Bangin’ Blueberry Pesto Chocolate Cupcakes

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At the beginning of December Local in Season tweeted about Pestos with Panache holding a recipe contest and I was intrigued.  I quickly investigated and emailed /tweeted Lauren, the owner of the company, saying I would love to participate.  She replied quickly and offered to send me a pesto of my choice for my recipe.  I was delighted.  Many of my blogger friends have been using the Pestos with Panache in their cooking recently and I had been dying to try it.  Lauren shipped it out and I waited patiently for my Pesto to arrive.  I chose the blueberry pesto, something I have a bit of an obsession with given my upbringing in blueberry fields, and while Lauren checked in with me everyday to see if I’d gotten my pesto, I started to get excited.  What was I going to make with this pesto, something savory or sweet?  Something classic, like a pesto cream sauce, or something brash and outlandish?  I chose outlandish. 

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Maybe it was the blueberry balsamic vinegar sitting in my pantry calling out for usage, maybe it was me falling in love with these litte vegan (without the pesto) gems in October, maybe it was that first whiff of pesto as I unpacked it moments before I left to host the Boston Blogger Cookie Swap and I thought of chocolate and blueberry layered and married together, but I like to think it was all of these things at the same time.  Blueberry is one of those flavors that makes me five again, running through a hot field to my mom and being reprimanded for wrecking the berries.  I love the memories that I get from the blueberry flavor and the spiciness makes these worthy of mention.  So here it is – my spin on an accidentally found (and promptly inhaled with non-vegan frosting) vegan chocolate cupcake.

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Kathy’s Bangin’ Blueberry Pesto Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Note: These are adapted from a food.com recipe that I found. They are also the most wonderfully moist cupcakes I’ve ever eaten and so fast to make. It’s a dream.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup oil (something with a neutral flavor, I use vegetable but any without a strong flavor will work)
1 cup water
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar (I use the Blueberry Balsamic from La Roux kitchens, thanks Sarah!)
2 Tbs Bangin’ Blueberry Pesto, from Pestos with Panache

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Add all of the dry ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mix them until the cocoa is distributed evenly. In a two cup measure, combine the water, oil, vinegar and pesto. Stir until the pesto is broken up and even (it’ll look a little like a vinaigrette). Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix until everything is evenly mixed and smooth; 20 or so stirs by hand is good. You should be able to hear the vinegar and baking soda sizzle a little bit. Separate the cupcake batter evenly into a 12 cup cupcake pan; I used some super adorable silicone bug cupcake liners I got for Christmas (Thanks Mandi!), and bake for 15 to 20 minutes (about one short chapter in Harry Potter, if you read like me); they’ll bounce back to the touch or an inserted toothpick will come out clean when they’re fully cooked.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened
6 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Mix the butter and cream cheese until fully combined and fluffy. Add the salt and stir to incorporate. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and stir to fully combined. Gradually 1/4 – 1/2 cup at a time, continually adding powdered sugar until the frosting is the consistency and taste that you desire (I don’t like my frosting terribly sweet so I usually err on the less sugar side of things). Smear large dallops of frosting on your chosen receptacle, spoon, cupcake, spoon, spork, pancake, spoon, fork… (Umm, yeah – Hi my name is Kathy and I have a cream cheese frosting addiction). Eat it messily. Maybe like BF[Editor’s Note: The young unshaven gentleman in question was so enamored by the delicious cupcake, that he attempted to eat it in a single, high-velocity bite.]

Blogger Cookie Swap

I can’t believe it’s Christmas already.  BF and I have spent about 12 hours in cars over the past few days and now that we are finally in Syracuse, NY we are relieved.  We spent all last week in a whirlwind of events, shopping, baking, and generally making our last week at home seem like a blur.  We started the week off on Sunday afternoon in Harvard Sq overwhelmed by the choices and fine tuning that Christmas gifts for our immediate family entailed. And those sneaky secret Santa gifts for the rest of the family – those were absolutely terrible as well but for different reasons, challenging to pick out when you only see someone once a year.  When we did eventually emerge from Harvard Square empty handed and irritated with each other we realized the Christmas tree was crooked, and proceeded to enact a scene from the Christmas Story while trying to fix it.

Monday and Tuesday were quiet in comparison to the rest of the week, hanging out at home inert watching movies and generally chilling. But then it was Wednesday, there was a cookie swap (hosted by myself) coming up and I had no cookies yet.  I panicked and made an excess (6 dozen, give or take 2), Jackson Pollock Florentines and Mountain Top Coconut Macaroons (recipes forthcoming I forgot the hard copies on vacation :0), they were delicious, I also used this opportunity to dip peanut butter balls in chocolate (since I wasn’t cooking enough that evening as it was – ha-ha).

