I've spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen this summer whipping up delicious things--the relentless heat makes turning the oven on a bit painful, but I'll gladly suffer through the heat if it means I get treats in the end.
When I discovered a jug of buttermilk in my parent's refrigerator that was on the verge of expiration I decided to whip up love + cupcake's recipe for roasted strawberry buttermilk muffins.
The recipe calls for roasting strawberries with olive oil and maple syrup and then letting them hang out with balsamic vinegar--the end result makes you wonder why you ever doubted that strawberries could have such a blissful relationship with savory ingredients. I did struggle a bit with the batter--it wasn't quite a muffin but it wasn't sweet enough to be a cupcake. I think that could easily be fixed by adding more strawberries throughout the batter instead of just on top--these strawberries just beg to be the center of attention, and I think its a worthy call to heed.
My other recent project was inspired by CCK's homemade fudge babies, which are essentially miniature LaraBars. You just zap all of the ingredients in the food processor and then make little balls or bars out of them--the flavor possibilities are endless and they are an amazingly versatile snack.
I went off of Katie's basic recipe but had to improvise slightly. My babies included:
2/3 cup of cashews
1 1/3 cup of pitted dates
3 teaspoons shredded and unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 packet dutch hot cocoa mix
This made about 15 little fudge babies, and I have been snacking on them before the gym and crumbling them into my oatmeal for breakfast. They're sweet and dense and taste far more sinful than the ingredient list suggests. CCK never disappoints, and I'm already dreaming up other fudge baby creations--I think some carrot cake inspired ones might be next on my list!