Bacon Pancakes

There is a restaurant near my house that serves the best pancakes. The restaurant closes everyday by 3, but is the perfect place to go after a night on the town. It holds the dubious honor of being one of my favorite places to go when I've gone to bed at a perfectly respectable hour on a Saturday night imbibed too much the night before. (Hi Mom!)

Harry Potter and the Butterbeer Cake

I have a confession to make. I love Harry Potter. It is quite possibly my favorite book series ever. The first two books were released in the US when I was but a wee little 6th grader. I have devoured every book since. The last of which may be sitting on my nightstand because it is being reread for the 9 billionth time. The Harry Potter franchise has made its author one of the wealthiest people in Britain, and the most highly paid author ever. If you haven't read the books and have only seen the movies, you are missing out. I know that "they aren't for everyone", but I just don't see how that could be, especially if you like food.

These books revolve around food. They talk about it all the time. All the food is tasty sounding British food, a fanciful sounding confection (licorice snap, chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans), and most importantly (now that I am past the legal drinking age) the tasty sounding alcohol Butterbeer (and Fire Whiskey). 

Today I bring you: Butterbeer Cake. This cake required a few revisions, because the only recipes I could find for Beer Cake called for either boxed cake mix or chocolate. And while I have absolutely nothing against chocolate, I didn't want it to get in the way of the other flavors I had in mind, namely beer, browned butter, and butterscotch. So I had to develop my own recipe from start to finish.

This cake is not very sweet. I wanted the nuttiness of both the beer and the browned butter to be able to shine through. The sweetness is found in the homemade butterscotch glaze. Since the first version of the cake was made, (which I brought to a party of all things) this has quickly become a very requested cake. (Which I'm fine with because its easy to make and delicious.)

This maybe the first time I use Harry Potter for inspiration, but it most definitely will not be the last.

Dossier for: Harry Potter and the ________ (I'm not picking a specific book)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Characters: Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger, Ron Weasley, Dumbledore, and Voldermort
Setting: Britain, mainly Hogwarts and London


Butterbeer Cake
There is not a lot of sugar in this cake, but as mentioned before that is because the glaze is sweet. Also, this is not the time to use the crappy, light beer you have sitting in your fridge leftover from a party. If the only thing you drink is light beer, go to the store and buy a single bottle of full calorie beer. Light beer is made by reducing the carbohydrate content of the beer. In beer, the carbohydrate is maltose, a type of sugar, which is needed to sweeten the cake.

•  2 sticks unsalted butter
•  2.5 cups all purpose flour
•  1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 cups beer (preferably Fat Tire or another amber ale)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt cake pan (or you can use cupcakes). In a small skillet, brown butter until dark and nutty smelling. (If you don't know how to brown butter, here are directions). In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, combine the beer, eggs, vanilla, and butter. Add the beer mixture to the flour and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Pour into the prepared bundt cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (check at 15 minutes for cupcakes). Allow the cake to cool then pour slightly, warm butterscotch sauce over the top of the cake. (I used all of the butterscotch)

Butterscotch
Recipe from smittenkitchen.com

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over moderate heat. Add the sugar, cream, and salt and whisk until well blended. Bring to a very gentle boil and cook for about five minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Taste the butterscotch and adjust the vanilla and salt to your liking. (I made mine a little on the saltier side and found it to be perfect with the cake.) Allow to cool until thickened but still pourable before putting on the cake.

Oh and this- I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to tell you that I'm an Amazon Affiliate. Normally not my kind of thing but I'm cooking from a book every week, some of which (next week's!) are obscure so it made sense.

The Obvious Choice- Green Eggs and Ham

Some days it can be hard to be inspired. Or motivated. From getting out of bed to oh my God putting on clothes, nothing seems seems like a good idea. Its those days where inspiration strikes and you feel like hitting yourself. "Why didn't I think of that sooner?". You might have the recent words of the lovely Jaden floating around your head: Do something unique. Something that makes you different.

That's when I decided I am going to post a recipe once a week (most likely on Friday) that has been inspired by a children's book. It might not be a picture book, but it will be a book found in the children's section (why? because I love kid's lit). Its fun and whimsical and full of good messages. How can I not want to reread it? And while I don't have any kids myself (gah I'm only 22), reading a book and cooking something based on it is something I used to do all the time when I babysat. It was always a big hit. I would love to promise that all of the food will be kid friendly, but at least one of the books I have in mind might not work that way (actually, I know it won't work that way... think of it as an opportunity to get them to try new foods).

Without further ado, this week's book.

Dossier:  
Book: Green Eggs and Ham

Author: Theodor Suess Geisel
Characters: Sam-I-Am and the person (thing?) who will not eat the Green Eggs and Ham (never named)
Setting: Here, there, anywhere

Recipe: Green Eggs and Ham 
              Serves 2
Prepared pesto can be used in place of the homemade pesto. This can very easily be multiplied to serve more people. Cooking the eggs over low heat may seem unusual but I love slowly cooked scrambled eggs. If you are serving it to kids and truly want green eggs, add a few drops of food coloring to the eggs. My mom did it when I was younger and it was the coolest thing ever (at the time).  I was out of food coloring and feeding adults so I left it out.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
•  1 clove garlic
• about 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup toasted pinenuts
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 4 oz ham, diced

Directions:
 In the work bowl of a food processor, combine basil, cheese, olive oil, garlic, and pinenuts. Blend until pesto forms. Taste and adjust seasoning/consistency as necessary.

Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet over low heat. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, ham, milk and 1 tablespoon pesto together. Pour into the pan and scramble until soft.

To serve
Place scrambled eggs on a plate and top with 1 tablespoon (or more) of the pesto.