Salted Almond Butter Chocolate Bars + Easter Recipes Roundup

Easter is here already? It really seems April is speeding by for me this year – though perhaps part of this is helped by how much is on my calendar this year, I think this Easter weekend is actually the only weekend that isn’t packed with plans already. I also just had my second food list published on Eater P – in January it was the PDX Essential Ramen List and now I have a list of Hottest Portland Popups.  But I still squeezed some new recipe trying from a cookbook.  If you have a little free time and some extra chocolate bunnies, have you ever considered re-purposing the chocolate into making your own chocolate treats? Like say, Salted Almond Butter Chocolate Bars? I also will highlight some other possibilities for Easter recipes.
Recipe for Salted Almond Butter Chocolate Bars, a vegan chocolate bar you can easily make in 30 minutes, adapated from A Modern Way To Cook by Anna Jones

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Holidays with Pendleton Midnight: Apple Cranachan Recipe and Whiskey Pomegranate Cocktails

Have you ever heard of a dessert called Cranachan?
Build your Apple Cranachan Recipe in layers of oat honey cream, nuts, and apples in a glass to show off the layers - either do this for your guests or let your guests built it on their own! Complete by topping with the toasted oats

It’s a traditional Scottish dessert with whipped cream, toasted oatmeal, whiskey, honey, and raspberries. Usually, these ingredients are individually in dishes when served so each guest can mix up their dessert dish (usually a clear dessert glass) to fit their own taste preferences. As each person layers the ingredients, it’s like your own personal trifle.
Build your Apple Cranachan Recipe in layers of oat honey cream, nuts, and apples in a glass to show off the layers - either do this for your guests or let your guests built it on their own! Complete by topping with the toasted oats

The use of oats in this dessert makes it hearty and I also like adding in some toasted pecan nuts for more texture. Some might consider also folding in some chocolate, and topping with a bit more honey.
Oats to be toasted for a Apple Cranachan Recipe

This would be a great dessert to serve at the end of a holiday meal instead of a pie (or heh heh along with pie on the food buffet). I like how the layers and the build it yourself approach makes the dessert both casual but fancy because of the freshness of easy prep of the ingredients just before serving. You can toast the oats and nuts and cook the apples before hand – though doing them just before serving makes the house smell great! You can serve it in a glass, or just on a plate.
Or, layer your Apple Cranachan Recipe on a plate instead for a more rustic presentation and so you don't have to worry about perfect placement with no smears in a glass

The reason this dish is so popular to Scotland is how it celebrates ingredients Scotland produces locally. Similar to how Oregon blackberries and Hood strawberries taste unique (and better!) than other available blackberries and strawberries IMHO, so does the traditional use of Scottish steel cut pinhead oats, whiskey, honey (they use a heather honey), the specific local cream from their Scottish cows, and very seasonal Scottish raspberries.

Since I don’t have access to all of those since I’m not in Scotland, the best I can do in my version of this apple cranachan recipe is to embrace the celebration of local by using what is seasonal and local here. Since apple and whiskey are also a great combination, I decided to give it this change for colder weather to apples picked from the orchards here in the area.
Build your Apple Cranachan Recipe in layers of oat honey cream, nuts, and apples in a glass to show off the layers - either do this for your guests or let your guests built it on their own! Complete by topping with the toasted oats

This is also perfect dessert for this colder weather now that it’s here,  as a bit of whiskey in your warm dessert and perhaps a shot of this light Pendleton Midnight whiskey along side it will definitely warm you up a little.

Pendleton Midnight is a 90 proof oak barrel aged Canadian whiskey distributed by local Hood River Distillers, Inc. Founded in 1934 and headquartered in Hood River, Ore., Hood River Distillers is the Northwest’s largest and oldest importer, producer, bottler, and marketer of distilled spirits that includes Pendleton as well as several other lines, including Clear Creek Distillery products which was recently added to the Hood River Distillers family in January 2015.