Thursday was the grand adventure however – the Boston Blogger Cookie Swap!  This was my first ever cookie swap and it was awesome.  I started the evening by packing up my car with all the things I was bringing (plates, napkins, index cards for cookie id, Sharpies et c.)  and then driving into Harvard to meet the lovely Elizabeth and then head to Whole Foods, who had kindly offered their community room as a space for us to use (Thanks, David!).  We arrived at WF to see Lara waiting patiently for us with a bag of cookies and her phone out, tweeting (Yay, Boston bloggers who tweet!).  We went in and I set up.  As more bloggers trickled in cookies started to appear making us all hungry and eager for delicious.  Mmmm Cookies.

We all sampled everything and decided our favorite was Lara’s Oatmeal Brown Sugar all the way (a cookie I wouldn’t feel guilty eating for breakfast!).  It was so much fun to sample all of the cookies and then bring them home!  I loved attending, and hosting, the cookie swap and I am hoping to make this a Boston Blogger tradition in the coming years.  How else are you able to try such awesome cookies without making them?  All of the cookies were truly delicious too, trying to choose a favorite wasn’t easy there were Egg-nog cookies (Thanks Poor-Girl Gourmet!), Coconut Snowballs, Chestnut Cookies, meringues, biscotti,  and so many more!  A huge thanks to all the bloggers who participated in the Swap it was super fun to get to hang with you all one on one in a less hectic setting!

Thanks also goes out to my Big sister who came and acted as designated photographer, so I was able to have photos while still being social. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and eats some magnificent cookies (try these salted caramel thumbprints, they are awesome!  Tania made them for the swap)!

Christmas Traditions and Peanut Butter Balls

Peanut Butter Ball

I know it’s almost Christmas when I am checking the weather every hour hoping for snow and I start the annual plea for a Christmas tree with BF.  Fall has officially gone the way of the dodo bird for this year and the blustery streets of the financial district are making me wish for those hot humid days of this past summer. 

Christmas is also a good excuse to cook, and I cook everything, well it feels like it.  Growing up we used to have what was called a “dipping party” at a friend’s house.  There was a big group of local women who hand made, rolled, and dipped roughly 1500 chocolates to give away for the holidays.  My mom, my sister and I always went – I hung out with friends and avoided the dipping of chocolates, my sister was meticulous, and all of the adults laughed alot and drank a bit.  It was always a lovely evening this one night that really set Christmas off, it was usually the last day of school before the holidays and all of us kids were far too rambunctious so we were bundled and sent outside to play in the snow, it was delightful and almost always ended in tears (mine, mostly). 

Dough

But I still remember the chocolates, I remember coming back inside tearstreaked and cold to the warmth of the kitchen and the smell of melted semi sweet chocolate and paraffin wax and knowing that everything would be alright.  I would then grab a freshly dipped candy with chocolate still melty and pop it in my mouth before a parent saw, they always did.  Those chocolates were the best too- Peanut Butter balls, Needhams, Rum Balls, peppermint patties, they were Christmas in a coat of chocolate.  As I licked the melted chocolate off my fingers I always grabbed an undipped candy and went back outside; renewed and fortified to be picked on by my older sister and her friends.

Tempered

These Peanut Butter balls are Christmas to me in the way very few things are.  With one bite of these little gems I feel like I’m in a time warp and I’m 11 again, the youngest of five kids trying to all fit on one long tobaggan and falling off because I was made to sit on the back.  We weren’t really a family of holiday tradtions, sure we put up a christmas tree and trimmed it; me demanding that my ornament (this really terrible thing covered in pink and opalescent netting) be on the highest branch it could be.  But this candy is what makes it for me.  The smooth Peanut Butter center, if you make it with crunchy peanut butter it isn’t christmas – it’s just candy, enrobed in the rich semi-sweet chocolate.  But it’s not just the flavor and texture of the candy it’s the process, watching Christmas movies and rolling Peanut butter balls or dipping the chocolates and leaving drops on the kitchen floor.  It’s messy and it’s totally wonderful.

Waiting to harden

Peanut Butter Balls
Note: When I made these I was actually short about 3/4 of a cup of Peanut Butter so I subbed in some Hazelnut Cream (like Nutella but no chocolate)  and they are fantastic.  I also went a little bit lighter on the Conf sugar (I said it was for sweetness but more accurately they were dry and sweet enough already).
This recipe halves very easily so have at it (pun intentional).  Otherwise plan to give these away as gifts, makes about 10 doz.

