I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. My name is Adri, and I am the queen of procrastinated gifting. Try as I might, I have yet to finish my to-do list for gifts on time. Each holiday season is the same for me: I realize my gift list is 30% accomplished and 9% wrapped, I run all over the city looking for gifts at picked-over stores and pop-up shops (arms flailing above my head the whole time), and then I go back to home base: Caputo’s.

Here’s what I know: Everyone likes to eat. Call me crazy, but food is the perfect gift, time crunch or not. Everyone has to eat, so why not let your friends and family eat the very best and most delicious treats available? Here’s your guide to the very best last-minute gifts. One gift for each of the 12 days of Christmas, a la Caputo’s:
1. Utah Dark Chocolate Collection – You can never go wrong gifting chocolate, especially in Utah. The Beehive State is internationally recognized as a well known hub for fine chocolate, in both sales and creation. Utah is home to five bean-to-bar chocolate companies that are putting themselves on the fine-chocolate map with their artisan bars and dedication to creating the best chocolate possible.  Give your pals a taste of Utah with this perfect collection of fine dark chocolate, all made in Utah.

2. Local Standouts Gift Collection – This is the ideal choice for the locavore in your life. We’ve hand selected seven items that are not only made locally, but they’re world-class artisan products. From bean-to-bar chocolate to smoky and savory chili oil, this is sure to please you local-lovin’ pals.

3. White Truffles – I’m quite sure that I would prefer truffles to diamonds, and I know I’m not the only one. This is it. The most luxurious and ultimately wonderful gift for your foodie friend, or you can use it as the focal point of you holiday meal. Just the aroma knocks you off your feet, so imagine what your finished entree will do.

4. Creminelli Salami – Utah is home to not only some of the best American artisan chocophiles, but also to some of the most die-hard locavores I’ve ever met. Cristiano Creminelli started his small production in the basement of our downtown store in 2007. Now, he and his company are a national example of the Slow Food movement. The flavors are a true delight, and I love sharing a piece of Utah with my friends and family. Creminelli salamis don’t need to be refrigerated until their packaging is opened, so you can rest easy when mailing these as a gift or when you travel on long road trips to see your family this holiday season.

5. OmNom Holiday Chocolate – Time for an ol’ holiday saying: When in doubt, gift chocolate. Here’s your stocking stuffer for 2015, in a sexy little package no less. Hate wrapping? No need here. OmNom is the king of packaging, and you won’t want to hide these bars for anything. Omnom’s seasonal holiday flavor this year combines dark cherries and caramel roasted almonds. This is the stocking stuffer you can give to everyone.

6. Craft Cocktail Collection – There’s something incredibly attractive about shaking a cocktail shaker around like a mad person…or like you know what you’re doing. If your loved ones are getting into the craft-cocktail movement and experimenting at home, this is the perfect gift. We’ve put together some of the most-often used and well-known products to get your home bar started. If these bitters and bar components are good enough for the best mixologists in the world, they’re perfect for your holiday gifting.

7. Cheese Cave Tasting Sampler – Our market was founded on our love of cheese, and that adoration has only grown stronger. We’re one of five retail locations in the entire country with a cheese cave program. One cave just wasn’t cutting it for us. We need more room to to add additional wheels of cheese into their ideal aging environment (it makes them as absolutely delicious as possible). Our second cheese cave is fully stocked since last holiday season with plenty of projects and affinage happening every second.  Wanna know what the cave is all about, or want to share your knowledge? This is the perfect choice. Four of our favorite cave-aged cheeses come bundled and ready to eat. Hopefully they share with you!

8. Panettone – I’ve professed my own personal love for panettone from the proverbial rooftops of the world (read it here). This is a classic holiday treat and tradition that’s perfect for giving. No fruitcake here; this is entirely different. Light, sweet, transcendent, and the perfect match for coffee and digestifs alike. We have the very best Italian brands in stock. Just be sure to get yours before they’re all gone!

