Golden Raisins in Chardonnay Syrup over Baked Brie

I'm that girl at the party hanging out by the cheese tray...

And today I'm holding fort over at Food Fanatic with a wheel of melty Brie that's topped with tipsy golden raisins in a luxurious Chardonnay syrup that is flecked with vanilla beans, aka Baked Brie with Chardonnay Raisins.

Visit me there to read more about my love of cheese and grab the Baked Brie with Chardonnay Raisins recipe!

Dulce de Leche Paletas

This month for she made, ella hace, Leslie and I are sharing PALETAS aka my absolute favorite way to kick-off summer! It is about this time every year that I announce The Summer of the Popsicle, but this year I'm running behind. I'm still hoping to bring it back this year, but no definite plans yet.

And yet, this is already the second ice pop recipe that I've shared this month (the first being my Strawberry Pink Moscato Ice Pops). The popsicle making itself hasn't slowed down.

Speaking of popsicle making, my good friend and she made, ella hace partner-in-crime, Leslie told me that she and the kids made like FIVE types of paletas over the past weekend. It's really no wonder that I dig this chick so much.

Roasted Strawberry Vanilla Bean Jam

Can I get a show of hands from everybody who likes fruit leathers?  Both of my arms are raised high.  Hands waving, jazz fingers shimmy-ing.  I don't know what it is, but I have always been nuts for the flavor of slow cooked fruit.  That deep, rich, complex flavor that slow roasting coaxes from fruit is like a silent bomb invading your mouth.  I remember a time when I had to hunt down a "natural" food store or a "health food" store to find some of these sheets of tacky fruit.  I have made them at home before, but I get lazy.  And I have to be in the right mood to do it.  I haven't been in the right mood for a number of years.  Fortunately I can find individually wrapped ones in awesome flavors that I never had when I was young (like MANGO!) and good old standby's like strawberry.

Fast forward to the past couple of months.  I've seen some different recipes floating around with the words "roasted strawberries" in them.  I haven't been able to stop the daydreaming.  Roasted strawberries are haunting my thoughts.  Interrupting my menu plans.  Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream.  Roasted Strawberry Muffins.  Roasted Strawberry Cake.  Roasted.  Strawberries.  I give up!  So, when I saw Kim's Fresh Strawberry and Vanilla Jam last week, I knew right then and there that I would be making a version of it...but I would be roasting my strawberries!  So imagine a jam with the concentration of flavor that a fruit leather has and then imagine it flecked with sexy little specks of vanilla.  It's rich and dynamic.  Consider me seduced.

Roasted Strawberry Vanilla Bean Jam  

inspired by/liberally adapted from Jamie Oliver
makes ~1¼ c.

2 lbs. strawberries, hulled & halved
1 vanilla bean
½ c. sugar
freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place your strawberries in a bowl, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean onto the strawberries, then throw the pod in the bowl, as well.  Add the sugar and stir everything around.  Let sit for ~10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 250° F.

Pour the strawberry mixture out onto a sheet tray that has been lined with foil or parchment in a single layer.  Squeeze about a quarter of a juicy lemon over the top of everything.  Slide into the oven and bake, stirring a couple of times, until the berries are very soft and look a bit withered ~2 hours.

Remove from oven, scrape everything (especially all of the caramelized juices) into a bowl and let cool a bit.  Remove the vanilla bean pod.  Mash everything up with a potato masher for a chunkier jam, or whiz it in the food processor if you like it smoother.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few weeks, if needed.  I LOVE this jam when it's warm, so I heat it up a bit before spreading it on something.

And uuuuhhhhh...is anybody else's cat this nuts?  He was sleeping.  Even when the hubs and I couldn't stop laughing...uncontrollably...while taking his picture, the tongue stayed out.  Oh yeah, he even woke up and I gave him a good-natured shake/petting, the tongue remained out.  Just looking at the picture now, a giggle or ten escape.

We're making Condiments! at IHCC this week...

I am also sharing this post with:
Katherine Martinelli Friday Blog Hop: Strawberries

Beer-Orange-Vanilla Bean Caramel (...featuring New Belgium's Somersault Ale)

This post has been a long time in the making.  No particular reason.  Nothing out-of-the-ordinary.  Nothing spectacular.  Oh, let me rephrase that- this caramel is spectacular.  My goal- not so much.  Don't you just hate it when best laid plans don't work out?  I was planning a dazzling "ladies who lunch and drink beer" day in which I would get together with my mom and sisters and grandma.  It just never came together. The whole menu was carefully planned out using a selection of New Belgium Beer throughout the menu.  Oh yeah, it was going to be epic.  The lunch party to end all lunch parties.  There was the meal which consisted of something typical made non-typical. 

