Product Review: Wild Friends Nut Butter

Howdy Friends!

I hope everyone had a great weekend spending time with family and celebrating dads. One of the things my dad and I have in common is our love for the ABC show Shark Tank. It's a show about start-up entrepreneurs who pitch their products to successful businessmen and women (like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban) in the hopes of obtaining investments to advance their companies. Some of the products these people come up with are totally wacko (see the Arkeg); but others are truly genius, like Wild Friends Nut Butters.

Wild Friends was started by a pair of roommates at the University of Oregon who had a shortage of peanut butter, but a surplus of creativity and tenacity. The two girls started making their own peanut butter right out of their dorm room and the results were impressive. They took their idea for homemade, organic and additive-free spreads to the Shark Tank board room and earned a hefty investment for a large scale launch of their product. Now Wild Friends Nut Butters can be found in over 150 grocery stores and counting across the country; and after tasting it for myself, it's not hard to see why. 

I was elated to discover the line of Wild Friends spreads had come to my local grocery store; and even better: THEY WERE ON SALE. I opted to try the Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter, because who doesn't love chocolate and coconut together?! YUM! I couldn't wait to get home to sample this delicious concoction and...oh my...it sure is heavenly.

The peanut butter is sinfully thick and rich. Though smooth, this spread has little bits of ground peanut and coconut throughout giving it a nice, natural texture. It's the perfect consistency for both creamy and chunky lovers. The dark chocolate adds a delicious cocoa flavor without being over powering.

This peanut butter is like an Almond Joy and a Reese's cup got married and had a baby. HALLELUJAH THANK YA JESUS, what a match made in heaven. I have yet to put this on something I haven't liked: pretzels, breads, chips, crackers, cake, cookies, celery, apples, mmm. But wait, IT GETS EVEN BETTER. All of their products are made sans preservatives and additives. This particular variety is made with peanuts, chocolate, coconut, oil and sea salt. That's it. Not only is this peanut butter good, but it's good for you. I can't wait to try their other varieties.

Another great thing I love about Wild Friends is their blog, in which founders Erika and Keeley share their passion for food, recipes and life in general. It's a great read with some great tips.

I hope you get to try Wild Friends Nut Butters, too. Let me know what you think of their products and be sure to follow them on all the social networks!

Bon Appetit,

KK

Decadent Desserts: Meyer Lemon Tart

Good Evening Friends!!!

WHEW! Time flies when you're having fun. In the last couple of weeks, I finished my finals (I got two more As than expected! OH YEAH!), and started a new job as an SEO marketing intern at a Dallas online marketing firm called RankHammer. I have been busily copywriting, editing and blogging away for them; and unfortunately I have been ignoring my first loves: cooking and you lovely people! For that I am truly sorry. Let's not fight anymore. I love ya and I promise to keep the recipes comin'.

Anyways, now that we're friends again, I am SO excited to share my favorite favorite FAVORITE recipe I have ever made. I wanted to tell you all about it ages ago...but I lost it. Because I am unorganized that way. Now back to the point: PIE!

I developed this recipe while abroad in Paris, where I stayed with the lovliest little family in all the land. The mother, painter Anne Ramaré, and her husband, retired economics teacher Jean-Charles Guillien, were always making the most delectable of dishes: homemade butter cookies, roasted rabbit with potatoes and leeks, and of course all the crepes and quiche I could eat. These two are such creative, free-spirits and they encouraged me to express myself through the arts of food and music. They are truly remarkable people and I will always love them like family.

It was while I was staying in their home that I came up with this most sinfully delicious dessert: Meyer Lemon Tart. This little pie embodies just about everything you could want out of a dessert. It is sweet, yet tart; creamy, but with a crunchy crust; buttery and crumbly. It is just downright HEAVENLY (Thank ya, Jesus. Amen.). And it would be just cruel not to share it with you.

Meyer Lemon Tart

 

Ingredients:

20 tea biscuits/butter cookies (I used Leibniz Butter Biscuits)

5 tablespoons melted butter

2 cold eggs

2 cold egg yolks

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup fresh meyer lemon juice (a meyer lemon is a lemon and orange hybrid)

1/2 tablespoon of meyer lemon zest

6 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces

Instructions:

Crust: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While your oven is warming up, put your cookies into a large bowl and crush them until fine but still crumbly (I used a meat cleaver). Next add 4 and 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter to your crushed cookies. Mix until all cookie crumbs are evenly coated. Use the remaining 1/2 tbsp of melted butter to grease a 10 inch round glass baking dish. Dump the butter/cookie crumb mixture into the dish and begin to pat it out, forming an even layer across the bottom and around the sides. Once the dish is completely and evenly covered, place in the oven to bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool while cooking the filling.