9. Chocolatier Blue – The ultimate in filled chocolates live right here at Caputo’s. Not only does Chocolatier Blue use locally-made Solstice Chocolate, they make products that are utterly divine. One taste will convince anyone of their superiority. The good news for you is that there are plenty of sizes to choose from. There’s a perfect size for each person depending on how naughty or nice they’ve been this year.
10. Caputo’s Gift Basket – On the go? We’ll have these made and ready to go at our downtown, Holladay, and 15th & 15th locations this month. Take the guessing and legwork out of your food gifting this year. We’ve done it for you. Classic favorites and best sellers are packaged and ready to go for you at a moment’s notice.

 
11. Balsamico Tradizionale – I become speechless(I know, so weird) when these babies come up in conversation. If the essence of Italy had to be squeezed into one tiny bottle, this is it. It’s the ultimate gift for your foodie pals and loved ones. Talk to your favorite mongers at your nearest Caputo’s location for our their preferred uses, but make sure you save some for summertime vanilla gelato and strawberries. ADDED BONUS: This is on sale for a HUGE discount. We’ve discounted it enough that you could buy a bottle for a gift and one for yourself as a reward for being such a fantastic gifter.

12. Class Certificates – Give the gift of food (or drink!) knowledge. It’s the perfect gift for a couple or a friend who might be new to either cooking or the Salt Lake valley. Pick up a certificate for the amount of the class, plus the optional beverage pairing, and let them choose the best class for their calendar and tastes. We’ll help you give the exact dollar amount or round up so your giftee can pick up a special little treat after the class. Choose from cheese or chocolate tastings, cooking classes, or whiskey classes. You read that right: whiskey classes! Remember that bucket list from SL Mag? Send them to the class!

Having grown up in New Mexico—where the state tree is the piñon pine—piñon-based sweets were a common and welcomed holiday treat. Candies, chewy brown sugar rolls, and toasted nuts are part of the holiday tradition. I lucked out as kid with both this sweet, local tradition and a large Italian family who had a habit of over-enthusiastically celebrating the holidays with copious amounts of sugary morsels. Pignoli cookies and piñon brittle were always favorites of mine, and they are some of the first treats I begin making as the holidays approach.

The excitement around here for our bitters selection is as palpable as that of a child on Christmas Eve. Every week brings us a new discovery and tasty new applications for them. December’s bitters Craving, Addition Rosemary cocktail spice, captures the essence of the holidays and begs to be used in both drink and treat. Mixing rosemary’s assertive, pine-like aroma and pine nuts from my past seemed like a natural, albeit necessary, union.

I love giving homemade treats to co-workers and friends. It feels more personal than store-bought candies, and I love the opportunity to spend time in the kitchen with a few friends. Pine nut brittle is an incredibly easy gift that is made even more delicious and sophisticated by the addition (no pun intended) of rosemary. Freshly chopped rosemary and fleur de sel give this adorable gift a lovely, complex flavor.

Make a batch for gifting and a batch for yourself. Beware of doubling this recipe, though. A double batch will require two separate parchment-lined cookie sheets, and evenly dividing the caramelized sugar is quite a challenge. It’s possible to evenly separate them, of course, but two batches come together just as quickly.

Stay tuned for more holiday treats and gifting ideas, and I hope everyone is as excited as we are for the upcoming celebrations!

Rose-Merry Pine Nut Brittle 
Makes enough for one small dinner party, or 8-10 gift bags

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons Addition Rosemary
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fleur de sel 

In a large skillet, melt sugar over high heat, stirring constantly. Once sugar has melted, lower heat to medium high and stir until sugar is a dark golden brown. Stir in half the salt, pine nuts, Addition Rosemary, and butter. Stir to toast the pine nuts for about five minutes. Pour mixture out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread to deisred consistency and top with fresh rosemary and the second half of salt. Allow to cool for one hour. Break into pieces and keep in an air tight container or pack into gift bags (like above).

It’s heeeeere! Let’s not pretend like most of us haven’t already been shopping and decorating for the holidays. Whether it was Black Friday or Cyber Monday, I’m sure you’ve begun to find some great deals and wonderful gifts for your loved ones. Now comes the gift wrapping, meal planning, and party attending.

It’s a beautiful time of year, but let’s get real, this stuff is exhausting. Want to know how we get through the holiday madness? Chocolate, duhhhhhh. Just kidding. It’s actually chocolate and daily hugs. And cocktails. And cheese. And charcuterie. And lots of recipe testing. These Cravings are what will get us through the holidaze with smiles on our faces. They, of course, make great gifts as well—just sayin’.

