A word on coffee

 I used to drink my coffee black 100% of the time, in the mornings before I left for school. The Christmas I was 15 my mother received an assortment of vacuum-sealed sample sized coffees in a gift exchange at work. We had an old drip coffeemaker at home but Lord knows when we had used it last. Nevertheless my dad made us coffee on Christmas morning (none for my mother) and so it began. Much has been written about ideal coffee brewing temperatures, methods, beans, and roasts and while I enjoy such discussions and the pursuit of coffee perfection, most days a girl just wants a good cup of coffee in her favorite mug with a touch of creamer, no sugar (that's to leave room for the morning cookie. Nothing tastes better with unsweetened coffee than a little sugar).

I have always felt that a person's coffee preference says something, if not about her character, than certainly about her personality.  A black coffee drinker can be friends with a nonfat mocha latte drinker, but there are some obvious differences there. Of course we all have our moments--I went through a nonfat sugar free cinnamon dolce latte phase before the introduction of the "skinny" order; but really, who wants to be the girl ordering a skinny vanilla latte? And forget about a dude ordering a skinny drink in the middle of the morning rush.  Congratulations to all of you secure enough to say that out loud in front of a line of strangers but whenever I do I feel the need to explain my order to the barista and/or the person behind me: "Something about the 2% milk is just too heavy for me.""I drink diet soda so I don't even notice the artificial sweetener." What I really want to say is: just because my drink is skinny doesn't mean I need to be, society and all you corporate marketing execs who decided to name my morning indulgence "skinny" so I'll feel a little less guilty for spending $4.50 on it. Hey, at least I earned a star for my purchase. 25 years old and still extremely motivated by virtual stickers. Now my standard order when I'm out is a soy misto with one pump of [syrup of choice]. No matter how slowly I say it I have to repeat myself at least once and, yes, I do feel like a diva when I order.

College was my french press phase, mostly because the coffee in the dining hall was pretty undrinkable hotel-coffee variety and my thrift store drip coffee maker just made me sad. No use putting expensive coffee in that thing.  Then I got married and one of the wonderful things about getting married is that you get a lot of presents, like the coffeemaker of my dreams from one of my bridesmaids.

It's the only coffeemaker I've found with a conical burr grinder (as opposed to a blade grinder, like those handheld versions that double as spice grinders), which preserves more of the beans' oils and hence their flavor. It also brews the coffee at the optimal temperature and time to extract just the right amount of flavor from the beans. Or at least that's what Amazon tells me and I am happy to believe the marketing in this case. It's a whole lot easier to clean than my french press and when I really have my act together I can program it to start the night before and wake up to the smell of coffee.

How do you take your morning coffee?

Spiced Cranberry Eggnog Scones

Saturday mornings are meant for baking, especially if you're the type who naturally wakes up an hour before everyone else. I have always been 100% a morning person; once my eyes pop open there's nothing for it, I'm not going back to sleep. It's always worked out particularly well; everyone's usually waking up right when the baked goods come out of the oven.

Such can be the case with these pretty darn delicious Cranberry Eggnog Scones.  Don't know how you get much more Christmas-y than that. These could easily be prepped the night before Christmas morning as well; I would meaure all your dry ingredients into a bowl and cut the butter in, then cover that and wait to add the wet ingredients the following morning. It actually might turn out better scones because the extra-cold butter and flour will make for extra-light and fluffy scones once the butter hits the oven (the steam is what makes biscuits and scones fluffy and almost moist on the inside!)

I made these in the food processor, which is a great way to make scones, but if you have a little baby guy like mine it would be best to just make these by hands.  When you add the wet ingredients you only want to pulse for 2 or 3 pulses and my little guy was just too small to mix all the ingredients in such a short amount of time.  I actually inherited this 20-year old food processor that my mom used to make homemade pizza dough when we went home for Thanksgiving and I. love. it.  It makes Sunday cooking day a breeze and saves my eyes from watering while I'm chopping onions.

But back to these scones: They are moist and fluffy and wonderful, even with my over-processing, thanks to the low protein in the cake flour. I would definitely make these again, in the mixer or by hand, and they would turn out even better. These scones definitely call for jam; the fresh cranberries are wonderfully tart and the scones themselves barely sweet. Enjoy!

