Cocoa Brownies with Maker's Mark and Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
Bourbon whiskey and Himalayan pink sea salt add intense richness to a simple brownie recipe.
Adding bourbon to chocolate creates one of my very favorite flavor profiles. I combine my whiskey with chocolate quite often in the kitchen, as you can tell from my recipes for bourbon balls, double chocolate cookies, and chocolate chip brownies. I find that the addition of bourbon to chocolate recipes works best one of two ways -- either go for a slightly bitter, high rye mash bill like Old Forester, or a sweeter, wheated bourbon like Maker's Mark.
I wanted to create a brownie recipe that relies on the contrast between the rich sweetness and an intense salty note. I took Alton Brown's basic recipe for cocoa powder brownies and added Maker's Mark for a touch of sweetness and a dusting of Himalayan pink sea salt for contrast. The result was pretty delicious.
Cocoa Brownies with Maker's Mark and Himalayan Pink Sea Salt, adapted from Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies Recipe.
Ingredients:
- Soft butter, for greasing the pan
- Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar, sifted
- 1 cup brown sugar, sifted
- 8 ounces melted butter
- 1 1/4 cups cocoa, sifted
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons Maker's Mark
- 1/2 cup flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Himalayan pink sea salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. Add a light sprinkling of coarsely cracked Himalayan pink sea salt and remove to a rack to cool.
The Beaumont Inn's Famous Corn Pudding
Photo Credit: The Beaumont Inn
Everyone has “their” holiday and mine is Thanksgiving. Each year, I spend weeks planning the perfect menu. I evaluate what worked last year and what recipes I should change/remove from the grand feast (homemade cranberry sauce… I’m looking at you) but the one dish that always has a spot on my menu is The Beaumont Inn’s Famous Corn Pudding. It is divine! The storied Inn has been whipping up this elegant dish for years and it is one of their most often requested recipes by their guests.
If that doesn’t convince you that this delicious dish should be on your Thanksgiving table…it also freezes beautifully and you probably have these ingredients in your arsenal already! Please consider making this immediately, if not sooner!
Beaumont Inn's Famous Corn Pudding
2 cups white whole kernel corn, or fresh corn cut off the cob
4 eggs
8 level tablespoons flour
1 quart milk
4 rounded teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
Stir into the corn, the flour, salt, sugar, and butter. Beat the eggs well; put them into the milk, then stir into the corn and put into a pan or Pyrex dish. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.
Stir vigorously with long prong fork three times, approximately 10 minutes apart while baking, disturbing the top as little as possible.
Our Friend Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence is the Kentucky girl's dream BFF. As fans, do we owe her a measure of privacy?
Here in Louisville, we all feel like we know Jennifer Lawrence.
Sure, she’s a Hollywood It Girl and an Oscar-winning actress who moved to New York to pursue her craft when she was just 14. But we all know she’s still just a Louisville girl. Her parents and her brothers still live here. Now and again, you hear people work in references to where her various family members work, or who we might all have in common. It's all in good fun; we all know that she hasn't forgotten The 'Ville, which is evident in the way she visits Kosair Children's Hospital when she's in town and in the way she never fails to rep the Cards.
Besides, Louisville is, at heart, a small town of 750,000 or so people. We talk about Jennifer Lawrence like we know her because, here in Louisville, we talk about everybody that way. There's the "everybody in St. Matthews knows each other" game. There's the "where did you go to high school?" game. There's the "folks who are always at charity events/ new restaurants/ sporting events" game. It's a logical extension that if you went to Kammerer Middle School or Camp Hi Ho then you're practically best friends with Jennifer Lawrence.
Enid Alvarez / Via nydailynews.com
Seventeen Magazine
A lot of Americans feel like they know Jennifer Lawrence, too. Part of her superstar charm is her ability to be disarmingly candid and down-to-earth in interviews. Her TV talk show antics like asking David Letterman for a blanket or joking with Seth Meyers about her childhood Harry Potter obsession present her as goofy, endearing, and relatable. She is, as professor and pop culture expert (Why didn't anybody tell me that was an option when it was time to apply to grad school?) Anne Helen Peterson posited in a brilliant essay earlier this year, the latest heiress to the Cool Girl Throne. She could be your best friend, your kid sister, your niece, or, quite literally, the girl next door.
November 2014 Vanity Fair Magazine
I've thought a lot about Jennifer Lawrence and the nature of fame and fandom in the past few weeks. Earlier this year, some nude photos of Ms. Lawrence emerged on the internet, the result of a hacker accessing her private cell phone photos. In an insightful Vanity Fair Article, she stated that, although a public apology was the first line of PR/ damage control self-defense for the incident, "every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry. I started to write an apology, but I don't have anything to say I'm sorry for." It was exactly the way we'd all hope to react to such a crushingly invasive act.
If Jennifer Lawrence is, in our collective minds, our best friend, or our kid sister, then it naturally follows that we shouldn't seek out those leaked naked photos. Would we do that with a real-life friend? I mean, we've all gone down the rabbit hole of googling old classmates or boyfriends. But, you know, there's a huge difference between publicly posted Instagram or Facebook photos and photos hacked from someone's cell phone. The former are posted online with the subject's knowledge that they could be viewed by anyone; the latter are stolen property. Ms. Lawrence wasn't trying to "Break the Internet", Kim Kardashian-style, with risqué publicity photos. Rather, she had snapped intimate photos for her then-partner, which were then stolen and publicly displayed. It was, as Ms. Lawrence characterized the situation, a sex crime.
