I think I’ve already made it clear in our review for Fox in the Snow that I LOVE brunch. So, when our dear friend Taylor asked if we would be interested in cooking for the upcoming Crimson Cup Brew & Brunch, we said “absolutely yes.” We had literally so much fun prepping and planning for this event and I literally can’t wait to share these three recipes with all of you. The premise of the event was simple and delicious, $5 per person with a sampling of our brunch menu and two sessions on how to home brew their impeccable coffee.
After we initially met with Amber and Taylor, we got in the kitchen and started planning. It helps that our planning sessions are generally pretty tasty. We came up with a menu that we thought would appease everyone and pair nicely with their coffee. Homemade apple spice breakfast chicken sausage, cinnamon crumb cake and a salad with bourbon pears, candied walnuts and homemade honey balsamic dressing. I mean, hello, who wouldn’t love this menu?
Let’s start with the homemade sausage. Did I mention that The Beard is a butcher in his day job? It comes in handy from time to time. Aka, always. We have a Kitchen Aid and used the meat grinder/sausage stuffer to make these little guys. Since I don’t eat pork, we used lamb casings which you can purchase from your local butcher or online. If you don’t have a Kitchen Aid attachment, there are hand crank sausage grinders and stuffers that you can use instead. After you grind, stuff and tie your sausages you are ready to cook them and then devour them. The best way that we’ve found to cook homemade sausages is to cook them in a skillet on low-medium heat so that they don’t stick and/or burst open. They can be pesky but are so worth it.
The next part of the menu was my favorite because duh it was a baked good filled with butter and meant to be eaten with coffee. While searching for a crumb cake, we kept stumbling upon this recipe from Bon Appetit. It looked so amazing and we couldn’t find a better inspiration, so we honestly didn’t really change the recipe. Sometimes, that’s the nice thing about cooking, someone has already perfected something that all you have to do is enjoy. This recipe does have multiple layers of steps, so be sure to read the whole thing through at least once before you dip into that brown sugar.
Since it’s brunch, we wanted to do a dish that had a little lunchtime feel to it and that’s how we came up with the salad. A salad can be complicated with a million ingredients or it can be totally simple and just have 3-4 amazing ingredients. We chose that latter in this situation. Bourbon pears, arugula and spring mix, candied walnuts and a homemade honey balsamic dressing. Hello deliciousness. If you’ve never candied nuts before be wary that they can burn easily or they can be a crispy, buttery addition to your life that you never knew existed. These can be used on a salad or bottled up in a mason jar with a ribbon to go in someone’s stocking or can be thrown on top of a vanilla buttercream cake. The opportunities are endless.
Check out all of the tasty recipes below and let us know your favorite! We can’t wait until Crimson Cup hosts their next Brea & Brunch, we know it’s going to be a blast. Big thanks to Amber and Taylor from Crimson Cup and the Upper Arlington Chamber of Commerce for all their support and planning. You guys deserve the biggest piece of crumb cake, ever.
- 1 pound ground chicken (pre-ground or use boneless, skinless chicken thighs to ground yourself)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1/2 cup diced apples (we use pink lady)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider
- If grinding chicken, chop the chicken into small pieces so it's easier to feed into your grinder. Chill chopped chicken in freezer for 2-3 minutes to cool down.
- Grind chicken according to your grinder's directions.
- Season in large bowl with salt, brown sugar, sage, diced apples, black pepper, cinnamon and apple cider. Mix well by hand.
- Put back in freezer for 2-3 minutes to cool down again.
- Grind chicken mixture again through your device.
- Again, put back in freezer for 2-3 minutes.
- You can either patty them up now to eat or if you'd like to make them into links, read the next step.
- Stuff the chicken using your casings and sausage stuffer.
- Then, twist and cut to about 2-3 inch sausages.
- Chill in the fridge until ready to cook.
- When ready, place sausages in pan and cook over low-medium heat for about 12-15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Enjoy with your favorite brunch items, for extra sweetness dip in maple syrup.
- You always want to work with cold chicken that is below 40 degrees. This helps it separate properly in the grinder and also keeps it at a food safe temperature.
- 1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, warm
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Mix both sugars, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl and whisk to blend.
- Add warm melted butter and stir to blend.
- Add flour and toss with fork until moist clumps form. Set aside.
- Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.
- Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
- Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl.
- Using electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter in large bowl until smooth.
- Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.
- Add sour cream and vanilla extract and beat just until blended.
- Add flour mixture in 3 additions, beating just until incorporated after each addition.
- Transfer cake batter to prepared baking dish; spread batter evenly with rubber spatula or offset spatula.
- Squeeze small handfuls of topping together to form small clumps. Drop topping clumps evenly over cake batter, covering completely.
- Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and topping is deep golden brown and slightly crisp, about 1 hour.
- Cool cake in dish on rack at least 30 minutes.
- Cut cake into squares and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
- Always sift your flour. It creates a smoother, fluffier cake and only takes about 30 seconds longer.
- 5 oz container spring mix
- 2 oz container arugula
- 2 pears (any variety is fine)
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 2 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup walnuts, halved
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Peel, de-seed, de-stem and slice pears into 1/8 inch thick slices.
- Melt butter over medium-heat in cast iron skillet.
- Put pears in skillet and toss in butter.
- Increase heat to medium-high.
- Add bourbon to pears.
- Stir constantly for 2-3 minutes until alcohol evaporates and reduce heat to medium.
- Add sugar.
- Keep stirring until they caramelize and become a nice golden color, about 6-8 minutes.
- Let cool in fridge while you prep the rest of the salad.
- Melt butter in a cast iron skillet over medium low heat.
- Add walnuts and sugar, toss to coat.
- Stir constantly until sugar melts and walnuts become fragrant, about 6-8 minutes.
- Immediately put on pan with parchment paper and spread away from each other so they don't stick.
- Set aside while you prep the rest of the salad.
- Put all ingredients except olive oil in large bowl.
- Add olive oil slowly, whisking constantly.
- Transfer to jar with lid like a mason jar.
- Keep in fridge until ready to use. Shake to combine before use.
- Toss greens, walnuts and pears together.
- Drizzle dressing on top.
- Try not to eat the whole bowl.
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