Chocolate Chip Cookie Toast with Ricotta and Raspberries

I�m THIRTY! I know a lot of people have meltdowns or get freaked out by turning the big three-oh, but I�m stoked! 


See ya later, twenties, you were fun, scary, crazy, confusing, sad, difficult, wild, adventurous, heartbreaking, lovely, and amazing. You were full of hard work, travel, new friends, goodbyes, and figuring it out. In my twenties I graduated college, lived alone, got my first adult job, got laid off, started a food blog, worked my ass off and tried to climb the corporate ladder, realized that maybe I don�t love climbing the ladder, wrote a novel in one month, got engaged, got married (!), became an aunt, watched friends get married and move away and come back and begin to welcome new little lives into the world (two this past week!). In my twenties I traveled to Mexico, Amsterdam, Belgium, Honduras, Tahiti, and Panama. I honeymooned in Hawaii, cruised in Alaska, and ate all the things in New York City. I ran three half marathons, and fell in love with hiking, carnitas, whiskey, and hoppy beer. I got over my fear and hatred of eggs. 

In my twenties, I said goodbye to my dad. I experienced incredible grief and loss, and learned about strength. I learned (and am still learning) to look for the beauty in life... even when it seems impossible.

I�m pretty excited for 30! What will I learn and celebrate? What challenges will I have? Who will I meet and where will I travel? Starting this new trip around the sun fills me with a sense of wonder and possibility that I don�t feel with every birthday. Thirty! 

But enough about that� you�re here for the food! I figured the best way to kick off the next decade of my life is with something totally silly and fun, but also grown-up and confident about its place in the world. COOKIE TOAST! I was thinking about the toast craze, and about how its trendy but for good reason�because if something is tasty on its own, there�s a really good chance it will be even better on top of toast! 
But cookies are perfect the way they are, right? Yes, true. I had that same thought... but then I crumbled up a few CCCs (these ones), and put them right on top of a crispy, slightly charred slice of French bread, with creamy ricotta, tart raspberries, lemon olive oil, a drizzle of honey, crunchy cocoa nibs, and a sprinkle of sea salt. I didn�t regret it. It�s not really even a recipe, but that�s ok. I think in your thirties you get to loosen up... you don't have to try so hard all the time! 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Toast with Ricotta and Raspberries  

Toast doesn�t really need a recipe�this makes as many toasts as you want, with as much of each ingredient as you desire. These are lightly sweet from the honey and cookies, but if you want more of a dessert-type sweet, stir a little powdered sugar into the ricotta. 

French bread or baguette, sliced 
Olive oil for toasting 
Ricotta 
Chocolate chip cookies 
Raspberries 
Lemon infused olive oil (or olive oil and a spritz of lemon juice) 
Honey 
Cocoa Nibs 
Flaky sea salt 

I like to grill my toast�which maybe makes it grilled bread instead of toast? Brush olive oil on bread, and cook on a hot grill or grill pan until just crispy and lightly charred. Top toasts with a ricotta, and drizzle with lemon infused olive oil and honey. Top with crumbled cookie pieces and raspberries, and sprinkle on cocoa nibs and flaky sea salt.

Raspberry & Basil Bourbon Jam Sours

I have this summer fantasy. Not like, a Fabio fantasy�sillies. More like an idyllic summer in the South kind of fantasy. I'm sitting on a porch swing on a sunny, summer day. There are those big hanging trees around the porch�willows?�and probably bluegrass playing off somewhere in the distance, mingling with the sound of the breeze through the trees. I'm kicking back, without a care in the world. It's basically a never ending Sunday in August. Job? What job? Bills? What bills. Cocktail? Yes, definitely a cocktail. 

This fruity, jammy, lemony, herbaceous bourbon cocktail is exactly what I'd be drinking on that porch swing. Can someone just invite me to their porch swing already? 

Jam and booze is such an amazing, perfect combo. I don't know why I haven't been doing this forever. These drinks are sweet and fruity in a not-too-sweet, summery kinda way, with a bit of tang from the lemon juice, and a nice basil and bourbon finish. So good. So, so good. It's my�jam. Yep. Said it.

Until I find that porch swing and endless summer afternoon, my couch, episodes of Fargo, and this cocktail will have to do. 

Raspberry & Basil Bourbon Jam Sours

Makes 2

These look a bit dainty with their pretty pink hue, but trust me, they are strong cocktails, as bourbon drinks should be. Feel free to lighten it up with a splash of soda water. If your jam is pretty sweet, you may not need the honey. 

2 tablespoons raspberry jam/preserves of your choice*

1 teaspoon honey

1 sprig fresh basil (about 4-5 leaves)

Ice

2 ounces bourbon

Juice from 2 medium-large lemons

Combine raspberry jam/preserves in a small dish, and microwave about 15 seconds, just to loosen it enough to easily stir together. 

