honey

Bee Delightful: CBD-Infused Dinner Pop-Up

August 8, 2017 by Alyssa

The Bee Delightful dinner pop-up featured a CBD-infused menu and highlighted the benefits of CBD-lifestyle products while benefiting local Austin bees.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Bee Delightful Dinner pop-up as a guest of Chef Preston Day who is also the Chief Operating Officer at Bee Delightful. Bee Delightful is an Austin based honey producer that makes a CBD-infused honey called Rescue Blend™ of Canna Bees™. The dinner featured a CBD-infused menu, which highlighted the benefits of CBD-lifestyle products with all ticket proceeds benefitting local Austin bees.

If you aren’t familiar with CBD, it’s a cannabinoid derived from Cannabis plants like marijuana and hemp, with CBD oil from hemp being 100% legal in Texas. Although similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana, CBD does not produce a ‘high’ but does emphasize relaxation without any form of bodily impairment. CBD is touted to offer many benefits —

serving as an antidepressants
reducing anxiety
acting as an anti-inflammatory
aiding in relaxation
reducing chronic pain

Bee Delightful is an inspiring company that rescues honeybee hives at-risk of extermination and safely transplants them to their sanctuary in Liberty Hill. Bee Delightful then uses treatment-free, organic farming to harvest the rescued honey to make their hemp-infused honey, Rescue Blend™ of Canna Bees™.

As the sponsor of the event, many of the menu items featured Canna Bees™ honey which you can purchase locally at Thom’s Market or LazyDaze in Austin. While at the event, I had the opportunity to try the differentCanna Bees™ honey varietals with the rich Wildflower Honey being my favorite! It’s so good and I’m tempted to use it in my own recipe for Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies!

Without truly knowing what to expect from the CBD-infused menu by Chef Tiffani Janelle and Chef Preston Day, each bite I had Saturday night far from exceeded any expectations I could have imagined. The menu was fresh, innovative, and delicious. The venue itself was gorgeous — set to the backdrop of East Austin while incorporating local art, beautiful table settings, and a welcoming, warm environment. Below is a glimpse of my evening and a sampling of the event’s menu:

Table Settings with the evening’s menu

Chef Preston Day & Chef Tiffani Janelle

Infused Popsicles, a wood-burned, and CBD-infused snacks

Sticky Salmon Ribs & Bang Bang Prawns

Deviled Eggs Two Ways, one with Korean Short Rib

Korean Fried Chicken with Texas potato salad & kimchi, Cocktail infused popsicles

My night with Bee Delightful was one of my favorite events so far this year and something I can only hope to partake in again in the future. Thank you to Bee Delightful and Preston Day for the opportunity to learn, eat, relax, and save the bees.

Greek Yogurt, Canna Bees Honey & Raspberry Popsicle

I received an invitation to the Bee Delightful dinner in exchange for a post.
All opinions and photos are my own.

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies

June 27, 2016 by Alyssa

There’s something about lavender that makes me feel fancy and elegant. Whether it’s a lavender lotion, a burning candle or even lavender-scented cleaning products, lavender is just a mood-inducing scent that makes life feel a bit more luxurious. My love for lavender inspired me to create these Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies – a fancy, elegant cookie with a bit of class!

These Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies definitely evoke a sense of elegance when you eat them. And, just like lavender’s soothing effects, these cookies definitely put you in a rest and relaxation mindset.

I created these Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies as a cookie to be savored and enjoyed while kicking your feet up. Even while making these cookies, I savored every moment — taking my time as I measured out each ingredient, making sure each addition of flour was fully incorporated, carefully sprinkling the purple sugar on top and flattening each cookie to just the perfect height before placing them in the oven.

Working with the lavender and honey, ingredients that I consider special, forced me to be present throughout the whole baking process as I didn’t want to spoil such delicate ingredients. When I was finally ready to enjoy my freshly baked Honey Lavender Sugar cookies, I savored every bite, enjoying these delicate cookies while with my feet up while diving into a good book. It was my little moment of relaxation and calm.

I absolutely love how these Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies turned out. They are a soft sugar cookie, like the kind you’d expect to find in a bakery. The Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies have a tender center and are the slightest bit fluffy. The honey, although only requiring a third of a cup, is quite present but never overpowering. The honey itself compliments the hints of lavender that are studded throughout the cookie. The final sprinkling of purple sugar on top before baking adds the tiniest bit of crunch and sweetness while also giving the cookies a bit of glimmer, personality and of course, class.