What's typical you ask?  Soup, salad, and bread.  Pretty typical.  Nothing flashy, but meal that I am pretty much happy with anytime.  However, this was not just any meal consisting of soup, salad, and bread.  Oh no.  It started off with a Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Beer Buttermilk Dressing and Spicy Beer Nuts made with Mighty Arrow Pale Ale.  And then.  Then there was Oatmeal Brown Ale Bread Bowls made with 1554 Enlightened Black Ale.  And to sit perfectly inside those retro little bread bowls was an amazing Beer Cheese Soup made with Fat Tire Amber Ale. While my lunch hasn't come together yet...I do still plan on making it happen.  This menu was too good to go to waste.  However, I still wound up making my planned dessert.  A simple Vanilla Bean Ice Cream smothered in warm Beer-Orange-Vanilla Bean Caramel made with Somersault Ale.  This should inspire a fire under their booties.  Although to be fair...one gave birth, and that slowed things down a bit.  And probably foremost were gas prices (unfortunately, we don't all live in the same town.  Or even state.).  One way or another, these ladies will be lunching.  Soon.  Did I mention the beer bottle vases?  Aaahhhh.  It's so vivid in my head.

Beer-Orange-Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce
inspired by/adapted from Food Network Magazine June '11
makes ~1½ c.

1 (12 oz.) bottle New Belgium Somersault Ale
4 cardamom pods
juice & zest (cut in large, wide strips) of one orange
1 vanilla bean
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1½ c. packed brown sugar
1 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
sea salt

Bruise the cardamom pods a bit and scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean.  Place the cardamom pods and the scraped vanilla bean & seeds into a large (really, large...this helps prevent boil-overs later) saucepan with the beer, zest and juice from half an orange and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Cook, stirring, until reduced to about 1 cup.  This will take around 10 minutes.  

Add the butter and brown sugar and let boil until thick and syrupy, ~10-12 minutes.  To test for doneness, drip a bit of caramel into a bowl of cold water...it should form a soft ball when ready.

Slowly stir in the cream and cook another 5 minutes, until sauce has thickened a bit.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and a couple pinches of sea salt.  Remove cardamom and vanilla pods and orange zest.  It will be a bit loose, but as it cools it will thicken up nicely.  

Transfer to a jar and store in the fridge.  It could last for a couple of weeks stored that way...but I doubt it will.  I mean, I'm sure it will, I just don't think it will last that long.  It vanished in no time around here.  When we wanted it to coat our cold vanilla ice cream, I stuck the jar in the microwave for about 30 seconds...then spooned the warm, fragrant, addicting caramel over and made quick work of it.  So. Stinkin'. Delicious.  I'm not saying that I occasionally pulled the jar from the fridge and scooped out a bite and ate it just like that.  Okay, yes I am.

*As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a stipend to help reimburse the cost of the beer & ingredients.  All thoughts and opinions on New Belgium beer are my own.

*I am sharing this post with:

Grapefruit Vanilla Bean Mini-Bundt Cakes

What's a girl with a craving for citrus cake that extends deep down to her toes to do?  And in the midst of said craving, she's fortunate enough to receive a case big, fat, beautiful Texas Grapefruit from Bonnie at Sweet Life and find an adorable mini-bundt pan on clearance and have some plump, fragrant Vanilla Beans from Beanilla that she happened to win from Dessert Wars beckoning her from the cupboard?

She gets busy baking.

This are light and spongy and mini...which always reels people in.  Really.  Just ask the looky-loos who were lurking behind me while I was busy with this photo shoot.

Grapefruit Vanilla Bean Mini-Bundt Cakes

from the kitchen of girlichef

makes 12

½ c. unsalted butter, at room temp.

¾ c. vanilla sugar

2 Tbs. finely grated grapefruit zest

1 vanilla bean

2 large eggs, at room temp.

½ c. sour cream, at room temp.

¼ c. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

1½ c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. fine sea salt

½ tsp. baking soda (my favorite is Rumford by Clabber Girl...it's aluminum free)

icing:

~ ¼ c. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

2 c. confectioners' sugar

 seeds from ½ of a vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 325° F.  Set out a non-stick mini-bundt cake pan to use.  Or, if it's not nonstick, grease the pan.

In a large bowl, cream butter, vanilla sugar, grapefruit zest, and the seeds scraped from one vanilla bean until light and fluffy.  One at a time, beat in the eggs.  Add sour cream and grapefruit juice and beat until just combined.

Whisk flour, baking powder, sea salt, and baking soda together, then add to bowl and beat until just combined. 

Scoop batter into a pastry bag (or large zippered baggy w/ one corner snipped off) and pipe evenly into 12 mini-bundt forms (my pan makes 12 individuals).  They should be ~¾ of the way full. Alternately, you could use this batter to make cupcakes or even one small cake (~8"...and in this case, no pastry bag required, simply scoop/pour batter into prepared pan).  Slide into the preheated oven and bake for ~20 minutes, or until it passes the tooth pick test.  Cake will be golden and springy and pull away from edges.  Time may need to be adjusted if making one large cake...but it shouldn't take too much longer. 

Immediately (and carefully) turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

While the cakes are cooling, whisk together the ingredients for the icing.  If it seems stiffer than you like, add a bit more juice to adjust consistency.  Drizzle over slightly cooled cakes.

These are equally delicious without any icing, or try sifting some confectioners' sugar over the top or serving with some lightly sweetened whipped cream.

The grapefruit that I used to make these cakes was sweet.  Super sweet and juicy.  I do recommend tasting your grapefruit before using it to make these...if it's extremely sour, you may want to add more sugar.  As they are, the cakes are not overly sweet. 

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Dessert Wars: Vanilla Dreams
Iron Chef challenge: Baking Powder sponsored by Clabber Girl