The latest from Twitter: @BlueOxCoffeeCompany plugs their peppermint mocha garnished with a Thin Mint from the Girl Scouts (it’s that time of year!), @ngonbistro announces their Valentine’s Day tasting menu, @RogueChocolate marvels that every one of their bars is hand-inspected by the founder himself, and @france44 is serving a decadent-sounding fig salami with blue cheese.
WACSO sketched iPho by Saigon, praise for Ted Cook’s 19th Hole, how the Summit Hill Association successfully fought off a new wine-bar equipped location of Cupcake on Grand Avenue, the Fridges of Hennepin County, a snapshot of some of the most notable ongoing restaurant delays, Lift Bridge Biscotti Ale, love for Cheeky Monkey Deli, and pull tabbin’ it at Dempsey’s Public House in Fargo.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
It’s always an open question whether a new holiday tradition will take root. One that’s worth cheering on is the Lift Bridge Brewing Co. Biscotti Release and Bake-Off, which debuted Dec. 17 at the brewery’s Stillwater taproom. The event combined a release of the brewery’s holiday Biscotti Belgian-style ale (reviewed here) with a juried cookie baking contest overseen by a panel of judges that included our own Becca Dilley. As was appropriate to the setting, contestants were encouraged (but not required) to use beer in their recipes.
Among the best of the cookies were the Chocolate Cherry Lambic Crinkles, which were sufficiently addictive to persuade even beer- and cookie-logged judges to come back for a second and even third bite. Tender in texture, deep and complicated (but harmonious!) in flavor, they accomplished the difficult trick of getting the tartness of fruit to play nicely with the depth of coffee and chocolate.
With the permission of the contestants, we’re pleased to share the Crinkles recipe here today, along with the People’s Choice award (Cranberry Hootycreeks) and another highly ranked recipe, Molasses Porter Spice Crisps.
Chocolate Cherry Lambic Crinkles (Judges’ favorite)
by Laura Maupin
Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant espresso or very finely ground espresso beans
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons cherry lambic, reduced from approximately 2/3 cup
Confectioners’ sugar, for coating
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; mix in reduced lambic until just combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic.
Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Pour confectioners’ sugar (about 1/2 cup) into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.
3. Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Cranberry Hootycreeks (People’s Choice)
by Amy Kuelz, adapted from an allrecipes.com recipe
Regarding her modifications, Amy notes: “I combined dried tart cherries with the dried cranberries and combined this with roasted salted and unsalted pecans.”
Ingredients
5/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions
Layer the ingredients in a 1-quart or 1-liter jar, in the order listed. Continue reading Recipes from the Lift Bridge Biscotti Bake-Off »
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
One gets the sense that since Lift Bridge has settled in to their new digs in Stillwater, they’re starting to flex their brewing muscles a bit. This year marked the debuts of a pair of hop-forward winners in Hop Prop IPA and Harvestör Ale. Their new winter beers are showing signs of promise as well (if you’ve encountered their Top Side Oyster Stout on tap, you already know.)
Here are sips from their two most recent winter releases. The quantities are limited, so give your favorite beer store a call first for availability.
Lift Bridge Biscotti
Style: Belgian Ale
ABV: 7%
Biscotti has become Lift Bridge’s truest seasonal beer, with limited runs for the last three winters under its belt. They term it a “unique” Belgian Ale and it’s brewed to evoke its namesake cookie, with additions of honey, vanilla bean, star anise, and grains of paradise working to create a comforting winter ale. Yesterday 750-ml bottles of Biscotti hit stores in small quantities yesterday — we found ours at The Ale Jail.
The Belgian part of Biscotti is evident right away with the cloudy and pale-looking auburn hue and the nose full of Belgian yeast aromas. The honey also works its way into the smell, and the same sweetness greets the beginning of the sip. The core flavors of the brew are mellow and pleasant: rich malt and vanilla, with a soft carbonation keeping it quite sessionable.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
The classic winter-spice notes, which seem to sink many winter ales by taking over the whole of the flavor, show up most noticeably on the very clean finish. It’s nuanced enough to be memorable, yet very much in the vein of a classic craft Belgian. Fans of Brewery Ommegang, for example, will be right at home with Biscotti.
