Cheesy Spent Grain Scones

Someone in our house received a 1-gallon brew-your-own beer kit for Christmas. That someone brewed said beer - enjoyed it - and ordered another mix. Which is currently fermenting away in our closet. Don't worry. My pretty shoes have been moved to a safe location should it bubble over.

We are, apparently, joining the growing ranks of home brewers. And I'm fully supportive of this hobby - especially since it provides me with spent grain for baking purposes. 

Once he uses the barley to flavor his beer, it gets strained out. No longer needed. And for most folks - it winds up in the trash. With the last batch, however, we decided to dry it and see if we could bake with it. 

Oh man.

I can't wait for the next batch of beer to be made!

These scones have a delightful nutty flavor and a toothsome texture due to the grain. And there's cheese. And cayenne for nice little kick. 

You might want to make a double batch. These go fast. 

Start with the dry goods - flour, spent grain, baking powder, sugar, salt. 

Cut in the butter. Till it looks like clumped up sand.

Add the cheese now - don't be like me and forget. 

Beat up the buttermilk and egg. 

Add to the dry mix. 

Combine with just a few quick strokes. 

If you forgot the cheese - add it now....

Pat out into a 8-inch round. Sprinkle liberally with cayenne. Spice is your friend!

Bake for 22 minutes. As soon as it comes out of the oven, run your knife 7/8 of the way through to make triangles. 

Let sit and cool for 5 minutes. Serve!

Cheesy Spent Grain Scones

Adapted from The Brooklyn Brew Shop

1 1/2 c. flour

3/4 c. spent grain, dried

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp cold butter, cubed

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 egg

cayenne pepper for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, spent grain, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender, or your fingers, work the cubed butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Mix in the cheese (unless you forget like me).

In a small bowl (or the glass measuring cup you used to measure the buttermilk), beat the egg into the buttermilk. Pour into the flour mixture and mix together with a few quick strokes. (if you've forgotten to add the cheese, mix it in now). 

Pat out into an 8 inch round on a lined baking sheet. Generously sprinkle with cayenne, depending on how spicy you like your scones. 

Bake for 22 minutes, until brown. Enjoy!

Minty Oreo Mascarpone Cookies

Cookies - inside of cookies.

It's like the turducken of sweets. Oreo (already a double cookie) inside of another cookie.

Aaaaaand these cookies taste like melted mint Oreo ice cream. But in a cookie!

Coooooookie.

I may or may not have this song memorized. 

Ice cream cookies - inside of cookies.

Yum!

(it's Friday and my brain has turned to mush. can you tell?)

...

Butter and mascarpone in a bowl. 

Beat in sugar. 

Add egg yolk and vanilla.

Gently beat in flour. Don't let it dust everywhere!

Smoosh several Oreos.

Now stir in the smooshed Oreos.

Make delicious dough balls. Try not to eat too many. 

Bake. 

Inhale!

Minty Oreo Mascarpone Cookies

Makes around 2 1/2 dozen (unless you eat a bunch of batter)

Adapted from Kevin & Amanda

1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened

1/2 c. mascarpone cheese

1 c. sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg yolk

2 c. flour

8-9 mint oreos, smashed

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and mascarpone together for several minutes until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add the yolk and vanilla and beat well. With the beater on low, gradually beat in the flour. Stir in the smashed Oreos until well mixed.

Spoon out onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes (they should still be white when they are done and not golden). 

Almost Fall Salad

The other day, I swear, that cool fall chill was in the air. 

Which made me immediately want to put on a sweater, dig out my knitting needles, and start a kettle of water for tea. 

And then the afternoon rolled around, and it was over 85 degrees. Blech. So much for an early fall. 

But I had already done my grocery shopping and was staring at a pile of root vegetables! Which are lovely in, oh say, November. When you want starch and heft in your meals to carry you through the chilly fall evenings.

Thank goodness we had leftover salad mix.

Slice up those veggies: carrots, beets (golden and regular), sweet potatoes, onions, assorted squashes. Toss them in olive oil and sprinkle with fresh thyme and salt. 

Roast for 45 minutes or an hour (they only get better the longer they roast). 

 Toss on top of salad mix. Add a few slices of plum and a smattering of blue cheese (or feta, or goat cheese - whatever floats your boat). A spot of balsamic dressing. A squeeze of lemon.

Delicious! Now, if only the weather would cooperate. I've got 3 more beets to eat!

Almost Fall Salad

Serves 3-4

1 golden beet

1 beet

1-2 carrots

1 small sweet potato

1/2 yellow onion

3-4 assorted baby squashes (zucchini, patty-pan)

2-3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh thyme

Salt & pepper to taste

2 plums, sliced

blue cheese

Assorted Lettuces salad mix

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop up the beets, carrots, sweet potato, and onions into bite-sized pieces. Toss in olive oil and thyme. Spread out on a lined baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for 30 minutes. Slice up the squashes in small bite sized pieces and add to roasting pan, tossing around the other vegetables too. Return to the oven for another 30-45 minutes.

Lay out your lettuce on the plate. Divide your roasted veg among the plates. Top with slices of plum and crumbles of blue cheese. A balsamic vinaigrette would dress the salad well, or a gentle squeeze of lemon juice (we just inhaled ours sans dressing...)

Birthday Carrot Cake

Cake - under the florescent lights of the office.

Don't you love office birthdays? 