1 Cup (2 sticks) soft butter, (very soft butter like you can whip it into delicious peaks soft)
4 Cups smooth Peanut Butter, In my most recent batch I added 1/2 cup of organic PB which gave great texture to the PB Balls
2 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 Tsp salt (less if your butter is salted)
3-4 Cups of Conf sugar
1 12-oz bag Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (I get the Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa)
2-3 shavings of food grade paraffin wax

Cream together the peanut butter and the butter until everything is even and smooth, I find that you will get a few chunks if you heat it a little bit (about 20 secs) everything will soften and you’ll have a much easier time of mixing it.  Add 3 cups of confectioners sugar and mix in completely, if your dough is crumbly (and it will be) it’s ok add up to 1 cup more conf sugar depending on how sweet you want your PB Balls to be (I like 3 1/2 cups).  Add the vanilla to the crumby conf sugar, pb and butter mixture and knead it a little bit.  Your hands will be covered in the mix but it will all sort of magically come together (this can be done with a dough hook as well but try not to use the flat paddle as it will over-aerate things).  Stick this pb dough in the fridge to firm up.  After 3-5 hours in the fridge your dough should be firm.  Using a teaspoon scoop out bits of dough and roll them into balls (I suggest a line up of Christmas movies to watch, my favorites were always the stop-motion Rudolph the Reed Nosed Reindeer and A Walt Disney Christmas) .  If you want yours to be larger then do them larger (a small cookie scoop works well), I like them as single bite snacks. Put the balls back into the fridge once they have been shaped and leave them to sit overnight or for at least 4 hrs.

In a double boiler (I use a ceramic bowl set over a pan of water) melt the chocolate and the paraffin until it is smooth, takes about 5 minutes.  The chocolate will run off the spoon in a steady stream when it’s ready and will look a little bit thin.  Dip your cold PB balls into the melted chocolate using either a toothpick in the top of a fork (I’ve recently  been of the fork mindset, it’s better for the environment and its less work), shake them briefly (to remove excess chocolate) and then put them on waxed paper in a cool place to harden (takes about an hour).  And eat them.  Like popcorn.  For three days.  Then give the rest away as you realize you have eaten 5 doz peanut butter balls and there’s still 5 doz more left.  Nom.

Blogger Events and a Cookie Swap!

This past week has been a little crazy but worth it.  Monday and Tuesday were busy with work and Wednesday/Thursday were busy with Bloggers!

On Wednesday I went to this little shindig (these photos are not mine, I forgot my camera – Bad Blogger, I know!  Brian of A Thought for Food took these) over at Whole Foods on River Street, where they introduced us to the WF version of three buck chuck, a delightful wine called Three Wishes set to release very soon, a wonderful warming winter brew made by Cisco Breweries in Nantucket called Santa’s Beered, and an absolutely stunning Red made in Spain with a delightful back story.  And let’s not forget the cheese!  The specialty department member, Sean, who was sitting at the cheese table, was helpful and offering up delicious ways to both serve and prepare goat cheese.  There was a Peppadew spread that I literally wanted a spoon for.  A huge thanks to David over at Whole Foods on River Street for organizing and inviting me to come.  It was totally delicious and I had a wonderful time!  Also thanks go to Megan for giving me a ride to the event!  So exciting to finally meet you, Brian, Tania, Meghan, Athena and so many others that evening!  And to catch up with Robin, Liz, and Daisy!

Oatmeal

On Thursday, I went to yet another Blogger event, this time it was at Clover Food Labs in Harvard Square.  A big Christmas tree surrounded by trains welcomed us as we all trickled in for a cookie tasting!  The Chief Cookie Girl (and President), Carol, of Geoff and Drew’s, had kindly offered to give all of us local bloggers the special treat of a divine sample of their decadent (and local!) cookies.  These cookies were fantastic.  Let me tell you.

When Bloggers get together

A little backstory: Liz of Free Food Boston got a chance to go and visit the Geoff and Drew’s factory back in November and shortly afterward emailed a bunch of us local bloggers offering the wonderful opportunity to try some of their product.  And ten of us were very enthusiastic to go and eat cookies, but honestly who isn’t?  These cookies were delicious.  I was especially in love with the Oatmeal Cranberry which was a perfect texture and had some lovely warming spiciness, which is saying something as I am usually not an oatmeal cookie fan at all!

Geoff and Drew’s started as a late night warm cookie delivery service in Brighton (Wouldn’t that be the best?  They would get most of my paycheck, for serious).  And grew into what they are today, a world-class cookie ordering and packaging enterprise, full of cool features like cookie wedding cakes and some other really awesome stuff!  In need of a quirky holiday gift and can’t think of anything for that person with a sweet tooth? How about Santa’s Shorts stuffed to the gills with cookies!  And I can even offer you a 20% discount on these little snacks if you use the coupon code: BLOG20.  For serious people, try them.  They are truly (and deliciously) homemade.

