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by hungry monster

Attack of the Oreo…Cocktails!

I’ve never been one of those people who can’t say no. I have no problem saying it.

{In school}

Can you copy my test? I think not.

Lunch money? Ain’t got none (clearly our school system is failing).

{As an adult}

Need help moving? I’m busy that day.

Oh, I also can’t help you paint your house. I got a thing.

Yeah, I can’t babysit your kid ’cause I don’t wanna.

Your birthday is coming up? I’m no good at cakes.

Also, I have given to a charity already this year, so not today, seedy people who approach me at the gas station.

Yeah, there’s a lot more stuff to say no to as an adult. But, when your co-worker of 5-plus years asks you to make some of your “very delicious Oreo truffles, pleeeaaasse” for her son’s wedding on a budget…sometimes you gotta suck it up and say yes.

Months go by and I’m dreading it and dreading it. Ugh. Today is the day. OK, so I’m gearing up to make a million truffles, but clearly I need to make a stop at the liquor store to get through this madness. I texted my brother updating him on my situation. Then he said the best thing ever.

by unsightly

Caffeinated Baking: Blueberry Coffee Tart

On a quick 2-day trip to Michigan I kept driving past all these signs and billboards for u-pick blueberry farms. I resisted until the drive home and made a last minute stop. I didn’t have enough time to pick my own, but I did have enough cash to pick up a 5 lb bucket of blueberries. The first dessert to come of the blueberry bounty was this mildly sweet tart. If you’ve had bad luck with crusts before, fear not, I’ll walk you through a (nearly) fool-proof way to make a light and fluffy crust. Or if you just don’t care or aren’t up to the task, feel free to substitute store-bought pie crust.

Blueberry Coffee Tart

in Desserts / Featured / Recipe 0 comments

by BS

The Endless Road Trip: Now That’s a Biscuit

We’ve mentioned The Reggie on Endless Simmer before, but no discussion of Portland food would be complete without a look at the ultimate breakfast sandwich: a giant buttermilk fried chicken breast layered with bacon, melted cheddar cheese and a runny fried egg, the whole thing placed between two fluffy biscuits and slathered in hearty white gravy. It’s just effing perfection.

More of Pine State Biscuits‘ menu after the jump.

in Bacon / Breakfast / Cheese / Featured / Food Travel / Fowl / Pig / Red Meat / Restaurants / Sandwich 1 comments

by unsightly

Endless Ice Cream: Chocolate Sesame

You may have noticed the lack of chocolate in my ice cream recipes. It’s not that I don’t like chocolate. I just forget about it sometimes. I found a few bars of Green & Black’s stashed away in my cupboard, so I figured it was time to break out a chocolate ice cream. This ice cream is a riff on a recipe I came across in Tea with Bea for a milk chocolate sesame tart topped with cherries. I was intrigued by the though of chocolate and sesame together. This ice cream does not disappoint—it is incredibly rich and chocolatey, the sesame right along side it giving it a depth often lacking in your typical chocolate ice cream. A quick note about the ice cream base: since it is made with buttermilk, the base absolutely must be thoroughly chilled before churning, otherwise the buttermilk will break and separate the custard.

Chocolate Sesame Ice Cream

in Desserts / Endless Ice Cream / Featured / Recipe 0 comments

by snebbu

100 Ways to Use Beer in Food and Drinks #13: Cupcakes

Cupcakes: a man’s food. Something you hear every day right? Right…and you see plenty of men on Cupcake Wars. But then you put beer in them . Now we’re talking. Previously, the only way I knew how to make cupcakes was with the contents of a cardboard box. But alas, I’ve matured. And through this maturation I bring to you Chocolate Stout Cupcakes.

These cupcakes are nearly 100 percent made from scratch. Beginning with the batter (containing an entire bottle of my own Cafe Vanilla Con Leche Stout), the cupcakes also include stout-infused ganache, and cream cheese frosting. And guess what? As most of my original recipes are—they are healthy cupcakes! Instead of butter in the batter, we used applesauce (we had to save the butter for the cream cheese frosting). Thank the g/f for preventing me from ruining the frosting by trying to use low-fat cream cheese.

The end result: moist chocolate cupcakes with rich ganache filling and topped with creamy frosting. Add a glass of milk and you have a match made in heaven. There was concern about using the applesauce rather than the butter, but I couldn’t tell a major difference. In fact, adding some cinnamon to the batter complements the overall flavor and it even stands out a bit. I took the cupcakes to work for the true test. Everyone loved them. And so should you. You’re welcome.

Vanilla Con Leche Stout Cupcakes

in Desserts / Featured / Recipe 1 comments

by unsightly

Endless Ice Cream: Cherry Whiskey Caramel

When I saw the Father’s Day cake from bakersroyale, I knew I had to make it. Actually, I made two. It was one of those fortuitous days where I had everything on hand for the recipe, plus a little extra. Have you ever eaten something that has left you breathless, wordless? That’s how I felt about this cake. The combination of flavors was just perfect. So of course I had to convert it to ice cream form: almond flavored ice cream, with a salted caramel swirl and whiskey-soaked cherries. And while the ice cream didn’t leave me quite as stunned as that cake did, it is very, very delicious. The cherries can be made and refrigerated up to 3 days ahead, and the salted caramel sauce can be made up to 2 weeks ahead if you’re not up to tackling everything in one day.

Cherry Whiskey Caramel Ice Cream

in Desserts / Endless Ice Cream / Featured / Recipe 0 comments

by hungry monster

The Cure for Feeling Poor: Stuffed PayDay Cookies

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong somewhere? I think we all have.

You know what helps? Cookies. Cookies are magical and break down all social, political and economical barriers. I wish I had some of these cookies last week when this happened.

So I spontaneously decided to head over to the Vera Bradley designer handbag store after work one day to shop for my mom’s birthday. I entered the parking lot and started to have second thoughts. Man, this mall was posh. There was a strip of fancy boutiques and a freaking fountain (probably hand crafted in Italy or something). I rolled through the parking lot in my car, which is an old, super-loud hand-me-down Buick from my grandmother. Some ladies crossed the parking lot; they all had on white pants and flowing, flowery tunic shirts. I looked down at my outfit. Hmmm…starting to feel a little uncomfortable. My outfit consisted of workout capris, flip flops and a Paul Frank monkey shirt. Let me explain.

My office has no dress code. We do internal work that requires almost nobody visiting our office, so we wear what we want. 9 times out of 10 I am wearing workout clothes. They are comfortable and sometimes I walk outside on my lunch break, so quit judging.

Yeah, so I sucked it up and went in the store. No lie, I felt like Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman. Except not a hooker, just a poor person. Um, all those ladies in and around the shop clearly made it their job to be impeccably groomed and coifed.

Nobody was rude or anything, but I felt out of place and like people were probably wondering why I was there. I guarantee that if I came in with a tray of these bad boys that all my fashion faux pas-ing would have been forgotten.

By the way, I get the irony that I felt poor and Pay Day cookies would have helped. Life just happens that way sometimes.

Stuffed PayDay Cookies

in Desserts / Featured / Recipe 1 comments