The bottle specifically directs the drinker to warm the beer to 50 degrees. It seems curious, but after tasting Biscotti at fridge temperature it makes sense. When the beer is served colder, the body is more sharply focused to the carbonated and spice components, robbing you of the breadth of flavor that makes it compelling.
Oh yes, and it doesn’t really taste like Biscotti, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a successful brew nonetheless.
2011 Lift Bridge Commander
Style: Barley Wine
ABV: 12.5%
Commander is Lift Bridge’s first iteration of a bourbon barrel-aged, English-style Barley Wine. Bottles are currently for sale at their brewery and several stores around town, as well as at a few of their tap accounts.
Commander has a burnt sienna and mahogany-tinged body, which swirls to slightly lighter rims. Beads of carbonation form in wisps on the surface. A Port-like character bursts on the nose — you get vanilla from the oak and a healthy dose of alcohol behind it. The sip starts out with a peppery character, full of tannin, followed by a dense core of hazelnut and caramel. The finish tends further towards alcohol with some more nutty flavors lingering after the sip.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Commander carries an assertive and boozy profile. It’s hard to imagine drinking much more than one big snifter at any sitting. The flavors even seem a bit uncoordinated right after opening the bottle. However, after we vacuum-packed a half bottle in the fridge overnight, we noticed the flavors were much more cohesive and the sip was thus decidedly more pleasing.
If you’re drinking it now, you might want to consider decanting it first. Though a better strategy would be cellaring the bottle for at least a few months to give this behemoth a bit more time to come together. Lift Bridge seems to agree, suggesting on their website that Commander’s shelf life is even longer. They’ve noted to drink it “between now and 2020.”
A Minnesota craft beer show called Beer Geeks launches Sunday, Dec. 11 on KSTC-TV, Channel 45, deep thoughts on woodcock (don’t you dare laugh, it’s a serious bird with serious flavor), Schwan’s will lay off employees in its Marshall and Bloomington offices, Lift Bridge is playing around with a kimchi-infused Farm Girl called Chi Girl, Metromix Twin Cities has been axed (further thinning the pool of people documenting local food), Stephanie March helps you shop-n-nosh, some props for Sample Room’s 100 Sausages project, and a kind review for Taste of Italy in Fargo.
The New York Times takes a tour of Wisconsin supper clubs (here’s our own spin through the genre); a new check-out scheme at the East Lake Target raises customer ire (also: this is apparently the “ghetto” Target, for those not aware); a new video by Saffron demos how to use Spice Trail‘s Exotic Blend on roasted chicken; Bill Roehl raves up Ramadan Restaurant in Burnsville; Tricia (now apparently the de facto City Pages food critic?) reviews Pittsburgh Blue; details on the Fulton and Lift Bridge tap rooms; Well Fed Guide to Life heads to Cuzzy’s; beer reviews of New Glarus Raspberry Tart, New Glarus Laughing Fox, and Schell’s Burton Ale; deer hunting and processing in a nutshell; an old diner in Baraboo, WI, gets a big overhaul; and a taste of Spain at Solera.
Tags: beer, Cuzzy's, deer, Fulton, Lift Bridge, morning roundup, New Glarus, Ramadan Restaurant, Saffron, solera, Spice Trail, Supper Clubs, Target
Tricia shreds Rosa Mexicano, notes on bird hunting in Wisconsin, a review of Grain Belt Premium, a rundown of some local wine options, all the Thanksgiving-related news that’s fit to print, the details on Lift Bridge’s intriguing Commander Barleywine release, Well Fed Guide to Life goes to Zen Box Izakaya, and a new lager called Founding Fathers debuts today.
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