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies

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Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

8 mins

Total time

53 mins

Serves: 36 cookies

Ingredients

For the lavender honey
⅓ cup clover honey*
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons dried lavender, divided
Cookie ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
For the purple sugar
additional ½ cup sugar
1 drop purple or violet food coloring**

Instructions

Make the lavender honey:
In a small saucepan, heat the ¼ cup honey and 1 tablespoon of dried lavender until the honey begins to boil, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes
Once it boils, remove the honey from the heat and let it cool to room temperature***
Make the purple sugar:
Make the violet sugar (for topping the dough balls before baking) by combining the purple food coloring with the half cup of granulated sugar
Gently massage the sugar and food coloring until evenly distributed****
Set the sugar aside once colored
Make the cookie dough:
To make the cookies, place the softened butter in an electric mixer and cream on high for 2-3 minutes
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the sugar and cooled honey to the creamed butter
Once well combined, add in the egg and vanilla extract, beating another 1-2 minutes
In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, cream of tarter, baking powder, soda, and salt
In 3 separate additions, add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, incorporate each addition fully and scraping down the sides before adding the flour addition
Lastly, add in the final 2 teaspoons of dried lavender using a wooden spoon so as not to break the lavender
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat and scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the mat about 2 inches apart
Top each dough ball with a heavy sprinkle of purple sugar and using a flat-bottomed glass, press the dough balls into discs to about ¼ inch height
Put a final pinch of purple sugar in the center of each disc and tap lightly to set it in place before baking
Bake the cookies at 350* for 8 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through so the cookies bake evenly
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 2-3 minutes on the pan
Finish cooling the cookies on a wire rack or paper towel placed on the counter

Notes

*I prefer clover honey specifically because it has a distinct flavor but any other would work as well
**I prefer gel food coloring, as it's easier to work with and doesn't wet the sugar as much but the regular liquid food coloring would work as well
***Do not use hot or warm honey to make the cookies. I also do not advise putting the honey in the fridge to cool as it will crystallize resulting in lumping cookies
****Use a gloved hand or a spatula to massage the food coloring into the sugar to avoid staining your hands purple

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies - Pinterest

Hummingbird Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

April 11, 2016 by Alyssa

I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m pretty sure most people have never heard of Hummingbird Cake. In fact, I have no idea how I eve know about the cake! If you’ve never heard of it, Hummingbird cake is a moist banana cake filled with pineapple, pecans, and sometimes coconut then topped with a rich cream cheese frosting.

I’ve always associated Hummingbird Cake with the South and in my mind, it was a true Southern dessert. I even made up my own little story of its origin. I always picture Hummingbird Cake being originally created by a sweet, old grandma with a thick Southern drawl wearing a blue gingham apron who simply dumped some tropical fruits into her banana cake recipe. She then topped it with cream cheese frosting since her favorite Red Velvet Cake is finished with the same creamy frosting!

As much I love my made up version of the Hummingbird Cake’s origin, it not even close to the truth. If you want to know the truth, read on, if you want to stick with my great Southern story, skip the nest paragraph!

Here’s the true story — which I learned while reach searching the recipe! Hummingbird Cake was actually created in Jamaica — which makes sense when you think about it. The cake is loaded with tropical fruits and both bananas & pineapples are abundant in Jamaica. The cake also shares its name with a Jamaican-native hummingbird species. Some say it received its name because the cake is so sweet it would actually attract the hummingbirds which feed on sweet nectar.

I prefer my story but regardless of its origin, I love Hummingbird Cake because it’s super moist, flavorful, and has a wonderful texture from the mix of pineapple, coconut, pecans and luscious cream cheese frosting.

Hummingbird Cake typically calls for a cup of oil and for most recipes, 2 or more cups of sugar! I chose to lighten the recipe by halving the oil. Instead, I relied on the bananas to bring moisture to the cake.

When it came to the sugar in the cake itself, I chose to only use 1/3rd of the sugar in standard Hummingbird Cake recipes (2/3 cups added sugar in all). To bring some caramel notes, which pair nicely with both the bananas and pecans, I used a mix of granulated and light brown sugar while again relying heavily on the mix of tropical fruits to bring natural sweetness to the cake.

Wanting to make the frosting a bit more special than typical cream cheese frosting, I chose to create a Honey Cream Cheese Frosting. I love the flavor the honey adds to the overall cake and it’s also a bit in tribute to the Jamaican hummingbird that dines on nectar.