Spiced Cranberry Eggnog Scones 
adapted from The Complete Baking Cookbook by George Geary

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 3 T granulated sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 6 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into small dice
• 2 eggs, beaten, divided
• 3/4 cup eggnog
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw first if frozen)

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, mixing well.
1. If mixing in a food processor, add the dry ingredients to the bowl and pulse several times to combine.
3. Cut in the butter with a fork, a pastry blender, or your hands (if mixing by hand I usually stick the dry ingredients in the freezer for 5 minutes or so after cutting in the fat to make up for the warmth of my hands)
1. If using a food processor, scatter the butter pieces evenly over the flour and pulse several times to combine. You don't want to pulse too much or the butter pieces will be too fine and your scones will not be as tender.
4. Set aside 1 T. of beaten egg (you can just put it in a 1/4 cup measuring cup or something until you're ready.) Whisk together the remaining egg and eggnog and add to the dry ingredients, stirring until almost combined (you will finish combining them in the next step and you don't want to overmix). 
1. If mixing in the food processor, beat the wet ingredients together in a small bowl and pour down the food processor chute, pulsing once or twice to combine.  Transfer to a large bowl and continue.
5. Add the cranberries, stirring just to combine.
6. The scones you see in the picture I made as drop scones: I just scooped the dough out with a muffin scoop and flattened the top slightly.  If you prefer, you can pat the dough into a 10-inch circle, place on your baking sheet and cut into 12 wedges with a bench scraper or pizza cutter (do not separate the wedges after cutting.) Brush with the remaining beaten egg, using a pastry brush if you have it or a fork if you don't.  Sprinkle with some raw sugar if you have it for beauty and crunch. 

Shaped scones brushed with beaten egg (would be great sprinkled with a little turbinado sugar!)

7. Bake in the preheated oven until puffed, light brown and gorgeous, 18 to 22 minutes.  Serve warm with eggnog coffee (have you ever used eggnog as coffee creamer? It's a good idea).

 

 

Fresh out of the oven.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Tis' the Season for Cookies: Or, the Importance of Butter

I'm pretty sure "The Importance of Butter" could just be the subtitle of every post, but in this case I'm referring to that little modicum none of us pay much attention to in ingredient lists: 3 sticks of butter, softened. While I am all for throwing things together in the kitchen, I definitely hold strong opinions about the proper temperature of butter in a recipe, or beside my bread at a nice restaurant for that matter. I know the kitchen is 80 degrees, why in the world would you give me a hockey puck of butter to spread on my it-had-better-be-warm roll? I feel the need to justify myself here: I won't actually send the bread and/or butter back, not at this point in my life anyway, but a restaurant that serves both warm bread and soft butter without question before my order comes is well on its way to earning repeat-visit status on my list before my entree arrives. A woman's got to have her principles. But let's focus on the butter, shall we?

Real life: Who actually bakes with room temperature butter? I don't know anyone with the forethought or patience to take butter out of the fridge an hour or two before baking, myself included. The problem being no one who gives two hoots about their stand mixer would make it try to turn a stick of rock-hard butter into a fluffy mass of goodness either, leaving the obvious solution of throwing that stick of butter into the microwave for a few seconds.  The problem with this is that you often end up with the concave-stick of butter thing going on when the middle of the butter begins to melt, thus changing the butter from a solid to a liquid (I know, duh) and inhibiting its ability to trap air, ultimately drastically changing the texture of your finished cake or cookie.

This particular baking mishap can be avoided by utilizing the Ben Affleck of microwave buttons (forgotten, but not gone): the power button. In my house we always reheated out leftovers on 80, our hot chocolate or coffee on 70, and only used 100% power when we actually wanted to cook something like frozen vegetables.  I'm just hazarding a guess that this is probably because my father read the manual of the first microwave they bought back in the 80s cover-to-cover and has been following their suggestions for the last 25 years. We're a family of instruction-followers, I'll admit it.

I usually microwave my butter at 20 or 30% power for a full 55 seconds, and after all that microwaving it still is only slightly softened, just at room temperature:

Yup, just throw the sticks in their still in their wrappers, straight from the fridge.

This technique also works great for cakes, which in my experience rise much better when all of the ingredients (butter, milk, eggs, etc.) are at room temperature, an experiment which can be addressed in other posts.

