpkin is cooked thoroughly. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes.
Place on a serving tray. Remove lid. Slice wedges and serve. Don't forget to slice the pumpkin meat off of the lid, too!
If you have leftover stuffing you can serve it on the table with your stuffed pumpkin for folks who want extra. You can make an egg scramble out of it (which we did!) or use it as a side dish for your dinner the next evening.
In a large sauce pan, combine rice, broth and sage. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes and check. You'll want about half of the kernels to split open (they'll look lighter in colour)... could take up to 60 minutes. If there's any remaining liquid, drain it off. Fluff with a fork.
Note: Wild rice will triple or quadruple once cooked. 1 cup may yield 3.5 - 4 cups.
Several years ago while spending Christmas in Phoenix, we'd tried a homemade alcoholic apple beverage that we all decided to call "hooch" for lack of knowing what it was or how it was made - it was just gifted to someone. Everyone at the house loved it and we went home, determined to figure out something comparable!
So we came up with this recipe... and it's awesome! I'm not really an alcohol drinker myself, but I can get behind this hooch! Last year, we made a big batch and gifted them out. This year, we've made a big batch already... and gone through 3 bottles ourselves, heheh. I think we're going to have to do another batch up if we want to give any away. Why we didn't get a recipe posted last year, I have no idea.
This would be a great treat to take to any houses you visit for the holidays! Or to have for your company if you're hosting holidays. Justin's family is expecting to visit us for Christmas this year and I have a feeling they will now be expecting apple hooch! We better save a few bottles!
I just said to Justin, "What tunes do you want to use?" He said the Buzzcocks, and then when I began looking something up, he goes, "Wait! Have we used Tiger Army's "In The Orchard" yet?" Haa! Apropos. -jen
APPLE HOOCH
Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, star anise
Prep Time: 20 minutes plus cool down time Curing Time: 3 weeks Makes: 5.5- 750ml bottles (about a gallon and a quart)
2 large whole cinnamon sticks
1 star anise pod
8-10 allspice berries
5-7 whole cloves
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 gallon of fresh pressed apple cider
1 large bottle (750ml) Everclear, 151 proof
Place whole spices in a large stock pot and warm over low heat until they perfume, 3-4 minutes. Add apple cider and sugars; stir until dissolved. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp (a few hours). When cool, add the Everclear and stir to combine. Strain out the spices and pour into glass storage containers with tight-fitting lids. Store in a cool, dry place for 3 weeks or longer. (It gets smoother the longer you let it sit.)
Local Cider
Serve cold over ice (we keep the bottle in the fridge once we open one), or warm up and add a little Tuaca to it (vanilla brandy). You could totally make it mulled (we find pre-made mulling spice in our co-op's bulk spice aisle). Justin even speculated that it would be tasty in a sangria! If you warm it up, don't "cook" it too long or you'll cook out the alcohol!
Note: We did the conversion of alcohol content once the cider was added, and it comes to about 12%, which is comparable to most wines. If you wanted less alcohol, you could substitute 80 proof vodka for the Everclear and you'd get a hooch that's about 6% alcohol, which is more like an ale.
Cake isn't made very often in our house, but I'd been craving cake the last few days. It came to a head while we were both being lazy at home and I decided I only had the energy to make one recipe - it was either cake or focaccia. Cake won out.
I didn't know what kind of cake I wanted to make though. I was in pajamas and didn't feel like getting dressed to go to the store for any ingredients. I knew we had the basics for cake, but wasn't sure what else we had to do something "different". Browsing through our 11th Edition Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (the one cook book everyone should have), I found a recipe for an oatmeal cake. Never heard of an oatmeal cake before!
I made a few personal preference adjustments to the recipe and it came out great! I initially wasn't going to make a frosting or a glaze for the cake - Justin and I generally don't care for either. But I decided this needed just a little something, looked in the fridge, had some Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider and thought that would work just fine with cinnamon, raisin and oatmeal. Admittedly, I didn't use all of the glaze... but I think most people seem to like their sweets, sweet.
Cake was real moist. Tastes like oatmeal! Reminds me a little of a coffee cake. This recipe is definitely a keeper for us.
I got a little ska action for this recipe. Reel Big Fish, "Everyone Else Is An Asshole". -jen
In a small bowl, pour boiling water over oats and let sit for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer or stand mixer on high for 30 seconds. Add sugars and vanilla and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each.
