Homebrewing: Coconut & Pecan Spent Grain Cookies

Note: this post includes a lot of links to The Home Brewery Store, which is our local brew store--like, it's literally a block from our house.  But they also sell online through their website and Amazon.  We don't receive any compensation from them, we just really like all of their products, and think they are great people.  Their kits are all fantastic and will make you a great batch of beer.

The Hubs recently made the switch to all-grain brewing instead of extract brewing. If you're not a brewer, here's the nutshell version:

You need malt to make beer.  Malt is created by pulling the starch out of grains and converting it into fermentable sugar. In extract brewing, someone has already soaked the grains to make malt, and then condensed/dehyrated it into a bag, that you can just add to water with your other ingredients.  

This method is quicker (total brew time of about 2-3 hours with sanitization and cleanup), but more expensive--because you're paying for convenience.  For example, the last extract brew we did was a replica Schlafly Pale Ale, and all the ingredients cost us about $75, for 5 gallons (roughly 50 bottles of beer, or $1.50/each, just in ingredients).  Most home brew stores sell kits that include malt extract, and the kits range from $25-$50 for 5 gallons worth of beer.

In all-grain brewing, you buy grains (cheaper), grind/crack them, and then soak them yourself to make your own malt.  This is less expensive, but your total brew time (with sanitization and cleanup) goes up to about 5-7 hours.  Since switching to all-grain, our average cost per 5 gallon batch is closer to $20, and you have a lot more freedom in customizing how you want your beer to look/taste, vs. using a kit. 

And...it also means you now have about 10-12 pounds of "spent" (used) grains to get rid of, once you've gotten all the sugars you need from them.  And you're left with this:

Note: this is a mix of barley and corn, for a light lager.

Damp, high-fiber grains with most of their natural sugars removed--but most of the protein does NOT leach out of them in the cooking process, so they do still have some nutritional value.

What do you do with it?

Well, if you have chickens, or friends who have chickens, you can put the still-damp grains into gallon freezer bags, freeze them, and thaw as you need to use as chicken feed.  You do have to keep them cold or frozen otherwise they'll go rancid.  I've been giving most of our spent grains to my coworker and she says her chickens went NUTS for it.

Or, you can spread the grains on a cookie sheet and dry them in a low-temp oven (200F) for a few hours, then put them in a blender or food processor to make spent grain flour that can be used in all kinds of recipes.  This sounds like a great idea, but because it involves multiple steps, and I'm lazy, I've not done it.

OR...you can scour the interwebs for recipes that use fresh, still-damp spent grains, no extra processing needed.  And find one.  This one.

FYI, I love these cookies SO much.  They're soft and moist and a little cakey, but with lots of flavor and texture from the coconut and pecans.  And the spent grain makes them high in natural fiber and gives them a little extra protein. (Note: recipe below has been modified slightly from the original.)

INGREDIENTS:
- 5 Tbsp butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses or Steen's Cane Syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1.5 cups damp spent grain
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup coconut

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together the sugars and butter, then add the egg and vanilla.  Then add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the pecans and coconut last using a spatula.

Scoop onto a lined cookie sheet (I like these silicone cooking mats, but parchment paper works just as well) and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!  (These are great warm or room temp).  Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

A Super Nerdy Baby Shower!

My friend J is due to have a baby in November, so I hosted a baby shower for her at our house earlier this month.  J is a chemistry professor, and I'm a geologist, and we're both giant nerds, with a bunch of nerdy friends.  J is going to be having a beautiful baby girl, but since neither of us are girly-girls, I wanted to avoid the pink-plosion and keep things more fun and less gender-specific. And thus, the Super-Nerdy-Baby-Shower was born.

Mini Reese's "pies", Nerds in test tubes, "Sucrose" Candy, and a print of this book that doesn't exist but totally should, which went home with the mom-to-be.

I wanted to encompass a wide array of nerdy themes, because we are all-inclusive nerds.  It doesn't matter your particular brand of nerd--you are welcome here.  Star Wars, Trekkies, scientists, comic book hoarders, book lovers, and gamers unite!  ...but in a relatively laid-back, low-maintenance kind of way, because I'm still in the process of moving, and planning my own son's birthday party, on top of work and all that jazz.  Life is crazy, yo.  So let's have a fun gathering and play some fun games and eat some fun food that's got a nerdy spin to it.  

