When I saw this recipe for chipotle cranberry sauce in Bon Appetit I was somewhat skeptical. But I made some adjustments to it, and made it and you know what?

It was good. Not just like..mmm..yeah..good...But more like...WHOA, now that’s GOOD!

This would be great warmed up over a brick of cream cheese and served with gingersnaps or Carrs Water Crackers. I am thinking it would make incredible phyllo appetizers as well. You get the tart-sweet tastes of the cranberry and cinnamon and then the smoky heat from the chipotle..and a little whisper of garlic at the end – like the smell of perfume in the house the morning after a party. Faint…but there.

If you love your traditional orange- cranberry sauce you may not like this as a substitute. To me it was more of an appetizer, something to be eaten with cheese, apples, and crackers. Give it a try, if you like southwestern flavor you are gonna love this.

Chipotle Cranberry Sauce

• 2 canned chipotles in adobo sauce, mashed
• 1 lb cranberries
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cumin

1. Combine chipotles, sugar, cider, garlic, and cranberries in a pan.
2. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar melts and cranberries pop. You may need to add a little more cider.
3. Add cinnamon and cumin and simmer about five minutes.
4. Let cool.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

images:marye audet

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Seriously, what is not to like about summer…well besides the 107 degree heat? Cooking out is the best! I must admit that Marc likes the gas grill and I miss the taste of good old fashioned charcoal in my burgers but still, there is just something about eating a hamburger that has been cooked out of doors that is amazing.

My dad used to brush hamburgers with a little honey. I can’t seem to replicate that flavor and he never told me how he did it, what he mixed, how much…sigh. It is a flavor that is lost to me forever, everywhere but my mind.

These hamburgers with coffee chipotle rub are a great substitute though!

This is super easy, and lends a smoky, complex flavor to meat. I used it on hamburgers and everyone loved them. It gave the burgers a nice crust and a fantastic flavor. You can adjust the amount of chipotle for the amount of heat that you want. Do remember that chipotle continues to get hotter the longer it sits. The rub needs to flavor the meat for about an hour before grilling, but if you wait much after that your burgers may be a little more spicy than you like.

This calls for turbinado sugar because it melts in heat and adds a nice texture to the exterior of the burger. You can use plain or brown sugar if you like. It will change the final product.

Remember that the different roasts of coffee will give you different results in the flavor of the meat.

Coffee Chipotle Rub

• 1/4 cup finely ground coffee
• 2  teaspoons ground chipotle pepper
• 1/4 cup smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tbs garlic powder

Mix together and rub on meat. Allow to stand an hour before grilling. You can store excess in a cool, dry place…not the fridge!

image:marye audet

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Did you see this month’s Bon Appetit? The entire thing is devoted to comfort foods. You have to admit, when you are cold and hungry, comfort foods seem to reach right in and fix you up.
And what is more comforting that soup? Nothing except maybe chocolate.

This soup is every bit as good as it looks.  Hubbard squash, granny smith apple, Texas sweet onions, and garlic cloves are roasted to bring out the flavors.  Once the soup is finished a swirl of chipotle and cinnamon puree is added.  The flavors are complex, bouncing between spicy, sweet, smoky and tart; all wrapped up in silky smooth texture.

You can certainly cut down the richness of this soup by using milk, skim milk, or chicken broth.  Just be sure to get enough liquid in it to keep it from being a puree exactly but not so much that it is thin.

I recommend the Texas Sweet Onions for thisl.  They have a milder flavor that becomes very complex during roasting.

My menu was:

• Roast Hubbard Squash and Apple Soup
• Artisan Raisin-Pecan  Bread with organic butter
• Salad of Baby Herbs with homemade balsamic vinaigrette
• Red Grapes

It went together well, and the flavors complimented each other.  The addition of bleu cheese to the salad would have been amazing, but my family does not like bleu cheese.

Roasted Hubbard Squash and Apple Soup with Cinnamon Chipotle Swirl

• 2 small hubbard squash, peeled and cut in 1 inch chunks
• 2 large Texas Sweet onions, peeled and cut in 1 inch chunks
• 2 Granny Smith apples (or other tart style apple), cut in chunks but not peeled
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• Olive oil
• 2 cup cream
• 3 cups half and half
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• salt to taste
• Agave to taste

1. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and toss lightly to coat.  Bake at 450 until cooked and slightly caramelized.  Stir often.
2. Puree with a little of the half and half in a blender until smooth.  Depending on the size and strength of your blender you may need to do it in batches.
3. Add the puree back into the pan and whisk in the heavy cream and the rest of the half and half.  Add butter.
4. Warm slowly. The soup should be thick and silky, about the texture of heavy cream.
5. Check the seasoning and add salt and Agave as needed.

Chipotle Cinnamon Swirl

• Take about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the soup and add 1/2 tsp. chipotle granules, or to taste.
• Stir in 1 tablespoon of Vietnamese Cinnamon.
• Stir in 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• Heat until the chipotle softens, but do not boil.  Taste and adjust seasoning.
• Puree until smooth.  Thin with some of the cream if necessary.