Alternately add dry mixture and oatmeal, beating on low after each addition, just until combined. Stir in raisins and pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove sides from pan and cool an additional hour. Drizzle with Apple Cider Glaze (see recipe below) and serve. (Glaze will harden as it cools.)
SPARKLING CIDER GLAZE
1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons sparkling apple cider
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
zest of 1/2 a lemon
Whisk together all ingredients and drizzle over cooled cake.
I don't have anything to intro with. I had pumpkin puree in the freezer from last fall when we got a ton of sugar pumpkins from a friend. I knew I'd be home today. I felt like making muffins. They were awesome. There's not much else to say.
It's St. Patrick's Day... and there's really nothing Irish about these muffins. I mean, I'm sure they have pumpkins and muffins in Ireland, so they could be Irish. But that wasn't really my intention or anything. I'm just going to use it as an excuse for an Irish tune. Justin had Dropkick Murphys' "Good Rats" on today, so that's what I'm using. -jen
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper cups.
In a small bowl, combine all topping ingredients, mix and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, pecans, raisins, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, salt and orange zest. Mix to combine.
In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together just until dry ingredients are moist. (Do not over-mix.)
Spoon evenly into paper cups. Sprinkle with topping and bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes.
We both grew up with cranberry sauce out of a can... and when we discovered how easy it is to make your own and customize it, I don't think we could ever go back to the canned version. Earlier in the year I discovered Pomanders, which are oranges studded with whole cloves and used as a room freshener. We hung several of them up in our house, in closets, in the hallway, and they really made our house smell amazing... we both fell in love with the smell of oranges and cloves combined. So when I decided to make a cranberry sauce today, I decided to go heavy on the orange and also use cloves. Sweet, tart, slightly spicy... it pretty much smells like the holidays.
I've really been trying to cut back the sugar in recipes and I did so in this one as well. Most cranberry sauce recipes you find will use up to a cup of sugar or honey. With this one, I figured I've got the orange juice, the cranberry juice, the apple, the Triple Sec... plenty of sweet but a lot of tart. If you're not big into tart, you might want to use 1 cup of sugar in the recipe.
And in the holiday spirit, I chose Jim Carroll singing "People Who Died". (I apologize for the video showing Leo and Marky Mark.) -jen
juice and zest of one orange (about 1/3 cup juice)
juice and zest of one lemon (about 3 tablespoons juice)
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup Triple Sec liqueur
1 apple (your choice), diced
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, bring orange juice, lemon juice, cranberry juice and sugar to a boil. Add rinsed cranberries and bring back to a boil (about 5 minutes). Lower heat to a simmer and add citrus zests, Triple Sec, diced apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Simmer for 10-15 minutes (but not more than 15 minutes or it won't set). Remove from heat and let set. Serve at room temp or chilled - it's up to you.
I dove into this recipe with good, healthy intentions. "Oh... I could do a crust-less pumpkin pie... low sugar, low fat, low carbs..." Totally had the intention of leaving flour out of the topping and going light on the sugar. Then... then it turned into something evil and decadent and delicious. Still went lighter on the sugar than most pumpkin pie recipes would call for but... I crunched the numbers (because I have a sick love of spreadsheets) and they weren't pretty. Per slice: 230 calories; 8 grams of fat; 31 net carbs; 6g of protein. Still, healthier for you than a Snickers bar, and better tasting! Not exactly diet-dessert, but probably a little better for you than most. I got a ton of sugar pumpkins from a friend, so I made my own puree. Can't speak for the outcome if you use canned... but I'm sure it'd be fine.
Since Halloween is in less than a week, I've really been getting into the spirit. We hit up the pumpkin patch today because I love carving jack-o-lanterns. And I did a last practice run on my Dia de los Muertos calavera (sugar skull) makeup! So I felt like a song in the graveyard spirit might be in order. Koffin Kats doing "Graveyard Tree". -jen
1/4 cup chopped nuts of choice (almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc)
Filling:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried, ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh pumpkin puree (or 24oz canned puree)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 eggs
1 can (12oz) evaporated milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously coat a 2-quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
In a food processor, combine all of the topping ingredients and pulse. If you don't have a food processor, cut the butter into the flour, then add the remaining ingredients. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, clove, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl using an electric mixer, beat together pumpkin, brown sugar and eggs. Add evaporated milk until blended. Add dry ingredients just until combined.
Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Carefully remove from oven and use a spoon to sprinkle the topping over the top to your desired thickness. (You can use the back of the spoon to gently pat it into the filling if it looks like it's just resting on a skin.) Bake an additional 20-25 minutes. Crust should be golden-brown and a knife inserted into the center should come out clean. Let cool on a wire cooling rack for an hour. Refrigerate for storage.