CHEESE: Grotte Caputo

This is our Cheese Cave cornerstone. Grotte Caputo was our first real success story from our first cheese cave—in case you haven’t been in in awhile, we now have two glorious cheese caves. Since then, we’ve had many successes, and, well, a few blunders. But somethings never change, namely Grotte Caputo. Unaged wheels of Asiago are handled with the utmost love and care for more than 6 months in our caves before being released for sale. The end result is a crumbly, but still moist paste that is perfect for cheese plates and cooking. The flavors are sweet and nutty: think of a blend of Parmigiano Reggiano and aged Gouda. Our Red Leicester Popover recipe is the perfect way to try your hand at baking with Grotte. Serve this at your holiday party with nuts or a pear compote, but resist the urge to eat it all before everyone arrives.

CHARCUTERIE: Avalanche Finocchiona

You may know of Avalanche’s drool-inducing chevre and other goat’s milk cheeses, butwhen it comes to artisan food, the Finocchiona raises the bar yet further. Goat and pork are blended with fennel and other spices for a truly magnificent piece of salami heaven. The flavors and aroma are both sweet and complex while still maintaining a distinctly “meaty” flavor from the high-quality pork and goat used.

I don’t say this often, but I will say it with this Craving: I don’t share Avalanche Finocchiona. I could see myself gifting a stick to my dad and maybe another worthy loved one, but I am not entirely sure I could bring this to a party. It’s just too good to share the limelight with most other party fare. I’ll be saving this for small getherings where I can ensure my pals are properly appreciating the perfection they are nibbling on. This needs only to be paired with bread, in my opinion, although a mild cheese like Pecorino Toscano would be another great item to serve alongside this lovely salami.

BAR & BITTERS: Addition Rosemary Cocktail Spice

Addition falls into our Bar & Bitters category of specialty products, but Addition is something entirely its own. Rather than a complex blend of bittering roots, herbs, and the highlighted spices or flavors, Addition creates a line of products that are more reminiscent of a tincture. This cocktail spice speaks perfectly of fresh rosemary in liquid form. There are no other flavors covering it up, and no bittering agents to hinder its potency. It’s just rosemary, in its simplest and most perfect way.

Use this in gin-based cocktails, of course. But I am more excited about its uses in cooking. Bake it into scones and cakes or add to pan sauces and gravies for roasted meats and vegetables. I’ve got a fun little sweet treat up my sleeve using this as well, so stay tuned for my favorite giftable treat.

THE ULITMATE HOLIDAY: White Truffles

This is it. The most luxurious and ultimately wonderful gift for your foodie friend, or you can use it as the focal point of you holiday meal. Behold: the white truffle!

We carry truffles year round from Italy and France, but the very best are the white truffles, which are just now coming into season. While black truffles are less expensive, and less rare, they’re also able to receive a bit of heat application through cooking. White truffles, however, are very rarely cooked, only shaved directly over your main dish as both garnish and highlight. There is nothing more luxurious and delicious than a fresh, aromatic white truffle. Shave over simple egg pasta, veal scallopine, or sunny side up eggs. If you get your hands on a white truffle and simply must cook with it, I’d recommend Marcella Hazan’s Tortino di Tartufi. Here, boiled potatoes are sliced very thinly, layered with shaved white truffle, butter, and parmigiano before being baked for about 15 minutes.

Eating well and eating often is at the core of our values—not just as a business, but as a family. We’ll me enjoying the holiday, and we hope you have a foodtastic Thanksgiving with yours as well!

Please note: All locations of Caputo’s Market & Deli will be closed on Thanksgiving. 

It’s time, my friends. We’re all getting ready to travel, to cook, to deal with in-laws, and to enjoy Thanksgiving. Our menus are set, our plans have been made, and I just can’t wait.

With so much preparation required for such a meal, I love making as many things in advance as possible. The easiest one? Cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce is my second favorite Thanksgiving meal component. It sits right behind stuffing, because, duh, stuffing. I’ve tried every kind of recipe that exists for this necessary component, and I still love the most classic ones. I don’t want my cranberries shrouded in some boozy port reduction or over-powered by spices and citrus. I want cranberry. The turkey wants cranberry, too. Just ask him.