Ladle the hot soup into bowls and drizzle the chipotle cinnamon swirl over the top, use a knife to swirl it into the soup.  Drizzle a few drops of olive oil or cream randomly over the top and serve hot.

Serves 6

Images: c) marye audet 2009

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This is a moist, dense, chewy dark chocolate brownie with a smoky-spicy-sweet raspberry swirl.  I would say it is a great combination but it is more than that. It is just so good.

The chipotle makes these have a little “bite ya back” in the after taste and the smoke flavor adds an interesting layer of flavor.  It sort of deepens the chocolate and gives it an extra layer and depth of flavor.Fischer and Weiser Raspberry Chipotle Sauce is available at Tom Thumb/Safeway stores and I think my daughter says it is available at Wal-mart.  It is a little expensive (6.95) but the sauce is so good, and you use so little of it, that it is worth it.

Raspberry Chipotle Intense Chocolate Brownies

• 3/4 c unsalted butter-melted
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 c cocoa (the darkest you can find…do not substitute baking chocolate)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup Fischer and Wieser Raspberry Chipotle

1. Cream sugar, melted butter until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. beat well. add flavorings.
2. Quickly stir in dry ingredients.
3. Spread into a greased 9 inch pan.
4. Using the back of a small spoon, drag it through the top of the batter to make indentations.  Think of it as dry creekbeds.
5. Now fill the indentations with the raspberry chipotle and swirl lightly
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Leave slightly under done.

Image: Marye Audet

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I don’t cook pork nearly enough.  I just don’t think about it for some reason.  Dear God, I am in a foodie rut!

Anyway, I found a package of center cut loin chops on clearance (love those meat clearances!) for 50% off the lowest price…The lowest price was $10.00 and there was 10 of them in the pack. SO, in the cart they went, nestled against a couple of pounds of burger and a roast.

I always liked the combinations in food and recently the thought of chipotle and maple have been calling to me;sweet,smoky and hot.  Honestly I want to try that with duck, but I had pork so pork it was.

I liked the results.  The chops were tender and juicy, and the flavors arrived in layers.  First the sweet, then the smoky, then the hot.  I served them with homemade dinner rolls, creamed corn, and broccoli.  Sort of a nice, retro-suburban dinner with a twist.

These are really easy.  For the best flavor, go ahead and glaze the chops in the morning and stick them in the fridge until time to cook for dinner.  The flavors will blend and mature and really get into the meat.  On the maple syrup, grade b is darker and has, I think, the most flavor.  Different syrup will give different results and overall the organic syrups are more flavorful…I am not sure why.  Also, I get chopped up dried chipotles so when I say a tablespoon it is of the chopped, dried chipotle NOT the powder.  If you can only find powdered chipotles then use a teaspoon, maybe.

In the summer this would be amazing on the grill.

Maple Glazed Chipotle Pork

• Center cut pork loin chops
• French gray salt and cracked black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grade B organic maple syrup
• Dried chipotle, about a tablespoon, more if desired
• A few drops of liquid smoke
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1. Mix the salt, pepper, syrup, chipotle, liquid smoke, and vinegar and whisk together.
2. Put the pork in an oven proof baking pan.
3. Cover with the glaze. Reserve any remaining glaze.
4. Cover with plastic wrap  and refrigerate until dinner.
5. Brush on the remainder of the glaze.
6. Preheat oven to 400F
7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until pork registers 160 degrees.

image:maryeaudet

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In fact, between Dharm and Valli I am teased about it quite a lot. Well, I just wanted to share my newest chipotle acquisition…

Meet Chipotle.

Kyrie had been promised a kitten since her birthday in July but with the house so full I was hesitant to get one until my daughter’s family moved out. Yesterday we went tot he animal shelter. I had determined to get an adult cat as well as a kitten because they are harder to place and often put down.

It was great seeing the animal shelter. Marc and i had been on the board that was working to raise money to have it built way back in the 80s. It was a blessing to see it up and running well.

Kyrie immediately identified her kitten out of the 10 or so kittens there. A tortiseshell calico…black and gold…about three months old.

What are you naming your kitten, Kyrie?

Snowball.

The kitty is black and brown and gold! It doesn’t look like snow.

She doesn’t care.

So Snowball it is.

Chipotle caught my eye when I walked in. She sized me up, stood up, stretched and purred. I was hers. She is about 12 months old, and very laid back which is a really good thing in this house!

I have rehabbed a lot of animals but I have never seen a cat just fit in the way that Chipotle and Snowball have. The dog is ecstatic.

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Chocolate. I like chocolate. I like dark chocolate. I like milk chocolate. I like white chocolate. Chocolate covered cherries…chocolate covered strawberries..chocolate covered raisins…no chocolate covered grasshoppers though.

We host a home group meeting every Wednesday night for our church…Some of you may know them as small groups, or cell groups.  The thing is that if you have people from church coming over, with the possibility of the pastor dropping by, you want to have your house sparkling like..well, sparkling. You want the kids to be perfect, preferably with one of their GOOD school papers laying out in an obvious place so you can yell, ” Thoreau! Get this report on Nuclear Fusion and It’s Role in the Da Vinci Code off the coffee table right now!”…and you want a really awesome dessert. Seriously awesome. A dessert that causes the pastor to mention it in his sermon on Sunday. Thus, chocolate.