When Bloggers get together

There were ten of us and I think we ate 20 or 25 cookies before most had had dinner.  I’m just saying these were delicious.  WORTH IT.  Thanks to Liz, Geoff and Drew’s, Carol, and Clover these cookies were well fantastic!  Also it was great to finally meet, Fiona and Katie (even though we had met on the T on Tuesday which was AWESOME! She also just celebrated her first Blogaversary so go over there and give her some love!).  And to see Liz, Rachel, Meghan, Megan, Daisy, and Jen again!

When Bloggers get together

Bloggers:  I am hosting a Cookie Swap at the Whole Foods on River street next Thursday the 16th. Swapping to actually start at 6:30.  It’ll be awesome.  Email me if you want in or I never received a confirmation from you!  It’s going to be AWESOME.  I swear.

Tide Mill Whole Chicken Soup

In my previous post, I mentioned my nasty-all-consming-really-gross head cold.  Honestly, it was just a cold, but I’m kind of whiny and the thing that I love most when I’m sick is soup, so I made some.  Chicken soup to be precise, with one small whole chicken from Tide Mill Organic Farm!  This was, by far, the best chicken soup I’ve ever eaten. [Editor’s Note: Agreed] And while, yes, it made my entire apartment smell divine, it also just hit the spot and made me feel better when I felt awful.

On my afternoon of staying home from work sick, I remembered a 2.5lb chicken in my freezer and the need to get it out of there (a very good choice on my part as the 2.5lb chicken was replaced by a 15.5lb turkey after Thanksgiving).  I pulled the chicken out and rifled around in the fridge, emerging victorious with parsnips, leeks, celery and carrots.  Such fortuitous finds (I hadn’t been to the grocery store in a bit; that I had any veggies in the fridge that were still good was a surprise!).

I threw my whole (frozen) chicken, 2 of the leeks cut into 4 inch lengths and rinsed, half stalks of celery, 3 crushed and peeled garlic cloves, split parsnips and lengths of carrot all into my trusty 6 qt Le Creuset Stock pot (I love this pot, BTW), covered the whole thing with water, and walked away.  In about half an hour, my apartment started to smell divine, even through my stuffed-up nose; I couldn’t wait for the soup to finish.  So here it is, a basic and delicious chicken soup.  And it will make you feel better if you aren’t feeling well.  I swear.

Kathy’s Homemade Whole Chicken Soup
Note: I didn’t add any starch to this soup with it’s initial making, but the second night I added rice and it was wonderful, so maybe try that if you want it to be more substantial and less brothy!  Alternatively, you can use premade broth and poach a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts in it, then shred them to get the soup without the homemade stock.

For Soup Broth
1 small whole chicken (2-3lbs)
3 whole leeks rinsed and green ends trimmed, cut into 3 inch lengths
2 parsnips, ends cut off and cut into 3 inch lengths
3 cloves whole garlic smashed with a knife
2 whole carrots, ends trimmed and cut into 3 inch lengths
2-3 stalks celery, rinsed and cut into 3 inch lengths
water to cover (4 cups)

Add the chicken (sans gizzards) and all of your vegetables to a stock pot and cover in water.  Turn your burner on low-med and let the whole thing simmer for 1 – 1 1/2 hours.  Everything will smell amazing.  Remove the chicken from the broth to a cutting board to sit for a minute and cool.  Strain the broth from your pot into a bowl reserving both the liquid and the strained out solids, I love a metal mesh strainer for this, it can handle the heat and is super cheap!  Return your solids to the pot you initially had them in, leaving the broth in a clean pot.  Skin your chicken and remove whatever meat you want from the bird.  Add the skin and chicken carcass to the pot you put the strained out vegetable solids in, cover this with more water and let it come to another simmer.  You can reserve this broth for another soup later, or freeze it; it’s pretty great for that.

For the Soup
Meat from 1 small chicken, shredded or 2 chicken breasts (3 thighs) poached in broth and shredded
4 cups of broth
1/2 red pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 green pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup celery, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2-3 carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 leek, rinsed/cleaned and cut into 1/2 rounds
2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1/2 cup rice or egg noodles (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, sauté the leeks, onions and garlic over medium heat until fragrant and soft (3-4 minutes).  Add the celery and carrots and sauté until soft (another 3-4 minutes).  Add the peppers and stir until soft (1-2 minutes).  Add the broth and chicken and let the whole thing come up to a simmer.  Add salt and pepper to taste and lower the heat to low and continue to simmer for another 15-20 minutes.  If you are adding the rice/noodles, do that now and let them cook through.  Serve this soup with a pat of butter on top and a big spoon.  It’s comforting and delicious for the cold and flu season; bring it to someone that’s sick.  They’ll appreciate it.  I swear.