It's never too late for Carrot Cake

This recipe has been in my family as long as I can remember.  Both of my grandmothers made a version of this cake, one had raisins, the other walnuts, but they were always three layers, with the thickest sweetest swaths of cream cheese frosting between the layers, and finished with generous layer of sweetened shredded coconut. My dad still makes his mother's version on a regular basis. My sister and I always fret about the calories, yet that's never stopped us from splitting a second piece.

My version of this cake isn't that much lighter, and I promise that it tastes just as decadent, but it's at least gluten free, and can be grain free if your prefer (see recipe notes). The fruit forward flavor of carrot and pineapple are the stars of this show, and I actually think the paleo flour holds a bit more moisture for a richer crumb.  I usually make this in a bundt pan, and drizzle it with a goat cheese/ nut milk/ sugar or honey drizzle.  However,  since it's Easter, I decided to go with the extra icing, and add unsweetened coconut flakes. It's only two layers, and the frosting is a half and half combination of goat cheese and a coconut oil based frosting.  It's not as rich as butter, but still adds the sweet tang that compliments the cake.

Happy Easter!

pancakes all day

Last night I ate pancakes for dinner. It was absolutely frigid out, and I was craving something comforting, sweet, and warm.... Mr. Butter was out for a business dinner, so I made pancakes.  I arranged my plate, laptop, tv remote, and phone on my crosslegged lap, and tucked in to a few episodes of The Crown.

 

This has become one of my favorite recipes for two reasons: one because it so simple, and two it's relatively healthy. These are paleo pancakes, and they only have 7 ingredients (4 of which are optional spices/flavoring/blueberries).  I'm almost not embarrassed to admit I have these pancakes at least once a week, usually for breakfast but sometimes for a snack w afternoon coffee, occasionally for dinner, and ALWAYS w a slug of good maple syrup.

A Dinner Party on New Year's Eve

As long as we have been together, Mr. Butter and I have enjoyed celebrating New Year's Eve by hosting a dinner party for different friends. We pour vintage champagne, open good wine, and I make everything with butter and cream. Since we're in the Midwest, we serve beef as the main course (as opposed to cod, or lobster), but I still insist on importing oysters from the New England Coast.
I love honoring the Twelve Days of Christmas (Christmas Day being the 1st), and of course New Year's Eve is always the Seventh Day - Seven Swans a Swimming.  One day I'll have real swans (not really), but for now these little place cards mark the day.

dinner table is set.

Last month our local wine shop, Top 10 Wines , had a fantastic champagne tasting to help us stock up for the holidays.  I'm looking forward to toasting in the New Year with a '95 Les Mesnil Grand Cru.

photo courtesy of @habituallychic

Like I said, we love oysters, and I can't think of a better New Year's Eve pairing than champagne and oysters.  One of our favorite places to order oysters is from Island Creek Oyster, in Duxbury, MA.  They also carry oysters from Welfleet, and a few other towns on the South Shore.  This year we'll serve 1/2 of them raw on the half shell, and the other half using a recipe for BBQ'd oysters with Bourbon Chipotle butter - from my favorite West Coast purveyor, Hog Island Oyster Co.

photo courtesy of Island Creek Oyster

photo courtesy of Hog Island Oyster Co.

BBQ Bourbon Chipotle Butter Oysters

For the main course I'm serving Chateaubriand with Mr Butter's famous Morel Sauce.  Missouri has so many options for good beef, and we've found the very best is Show Me Farms, right here in Columbia. They feed their cattle a proprietary blend of flax seed and other healthy ingredients, increasing the Omega-3 content by over 600%.  The beef is beyond tender and the flavor is out of this world. (This is not an ad, we are just HUGE fans)

http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/morel-sauce
this recipe is pretty close to Mr. Butter's, but he keeps a few secrets tucked up his sleeve.

Dessert is the same every year.  It's the most decadent flourless Chocolate-Orange cake with Bourbon, from April Bloomfield's, A Girl and her Pig.  It requires a few more steps than a basic flourless cake, but the results are worth it. Trust me when I say, it tastes even better on New Years Day, with coffee, or more champagne, as evidenced by my photo from 2013.  I've taken the liberty of sharing the recipe for the cake below - just in case you need one more thing to do before tonight's festivities.

New Years Day 2013

I've been cooking for two days, and still have a few more things to knock out before taking a quick yoga class, and then dressing for dinner.  Wishing the very best for all in the New Year, and  #keepeating