Blackberry Coffeecake

September 18, 2013February 5, 2017

I do hope I’m getting you this blackberry coffeecake recipe before it’s absolutely impossible to find blackberries. Please don’t hate me if I’m not.

I’m feeling really torn about summer’s departure and fall’s arrival. I know earlier I said I was excited, but now that it’s happening, and there’s that chill in the air, and there have been a few days of drizzle, I find myself kind of having to mentally prepare myself for the gray that comes and stays for months and months and months. I like the chill, and I can’t wait to wear sweaters and drink tea and cook the food that comes with fall… but I don’t know. It doesn’t have that same carefreeness that summer has.

But I’ll live. This recipe came from my having leftover blackberries, and just really wanting to make coffeecake. I woke up one morning, Jonah was still in bed, the roommates were out of town, and I snuck downstairs and made a coffeecake (adapted from Tide and Thyme) on a Sunday morning. It was a lovely peaceful way to spend the morning. And everyone likes coffeecake. Everyone.

Blackberry Coffeecake

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

½ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
4 tbsp. (2 oz.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Blackberry Cake

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blackberries

Instructions

Crumb Topping

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10-inch springform pan (which, by the way, I’m convinced might be the greatest things ever, if you grease it enough). Make the crumb topping by combining all of the ingredients except the almonds in a bowl and mixing it up to combine. It should be kind of crumbly. You can also add some oats if you’d like. Set the topping aside.

Blackberry Cake

In a large mixing bowl (perhaps maybe the bowl of an electric mixer), combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, use a whisk to mix together the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Make kind of a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet, and stir it up just until it’s evenly combined and there are no flour patches or streaks. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and make sure it’s evenly distributed. Place the blackberries gently on top, making sure they are evenly distributed (wow, can’t get enough of that phrase, huh?) and covering the top of the batter. Now sprinkle the crumb topping on top of the blackberries, and then top with the sliced almonds.

Bake the coffeecake until the top looks all perfectly golden brown, and it passes the clean toothpick/knife test, 40-50 minutes. Put the pan on a cooling rack, and let it cool for ~20 minutes, or as long as you can wait. Run a knife around the edge before removing the sides of the springform. Slice it up and serve with coffee or tea, and maybe a bowl of fruit.

Weekend Finds 9:15:13

September 15, 2013February 5, 2017

With my new job taking up my weekends, I’m having a bit of a hard time getting these weekly roundups to you on Friday But I am going to try harder! That being said, I’m going to start calling them Weekend Finds instead of Friday Finds, so hopefully I feel less guilty writing them on Sunday night.

1. Homemade Milano Cookies

Friday Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Homemade Milano Cookies by The Live In Kitchen

When I was younger, my mother loved Milano cookies. We would occasionally have a bag of them in the pantry, and after dinner I would sneak in and eat one… or two… or three. They are probably my favorite cookies for dipping in coffee and tea. This homemade version looks absolutely beautiful.

2. Zucchini overload

These days, there are those whose gardens are overflowing with gigantic zucchini, and after the 10th batch of zucchini bread, wish they could think of something else to do. Here are 10 other ideas.

3. Squash blossom quesadillas with tomatillo salsa

Speaking of zucchini, if you’ve still got any blossoms left, or some small fruits attached to the blossom, I would certainly jump on this quesadilla train immediately.

4. Personalized Pyrography Cutting Boards

As soon as I saw this, I was dying over how beautiful and simple it was to make your own personalized wood-burned cutting board. If I have my way, I know what everyone I know will be getting for Chrismakkah. Also, pyrography is an awesome word.

5. Pluot and Poppy Yogurt Bowl

I am consistently pleasantly surprised at the unique flavor combinations over on 101 cookbooks. She combines foods in a really wonderful way, and this pluot and poppy yogurt bowl is no different. And her photos are so beautiful. Now I just need to go pick up some pluots.

Corn Salad

September 12, 2013February 5, 2017

Guys, it’s September, and I have a few summer recipes, like this corn salad, to get to you before the season slips from our fingers. At this point, it feels like summer might never end in Portland – it cooled off a bit last week, and this week hit a high of about 98 degrees (get it? like the band? ok. I’ll stop.). But this weekend, it’s supposed to rain, and the temperature is supposed to drop, and I am feeling strangely ready for that to happen.

I usually mourn the end of summer, but lately I have been craving heartier dishes and squash, specifically butternut and acorn. I’ll take peaches and tomatoes, but the hankering for those fall dishes is starting to nag at me.