Now, on to the cookies! Does anyone else's family make Spritz cookies at Christmas? I am the proud inheritor of my family's 20+ year old cookie press and it still works like a champ.  I've never used the gun-style cookie presses they sell at craft stores now but I would be hard pressed to trade anything for my all-metal version. 

Because my mother tends to take much better care of her possessions than I do (note the original packaging) I imagine this cookie press will last another twenty years or so, until the next culinarily-inclined offspring inherits it.

Is there anything better than Christmas cookies and not-just-coffee-in-that-mug? I don't care if it's 65 outside, I'm going to pretend like it's Connecticut and I'm justified in warming myself up a little this afternoon. 







'Tis the Season: Spritz Cookies
p. 684 of The Gourmet Cookbook
Just go ahead and get yourself a copy if you don't have one already and thank me after your next dinner party. And Amazon definitely has no idea who I am and doesn't care whether or not you buy a copy by clicking on the link :)  Jus' sayin'.

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• Rounded 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Beat together butter, sugar, and extracts in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and beat well.  Add flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.
4. Quarter dough. Put 1 piece into cookie press and, holding press slightly above an ungreased baking sheet, squeeze out dough to form cookies (follow manufacturer's instructions), spacing them about 3 inches apart. Form more cookies on additional baking sheets with remaining dough in same manner.
5. Bake cookies in batches until edges are golden, 10 to 15 minutes per batch. Transfer to racks to cool.

 These are so easy to dress up for Christmas by coloring the portions of dough red and green and/or sprinkling with colored sugar, sprinkles, etc.
 

Multigrain Chock ful o' Apple Muffins

My philosophy on clearance, sale, etc. items is twofold. First of all, the bigger the discount the more likely I am to buy, regardless of how much money I am actually spending. This makes me particularly susceptible to marketing ploys of all kinds as I am much more likely to buy something if I at least believe that I am getting it for 50% off or more, regardless of whether I'm spending $20 or $200. This renders me particularly powerless when it comes to clearance racks and those lovely little end caps at the grocery store with dented cans of pork and beans for $0.50. Everything happens for a reason. While I usually have the power to resist a gallon of milk that expires today (wait no I've bought that before...but it was organic milk for $1!) or 3 pounds of steak marked down 10% I have less willpower when it comes to fresh produce at a discount. What this often means is that my husband and I are often stuck with those bags of bruised apples and bananas that get mushier the longer you look at them. I can't help it when they're only $1 and hey, you can never have too much banana bread. Except for when you do. 

Last week's batch of mushy bananas turned into a frighteningly moist and delicious banana sour cream pound cake, a rather decadent step up from the usual and highly recommended with more ice cream and caramel on top. Butter and full fat dairy are indeed magical ingredients but it turns out it is actually possible to ingest too much of each, meaning that by the time I turned to my bag of bruised apples I was actually in the mood for something a little more nourishing. Perhaps more fiber grams than fat grams? It would be nice to not need an afternoon nap after my afternoon snack, at least today. I ended up with scrumptious little morsels that were equal parts apple and muffin, an apple cobbler in a muffin tin relying on the sweetness of the apples themselves and the heartiness of the oats for flavor. I can't wait to tinker with this recipe in the future. The recipe called for grinding the oats with the flour and I would love to leave them whole next time, maybe soak them in a little buttermilk first and try a bit of cornmeal for some texture and crunch.

Two thoughts: This is one of my favorite kitchen utensils and especially handy for dishing out muffin batter. Thought two: I seriously need a serious camera. Right now the s95 is my top pick for a good entry level point and shoot. Thoughts?

Just bursting with appley raisiny goodness.

These make a particularly homey and nourishing afternoon snack with a dollop of apple butter and even a smear of almond butter. Enjoy!

Multigrain Chock ful o' Apple Muffins

adapted  from Real Simple Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 wheat bran (not bran flakes; if you don't have any may substitute 1/4 cup flax meal or an additional 1/4 cup of flour, each of these will give the muffins a different texture but all will work!)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt + 1/2 cup kefir (I used the combo of these two because that's what I had on hand; 1 cup sour cream, plain yogurt, or buttermilk would all do just fine)
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar (if you like things sweeter up the sugar to 1/3 or 1/2 cup)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 very large or 3 regular apples, chopped
• 3/4 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 375. Grease a standard 12 cup muffin tin and set aside.
2. Combing the flour and wheat bran in a large mixing bowl. I had two kinds of whole wheat flour on hand, one from the grocery store and one from the farmer's market.