I don't really get into the baking mood much, but on Christmas morning this year, I was overcome with the notorious holiday baking bug. We had two sugar pumpkins getting pretty ripe, so we cut those suckers up and roasted them, then pureed the roasted insides. I had some delicious, dark cider left over in the fridge, and thought I'd use that and mulling spices in the pumpkin bread! It was great! Not especially sweet, but very moist and spiced! I think I might make this a Christmas tradition.
And nothing says Christmas like busting out some old school Agent Orange being "Too Young To Die". (And, you know... pumpkins... orange... etc.) -jen
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously coat 2 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Combine brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and cider. Add flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, cardamom, orange zest and baking powder and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in pecans and divide batter equally into the two loaf pans. Bake for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on baking rack until room temp.
Note: If you'd like to make your own pumpkin puree, quarter a sugar pumpkin and roast at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Let cool, remove skin, and puree in a food processor or with an stick blender. A medium sugar pumpkin will yield about 2 cups of puree.
I quit my job yesterday. Still woke up at 7:30am this morning and didn't really know what to do with myself. We had apples. So I got out the deep fryer, emptied the old oil, cleaned it out, filled it with some fresh peanut oil, and in about 10 minutes, whipped up some apple fritters! Best way to start off the first day into the unknown! And I had no idea how easy they were!
Justin put on some Murder City Devils... and it just seemed..... right. So here they are, singing "Dancin' Shoes". I couldn't find a good live version, but the song is still awesome. I love The Murder City Devils. -jen
P.S. If anyone has work for me, let me know!
CINNAMON APPLE FRITTERS
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon amaretto liqueur (or vanilla extract)
1 egg
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 medium apple, chopped with skin on
1/2 cup sugar
Preheat 3" oil in skillet or a deep fryer to 325 degrees F.
In a large bowl, beat cooled butter, milk, amaretto liqueur, and egg. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add to wet mix until blended. Fold in lemon zest and apples.
Carefully drop large spoonfuls of batter into hot oil. Fry for about 4 minutes (until deep golden brown), turning to cook evenly. Toss in sugar as soon as they come out of the fryer.
Makes about 6 apple fritters.
Note: These were delicious as is. But we both thought they might be a little better if the dough itself was slightly sweetened. So next time I make them, I'm going to try maybe 1/4 cup of brown sugar mixed with the butter before adding the milk, egg, etc.
Well, we had some bananas sitting around getting old. We had some organic peanut butter in the fridge, and we really don't eat peanut butter in our house. So I decided I was going to make something with them. I really don't enjoy baking much at all. Sure, I'll make a cheesecake here and there, and sometimes I get a baking bug up my butt, but it's not something I really enjoy like cooking. I Googled for different ideas - cookies, muffins, cakes, breads. In the end, I didn't really like any of the recipes I found so I simply decided I was going to make peanut butter banana bread and come up with my own recipe by combining elements of recipes I found on line. I was really happy with the results! When we ate the bread by itself, the peanut butter flavour was really strong, but didn't over-power the banana, it was a nice balance. When we made french toast with it, or toasted it with some butter (which was like waffles!), the peanut butter got a little weaker, but it was still freakin' delicious!
I still want to play with this recipe... being that I'm calling it "Elvis Bread", I so want to make it again and add a bunch of crumbled bacon to it! I think it would be killer. And I might add a little more butter, too. Though the bread wasn't dry, I don't think it was as moist as I'd like it. But until I make it again, this is the recipe I made the other night.
I'm torn about what kind of music to post. It's Elvis Bread, so you'd think I'd have been listening to Elvis, but I wasn't (even though I love The King!) I was actually listening to some soul music when I baked it (so you know it's was made with some love): Solomon Burke, Maurice Williams, Sam & Dave, Ike & Tina. However, this is a punk rock cooking blog, and because the bread was made with bananas, the first song that popped into my head was The Dead Milkmen's "Smokin' Banana Peels" on the album Beelzebubba. I remember discovering this album in 7th grade with the only other weirdo in school, my good friend, Nate. Sneaking into the cafeteria with out little boombox, playing Punk Rock Girl over and over. And so, rather than posting "Smokin' Banana Peels", I'm going with "Punk Rock Girl". -jen
ELVIS BREAD
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 large)
1 cup peanut butter, melted (just throw in microwave for 30-60 seconds)
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding more. Add mashed banana and peanut butter. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Incorporate dry ingredients into large ingredients, a little at a time. Batter will be very thick.