With my fat and sugar swaps, this Hummingbird Cake is nothing you need to feel too guilty about eating. It’s a fruit & nut packed cake that’s super moist from mashed bananas, pineapple & coconut while being perfectly sweet when paired with the Honey Cream Cheese frosting.

I highly recommend enjoying this cake on a sunny afternoon on your patio with a bit lemonade or ice tea. After all, that’s how my Southern baking grandma would have enjoyed it when she first created the recipe!

Hummingbird Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

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Prep time

60 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

A fruit & nut packed cake that's super moist from mashed bananas, pineapple & coconuts while being perfectly sweet when paired with the Honey Cream Cheese frosting.

Serves: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large bananas, mashed
½ cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup light brown sugar
½ cup shredded coconut
⅓ cup crushed pineapple, drained
½ cup chopped pecans
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 brick)
½ cup honey
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/2 stick)
5 cups confectioner's sugar

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350*.
Line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon then set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla extract.
Whisk in the mashed banana followed by both sugars.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.
Fold in the pineapple, coconut and pecans until fully combined.
Evenly distribute the batter among the 24 cupcake liners.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, place the softened cream cheese and butter into an electric mixing bowl and cream together on high for 1-2 minute until fluffy.
Add in the honey and mix on medium for up to 1 minute.
Begin adding in the confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing on high before each new addition.
Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, frost the cupcakes by placing the frosting into a piping bag or spreading on top of the cupcakes with a spatula.
Refrigerator the frosted cupcakes until serving.
Allow the cupcakes to come to room temperature (20 minutes) before serving.

Sriracha Honey Broccoli

February 28, 2016 by Alyssa

When I was younger, my Dad always tried to get me to eat brussel sprouts. But I found them highly unappealing. For one, they smelled like feet and he cooked them by boiling them in the microwave then served them with a pat of butter on top and a dash of salt and pepper.

Can you say bland? He had great intentions, trying to get me to eat vegetables but NO vegetable should be boiled, unless it’s potatoes — and your intent to is to mash them with milk, butter, and salt.

I never came around to liking brussel sprouts until the mid-20’s when the world discovered brussel sprouts should be roasted not boiled. It was eye opening for me, I didn’t hate brussel sprouts after all, I simply hadn’t had them prepared properly.

So now, when I hear that people don’t like a certain vegetable, I can’t help but think it’s because they haven’t had it prepared properly. All of these scary, and popularly disliked vegetables, like brussel spourts, mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower deserve their time in the spotlight, they just need a few friends involved to make them shine.

My intention with Sriracha Honey Broccoli was to convince <3M that he really did like broccoli. Ever since I have known him he has picked broccoli out of everything. It was awesome for me, since I love broccoli, regardless of its form, but it was something I never cooked at home because he ‘hated’ it.

Recently, we’ve had an abundance of broccoli in our CSA delivery, and as much as I like broccoli, I couldn’t keep up with eating 3 heads of it myself each week. Knowing <3M’s taste preferences for spicy food, I set out to create a broccoli recipe that he’d like and convince him of his own love for the cruciferous vegetable.

For this recipe, I use sriracha as my base, add in a bit of salty soy sauce, some honey for sweetness and then roasted everything to give the broccoli a soft but crunchy texture.

It’s absolutely delicious there’s a little bit of salt, sweet, and spice, the perfect combination of flavors without being too spicy. It really is a small amount of heat from the sriracha and the quantity you use can even be decreased if you have a low tolerance for spice. The dish comes together in minutes so it’s great for a week night side. We served this with the Miso Chicken Thighs and it was a perfect, Asian-flavored meal.

Do you have any vegetables you used to hate but now love?
How do you prepare them now?

Sriracha Honey Broccoli

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

35 mins

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

3 heads of broccoli, washed & cut into small florets
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons sriracha
1½ teaspoons lime juice
1 clove garlic, pressed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450*
Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil and spray it lightly with olive oil. Set aside.
Place you prepped broccoli in a medium size bowl and set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together the coconut oil, soy sauce, honey, sriracha, lime juice, and garlic.
Pour the sauce over the broccoli and toss to coat evenly.
Spread the prepared broccoli on the roasting pan in a single, even layer.
Roast at 450* for 25-30 minutes, tossing the broccoli every 10 minutes so it cooks evenly.
Remove from oven and serve immediately.