Beehive Bitters makes my favorite bitters, Spiced Orange. The flavors are balanced, bright, and perfect for both cooking and cocktail-ing. Warm baking-spice flavors play a key role next to the bright, tangy orange note. Since both of these are classic additions to cranberry sauce, it only makes sense to add them right in to the recipe. You can make this sauce up to four days in advance before the texture becomes more jelly-like, but it will keep for over a week. Make this today, and save yourself the stress, there will be plenty of other things to worry about once Thursday rolls around.

Now, since the best part of the weekend after Thanksgiving is all the leftovers, here’s what I’m doing with my leftover cranberry sauce. I make my sauce with just a bit more water than is necessary. I’ll drain off the excess into a jar and use it as a flavored simple syrup for cocktails. For the sauce, I love to spread ricotta over freshly toasted bread and top with cranberry sauce and grated orange zest. Boom, Black Friday breakfast.

Enjoy the holiday, and enjoy your cranberry sauce!

Beehive Bitters Cranberry Sauce
Serves 4-6

Cook time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Bonus Points: Local Bitters, Make Ahead

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cup water
• Spiced Orange Beehive Bitters

Bring sugar and water to a boil. Add cranberries and reduce heat to medium. Continue to gently boil for about 10 minutes and remove to a serving bowl. Remove 1/3 of liquid to be used for other recipes (ahem, cocktails). Stir in 2 dashes of bitters, add more to taste. Serve at room temperature or keep refrigerated until the day of your meal.

Beehive Bitters Cranberry Cocktail
Makes 1 cocktail

Cook time: Less than 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Bonus Points: Local Bitters, Make Ahead

• 1 teaspoon cranberry simple syrup from cranberry sauce
• 1 dash Spiced Orange Beehive Bitters
• 6 ounces Prosecco or other sparkling wine
• Spiced Orange Beehive Bitters
• 1 orange, for garnish

Pour prosecco over cranberry syrup and bitters in a cocktail glass. Add more to taste if desired. Garnish with an orange wheel and fresh cranberries.

We can’t wait till the actual Chocolate Festival for you to see what’s on the menu, because it’s just so exciting! So here it is.

At this year’s festival, five chefs and local mixologists will use one of Solstice Chocolate’s five bars to showcase sweet, savory, and boozy applications of the Salt Lake City craft-chocolate maker.

The all-star culinary lineup includes Chef Logan Crew of Current Fish & Oyster, Chef Tyler Stokes of Provisions, Pastry Chef Courtney McDowell of Pallet Bistro, Pastry Chef Amber Billingsley of 3 Cups, and Pastry Chef Alicia Pacheco of Rye Diner & Drinks. The tantalizing evening will begin with an amuse-bouche prepared by Chef Marshall Bryant of Caputo’s. Wine will be served by Francis Fecteau of Libation, Inc., beers will be poured by Avenues Proper, craft cocktails will be mixed by Beehive Bitters and Sugar House Distillery, and pour overs provided by La Barba Coffee Roasters.

Caputo’s Chocolate Week comes at the perfect time of year. Our annual Chocolate Fest puts me in the mood and mindset for the holidays and festivities, but it also gives me a chance to start testing desserts for the family dinners and fun holiday parties to come. My family has a knack for making enough food to feed an entire village, but we do our best to minimize the menu as much as we can every year. We always make the usual pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies, and these are also often accompanied by another cream-based or chocolate-based pie.

This year, I wanted to find a way to incorporate a chocolate dessert without making yet another deep-dish pie. Chocolate pies rely heavily on cocoa powder for flavor, but I like having more control of the nuances. Basically, I want a chocolate pie with a third of the volume, no cocoa powder, and to be made exclusively with chocolate bars.

Meet the chocolate tart. Thin, sweet pastry dough holds a thin layer of rich, luxurious chocolate and a dollop of bitters flavored whipped cream. My first attempt was so successful it garnered a happy dance and a phone call to the family. Solstice’s Wasatch Blend bar made an earthy, balanced tart base that was enlivened with a Beehive Bitters spiced orange whipped cream. It was festive, delicious, and a quarter of the size and effort of our usual chocolate pie.

Save this recipe for your upcoming holiday parties. You can also use your favorite chocolate bars and bitters to make this your own.