Last weekend, Ms. Lawrence conducted an AP interview in conjunction with the release of the latest film in the Hunger Games franchise. When the conversation turned to paparazzi intrusions, she gave a vivid personal account of the stress and anxiety that stems from a constant stream of unwanted photographers documenting her private life. As she proclaimed that she hopes to work toward legislation that stops paparazzi --"And my belief, and it's something I am going to work very hard on changing and I hope it changes before I die, is to make it illegal to buy, post or shop a photo that's been obtained illegally." -- she sounded like that recent law school grad we all know, the one who's on fire for justice and reform. Her tone was hopeful, indignant, and all of the other attributes you'd expect from a bright and articulate 24 year-old.
Even if we take the construct of "friendship" away from being a Jennifer Lawrence fan, do we owe her a certain degree of respect? In saying, "I think that Jennifer Lawrence is a gorgeous actress whose talent was undeniable when she redeemed trite films like Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle", are we required to then say "I refuse to read articles that post candid paparazzi photos of this actress I admire?" If we, as pop culture junkies, loved the way Ms. Lawrence turned a skeevy Jack Nicholson Oscars moment into a charming old-school Hollywood flirtation, are we supposed to boycott TMZ or Perez Hilton (among the most notorious purveyors of paparazzi photos) in lieu of authorized interview outlets, even if it means that we can no longer fully and properly Keep Up with the Kardashians?
The truth is, if TMZ and Perez Hilton went out of business tomorrow, ten more aggressive gossip sites would pop up to replace them by the end of the week. Ms Lawrence's skill-set lies not only in her tremendous acting talent, but also in her beauty and public persona. The Safe Harbor clause of the DMCA exists for a very important reason, and the balance between free speech and public figures' right to privacy has been precarious for decades. The celebrity information industry is, indeed, out of control and there aren't any easy answers to how it can be reigned in. When Ms. Lawrence notes that she's simply trying to live her life free of the insane intrusions that her fame creates, she creates a starting point for an interesting and much-needed conversation. And isn't that one of your best friend's duties?
No Knead Bread
Homemade bread is easy with this no-knead recipe!
I am not a bread baker. I'm assuming that you aren't either. In the spirit of National Homemade Bread Day, I've made a bread recipe that ANYONE can make. I promise! As long as you can read a recipe, measure ingredients, and mix it together, you will make bread!
My family has a long history in bread-making. Growing up, my family made their own bread in our bread machine. I love the smell of baking bread! When it was done, we would cut the top of the bread off, slather it in butter, and eat it in pure happiness!!!
Fresh homemade bread
Bread dough right after it's been mixed together
Dough after it has risen
Getting ready to bake
No-Knead Bread
Makes 1 medium loaf
3 cups bread flour (can substitute up to 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
1 5/8 cups warm water
1 envelope of active dry yeast
- Place yeast in warm (NOT hot!) water; this is called blooming the yeast. Since the yeast is in a dry form, it works best to rehydrate it before using it. Just let it sit for 3-5 minutes or until the yeast looks like super soggy cereal.
- Add yeast and water to flour.
- Mix to create a sticky dough.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap (or lid) and let sit for at least 12 hours, preferably 18 hours, at a warm room temperature. Dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles.
- Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
- Heavily flour the work surface with flour; form dough into a ball shape.
- Heavily flour the top of the dough and cover with a cotton towel. Let it rise for two hours or until double in size.
- About 30 minutes before the dough is done doubling, preheat an oven to 450. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats.
- When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under the dough, and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but don't worry.
- Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
- Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.
- Cool on a rack.
How easy is that? Mix it up; leave it. Play with it a bit; leave it. Bake it; DONE! Fresh, homemade bread with no stress or worries!
For more easy recipes, head to a girl eats world!
The HerLouisville Guide to Fast and Fun Holiday Shopping
I have decided that this is the year that my holidays will be stress-free. This morning, I awoke to over two inches of snow on my deck and decided that, if it's going to look like this, I'm going to decorate for Christmas a little at a time. On my schedule and at my leisure. Yes, it's the first time I've ever broken the "Wait Until After Thanksgiving" Christmas decor, rule, but I want to enjoy the season.
My yard on November 17th!
I also want to enjoy the season by making my holiday shopping a fun event rather than a stressful chore. Over on HerLouisville today, I'm sharing my plan for fast and fun shopping.
What is your plan for tackling the holiday season this year?
The HerKentucky Guide to the Best New Kentucky Wildcats Swag
Get. Excited. Y'all.
Tonight is the first game of the Kentucky Wildcats' Basketball Season, and there's literally nothing I'd rather do than watch my 'Cats take on the Grand Canyon Antelopes tonight. It looks like it's going to be a seriously amazing season for basketball fans, and game time can't get here soon enough for me!
I'm sure y'all are like me -- you have plenty of team gear at home, but you're always on the lookout for something cute and new. I mean, you aren't really a Wildcats fan unless your weekly laundry includes one load of nothing but Kentucky blue, right?
Right. And, everybody knows there are three ways to watch the game: At home, at Rupp, or with friends. Here are some of my favorite items for repping the 'Cats in any setting.
At the Game
Of course, the best way to watch is at Rupp Arena. There are so many fun ways to wear team colors to the game -- from traditional sweatshirts to office attire for your beau. I'm just in love with those blue Hunter wellies; what a fun way to brave the elements!
At home
If you can't watch the game in person, it's always fun to watch from the couch. There's plenty of bourbon or hot chocolate, and you can wear your pajamas. And scream as loudly as you like. I NEED those fuzzy socks ASAP.
Out with friends
Stay warm and look pulled-together with on-trend boyfriend jeans and booties topped off with a signature blue coat. A fun UK logo accessory ties it all together.
Where do y'all watch the games?