Hood River Distillers also opened a 1200 feet Tasting Room this past July in a historic 1910 National Bank building in downtown Hood River. There, for $5 tasting fee you can taste samples – they rotate sample tastes from a list of 15-20 products from Hood River Distillers and Clear Creek Distillery, including limited edition products!

Pendleton Whiskey is the #1 premium selling Canadian whiskey in Oregon and a top 10 premium Canadian Whiskey in the US. The Pendleton Midnight is a mixture of corn, rye, wheat, and barley, with glacier-fed spring water from Oregon’s Mt. Hood and a portion of the whiskey blend is aged over six years in American brandy barrels.

Pendleton Midnight Whiskey

Although this is a 90 proof, the taste does not have a lot of alcoholic heat at all and is incredibly smooth. This is great for many of you who don’t think you like whiskey and are just getting started, since Pendleton Midnight is so light on the heat. Yet, it also offers great layers of flavors that include florals, toast, and grain along with some warming spices.

Because of it’s smoothness, I thought I would layer the flavors of Pendleton Midnight in this layered dessert. I used 1/3 cup of whiskey for soaking the oats, but depending on the strength of flavor of your Whiskey that you use, you might want to dial it back to 3-4 tablespoons. I personally liked how in my amounts, you can really taste the whiskey at first – I like my whiskey cake and rum cakes so that I can taste the alcohol and it’s not just in the name.

This recipe serves four.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of rolled oats
  • Pendleton Midnight whiskey – 1/3 cup for soaking the oats, 1 tablespoon for cooking the apples
  • 1/4 cup of pecans – I toasted them whole and then chopped them, but you can chop them first if you’d prefer
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 apples, cored and diced. You don’t need to peel them unless you want to.
  • 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 1 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
  • 3 tablespoons of honey – my favorite is from Bee Local

Directions:

  1. First, you will need to prepare the oats the night before. Set a pan on medium heat and add the 1/2 cup of oats to toast. Make sure you stir and keep your eye on these. Keep stirring until the oats have browned a bit and begin to smell fragrant, about 5 to 6 minutes.  In a small bowl, put only some of the oats (1/3 cup of the toasted oats in with 1/3 cup of the whiskey and cover, letting them soak overnight so all the whiskey is absorbed). Set the rest of the toasted oats aside – instead of soaking these, they will be kept dry and toasty to be used as another layer.
    Oats to be toasted for a Apple Cranachan Recipe After toasting the oats, use most (but not all) to soak up some whiskey overnight for this Apple Cranachan Recipe. Set some of the toasted oats aside for topping the dessert later After toasting the oats, use most (but not all) to soak up some whiskey overnight for this Apple Cranachan Recipe. Set some of the toasted oats aside for topping the dessert later
  2. The nuts are optional, but I like the extra texture they provide. You want to toast the pecans – before you add the pecans, turn the heat down to medium. You may want to spray a little cooking oil or smidge of butter so the nuts don’t stick. Make sure you watch them carefully so they don’t burn, and continuously stir with a wooden spoon. You’ll know you’re done when they are aromatic. I may always toast slightly more nuts than I need because I have to sample the toasting to perfection and eat like a handful just doing that… Set the rest aside for another topping layer.
    Optionally, toast some nuts (here pecans) for this Apple Cranachan Recipe Optionally, toast some nuts (here pecans) for this Apple Cranachan Recipe
  3. In your pan, heat the two tablespoons of butter over medium high heat until it melts. Add the cored and diced apples to the pan along with the 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of whiskey.  Stir and cook until the apples soften. The apples should be soft enough that they can easily be cut with a spoon, but not mush on the verge of applesauce. Set aside – if you are pre-making this, you will possibly want to warm the cooked apples a bit when serving, but you don’t want to serve them hot from the pan either! Or, serve the apples cold – they taste good either way.
    Chop apples (peeling is optional depending on the apple you use) and cook in butter with a bit of cinnamon and whisky for this Apple Cranachan Recipe Chop apples (peeling is optional depending on the apple you use) and cook in butter with a bit of cinnamon and whisky for this Apple Cranachan Recipe
  4. For the cream, whisk the 1 1/4 cup of cream until it thickens, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer using medium speed – don’t go any higher speed. You should start to see trails from the whisk. Now add the 3 tablespoons of honey and whisk again for a few more minutes until peaks form. You should see the honey cream double in size into the whipped cream. Finally, fold in the 1/3 cup of whiskey soaked oats.
    When you whip your cream, add honey and whip until you get firm peaks Fold in the toasted oatmeal which has absorbed most of the whiskey overnight into your honey whipped cream for this Apple Cranachan Recipe
  5. To serve, let guests put together their own layers of the oat whiskey cream, apples, toasted oat, and have the honey handed so they can add a little more honey to suit their taste. Or, make your own layers on clear glasses beforehand a couple hours before dinner and refrigerate and serve when you are ready for a controlled pretty presentation.
    Build your Apple Cranachan Recipe in layers of oat honey cream, nuts, and apples in a glass to show off the layers - either do this for your guests or let your guests built it on their own! Complete by topping with the toasted oats Build your Apple Cranachan Recipe in layers of oat honey cream, nuts, and apples in a glass to show off the layers - either do this for your guests or let your guests built it on their own! Complete by topping with the toasted oats
    Alternatively, layer your Apple Cranachan Recipe on a plate instead for a more rustic presentation and so you don’t have to worry about perfect placement with no smears in a glass.
    Or, layer your Apple Cranachan Recipe on a plate instead for a more rustic presentation and so you don't have to worry about perfect placement with no smears in a glass Or, layer your Apple Cranachan Recipe on a plate instead for a more rustic presentation and so you don't have to worry about perfect placement with no smears in a glass