DECORATIONS:
I bought a large blank banner to create a high chair decoration for Lil' Man's birthday party, and saved the rest of it for this party.  After much ponderance of the periodic table of elements, I was able to spell a word that was *mostly* composed of periodic elements (alphabetic order cheat sheet if you need it).

New element #110: Gr ..."Growinapersonium"?

Then I borrowed a few labels from my office to give the house a touch of a "laboratory" feel.

In the event my boss reads this post--yes, I returned all of the labels unharmed for use on actual projects.

FOOD:
I probably had the most fun with this element.  There were so many great ideas out there, it was really hard to whittle things down. But ultimately, I went with a lot of pre-made foods, because I knew I was going to be limited on time.  Then I added fun nerdy themes to those food trays.

Cake truffles from AmyCakes in a nod to Star Trek.

Technically, it was a 5 Leia dip, but whatevs.  Also, pita chips for "KRUNCH!", DNA pasta helixes, and Element #111: Ch (cheese).

Lemon Oreo "Coins" and Super Star suckers.  Templates for the cubes here.

The "POP" station, and some "PUNCH" (ginger ale, orange juice, Orange Crush, and pomegranate juice). Free printables for comic book word bubbles here. 

Since J is of Jewish heritage, I also decided to make hamentashen cookies.  Not inherently "nerdy", but I thought it would be cool to throw some culture up in this party, too. I was a little nervous about making this recipe, since it's not my heritage, but the mom-to-be told me they turned out great, so apparently this Gentile can cook some decent cookies (with the help of a recipe provided by the mom-to-be).  (Note: recipe at the bottom of this post.)

GAMES:
I've been to a lot of baby showers in my day.  And I've played a lot of baby shower games.  Most of which were either: 
a) gross ("Guess This Melted Candy Bar in a Diaper" or "Taste this Baby Food", for example), 
b) involved way too much physical activity ("Chug this Beverage from a Baby Bottle", "Lick This Ice Cube & Yell 'My Water Broke'", "Toilet Paper Diaper Race", etc.), or 
c) were potentially insulting to the mom-to-be (i.e. the "Guess Mom's Waist Circumference" game, which seems totally inappropriate in ANY situation, let alone around an uncomfortable, hormonal woman).  

We'll have none of that, thank you very much. Rather, how about a skill that might actually *help* the mom-to-be, and that other moms at a baby shower might have some experience with?  Like...say...

THE PRICE IS RIGHT: BABY EDITION!

I'll say right now: I totally stole this idea of Pinterest.  But come on--Price Is Right has a good ol' nostalgic feel--who hasn't stayed home sick from school and yelled "ONE DOLLAR!!!" at their TV screen?  The mom-to-be and all the other attendees get to try to assign the prices to each baby-related item.  The guest who gets the most right wins a door prize, and the mom-to-be gets...A NEW CAR!!!  Okay, no.  But she does get to keep ALL of the items on the table.  So there's that!

And of course, because J is one of my friends from our old Wednesday night trivia team (TheBomb.com), a round of baby-related trivia seems appropriate.

I also appropriated baby photos from each of the guests who attended ahead of time, and put together a "guess who's who" game.

Here's a hint---this one is me.

If you're interested in throwing a similar party, I got all of my fonts from FontSpace.com (In Particular: Star Jedi, Montalban, Trek Arrowcaps, Chemistry, BPMolecules, and Super Plumber Brothers.)

Now...I promised you a recipe, didn't I?

Hamentashen Cookies 

(makes about 2 dozen)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup margarine (or light butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp orange juice (no pulp)

1.25 cups white flour

1.25 cups wheat pastry flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

jam for filling (I used raspberry jam since it was the mom-to-be's favorite, but you could do just about anything)

Directions:
Combine the butter and sugar, then add the egg & orange juice and mix well.  Mix in the baking powder & cinnamon.  Now start adding in the flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, alternating between the white and wheat. 

Refrigerate for about an hour, or up to overnight.  When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350F.  Then roll out on a well floured surface and cut into 3-4 inch circles (I used a small glass).  Place the circles on a greased or silpat-ted cookie sheet.  