2. Add the oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and whisk to blend
3.  Using a food processor (or immersion blender if you still don't have a food processor *sigh*) pulse the dry ingredients together until the oats are processed into a flour. I left my oats a little chunky because I wanted some texture in there.


4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dairy, egg, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
5. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, folding until just combined. Fold in the apples and raisins. (batter will be very chunky!)
6. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups (batter will be rounded but that's ok because the apples cook down as the muffins rise.

7. Bake at 375 for 22 to 25 minutes, until nicely browned and crusty.

Have you ever actually watched things baking in the oven? It's so much fun to watch them rise before your eyes!

Enjoy! Preferably with a mug of tea.

Warm Butternut Squash and Rice Salad with Brussels Sprouts, Apples and Dijon Vinaigrette

I just Googled the name to make sure it is indeed "Brussels" as in the city and not "Brussel" sprouts. Conveniently, there is a www.brussels-sprouts.com, which informed me that "the modern Brussels sprout that we are familiar with was first cultivated in large quantities in Belgium." I like to know these things. Etymology aside, if you love Brussels sprouts like I do you will love them in this dish; if not feel free to leave them out, the butternut squash is the real heavy-lifter here.


I wasn't originally planning on putting this on the blog but it turned out so darn delicious I had to share it with you. I used instant brown rice which I think is truly one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread and just as convenient, making this doable for a weeknight dinner. In the background there is the dressing, a simple apple cider and Dijon vinaigrette which would be equally delicious brushed on grilled pork or grilled chicken.  You could also use cubed sweet potatoes if you don't want to fool with peeling the butternut squash.  I used a McIntosh apple because that's we had but I think this would work better with good ol' Granny Smith, which holds its shape when baked/roasted/grilled/sauteed much better than a McIntosh.  This would also be delicious with toasted walnuts and cranberries for Thanksgiving.  I told you I'm not really into recipes, right? It's your food-have fun with it!

Warm Butternut Squash and Rice Salad with Brussels Sprouts, Apples, and Dijon Vinaigrette

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 small apple, cubed
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup frozen Brussels sprouts
• Salt and pepper (about 1/2 and 1/4 of a teaspoon, respectively, if you like to measure!)
• 2 cups chicken broth, homemade if you have it and low sodium if you don't.
• 1 cup instant brown rice

For the Dijon Vinaigrette:

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Dash of salt and dash of pepper

1. Heat 1-2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat until oil shimmers but does not smoke. Add onions and cook for 1-2 minutes, until just starting to turn translucent.  Add butternut squash, stir to combine, and cover the skillet.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, until the squash is just starting to get tender.  Life the cover, stir everything around, add the frozen Brussels sprouts, and cover again. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or so, until the Brussels sprouts are heated through and the squash is almost tender. You don't want to cook anything all the way through because this is a one-pot dish and you'll be cooking the pot right in the pan with the squash, so it will finish cooking along with the rice.
2. Add 2 cups chicken broth to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Add the 1 cup brown rice, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes, until broth is absorbed and rice is cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the vinaigrette: whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl or small measuring cup. Whisk well to emulsify.
4. As soon as the rice is done cooking, while it is still cooking, add half the vinaigrette and toss. Taste the dressing at this point: my husband prefers things rather plain (*cough*bland*cough*), so I only used half the dressing in the finished dish and added additional dressing at the table. If you can't have too much flavor, like me, you may want to add the other half of the dressing. If not save it in the fridge, it's a great all-purpose vinaigrette.

What about you? Are you a Brussels sprouts lover or hater?Any foods you love that people tend not to like? Brussels sprouts is definitely on my list there, along with Rye bread, sardines, whole-grain mustard, and I'll stop there because I just made myself a nice little sandwich :) What's on your list?