Wasatch Blend Chocolate Tart
Serves 8-12

Tart Dough

• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon Beehive Spiced Orange bitters
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Mix all ingredients with a stand or hand mixer until there are no dry patches. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight until firm. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness or until there is an excess of about 3 inches in diameter to fit an 8-inch tart shell. Press dough into the shell and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before removing the tart ring from the shell.

Chocolate Ganache Filling

• 10 ounces heavy cream
• 7 ounces Solstice Wasatch Blend, or two dark chocolate bars, 70% cacao or higher
• Fleur de sel sea salt

Simmer a small pot of water. Set a metal or glass bowl over it, making sure there is air between the bottom of the bowl and the simmering water. Pour cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, use an immersion blender or whisk to combine. Whisk until your ganache is fully blended. Stir in fleur de sel in small pinches, to taste. Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes, then pour into the tart shell. Chill until ready to serve, but remove about 15-20 minutes before serving

Bitters Whipped Cream

• 10 ounces heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 2 teaspoons Beehive Spiced Orange bitters

In a medium bowl, whisk heavy cream, confectioner’s sugar, and bitters until whipped, but still loose. We don’t want stiff peaks, but enough volume to hold cream together when we top our chocolate tart with it. Adjust sweetness and flavoring with bitters before serving.

More from Chocolate Week:

A Primer on Solstice Chocolate

Solstice Drinking Chocolate Recipe

Caputo’s Solstice Chocolate Mini-Tartlets

A Retrospect of Past Chocolate Festivals

Recipe: Adri’s Festive Wasatch Tart

The Menu for Chocolate Fest Featuring Solstice Chocolate

Ask Matt Caputo: What is the Best Process to Taste Fine Chocolate?

Guys, IT SNOWED! Never mind that it lasted 15 minutes, and never mind that none of it stuck around. The important fact here is that frozen precipitation fell from the sky the first week of November. I began dreaming of all the hot drinks in my near future as I watched those big, fluffy flakes fall gracefully to the wet ground. Cider, hot toddies, tea, but most importantly, drinking chocolate. Not the powdered milk and cocoa with weird dried marshmallows, but real drinking chocolate.

The key to this recipe is high-quality chocolate. Any low quality bars won’t create the right consistency or flavor that you and your loved ones deserve. With so few ingredients, we rely heavily on the flavor of our chocolate to make this drink shine. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Solstice Bolivia bar. Notes of honey, cream, and very subtle warm baking spices are the perfect flavor I want when I’m craving drinking chocolate.

We made chocolate cake pops just a few weeks ago with a special focus on ganache. For cake pops, the ganache served as a binder to keep the cake crumb together and on the pop sticks. Here, we’re making what I like to call a “loosey-goosey ganache” that is the perfect consistency for drinking. This is the same process as making a thick ganache, we’re just using more cream than chocolate. The very nature of drinking chocolate is luxuriously
thick, so a little goes a long way here. I only need about 1/4 cup when I make this on special occasions with friends, so let’s not lose our marbles over the use of heavy cream. However, should you feel that your marbles are still in jeopardy of being lost, use whole milk or half and half.

This is a fun, easy, and quick recipe that comes together in less than 10 minutes. Make this with your kids, your friends, or your family. This is my favorite and most decadent way to welcome the cold weather. Blankets, thick socks, and a fire make it the perfect early winter evening.

SOLSTICE DRINKING CHOCOLATE
Serves 4

• 14 ounces heavy cream
• 5 ounces or two dark chocolate bars, 70% cacao or higher, preferably Solstice Bolivia
• Fleur de sel sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk 4 ounces of heavy cream until whipped, but still loose. We don’t want stiff peaks, but enough volume to hold cream together when we top our chocolate with it. Set aside.

Simmer a small pot of water. Set a metal or glass bowl over it, making sure there is air between the bottom of the bowl and the simmering water. Pour 10 ounces of cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add 5 ounces of chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, use and immersion blender or whisk to combine. Whisk until your ganache is fully blended. Stir in vanilla, then add fleur de sel in small pinches, to taste.
Pour into small espresso cups, Mason jars, or other small glasses. Spoon whipped cream on top and serve immediately.

