Every time I go into Savory Spice Shop in Boulder I seem to walk out with a new project.  Last December my project was homemade vanilla extract.  It’s been ready for a few weeks now and I’ve been using my own version rather than store-bought stuff in baked goods.  It’s super easy to make at home.  Here’s how I did it-

I started with a 3 oz package of Madagascar “Bourbon” Vanilla Beans (Did someone say Bourbon? You’re speaking my language!).  Slice the pods, scrape out the insides, chop up the pods into inch-long pieces, and add it all to a cup or so of vodka.

Let it sit a couple months, shaking it every few days for the first few weeks.

I took a few different shots of my mason jar.

Here’s a glimpse of the vanilla extract against light so you can see there are still vanilla beans in my jar. Leave all of that in there.

Use it as you would traditional store-bought vanilla extract, and since the vanilla beans stay in the vodka mixture, replenish what you used with fresh vodka to get more bang for your vanilla buck.

If you have a cabinet full of Savory Spice Shop products like I do, you know that making unique spice rubs is fun and easy.  For 1.5 pounds of chicken breast I blended:

1/2 TB Granulated Onion

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 TB honey Powder

1/2 TB Aleppo Pepper

a pinch of Fennel Pollen

a pinch of Mexican Oregano

1 tsp Spanish Sweet Paprika

1 TB Peanut Oil

Mix well, coat the chicken, and let it marinate a little while before grilling. Drizzle with a little lime juice before serving. Delicious!

I used to make Moosewood’s Vegan Chocolate Cake quite often before I started my food blog.  It was an easy dessert and I did enjoy eating it.  Then, something changed in me.  I got totally turned off by vegan desserts because so many just substitute some oil (often canola, which I refuse to use) for butter and eggs, and that’s just not the kind of baking I wanted to do.  But, recently I was being hounded for dessert and Chocolove bars were apparently NOT going to do it for the man of the house.  After a hard day of skiing, there was no way in hell I was going to bake dessert (especially since I went all out and made pasta from scratch for dinner that night).  Once again, Savory Spice Shop came to the rescue!  I have their Mayan Cocoa, which is spiced with chili peppers, cinnamon, and vanilla powder.  This was destined to be the best vegan chocolate cake ever.

Moosewood’s recipe is quite simple and takes approximately 5 minutes to prepare.  Here’s my twist on their cake:

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

Cool completely. I made maple whipped cream just to be sure my man’s sweet tooth was satisfied.  It was.  I also sprinkled my cake with Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar from Savory Spice Shop.  This can definitely be a crowd pleaser, especially with the complex flavors of Mayan Cocoa.

So, have I gone back to making vegan desserts?  Not necessarily, but I’m going to keep this one in my arsenal for when I have nothing planned, no time, but a major craving for good chocolate cake. I just need to be sure to never run out of Mayan Cocoa.

This might be my new favorite dessert, and with a Vita-Mix, it takes seconds to make… and even less time to scarf down and enjoy!  

I didn’t have a plan for dessert, but had 1 cup cooked brown basmati rice left over from dinner, some homemade peanut butter from dry roasted Valencia peanuts, and Mayan Cocoa powder from Savory Spice Shop.  Turns out those ingredients blend into a fantastic vegan pudding.

Here’s what I did-

I made 1 cup of rice milk with the leftover rice (which was cooked in water with no added herbs, etc.).  Then, into the Vita-Mix went 1 cup homemade peanut butter, 2 very ripe bananas, 1/2 cup Mayan Cocoa, and 1/4 cup maple syrup.

Blend this on high for just a few seconds, pour into smaller dishes, and chill to allow it to set a little like a pudding.  I sprinkled some Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar on top (which, of course, you’ll find at Savory Spice Shop), and added a few pretzels for crunch.  Otherwise, it would be gluten-free.  I ate so much of this…

The chile peppers, cinnamon, and vanilla in the Mayan Cocoa go really well with peanuts, and the vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, mace, and cardamom in the Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar pulled the whole thing together.  Looks like I’ll have to keep Mayan Cocoa on stock from now on.