Not that I am the type of person to kiss up like that.

Anyway..this cake was good but I felt like it needed something to make it more intense so I changed the amounts of cocoa, added Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa rather than the normal (you can get it on Amazon if it isnt available locally..and it is worth it.) , added chocolate chips, and the praline chipotle glaze rather than plain chocolate.

and this is what was left after the meeting…..

Incredible Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chipotle Praline

10-12 servings

1 c hersheys special dark cocoa

2 c strong coffee

2 sticks of butter (unsalted)

1 1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

2 c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 c milk chocolate chips

1/3 c dark chocolate chips

1/3 c semi sweet chocolate chips

Grease bundt pan and dust with 2 tbs of cocoa. Preheat oven to 325F.

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt  and set aside.

Heat coffee to boiling and stir in butter and cocoa, whisking until smooth. Let cool a bit. Stir in vanilla

Mix sugars and eggs in mixer until fluffy, add coffee mixture alternating with flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into bundt pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until cake tests done. Let cool 10 minutes. Invert pan on cake plate and leave until cool. remove bundt pan. Spoon warm glaze over cake.

Glaze:

1/4 c unsalted butter, melted

1/4 c brown sugar

stir together in pan over medium heat until sugar is no longer grainy. Remove from heat and add:

2 tsp dried chipotle (chopped,not powdered)

1/4 c coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, almonds, hazlenuts, pistachios, or whatever.

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I have always loved good molasses cookies. The key word is, of course, good. They are hard to find. These are from epicurious with a few of my own tweaks…you will know them when you see them..

There is something about one of these with a cup of coffee that has me sitting in my aunt’s kitchen watching her get a meal for her farming family. Just about the time these would come out of the oven the milk truck would pull up to get the milk and the driver always had to get a couple of these *for the road*. That’s just how it was back then…These cookies are about red checked fabrics, and aprons, and wonderful smells.
You can sandwich these together with cream cheese in the middle..or ice cream..or pumpkin butter…or…
Cold milk or coffee are essential!

Molasses Crinkles
6 dozen

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger ( I use a full teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or 1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup grandmas molasses (NOT black strap or barbados!)
granulated sugar for sugaring tops of cookies

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt in a bowl until combined.

Beat together shortening, butter, and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with paddle attachment) or 6 minutes with a handheld. Add egg and molasses, beating until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in flour mixture until combined.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F.

Roll 1 heaping teaspoon of dough into a 1-inch ball with wet hands, then dip 1 end of ball in sanding sugar. Make more cookies in same manner, arranging them, sugared side up, 2 inches apart on 2 ungreased baking sheets.

Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until undersides are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes total, then cool on sheets 1 minute. Transfer to racks to cool completely.

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Was it worth it?

Yeah. Big time.

First of all I added 1 cup of white chocolate chips to the batter…see, not a big deal at all..but the batter tasted so good..so sweet and I wanted to balance that out..with something…

but what? Hmmm…..What did I have in the fridge? Blueberries!

But they are so sweet…I needed some elusive flavor..but what? Aha!

yes. Chipotle!

So I came up with the most incrredible sauce…to serve with this incredible cake.

Blueberry Chipotle Sauce

(to go with the blueberry bundt cake (with white chocolate)

2 c blueberries

1 c water

1 c sugar

2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1-3 teaspoons of dried chipotle

cook the blueberies in the water with sugar until they start to swell and pop. Stir often. Blend them quickly in a blender, just until sauce is formed, leave some texture. Taste for sweetness. If it is very sweet you may want to add a bit more balsamic that the 2 TBS I called for.

Add the vinegar and chipotle. Simmer until reduced by half. Taste and check for flavor balance.

Serve with the cake.

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  These brownies are getting closer to what I am looking for, altho I would like them to be a bit more moist and chewy. The flavor is right though…What happens is that there is some kind of magic that happens in the oven  between the cinnamon, the dark chocolate and the smokey chipotle and when they come out…yum.  I was sitting here trying to think how to describe it and I just can’t…very sophisticated and complex, not too sweet, the dark chocolate convinces your mouth that you have just bitten into a delicious, but predictible brownie and then the cinnamon sort of pulls you in to the chipotle and all of a sudden you are doing the macarena…

  Well not really..but you need to try these.

 The chocolate chipotle brownies have a spicy heat that can sneak up on you..make a plain batch for the kids…

2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate

6 tbs Hershey’s Special dark cocoa

1 c unsalted butter

2 c sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp mexican vanilla

1 c flour

1 tsp cinnamon

2-4 tbs finely chopped dried chipotle

1 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven:325

Grease 13×9 pan

microwave chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl until butter is melted..stir to mix and make smooth..add cocoa and mix until smooth

stir in sugar until well blended and not grainy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Spread in pan.

 Bake 30 -35 minutes or until set, toothpick inserted in center will come out with a few moist crumbs. 

let cool and cut into squares.   Makes 24

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