This is an easy recipe to add your own unique twist. Here are a few easy ways to make it your own:

• Steep the cream ahead of time with your favorite spices
• Add a cinnamon stir stick upon serving
• Add a dash of cayenne for a spicy kick
• Add booze. Any booze. I’m a personal fan of whiskey or Bailey’s
• Mix equal parts drinking chocolate with coffee
• Top with marshmallows or whipped cream
• Substitute your favorite bitters for half of the vanilla extract

As I write this, the first light snow is falling from the sky, and it really feels like sweater season. I often dread the beginning of this cold weather. I miss the farmer’s market, the madness of the holidays are looming over my head, and, I’m just plain cold. This year is different. The weather cooled very gently and after nine years of working at Caputo’s for the holidays, I’m feeling shockingly calm—almost zen, if you will.

So as the holidays approach and the snow starts to fall more frequently and in bigger doses, let’s enjoy it with our best friends and family over treats and nibbles. You’ll need a cocktail too, of course. Here’s how we’re enjoying the transition to winter:

CHEESE: Ossau Iraty Reserve

One of the most-celebrated and well-known Basque cheeses is made even more delicious in the hands of Caputo’s own affineuse, Antonia Horne, in the chilly comfort of our Cheese Cave. Ossau Iraty arrives in great condition to eat immediately. It tastes mildly grassy and sweet, and is a great choice for the table when you crave the comfort of a creamy, alpine-style cheese. But this is Caputo’s after all, so, of course, we couldn’t just let you settle for a good cheese. We want you to experience great cheese, and we want everyone to know first hand how our caves affect and improve even the most delicious wheels. Antonia gives the ultimate TLC to Ossau for six months. That sweet, grassy cheese transforms to have a deep, complex, brand new flavor. Ossau Reserve offers newly developed notes of caramel and browned butter with a still-perfect interior and more interesting and aromatic rind.

Enjoy this with your favorite cheese accouterments and wine alone, or get your cheese geek on and try the original Ossau and Ossau Reserve in a side-by-side tasting to see exactly what the differences are. You’ll want to hug Antonia afterwards. I always do.

CHOCOLATE: Solstice Chocolate

We give you one, fantastic chocolate almost every month, but this month is special. Here why:

1. We couldn’t agree on one Solstice bar. We didn’t have time to sell tickets to the WWE-style brawl it would take to select one, because of…
2. SOLSTICE CHOCOLATE FEST. That’s right. Our 4th annual Chocolate Fest features our first locally-made chocolate. Each bar will be featured in a dish made by a talented local chef in a sweet or savory application, plus all proceeds will be donated to the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Initiative (read more here).
3. Have you had Solstice? Could you pick one? Of course not, and neither could we.

Solstice is locally-made and has been blowing our minds. We’ve never seen the kind of support for a local chocolate like this. Solstice is on the menu of some of the best restaurants downtown, and it’s being used by Chocolatier Blue for its amazing chocolates. What’s more, Solstice is crafting chocolate with a no-waste and eco-friendly operation.

BAR: Beehive Spiced Orange Bitters

Bitters are the future, friends. Seriously. Local bitters are even more exciting. Imagine, little ol’ Utah making top-tier, high-quality bitters. Yeah, it’s happening.

Beehive Bitters is making a small selection of bitters that belong on the bar cart of any cocktail enthusiast. Not much for cocktails at home yet? You’ll find these bitters behind the best bars in the city, or you can add them to your personal pantry for cooking, baking, and marinading. The Beehive Spiced Orange Bitters is the perfect welcome to the cold weather. I’ll be using this in everything from plays on hot toddies to cranberry sauce. I’m even experimenting with turkey brine recipes that call this. The possibilities aren’t just endless, they’re exciting and, more often than not, quite rewarding.

I don’t consider myself a serious baker, but I enjoy baking. I also don’t consider myself a festive person, but I do enjoy getting in the spirit of things with the right people. And the right people are often kids. I will not go crazy decorating with friends, but I will with my little sister or with my friends’ children,  a number rapidly growing with each passing year. I love crafting with kids, and Matt and Yelena were gracious enough to let me steal their two darling littles for some fun Halloween-themed cake decorating.