Grocery Shopping Eve Meal: Vegetable Rogan Josh

I wish I had a picture of the fridge in our house growing up to show you. My dad is a very structured man, Lord love him, and our fridge had a shelf for leftovers, a door on the fridge designated for jelly, a designated place for the eggs, lettuce, bacon, etc. to go and on and on. It was a wonderful system and one that virtually eliminates food waste; however, I have yet to meet another person or family that successfully employs a similar system. The rest of our relatively small galley kitchen in my parents' house is beautifully organized as well, even the ubiquitous Tupperware cabinet displaying Tupperware neatly stacked back to front from smallest to largest and no toppling to fear when you open the cabinet door. I'll have to take pictures when I go home for Thanksgiving.

I am firmly in the other 99% of society, however, which opens the fridge with one hand and thrusts a newly filled Tupperware on that second shelf on the left that seems a convenient landing place for everything.

Full disclosure: I just got up and took a picture of my fridge. Semi-organized--Pickles are a vegetable, right?

 I am also in that 99% of folks that find themselves with 3 stalks of celery and a quarter of a squash at the end of the week and I'll be darned if I'm going to throw away any food, at least not without giving a valiant effort. I view expiration dates as a trick of the food industry to trick us into throwing away our food and get more money out of us at the grocery store. Not really, but I do pay very little attention to expiration dates and instead tend to wait until there's mold somewhere to admit that any particular food item cannot, in fact, be eaten. Marriage has been good for me in that sense; my husband does not share my iron stomach and views expiration dates as fact, which has caused some bouts of secretiveness thus far. Vegetables, however, bear no expiration date, and that is how I arrived at my Saturday night dinner: Veggie Rogan Josh, or sauteed veggies with bottled Rogan Josh sauce stirred in for flavor. This is what happens when you are starving at 9 pm the day before you go grocery shopping.

I'm generally a bit of a whiz when it comes to making something out of nothing from the random bits of leftovers in the fridge. That night, though, I was merely determined to not let the bits of veggies I'd been accumulating rot in the fridge and I have a hard time thinking straight when I'm really hungry so I can pretty much forget being brilliantly creative.

This is the most appetizing picture I have of Saturday night's dinner, cooked at 9 pm with a glass of wine as an appetizer. That would be one leek, cleaned and chopped in the pan, half a cabbage, half a bag of (expired) shredded carrots, and one quarter of a red pepper. After a little more fishing in the fridge I pulled out a container whose top had an interesting bulge going on, indicating some carbon dioxide action or something going on in there. I really have no idea why I'm being so honest. I poured off the broth, which seemed to be where the fermentation was occuring, rinsed the chickpeas and tried one. It had a little bit of tang to it, just a hint, and I figured there must be some traditional dish out there in which fermented chickpeas play a role, so in they went.

The finished product was much greater than the sum of its parts and oddly satisfying, although they say hunger is the best condiment.

That would be a dollop of sweet chutney on top and a little tangy Greek yogurt hiding underneath. Sweet+Spicy+Tangy=Deliciousness. Side note: if you're interested in making this, that particular sauce I bought is quite spicy in a slow lovely after burn kind of way but I love it.  Word of warning to the spice averse.

The next day I was not quite as hungry and a little more creative so I seared some tofu in a cast iron skillet, cooked up some brown rice, and stirred all that together with the leftover vegetable mix and a little more sauce. Now that was delicious.

Now my morbid curiosity begs the question: do you organize your fridge or shove everything in there willy-nilly? What is your standby grocery shopping eve dinner?


Grocery Shopping Eve Vegetable Rogan Josh

• Lots of veggies, in my case: 1/2 a cabbage, coarsely chopped; 1 leek, trimmed and chopped, 1/2 bag of shredded carrots, 1/2 bell pepper. Potatoes or sweet potatoes would have been a welcome starchy complement in this mix (if you use potatoes I would parcook them in the microwave for a couple of minutes because they take so much longer to cook in the skillet than the rest of the vegetables).
• Indian Simmer Sauce: I used Spicy Tomato and Ginger or Kashmiri Rogan Josh, but any of the prepared Indian sauces would do nicely, especially with some rice.
• A protein: I added chickpeas because that's what I had but the next day it was delicious with some seared tofu. This mix would also go nicely with chicken or of course lamb, but if you have lamb in your Saturday night leftovers repertoire I'm jealous.

