IPA Donuts with Coconut Butter

I’ve been itching to make donuts again since I made these.

I saw a recipe for Amber Ale Donuts on Craft Beer the other day and thought it sounded interesting… and brilliant.

I chose a bottle of Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA from the refrigerator. According to the Sam Adams website, the hops in this beer give it a “powerful citrus and earthy aroma”. Sounded good to me. The rest of the ingredients in the recipe are pretty much pantry staples so these didn’t take long at all to pop in the oven.

{IPA Donuts with Coconut Butter}

adapted from Chef Michelle’s Amber Ale Donuts

Ingredients:

• 1 C minus 2 T AP Flour (my substitution for cake flour which I didn’t have)
• 2 T Corn Starch
• 1/2 C Sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/4 t ground nutmeg
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 T melted butter, cooled
• 3 oz. Latitude 48 IPA
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 375. Melt butter and let cool. Sift all dry ingredients together into large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, beer, lemon juice and zest. Grease donut pan with butter or non-stick spray.

Pour liquid blend into dry mixture. Mix until just blended. Do not over mix or donuts will be tough. Fill each donut half full.

Bake in preheated oven for about 9 minutes. Donuts should not brown on top. Remove pan from oven and let cool.

Top with coconut butter when donuts are cool. Alternatively, you can roll donuts in powdered sugar while they are still warm.

*makes 6 large donuts

Two Blondes Walked Into a Bar…

Actually a brewery. Last weekend en route to visit family and friends in Maine, I picked up my buddette (budette?) Shari at South Station. We made it to about Portsmouth before we needed food (& drink) and the pup needed out of the car. We chose Portsmouth Brewery for lunch.

{My upper-level people-watching perch}

{x2 (one for me and one for Shari)… mmm, refreshing}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{deliciousness to share}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{for me}

{for my buddette (budette?)}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, we were pretty happy with our meal. While Shari took a phone call, I wandered into LeRoux Kitchen where I proceeded to drop dollar bills on more Olive Oil and Balsamic. Be on the lookout, I’m already in love with my purchases.

If you’re in the area, check out Portsmouth Brewery… and if you’ve been to Portsmouth and have any recommendations for great grub and libations, leave ‘em here!

>Cute Petite Calzones

>

I felt like a “comfort” meal tonight. Why? Because it was 50 degrees this morning when I went out the door. 50! Weren’t the temperatures just in the 90’s?

I made a pot of pumpkin spice coffee and drank it HOT. Mark it. It’s my first hot coffee since the spring.

So there I was, decided on “comfort” food, yet I had these heirloom tomatoes kicking around. Hmmm. And then I saw a recipe for calzones. With blue cheese. And spinach. Sounds good to me. But I made changes. I used tomatoes instead of onions and mushrooms. I didn’t have an onion and I forgot to add the mushrooms. But I did like the pre-made dough part. That part I kept.

This is one of those premade pizza dough rolls you find in the dairy case. Mine was a little mutant so I had to do minor surgery. A pizza cutter works wonders.

Cut it into quarters. Sprinkle on some chopped garlic. Again, laziness prevailed and I used the jarred stuff.

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet or use parchment paper as I did. Mostly because I was afraid of the disaster that might occur if I tried to move my calzones.

 

On top of the squares put tomatoes (I diced ‘em), spinach and blue cheese crumbles. Fold in corners so that they meet in the middle. Aren’t they adorable?

From here on out I will call them: cute petite calzones. Because that’s what they are.

Transfer them to your pan (if you didn’t assemble them on one) and pop in preheated oven for about 12 minutes.

Pour yourself a glass of beer. Oh wait, that’s what I did…

 

Narragansett Fest. In a fancy glass. It’s alright. Described as a beer to celebrate “Oktoberfest”, it has a slight sweetness.

And who doesn’t love a beer that comes in 16 ounce cans? Cans that are orange. It’s Thursday. I’m allowed.

You can’t even drink 16 ounces of beer in the 12 minutes it takes to cook cute petite calzones. It’s great.

 

 

After a very short 12 minutes, you have this beauty. I mean cutie. So tasty and light yet comforting at the same time. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes (if you like) and enjoy!

>Cory <3’s Topanga

>

That was a bumper sticker I saw this morning on the back of an old Toyota Camry. I wanted to snap a picture but driving in traffic and taking pictures don’t mix with me. I remember watching Boy Meets World on TGIF back in the day and then watching the reruns later on The Disney Channel. I had a crush on Eric and wished Mr. Feeney was my principal, sigh. Oh, and Topanga had great hair. At least I thought so since my hair has been forever stick straight…

Anyway, I am still carless and there is no word, yet, as to when I will be retrieving it from the dealership. I’m feeling a bit frustrated given the fact that this is my vacation and there are just some things I want to do that are not within walking distance. But my roommate let me borrow her car this morning to drive to the airport where my friend was arriving on the red-eye from San Francisco. We enjoyed a light breakfast and coffee in the North End before I dropped her off at South Station.

My current read, Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential… and my new coffee mug, straight from San Francisco!

I started the book last night and so far I’m enjoying his “no-frills” depiction of the restaurant industry.

Today is hot and humid and I have not a single complaint because the cool evening weather is making me think Fall and I’m not ready yet. However, I did enjoy my first Shipyard Pumpkinhead this weekend.

 

 

 

Hopefully this is the only taste of fall I have for awhile yet. I’ll take the beer as long as the beach weather sticks around!

Cross your fingers that I get a call about my car being ready soon! Until then, I’ll be reading my book.

>Oh so pretty…

>

     Last night we headed into the South End to take advantage of the $1 tapas at Estragon. I had learned of this amazing deal on another blogger’s site and then headed to Estragon’s web page to get the details. Along with the menu for the $1 tapas (offered Mon-Fri from 5:30-7, when seated at the bar), I saw that Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project was going to be there doing a complimentary tasting.

     I first learned of Pretty Things, based in Cambridge, MA, at the American Craft Beer Fest back in June at the Seaport World Trade Center Boston. I will admit, it was their pretty banner that enticed me to stand in the long line for my 2 oz sample. At the ACBF I sampled Jack D’or, their flagship beer which is a Belgian style brew.

     

      Last night, they were giving very generous pours and I had the opportunity to try their Baby Tree, a quadruple brewed with dried plums. It was very tasty.  They also had St. Botolph’s, a malty brown ale, to try… I heard it was quite good.

The masterminds behind Pretty Things, Dann and Martha, were hosting the tasting and were even pouring the beers themselves. It was quite evident that they take great pride in their product, as they took the time to greet each person in line and describe their beer as they poured.

All in all, a great event and I look forward to picking up some of their brews. I’ll post more about the delicious tapas we sampled at Estragon later…