I love cake pops. Say what you will about them, but small portions of delicious cake that don’t require utensils are always a yes in my book. Plus, it got us in the mood for the upcoming holiday. Marou’s Heart of Darkness bar is an incredible option for chocolate cake pops.

In making cake pops, the actual cake matters, but the binder matters even more. Most cake pops use icing to keep the crumb together. Here, we’re using an easy ganache that’s a real knockout. As a refresher, ganache is the magical combination of chocolate and cream. Different ratios serve different purposes—from glazes and icings to truffle fillings and beyond. The high percentage of cacao in the Heart of Darkness bar make it rich and complex, while those intriguing tasting notes shine through any kind of decorating you succumb to. Sprinkles and icing are no match for the intense flavor of this bar. You’ll have no trouble sneaking these while the kids are out trick or treating or while fast asleep after their sugar high come down.

SPOOKY MAROU CAKE POPS
Makes about 20 cake pops

• 20-25 lollipop sticks, available at any craft store
• One 8-inch chocolate cake (I love using this recipe)
• 3 Marou Heart of Darkness bars, or about 9 ounces of your favorite dark chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces
• 3 ounces heavy cream
• 6 ounces white chocolate for icing, optional
• Immersion blender, optional, but so handy

In a large mixing bowl, crumble the cake between your fingers into fine crumbs. Set aside.

Simmer a small pot of water. Set a metal or glass bowl over it, making sure there is air between the bottom of the bowl and the simmering water. Pour cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add 3 ounces of chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, immerse your blender fully, making sure there is no air stuck in the top of your blender. Blend until your ganache is fully mixed and shimmering. If you don’t have a blender, continue stirring until the ganache comes together. Set aside to cool.

Once ganache has cooled, add small amounts to your cake crumb and mix with your hands. Continue adding ganache until the crumb holds together, but isn’t totally dense and weighed down. Scoop out portions for your cake balls. Roll each into a ball on a small baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and freeze 5-10 minutes.

While your cake balls are chilling, begin melting the remaining chocolate over simmering water to coat your cake balls. Poke a lollipop stick into each cake ball, spoon melted chocolate over each ball until fully coated. Coat all in dark chocolate or use another bowl to melt the white chocolate and use the same process to coat. You can set these on a plate to set and have a flat bottom, or stick the bottom of each stick into styrofoam to set in a more circular ball. Allow 30 minutes to set, then decorate to your heart’s desire. Or you can just eat them—that works too!

So, did September actually happen? Between the warm weather and busy schedules we’ve kept here at Caputo’s, I’m quite positive we jumped right from August to October. I’m just starting to pull my sweaters and comfy socks out of storage and see cute posts of friends getting their hands on the the season’s first pumpkins. I’m ready for cozy dinner parties, hot drinks, comforting stews, and all the wonderful traditions of autumn. We’re keeping things fun and festive this month to help you welcome the cool weather in tasty fashion. Here’s what we’ll be noshing on this month.

PANTRY: Maestri Squid Ink Spaghetti

There is really nothing better in life than a plate of high quality pasta. If the quality is there, I could not care less about the sauce accompanying it or the vessel in which it is served. I would argue that bronze dye extruded shapes and artisan style pasta is a dying art form that is giving way to slippery, cheap teflon-cut noodles. Dear friends, they are not the same. The ideal pasta is roughly textured on a molecular level, creating a sponge-like surface that holds sauce to itself rather than floating in a puddle of it. There is a toothsome texture and flavor from the grains it was made from. To have the best pasta is to have life. Seriously, this is the stuff of gods. I say you’ve earned the right to a better pasta, don’t you?

Maestri is handmade and extruded by master pasta maker Giovanni Castiello in the most attentive, dedicated fashion. Castiello has traveled across all of Italy to learn and perfect over 80 shapes of pasta. Each shape receives the same TLC and attention to detail as the next. This black—dare I say spooky—spaghetti is colored with squid ink and is the perfect base for a seafood-laden dish. Keep it simple with garlic, oil, herbs, and your shellfish of choice, or let your creative juices flow with a combination of flavors. We’re loving an ‘nduja-spiked tomato sauce with scallops, shrimp, and clams. I dig it so much, I’ll likely have to share the recipe it with you.