Instead of cream, you could consider yogurt instead. And, you can ignore the nuts if you have a nut allergy – the traditional cranachan doesn’t have it anyway.

To wash this down and add a little bit more color with a whiskey pomegranate cocktail. This is a version of a julep.
A take on a julep with 2 ounces of Pendleton Midnight whiskey, 1 ounce of Pomegranate juice, 1 ounce of simple syrup, Sprig of mint
Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces of Pendleton Midnight whiskey
  • 1 ounce of Pomegranate juice
  • 1 ounce of simple syrup
  • Sprig of mint

Directions:

  1. Combine all the ingredients and shake well with ice
  2. Pour and serve with a bit of mint leaf garnish

A take on a julep with 2 ounces of Pendleton Midnight whiskey, 1 ounce of Pomegranate juice, 1 ounce of simple syrup, Sprig of mint A take on a julep with 2 ounces of Pendleton Midnight whiskey, 1 ounce of Pomegranate juice, 1 ounce of simple syrup, Sprig of mint

Alternatively, you could also choose to throw in a little spice emphasis with whiskey, pomegranate, and ginger beer or ginger soda (I like Dry Ginger soda) instead for a variation of a moscow mule.
Moscow mule pomegranate variation
Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces of Pendleton Midnight whiskey
  • 1 ounce of Pomegranate juice
  • 3 ounces of ginger beer or soda
  • 1 wedge of lime
  • 1 mint leaf garnish (optional)

Directions:

  1. Add all the ingredients into a glass with ice
  2. Serve with the slice of lime and if you’d like, a bit of mint leaf garnish

Have you ever heard or had Cranachan before?

Disclosure: I was provided a complimentary sample of Pendleton Midnight, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

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Brownies topped with Potato Chips

I don’t really know what to say that doesn’t already seem obvious from the recipe title – chocolate and salt are amazing together. I don’t know how many years people have been sprinkling salt on chocolate chip cookies or chocolate bars. I’ve seen recipes and photos of brownies that have a topping of potato chips, but I never made them… until now.
Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips

The first time I made these, I did it with chips also in the brownie mix based on this Thrilllist recipe for Potato Chip Brownies– but nope. I didn’t like them because the chips inside the brownie turn out chewy. I suppose you could try it breaking up the chips into really small pieces (versus the “roughly broken up” they use) but unless your chips are pretty salty, I don’t think you’ll get much flavor or texture from them then, so what’s the point?