Filling: Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar together in a small, metal, heat-safe bowl for 1 or 2 minutes, or until creamy. Fill a quart-size pot with 2 inches of water. Heat pot of water over high heat until boiling. Once boiling, place the bowl containing the egg mixture on top of the pan, creating a double boiler. Reduce heat slightly. Continue to whisk the egg mixture for 2 minutes (mixture will become frothy). Whisk in the meyer lemon juice in 3 parts. Continue whisking until mixture is thickened and a light yellow in color (8-10 minutes). Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and sprinkle the zest over the top. Place under the broiler for 30 seconds to 1 minute (just long enough for the top to get a little golden).

Serves 6-8. Best served cold or at room temperature.

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Voila. Magnifique. WOOHOO. Your taste buds are gonna be singing and your friends are gonna beg you for another slice. I made this pie for Memorial Day and, I kid you not, it was gone in about 5 minutes. Delish.

 

For comments, questions, ideas, critiques and concerns, give me a shout in the comments section below or at keencuisine@gmail.com

 

Bon Appetit,

 

KK



Decadent Desserts: Hot Fudge Cake

Happy Monday Friends!

I hope that you are all having a pleasant start to your week and that you are enjoying this fabulous weather!

I just love the start of Summer. Summer means no more classes, days spent on the lake, family trips to visit our relatives in Pennsylvania, and a new internship! I'd just like to take a moment to brag on myself; as a marketing student at Baylor University, I am very blessed to be working as an SEO Web Marketing Intern at a start-up company in Dallas called RankHammer.  If you don't know what SEO (search engine optimization) is, it's basically a fancy term meaning we help your company get more recognition on the internet. So if my posts start to get sparse this summer, I apologize!

But back to the goods. So as I mentioned before, my family takes a trip every summer to visit our relatives in Pennsylvania. In July we have a family reunion for which we all bring our favorite dishes to share. One of our favorite recipes to bring has become famous among our family: Hot Fudge Cake. It is made with super simple ingredients but tastes like a million bucks as it is super creamy, rich, and luscious. And because I love y'all, I'd like to share it with you! Yay!

Hot Fudge Cake

 

Ingredients:

2 small boxes vanilla instant pudding

3 cups of milk

1 tub of whipped topping

1 box of chocolate graham crackers

1 tub of chocolate frosting

 

Instructions:

This tastes best when made 24 hours ahead of time.

 

Mix the pudding and the milk until thickened (I used a hand mixer to speed up the process). Mix in the whipped topping. In a 13x9 inch pan layer the graham crackers with the pudding mixture, starting and ending with the graham cracker layers. Spread the frosting over the top layer of graham crackers. cover with foil and chill in the fridge over night. Serve cold.

 

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So thats all she wrote! I hope you guys love this as much as my family does. As always let me know if you liked it, hated it, or just have a general question/statement in the comments section below, or at keencuisine@gmail.com

 

Bon Appetit,

 

KK



Decadent Dessert: Albino Muffins

Happy Sunday Friends!

I'd like to share another one of my favorite recipes with you: albino muffins. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Why on earth would anyone name a recipe THAT?!" Well, it's pretty simple; because they're white!

These muffins are moist and sweet, but not dense like a traditional muffin. They are low in sugar and fat, so they satisfy your sweet tooth without sacrificing your skinny jeans. The batter is pretty standard so you can put literally anything in them: dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, candy, oats, granola, seeds etc. Plus they bake in 12 minutes so you don't have to slave away over a hot oven all afternoon (Huzzah! More time to watch Game of Thrones).

 

Here's the plan, man:

 

Albino Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

3 1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp real vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup of your favorite mix-in (I used equal parts white and dark chocolate chips)

Cooking spray and/or muffin pan liners

 

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Prepare your muffin pan by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray and/or filling it with muffin pan liners.

 

In a large bowl sift all dry ingredients together. In a separate smaller bowl, combine all wet ingredients and mix well. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and whisk until well-combined (it will be a little lumpy). Add your mix-ins and stir until well-distributed. Spoon the batter into your muffin pan (each one should be about 2/3 filled). Bake for 12 minutes.

 

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That's it y'all! Easy peasy. Now you have a simple and yummy dessert, snack or breakfast that everyone will enjoy!

 

As always, feel free to share your comments, concerns, questions, praises and pitfalls in the comments section below, or at keencuisine@gmail.com.

 

Bon Appetit,

 

KK