The excuse they give for ridiculous amounts of treats, for standing out in the hallway chatting about the birthday girl's plans, for taking a 5 minute breather to scrape every last speck of icing off the cake plate (which by 11:30 am is already a wasteland of crumbs).....

This past week was my first office birthday experience in my new office. And - completely ignoring my better judgement - I volunteered to bake the birthday cake.

It was decided that a carrot cake would be welcome and I set to work. When I brought in the 3 layer masterpiece last Thursday, the appropriate oohs and ahhs were made. 

Then they tried a piece. 

I couldn't get much work done for the rest of the day! Everyone came by to ask for the recipe (or ask if I catered). 

So, here's how to become the office favorite for a day in a few easy steps:

It starts with a bunch of shredded carrots. I suggest using the shredder blade on your food processor to do this. Otherwise your arm's gonna get pretty tired running up and down that box grater. 

You should also prepare your pans before we get to far into this. Cut out parchment circles and shelac the pans with non-stick spray.

 Whisk together your dry ingredients in a medium bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg).

In an extremely large bowl, cream the butter, molasses, and sugars together.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

The batter should look much lighter and fluffier after you're done with egg #3.

Next up, beat in the water and vanilla.

Next, beat in the carrots. 

Turn the mixer waaaaay down to low, and gradually beat in the flour mixture. 

Stir in the pecans, and you're ready for the pans.

Divide the batter equally among the 3 pans. 

Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the 15 minute mark.

Allow to cool completely.

Which gives you plenty of time to make the icing - butter and cream cheese go into a bowl.

Beat them till they're fluffy and add in the vanilla and powdered sugar (gradually, so that your kitchen isn't a big powdery mess!)

Taste it and make sure it's good. It's totally a step.

Stack and ice!

Add polka dots and a bit of writing. 

Enjoy!

Birthday Carrot Cake

Makes 1 3-layer cake

Slightly adapted from Martha

For Cake:

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 sticks of butter, softened

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 tbsp molasses

3 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

1/2 c. water

3 c. peeled, shredded carrots (about 2.5 lbs)

1 c. finely chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line with parchment, then grease again, three 9" round cake pans. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a very large bowl, cream the butter, sugars, and molasses together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating after each one. Beat for 3 solid minutes after you've added the last one. Add in the vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until homogenized.

Turn the mixer to low and gently beat in the flour mixture. Then beat in the pecans. Scrape the bowl well to make sure all is incorporated.

Divide evenly among the 3 pans, and bake for 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the 15 minute mark. Allow to cool in the pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then remove from pans and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

2 blocks of full-fat cream cheese (16 oz), softened

2 sticks of butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla

2 lbs powdered sugar

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and the butter together for several minutes until combined. Mix in the vanilla and gradually add in the powdered sugar.

Assemble the cake: spot of frosting on the bottom to hold the 1st layer in place. Add the first cake round, frost top, add second layer, frost top. Add third layer, frost top and sides. Decorate!

Will keep in the fridge overnight for serving the next day. As long as your husband is well aware that he is not allowed to touch it. 

Creamed Beet Greens

Mr. S had requested roasted beets to go along with his steak dinner for a Labor Day weekend celebration. I love beets, so I definitely didn't mind. 

But when we got them from the store, they came with these green leafy bits coming off the top! Strange. It was almost a bonus vegetable. Buy one, get one free!

I didn't really know what to do with them, so I chopped them off the beets and stuck them in a glass of water. They stayed fresh until the next day, when a lightening bolt of an idea struck me - cream them. 

Though, honestly, I can't remember ever creaming anything in my life before. My dear mother is from Indiana, and I think she might have encountered one too many disgusting steam tables of creamed spinach to consider making her own version. Or perhaps she looked at the recipe (butter, cream, cheese) and decided that we should save our calorie intake for sweets. 

I definitely don't blame her - nearly any dessert she makes is delicious (and laden with butter and/or cream).

But back to the greens. They are absolutely inhaleable. Even if they are a little pink. 

(Mr. S said he needed to close his eyes to eat them, cause it looked like he was eating greens covered in strawberry yogurt. Mind you - his plate was CLEAN by the end of dinner.)

Rinse the greens. Often they've got plenty of sand and dirt on them.  Chop them up roughly.

In a large saucepan, melt half a stick of butter.

Whisk in 4 tbsp of flour.

Cook for 5-8 minutes.

Add in the onions, garlic (and beet stems if you don't mind a pink sauce. It you'd rather have a white sauce, toss the stems in the trash).

Cook for another 5 minutes and whisk in the milk and cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Add in the beet greens and cook for another 5-8 minutes, until greens are wilted and stems are soft enough for you.

Add in about a 1/4 c. of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Serve, preferably with steak, and enjoy!

Creamed Beet Greens

 Adapted from the Pioneer Woman's Creamed Spinach

1/2 stick of butter

4 tbsp flour

1/2 - 1/4 red onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 c. milk

1/2 c. cream

salt & pepper to taste

4-5 grates of freshly ground nutmeg (or a pinch of the pre-ground stuff)

1 bunch beet greens, roughly chopped (lower stems diced and held separately, if used)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese

Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or so, until the mixture is a light golden brown and you can't smell that uncooked flour smell. 

Whisk in the onion, garlic, and beet stems (if using). Cook for another 5 minutes. 

Whisk in the milk and cream. Add in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Gently mix in the beet greens, covering them in the cream sauce.  Cook for 5 more minutes. 

Serve!