The other suggestion I can give you is that when you scatter your potato chips on top, think about where you will have your lines for the brownie squares and distribute it accordingly so that you don’t have to break a chip when you are cutting, sacrificing a chip in the process.
Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips

Ingredients:

  • One 9 ounce package of Dark Chocolate Chips – I used SunSpire Organic 65% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. Because of the high cacao content, these are richly chocolately. How good your brownies are is all about your chocolate, of course.
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, cut into pieces (I put each stick of butter I use in KitchenArt 32000 Gourmet ButterMate, Whitethis Buttermate measure and butter-cutter, so I just added them in 1 tablespoon pieces)
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cups of Kettle Chip or Ruffles potato chips, broken up into 1 inch pieces or smaller. It is totally ok while you are waiting to top your brownies if you also pour yourself a bowl of chips on the side to snack on while you are cooking.
    When setting aside your ingredients after you melt the chocolate, butter, and sugar together in the pot for your potato chip topped brownies, it is totally ok if you also pour yourself a bowl of chips on the side to snack on while you are cooking

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 8-inch-square baking pan.
  2. Take 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips and separate it from the rest. With the rest of the chocolate chips, heat it with the sugar, butter, and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir while the chocolate and butter melt together until they are well incorporated. Now pour into a large mixing bowl.
    Chocolate chips, butter, sugar, ready for the water and to melt away into chocolatey goodness for my recipe of Potato Chip Brownies (or just Brownies in general)
  3. Into the bowl with melted chocolate, stir in the eggs one at a time with a whisk – add one egg at a time. Add in the vanilla extract, then the flour and salt and stir well. Fold in the remaining 1/3 cup of chocolate chips you had set aside. Yum, so chocolatey.
  4. Pour your brownie potato chip goodness into the baking pan – the mixture should be thick. Add the 1 cup of potato chips on top.
    Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips
  5. Now bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool in pan and cut into bars when it is cooled – make sure it’s cool! Be patient!
    Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips

These potato chip brownies are best when they have cooled, and the same day of before the potato chips begin to get stale. I think these would be really fun to make for a picnic or potluck as a fun update on a brownie!
Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips

Have you seen or used these butter measure and cutters before? They are awesome for cutting teeny slices of butter and when I’m cooking measuring and always cutting perfect pieces!

Which brownie pieces do you like the most? The ones from the center that have all soft gooey chocolate sides, or the ones from the edge that have the crispy side?
Potato chip topped brownies recipe with rich chocolate brownie and the salty crunch of potato chips

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Ricotta Pie Recipe, or Pizza Dolce

As I was preparing my round-up of recipes for the holidays, I realized I have very few dessert recipes. That makes sense, since I don’t usually make dessert. I’m usually equally tempted by finishing off with a cheese plate instead of something from the baker at a restaurant.

This recipe provides both – cheese and a sweet treat. It is an Italian recipe called Ricotta Pie, also known as Pizza Dolce or Italian Sweet Pie. It uses ricotta mixed with sugar and eggs. It is very similar to cheesecake, but lighter. You can make the cake a little less sweet by adding the sugar a bit at a time, or also make it less eggy/more custardy if you reduce the amount of egg used.
Recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate, tastes lighter than a normal cheesecake

You can serve the pie simply as is. Add a little eye pleasing detail when serving with a little dusting of powdered sugar. Or, you can add fruit – either in the mixture or you can do so on top (be it in a warmed jam form or a sauce). You could also choose to a handful of mini chocolate chips inside the mixture into the pie. You can go more savory by adding spinach, or topping the pie with tomatoes… You can use lemon flavor via lemon juice and rind, but you could just as easily have used orange flavor instead, or amaretto, or more cinnamon… and/or you can drizzle chocolate on top.

I’ve seen this pie with an actual pastry pie crust, and also seen it with a graham cracker crust. I made this for a party so for ease of serving, made it in a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish instead of pie pans and omitted any crust at all.