Place a small dollop (about a teaspoon) of jam in the middle, and then fold into a triangle, using a "pinwheel" type pattern (think of folding a box so that the flaps keep the top shut rather than having to tape it), so that one end of the flap is on top of the previous, but the other end of the flap is tucked under the next flap.  Then pinch the corners a bit so there's a good seal.  This will help keep the cookies from opening up while baking so the filling doesn't leak out.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, so that the cookies are nice & golden, but before the filling bubbles out.

May the Fourth be with You: Wookiee Cookie Ice Cream Sammies!

Happy Star Wars Day!!!

Yes, yes, my favorite holiday.  Along with Pi Day and Christmas, of course.  And Thanksgiving.  Or, essentially any holiday that can be combined with food.  But yes, this day in particular appeals to my deep-seated inner geek.

Particularly now that I own an ice cream shoppe, because I can force my geekiness upon other people.

When we were still just thinking about the idea of purchasing the business, the idea for these sammies popped in my head.  I’m just glad that the craziness died down in time for me to find the time to make them.

Ingredients (makes about 20 cookies / 10 sandwiches):

1 cup almonds, toasted & chopped

3/4 cup light butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup flour (if you’re wanting to be gluten-friendly, grind oats in your blender or food processor and use that “oat flour” instead)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cups rolled oats

Chocolate chips

1 square of white baking chocolate

2.5 cups vanilla ice cream (cinnamon or coffee flavored would also be good)

 

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350, and toast the almond for about 10 minutes. Then chop in a food processor & set aside.

Combine the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla with your mixer.

Add in the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix for a few seconds, then slowly add the flour; mix until well combined & smooth.

Slowly mix in the oats and the almonds.

Lightly coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray or use parchment paper.  Portion dough into ~1/4 cup balls on the tray, and pat flat with wet hands (a small ice cream scoop works well to make sure your cookies are evenly sized).

On HALF of the cookies, add chocolate chips for the eyes and nose—press into the cookie slightly so they attach during baking. (The other side will be blank, since it’s the back of the “head”.)

Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are brown.  Then remove from the oven & let cool.

Once the cookies are cool, melt the white chocolate in your microwave (takes about 1:30 minutes), then transfer it into a small plastic baggie.  Snip the tip off of the baggie, and BAM—instant piping bag!

Pipe the mouths onto the Wookiee faces.

To assemble the sammies, scoop about 1/4 cup of ice cream onto the bottom cookie, and pat flat.  Then place the face cookie on top.  And there you have it---Wookiee Cookiee ice cream sandwiches!!!

Canadian Cinnamon “Cookies” with Fresh Berries & Cream

Hello again!  We’re back from the Great White North.  …and I managed to tow back a Great White Cold, that I’ve code named “Canadian Goose Flu”.  It’s totally a thing.  (Okay, it’s not a thing, but it sounds good, and I did SEE some geese while I was there, alright?)

So let’s work our way through the trip, shall we?  And where else to start but at the beginning?  As in…the day before we left.

A big part of traveling is, of course, the PACKING.  There’s an art to packing for a proper trip.  For our honeymoon, thanks to the tutelage of Rick Steves, we managed to take everything we would need for a 12 day trip in two carry-on suitcases.  But of course, that was September, and Europe.  Most of our clothes were pretty light and easily compactable. 

This trip, we have to deal with SKI GEAR.  Big fluffy stuff. And winter sweaters and socks and the like.

Thank heaven for Space Bags. (Note husband and suitcase included for scale.)

Before:

After:

Ta-daaaaa!!!

 

So then, once you’re packed, there’s the refrigerator that must be considered.  You’re leaving the country for 7 days—what needs to be devoured before you leave so you don’t come home to a stanky rancid mess?

The Usual Suspects:  yogurt, milk, 4 strips of bacon, half-loaf of bread, leftover peas, random produce, etc.

The night before our departure, we had managed to whittle our contents down to:

- a few remaining slices of potato bread

- 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

- 4 oz carton of fresh blackberries

 

And I was craving sweets….but lacking the energy to make anything too complicated.

So, this little gem was born of some Kitchen Improv.