BAR: Bittermen’s Hellfire Habanero Shrub

More from the master of all things specialty food, Matt Caputo: “As bitters makers go, Bittermens has mastered the technical skill needed to perfectly execute consistent, quality bitters. Despite all that precision, none of the artistry is lost. In fact, these are some of the most creative concoctions found anywhere, flavors that pay homage to pre-Prohibition era cocktail culture but have a wide arc all their own. Bittermens is for the barkeep who has mastered the classics and is ready to create.”

Bittermen’s spicy little shrub is a perfect way to add a spicy kick to cocktails and food alike. I find myself adding this to everything from sauces for tacos and enchiladas, tomato sauces for pasta, tequila cocktails, and spicy brownies. This shrub is the perfect balance of acid and spice.

The hardest part of getting your hands on this bottle is then deciding whether to store it in the bar or pantry once you’ve brought it home.

CHOCOLATE: Marou Heart of Darkness

Don’t you wish Matt Caputo could narrate your entire food journey for your entire life? This is as close as we can get, but it’s pretty fantastic, right?

“Marou evokes many thoughts and emotions. From exhilaration, lust, fear, and back to comfort. It is an incredibly complex and exotic chocolate. It manages to be ethereal and visceral at the same time. On the one hand, it is like an exotic and mysterious woman whispering in a language you can’t remotely comprehend. On the other, it is like a musical journey from slow Asian instrumentals to death metal.

Using 100-percent Vietnamese ingredients, including shade-grown cacao from five different provinces, Marou captures aromas and flavors never before experienced by our Western palates. While it will take us much more tasting to really get to know the soul of Marou’s chocolate, one thing is perfectly clear: The two French expatriates behind Marou who live in Vietnam make chocolate that is a cousin to French cuisine, but distinctively Vietnamese. Marou makes globalization look sexy.”

It can’t get much darker than 85% without beginning to lose its palatability. Marou has mastered the art of creating a super-dark chocolate that is still super delicious. Some chocolate with this percentage of cacao content are far too bitter, and I find myself wishing for just a touch more sugar. Not here. You’ll love its deep and dark complexity and its full flavor and nuance. Plus, the nod to the eerie novel from whence its name comes makes it an ideal bar for October.

If my friends have ever been to my house, I’ve likely fed them farro. It’s my go-to for sharing ,and it fits into almost any special dietary need. Plus, it’s delicious.

I may or may not have exhausted the palettes of all my friends with this play on risotto that uses farro instead. This pushed me to find a new way to prepare farro that’s a bit more exciting. And that exciting dash lies in a bottle of Peychaud’s. Adding bitters to my dressings, marinades, and vinaigrettes has opened my eyes to all sorts of new, fun ways to gussy up some old recipes. For this one, I cooked farro like rice rather than risotto, tossed in some pan-roasted zucchini, onion, and eggplant from the farmers market, added some flare with Laziz Toum and artichoke hearts, and then left the whole mess of deliciousness to chill for a few hours.

Once chilled, I added Peychaud’s to my favorite—and incredibly simple—dijon and sherry vinaigrette and drizzled it over the salad. I am so pleased with the results that I made this twice last week for dinner. Sweet and aromatic Peychaud’s adds a floral, almost-feminine component to the dish that matches its lightness and delicate flavors. It can be served hot or cold and loves a fried egg on top for added protein. Go on, you know you want some.

Peychaud’s Vinaigrette

• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
  
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Whisk all ingredients in a medium bowl. Drizzle over salads, greens, or roasted veggies.

Farro Salad
Serves 6

• 1 1/2 cups farro
• 1 eggplant, cut into quarters and sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon Laziz Toum
• Salt and pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, sprinkle a generous amount of salt over sliced eggplants. Toss to coat and let sit at least 20 minutes. Squeeze slices to release any excess moisture and lay out on a paper towel.

Cover farro in 4 cups of water in a small saucepan. Add a few pinches of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer 20 minutes.

In a skillet over medium heat, warm olive oil and onions. Cook until onions are browned entirely. Add zucchini and Laziz Toum. Stir occasionally and cook until zucchini is tender. Remove to a bowl. Add eggplant to the skillet and cook until browned. Add eggplant, cooked farro, and any additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or chill at least one hour. Serve with Peychaud’s vinaigrette.

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