Twisted Tasting Recipe: Caramel Sauce

Today is Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing’s Twisted Tasting, and event that hosts forty breweries, food artisans, and chefs showcasing their most unique, experimental and unusual beers and bites.  For this year’s Twisted Tasting we decided to focus on the new component of Serendipity… our caramels!  Our twisted concoction this year is chocolate, stout, and sauerkraut cupcakes topped with Serendipity caramel buttercream frosting.

Of course, they’re wonderful straight from the wrapper but they can also be made into many other things.  To make the caramel buttercream I melted our Honey & Sea Salt caramels with a touch of cream to make a simple, tasty, and corn syrup free caramel sauce which was then mixed into our Swiss meringue buttercream.

Serendipity Honey & Sea Salt Caramel Sauce

4 Serendipity Honey & Sea Salt Caramels
2 Tablespoons Cream

Combine caramels and cream in microwave safe container and heat in 15 second increments.  Stir caramel and cream after each increment until melted and completely combined. Once melted and combined use it as you would any other caramel sauce; with apples, over ice cream, in coffee.

Need more?  Recipe can easily be doubled!

Upcoming Class: Lemons!

Our February calendar is filling up! Join us on Feb 23rd at 2:00 for our lemon class at DIG Gardens in Santa Cruz. We’ll be making limoncello and salt cured lemons. It’s going to be a really fun class and especially great for anyone who has an abundance of lemons in their yard!

Sign up in person at DIG or on their websitehttp://diggardensnursery.com/events

Summer Dry Farmed Tomato Ketchup

Summer is quickly coming to an end but in Santa Cruz it’s the time of year when the dry farmed tomatoes are at their best.  It was this time last year that I my good friend shared a recipe for Pasta Pomodoro with dry farmed tomatoes.  This year we’re going back to canning, and canning a pantry staple… Ketchup.

I didn’t even know that I liked ketchup until a week ago when I had the privilege of judging the condiments competition for the Eat Real Festival in Oakland*.  I tasted the most amazing ketchup and decided that I needed to give this condiment a try.  I’m so glad I did!  You’ll want to make enough of this to last you for the year because you won’t be able to go back to store bought ketchup after you make your own.

*The Eat Real Festival is coming up on September 21st-23rd at Jack London Square in Oakland.  It’s a weekend of great food and fun!

This recipe yields 3 half pints plus a little extra for the fridge.

Preserved Lemons are ready!

Preserved lemons have returned!!  They’ve been sitting and curing since early April but now they are finally ready!

We love using these little gems with chicken, lamb, veggies, and in soup.  Need a recipe idea?  Try our recipe for Preserved Lemons and Lamb!

You can find this amazing jar of lemons at the Serendipity Marketplace.

Until next time,

Kristen

Raspberry Rhubarb Crisp

It’s rhubarb season on the central coast! This is time of year that has me giddy with excitement and anticipation for the variety of fruit that will soon be flooding our kitchen.

However, this is also the time of year that brings back fond memories of my grandfather. He loved rhubarb had a special place in his garden for the rhubarb patch.

Filling
2 ½ pounds rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 pint of raspberries
3 eggs
Pinch of salt
2 cup brown sugar
1 jar of Serendipity Low Sugar Red Raspberry Jam

Crumb Topping
¼ oats
¼ brown sugar
⅔ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cinnamon
2 tbsp melted butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°. Place rhubarb and raspberries into an 8×13 inch baking dish. In a medium mixing bowl, thoroughly beat eggs, sugar, salt, and raspberry jam.  Pour evenly over the fruit.

In a small mixing bowl mix to combine flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, and baking powder. Stir in melted butter with a fork and mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over the baking dish.

Bake on the middle rack for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool before serving.