Fleur-de-lis and Canadian maple leaves!  (Yes, I’ve been dying to test out my newest cookie cutters.)

Ingredients:

2 slices potato bread (you could probably use any type of bread, but the potato bread makes this really similar to a brioche or challah)

1 tbsp light butter

cinnamon sugar

fresh berries of your choosing

1/2 cup whipping cream + 1 tbsp powdered sugar + splash of vanilla extract (or 1.5 cups already whipped cream)

(NOTE: I use the whipped cream recipe from Kitchen Basics.  Super easy, especially if you have a stand mixer.  Just add the ingredients to the bowl & let it run with the whisk attachment!)

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 (or use a toaster oven).  Lightly butter both sides of each piece of bread, and then sprinkle liberally with the cinnamon sugar.  Toast for about 5-10 minutes, and then use a cookie cutter to cut out your preferred cookie shape. 

Don’t throw away the rest!!!  You tear that up, and place it in the bottom of a large bowl (or two small bowls, however you prefer, whether you want to share one dessert or make two separate ones).  Then dollop the whipped cream on top, cover with berries, sprinkle with some extra cinnamon for pizzazz, then add your fancy “cookies”. 

The “cookies” and the scraps at the bottom of the bowl are super crispy and buttery, almost like a toast-shortbread hybrid.  Comingle the vanilla-y cream, sweet fresh berries, and the crunchy bread, and it’ll satisfy any sweets craving in a heartbeat.

 

Come back tomorrow for some more Canadian goodness, eh? :D

Bacon & Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Okay.  My apologies.  I spent part of the week of my Meal-Tracking-Experiment talking up these delicious bacon cookies I’d made, but then launched into Ultimate Wedding Week before I could share the recipe with you!  I’m rectifying that right now.

The original recipe for this came from a Bon Appetit magazine that my mom gave me.  It originally specified bacon & raisin cookies, which would be a perfectly acceptable & fun breakfast cookie.  But no.  Momma wants Chocolate with her Bacon.  So we modified the recipe accordingly.

Ingredients (makes 18-20 cookies):

8 oz lean sliced bacon, diced

2 1/4 cups cake flour (I used 1/2 AP flour, and 1/2 wheat pastry flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) light butter, room temp

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup oats

2/3 cup chocolate chips

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375F. 

Sift together your dry ingredients, minus the oats.  I had some whole wheat pastry flour on hand, so I decided to use that for a lil’ added health benefit, and to add some “fluff” to these cookies.  Pastry flour is low in gluten, so it makes a nice fluffy batter—good for doughnuts, cookies, cupcakes….bad for bread.  Trust me.

Now add in your sugars, butter, vanilla, eggs, and oats, and beat until combined.  Then mix in your chocolate, and stick the bowl in the fridge, as the batter will be a bit sticky, and the cold will make it easier to mold cookies.

Now, you should make some bacon.  We have a microwave bacon rack that makes it nice & easy to cook the bacon, keep it up out of the grease, and then we can easily capture the grease for cooking later.

(My husband decided I should make an appearance on my blog.  Choppin’ bacon!  Which is sorta like Choppin’ Broccoli, but different.  You can see our microwave bacon tray in the background behind me.)

And for the ultimate in laziness, I chopped the bacon on the cookie sheet I’d be using to bake the cookies—no greasing of the cookie sheet needed! (In retrospect, I wouldn’t do that again.  That slight bit of bacon grease on the bottom of the cookies sorta overpowered the chocolate at times, and it made these cookies saltier than they should be.)

Mix the bacon in with the chilled dough, and chill for another 15 minutes.

Use a small ice cream scoop (2 oz) if you have it—if not, just use a couple cold tablespoons to form your dough.

Bake at 375F for approx 20 minutes.  If you have to use two cookie sheets, rotate the pans halfway through baking.

Then…proceed to NOM.

 NutriFacts:

Calories 90.9  

Total Fat 2.2 g   

Saturated Fat 0.9 g  

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g   

Monounsaturated Fat 0.6 g  

Cholesterol 13.8 mg  

Sodium 35.3 mg  

Potassium 60.7 mg  

Total Carbohydrate 21.2 g   

Dietary Fiber 1.8 g   

Sugars 11.4 g  

Protein 2.3 g