There are a lot of possibilities! The version I decided to make includes whiskey, orange zest, and then topped with chocolate to finish for a Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate.
Initial layer of chocolate which melted when I grated it onto my recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate Recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate, tastes lighter than a normal cheesecake

You can make the pie the day before the refrigerate it to then serve the next day, which makes it wonderful for the holiday season to get some things out of the way to free up your kitchen.

Ingredients:

  • 3 pounds of  ricotta (48 ounces)- you might find the best value is to purchase two 32 ounce containers of ricotta you purchase where you will use 1 1/2 of them. The other half you can enjoy spread on bread, or make some stuffed pasta shells!
  • 1 1/4 cup of sugar or to taste – I only used 1 cup so it wasn’t too sweet for my palate, but I’ve seen some variations that use up to 2 cups!
  • 4 eggs. Some recipes use up to 12 eggs, so you can decide how eggy you want this.
  • 1 1/2 shots of whiskey or to taste
  • Zest of one orange
  • 1/2 of a bar of chocolate (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. As it is heating up, combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well until the filling is creamy. You can do this using a mixer or hand mixer or your own awesome muscles.
  2. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan or two 10 inch pie rounds. Obviously if you wanted to use a dough first, you would have already prepared and put this down…
    Recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate - poured and ready to go into the oven
  3. Bake everything at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or so – start checking 1 hour to see when the top is golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Because this was such a big pan, I think I ended up with 1 hour 30 minutes.
    Recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate - fresh from the oven
  4. Before serving, let cool. If you’d like you can refrigerate this to serve the next day, which will help the cake set a little firmer. For my topping, I waited until the cake cooled a little bit but was still warm and then grated an initial layer of chocolate that melted.
    Initial layer of chocolate which melted when I grated it onto my recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate Initial layer of chocolate which melted when I grated it onto my recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate Initial layer of chocolate which melted when I grated it onto my recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate
    Then, later, I grated more chocolate on top when it was totally cooled so the shavings stayed intact.
    Recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate, tastes lighter than a normal cheesecake
    When serving, cut into pie pieces or if using a pan like I did, into squares. You can dust with powdered sugar, or any of the various toppings I mentioned.

As I mentioned, I like how the ricotta makes this a lighter cheesecake, and that you can have so much potential for toppings, or you can add more (such as fruit or a handful of chocolate chips) into your ricotta batter into the cake itself. How do you think you would make this ricotta cake?
Recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate, tastes lighter than a normal cheesecake

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The Welcome Discovery of Pavlova at Picnic House

A dinner at the Picnic House recently introduced me to this wonderful dessert that I had never heard of before, pavlova. Ah, this light airy goodness of egg whites and sugar into meringue with fresh berries and vanilla cream. At first this plate looked intimidating as it is basically the size of a whole pie but then we realized you were being given the best part, the crunchy top half, a thin shell of firmness surrounding an inside that melted in our mouth so quickly that we needed another spoonful carefully balancing crisp bits of meringue with soft vanilla cream and such beautiful sweet strawberry in each bite to extend the rush.

Pavlova at Picnic House, from Pechluck at pechluck1.typepad.com

I also discovered my favorite two cocktails that the Picnic House offers from their cocktail menu. After trying the lighter cocktail sparklers of the Fleur de Lis and Sauvie on previous visits, this time I welcomed the Moulin Rouge martini with Indio Marionberry infused vodka, Clear Creek Blackberry liqueur, blueberry simple syrup, fresh squeezed lemon and garnished with a pickled blueberry, a combination of sweet with a touch of tart so it was not too sweet. But, my favorite was The Nymph cocktail, both delicate and strong, with Pink Spruce gin, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and a simple syrup muddled with cucumber. Refreshing citrusy but you can feel the magic afterwards!

Picnic House cocktail Moulin Rouge martini Picnic House Nymph cocktail

The atmosphere is still as charming as I previously wrote about, and they still have a  nice selection of side dishes and an unbelievably addictive chocolate cake as mentioned here also. Did I also mention how wonderful the Picnic House pavlova was?

Picnic House pavlova

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