But while it’s hot and there are still things like corn and nectarines, you should eat things like this corn salad. Inspired by a few different recipes, this is one of those dishes that uses corn as a base, but you can really toss in whatever you have around. Quickly cube and cook up some zucchini and throw it in, or add in some chopped tomatoes (seed them first), or chop up some basil. Here’s what I used.

Corn Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 ears corn, lightly cooked (boiled), and kernels cut from the cob
2 nectarines, cubed
1 bell pepper, cubed
1 jalapeño, seeded, chopped
1-2 limes, juiced (start with one, see how you like it)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Combine ingredients in a bowl, stir it up, add more of anything you like, and eat with friends as the hot day starts to cool off, preferably accompanied by grilled chicken or fish or something like that, as well as some cold beers.

Friday Finds 9:6:13

September 6, 2013February 5, 2017

This weeks Friday Finds feature my new place of employment, an idea I wish I’d had, OYSTERS, and prepping for fall.

1. Firehouse

Firehouse is my new place of employment! Jonah and I went and had dinner there last night, and the food is really spectacular. I could’ve told you that a month ago when I started, as they’ve been having me taste the menu so that I can be familiar and make recommendations. But last night I got to experience the atmosphere and food from the diner’s side, and it really was lovely. One of my favorite things about their dishes are the combinations they serve – things I’d never think of. For a while, our rotisserie chicken came with roasted bread, summer squash, cherries, and pistachios. Doesn’t that sound good? (It was.)

2. Ricotta Crostini Party

Remember how last week I was talking about how crostini are great and easy and you can do anything with them? Here are some MORE ideas, as well as some pretty pictures. I love the idea of having a crostini party where you put out the bread spread with ricotta, and bowls of all the topping options, leaving people to create their own masterpieces.

3. Kitchen Share

Like a library, but for kitchen appliances, Kitchen Share has just opened up a branch in my neighborhood. I love this idea! My kitchen is already so full with my mixer, food processor, and blender, but there are so many things I want to try. I simply don’t have room for all the appliances – and let’s be honest, how often would I actually use a dehydrator or bread machine? This seems like the perfect opportunity to try out some recipes that require appliances that I don’t have. And it’s free, after your one-time donation when you sign up for a membership.

4. Fall is on it’s way…

School has started for kiddos, and today is rainy and gray in Portland. It’s hard when the grocery store is still full of tomatoes and stone fruits, but I am itching to get my hands on some squash and start making those hearty fall recipes.

5. Oysters

I don’t know if I told you about my recent revelation: I like oysters. It’s strange, I was talking with an old friend a week or two ago about what makes you a “real person,” aka a grown up. I was very nervous to go to Elliott’s Oyster House for happy hour with our friends Dylan and Caitlyn while in Seattle. See, they really like oysters, and I’d never had a raw one, and only recently had one that wasn’t breaded and fried. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. But holy smokes, they were so delicate and refreshing, they tasted perfectly fishy and like the ocean. I’m glad I stuck with my “I’ll try anything once” rule this time around.

The Rattlesnake: a cocktail

September 2, 2013February 5, 2017

Sometimes, when you’re spending all day cooking, it’s important to spoil yourself with a cocktail break. And sometimes you are given an all access pass to someone’s liquor cabinet, and you have lots of cocktail blogs to choose from (There Will Be Bourbon, Spirited Alchemy, 5 o’clock cocktails…), and you finally pick one called the Rattlesnake, and whip up a batch for all the chefs in the kitchen. Just sometimes.

This cocktail is creamy and light, tasting kind of like a grown up lemon curd/lemon meringue drink. Adapted from There Will Be Bourbon, the recipe below makes enough for 6 drinks. When I’m making that amount, I like to use a trusty tupperware with a good seal instead of a shaker… it means you have to do less work by making all the drinks in one batch.

The Rattlesnake

Makes 6 cocktails

Ingredients

9 oz. bourbon
5 Tbl freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbl sambuca (the recipe called for absinthe, but you can use any anise-liqueur)
2 Tbl powdered sugar (or simple syrup, if you’ve got some around)
3 egg whites

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients in a tupperware (or cocktail shaker, if you’re only making 1 or 2) with ice. Shake it up! Until the egg whites get nice and frothy. If you want more froth, you can add more egg whites. I wasn’t initially going to add any but when I tasted it without them, it was VERY bourbon-y. So I added half as many as the original recipe called for (which is 1 per drink). I never really realized what egg white did to a drink other than create that frothy foam, but it really mellowed out the flavors. Add bits of whatever you like until it tastes how you want. Strain into glasses filled with ice. If you’re feeling fancy, you can garnish with a lemon peel, or a sprig of mint or rosemary.