Add basil to a cocktail shaker, and muddle/mash. Add ice about 3/4 full, bourbon, lemon juice, and jam/honey mixture. Shake shake shake!

Pour over ice, garnish with a leaf of basil, enjoy!

*I used Trader Joe's Raspberry Fruit Spread. 

Baked Chocolate Cake Donuts with Raspberry Glaze

DONUTS! I wonder how many times I'll write donuts in this post? 

I finally broke down and bought a donut pan. Guys� that pan set me back about 8 buckaroos. Seriously, why did it take me so long? I highly recommend everyone gets a donut pan. SO worth the $8.  

My favorite donut shop ever, Top Pot Doughnuts, has a chocolate cake donut with raspberry glaze that makes me weak in the knees. That was what I wanted to make first, but Evan insisted I make plain ol' plain donuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon. So I did that, just to test 'er out. And when I discovered how freaking easy it is to make baked cake donuts with this pan, I went to the gym� because, donuts. And then, I made chocolate donuts with raspberry glaze. YES. 

I think my counts is at 10� or 11, if you count the 1 use of the alternate spelling "doughnuts." 

I love the chocolate and raspberry combo here. The glaze is sweet but also tangy and fruity, and pairs so well with the super rich chocolatey donut, which is tender and cakey. And also, the glaze is so pretty and pink! I should have made these for Valentine's day, huh?

Well� what are you waiting for? Go get yourself a donut pan! GO! 

Baked Chocolate Cake Donuts with Raspberry Glaze

Batter recipe slightly adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 10 donuts

Donuts

1 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup water

1 large egg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature (runny, but not hot)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze

1.5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup raspberries (about 8 berries, fresh or frozen, thawed)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Half a lemon

Preheat oven to 325, with rack in top 2/3 of the oven. Coat donut pan with cooking spray. 

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt and water, and stir in egg, butter, and vanilla, until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry, and gently fold with a spatula until combined (making sure to get all the dry ingredients mixed in). The batter will be a bit thick. 

Spoon batter into a ziplock baggie and cut the corner off one end, so you have a hole about the size of a nickel (or spoon into a pastry bag). I find this is the easiest way to fill the donut pan circles. Pipe a thick ring of batter into each donut circle. Bake for about 11-12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean, and when you gently touch the top of a donut, it springs back. 

Let donuts cool in pan for a minute or two, then gently turn out onto wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter, depending on how many holes your donut pan has. 

Let cool completely before glazing. 

To make glaze: Add powdered sugar to a bowl, and mash berries through a fine mesh strainer, straining juice into powdered sugar. Add vanilla and a small squeeze of the lemon. Stir until combined. If it's too thick, add more lemon juice. If too thin, add more powdered sugar. 

Gently dip donuts into glaze, being careful when you pull it out to not break donut. Let glaze cool until hard/dry, about 30 minutes to an hour.  

Raspberry Blueberry Muffins

Fall is just around the corner, and I love it and hate it. I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to long, sunny, cloudless summer days. To tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes are supposed to taste. To flip flops and tank tops. I actually love fall, a lot� but it's short, and just around the corner from fall, is winter and spring. Seattle winters and springs mean nothing but grey skies and rain.

I'm really excited for fall cooking�chili and pumpkin everything�but I don't want to wish away the sun too soon. Stop it with the candy corn, grocery stores, it's still summer! It's only August! I'm trying to soak up the last of this beautiful summer, and eat as much summer produce as I can. Tomatoes, berries, corn, zucchini, peaches�on everything, all the time. 

Use up your fresh summer raspberries and blueberries in these muffins (ps. they're so ripe and good right now!) but don't let fall or winter stop you�in a few months, you can still make them, but with frozen berries. This is the pretty much the basic muffin recipe from Fannie Farmer, which Mel made (with huckleberries) my entire life. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing, but I've seriously never had a muffin I like more than these, flavor and texture. They taste like my childhood. And like summer. And, they're super duper easy. 

PS. Cut open a hot muffin and slather on some butter� trust me, you won't regret it. There's no other way.

Raspberry Blueberry Muffins

Adapted slightly from Fannie Farmer

Makes 12

2 cups all purpose flour 

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 (overflowing) fresh raspberries

1/2 cup (overflowing) fresh blueberries

Course turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375, and grease 12 muffin tins. 

Reserve 1/4 cup of the flour, and toss with the berries. Whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add egg, milk, and butter. Stir until flour is damp and everything is just combined, but don't over mix. Lumps are ok! Gently stir in the flour coated berries. Fill muffin tins, sprinkle with course sugar, and bake for 20-25 minutes.