1. Heat 1-2 teaspoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute your veggies (in the particular mix I used the cabbage takes the longest to cook so I put that in first and let it wilt a bit. If I had used onions those would have gone in first). I added mine to the skillet in the order listed.
2. Let your veggies cook to your desired doneness. I wanted my cabbage with a bit of chew since the rest of the dish was fairly insubstantial so I cut it in large chunks and let it cook until just tender.
3. Add your sauce and heat until heated through.
4. Serve over rice or with naan if you have it, or wine and your Hulu show of choice if you don't. 

Multigrain Chocolate Stout Banana Bread

Simplicity is not my strong point, at least when it comes to food. In life I am perfectly content to wear the same long waisted t-shirt and comfy flats high school through college, no problem. When it comes to my eating habits, however, I am infamous for 1) eating every meal out of a bowl 2) putting more ingredients than really necessary in said bowls. For instance, my morning oatmeal bowl often consists of oatmeal (3 parts steel cut to 1 part old-fashioned--try it, the texture is unlike any other) topped with sliced banana, nuts or peanut butter, yogurt, and granola. If you do 1/2 servings of each component you end up with one well-rounded bowl of lovely texture and temperature contrasts, the key to memorable dishes.

Which brings us to today's creation. It all started with a bottle of opened stout in the fridge. I opened it the other night for dessert and apparently misread my cravings because it was too heavy for me that late at night. I think I had a glass of wine instead. I'm all about freedom of choice. But back to the beer--flat, opened beer in the fridge screams "beer bread" to me. Did y'all make beer bread in college? We made a lot of it. Want to know why? Here's the recipe, pay attention now: measure 3 cups of self rising flour and 1/2 cup of sugar into a bowl (or directly into a greased baking pan, if you really want to go dorm-style). Stir in 1 12-ounce bottle or can of beer. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Really, that's it. Sometime we would get creative and do garlic parmesan or cinnamon sugar toppings, but in general that's it. It has a texture like the middle of a good biscuits-and-gravy biscuit: dense and bready, perfect for slathering with butter and honey. Bringing back memories.

So today's beer bread started with that basic premise. The chocolate stout in the title refers not to "chocolate stout" as in Young's Double Chocolate or similar, but rather to chocolate, as in a fantastic high-fat natural cocoa powder I got from Penzey's this weekend, and stout, the beer on the same end of the spectrum as porters. Chocolate stout beer bread? I could tell this bread was headed somewhere delicious. There was also quite an old banana sitting in the fridge that I'd been meaning to mush up in a bowl of oatmeal for a few mornings now. I realize not everyone is a fan of the banana + chocolate combination, but I certainly am and a banana always adds some welcome moisture if you're a fan of the flavor. Oatmeal! That's a good idea too.  Then a hint of cinnamon for a welcome backbone of warmth and a star is born.

I truly wish you were here to share this with me. This honestly turned out so much better than I thought it would, the darkness of the stout and coffee brought out wonderfully by the cocoa and the cinnamon. It made for a deeply satisfying snack with a little fig-orange-ginger jam on top and a mug of coffee on the side. I told you simplicity is not my strong point. Oh and also? This loaf just happens to be vegan. Snuck that one in on you, huh? That's right, no eggs, milk, or butter to be found, just good ol' beer, coffee and chocolate. If you like barely sweet and highly flavorful baked goods, this loaf's for you. 

Multigrain Chocolate Stout Banana Bread

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

1.  Measure out 1 cup any stout beer (such as Guinness) and 1/2 cup strong black coffee into a measuring cup.  Add 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats and let stand at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Measure 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (you could certainly use all-purpose; whole wheat behaves much the same way most of the time, it would work fine in this recipe), 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup natural cocoa, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1 tablespoon baking soda, 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. cinnamon into a medium mixing bowl and mix well with a fork or wire whisk to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, mash one ripe banana using a fork or pastry blender. Whisk in 3 tablespoons vegetable oil.

4. Add the measuring cup of beer + coffee + oatmeal to the banana and stir to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just to combine.

5. Pour your batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the very center comes out with one or two moist crumbs attached. This is a very dense bread and so will not be actually wet and batter-like in the center. If you're baking in a metal baking dish, the bread will probably take closer to 45 minutes and if you are baking in a glass Pyrex dish or similar it will probably take closer to 60 minutes.

6. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes (slicing into it hot will ultimately dry out the loaf!). Slather with your condiment of choice and enjoy with an afternoon cup of coffee. Or, of course, another beer.