Spray a cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in batter and smooth until even. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a knife or toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.
So Jen had been craving some chili lately and I decided to make a batch on Wed, which happened to be April 20th, Carmen Electra's birthday! Also, it is supposed to be some sort of stoner holiday or hippie celebration or something...not sure where I heard that. Anyway, since stoners, bachelors, and assorted college students (was that redundant?) always have a trusty can of chili in the cupboard for that "Crap I can't afford food" emergency meal, I thought it would be fitting to undertake such a meal on said day. For musical accompaniment, I had a variety of tunes but the most fitting for this adventure would have to be Sublime's "Smoke Two Joints". I know it's not very punk but they used to be a punk band...and, well, we live in Humboldt. Reggae, ska, and such are just the norm around here. Everyone's got a Che Guevara tee or a knitted rasta hat and dreads, so this works for the day and setting.
This chili is actually very easy to pull off and has an amazing complexity to the flavor and heat. There's a slow, medium burn at the end of a spoonful that stays with you for a bit and warms the body nicely but it's not very hot up front. It has a bit of chocolate, cinnamon and agave nectar (to mellow out some of the heat) so it's very Mexican inspired and ends up having a very silky texture and a dark, smokey flavor that is a definite plus in my book! Plus, it's made with a whole bottle of dark beer, which we all know makes everything taste better! - justin
CHIPOTLE CHOCOLATE CHILI Prep Time: 40 minutes Cook Time: 2-3 hours Difficulty: medium Serves: 8-10, depending on serving size
BEEF
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds ground beef (20/80)
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips
12oz bottle of dark beer (I used Lost Coast Brewery's 8Ball Stout but a porter or Guinness would work nicely as well)
VEGGIES
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 whole poblano chili
1 whole jalapeno chili
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, pureed
1 quart chicken broth
2 cans (14oz each) whole peeled tomatoes, pureed
1 tablespoon New Mexico chili powder
1 tablespoon Chili de Arbol powder
1 tablespoon Pasilla chili powder
2 Tbsp Light Agave Nectar
To start the beef you'll need to heat a high-sided skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the 3 tbsp of olive oil and when it starts to shimmer add the ground beef. As the beef starts browning add the salt and pepper and cook until well browned. Drain off the excess fat and add the cumin, cinnamon, and chocolate to the beef and continue stirring to melt the chocolate chips. Once they are mostly melted add the bottle of dark beer (making very sure to save a bottle for sampling...you know, for safety) and cook the liquid down till it's mostly evaporated. This concentrates all the seasonings and flavors in the meet before it's added to our vegetable base.
Fire roasting the jalapeno and poblano chilies is not necessary but can be done very quickly over a gas burner on the oven. Use tongs so as not to fire roast your finger tips. When the skin starts to snap and pop and singe, you are done. The peppers can then be cut in half, seeded, ribbed, and diced.
In a separate soup pot, add your 2 tbsp of olive oil and set on medium high heat. When the pan is hot, toss in your onion and sweat it down until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. While the onion is sweating, puree the whole peeled tomatoes and the chipotles in adobo (found in the Mexican or ethnic aisles of the market) in a blender or food processor. Add the garlic, poblano, and jalapeno to the onion and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the powdered chilies, tomato/chipotle puree, and the chicken stock, turn the heat up to high, bring the pot to a boil, and let it boil uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
After the 20 minutes are up, puree the entire pot. I used a stick blender but a standing blender or food processor would work. Make do with what you have. The main idea is to break down the sauce to a smoother consistency, unless you want a chunky chili, in which case, ignore this whole paragraph.
Add the meat to the veggie pot and stir in. Cover with a lid and let it simmer on low for an hour. Add the 2 tbsp Agave nectar (one could alternatively use maple syrup or some light molasses, or dark brown sugar for another twist on the flavor profile) and stir in thoroughly. At this point, one must taste and season as needed. If it's too spicy, add a little more sweetness to cut some of the heat. If it's not spicy enough for ya, toss in another chipotle and simmer for another 10 minutes or so. Serve with some bread for sopping, a little grated cheese and some sour cream and you have one killer bowl. This pot of chili will serve 4-6 folks with hearty appetites.
Oh, almost forgot to mention the best part! This chili gets better with age...to a certain extent. It tastes great the night that you make it. Try it the next day for lunch and you'll find that the flavors really marry in the fridge overnight.
.JPG)
