Contest And Giveaway!!!

So before I get to the Brooklyn post, I want to put up a little palate-cleanser. Today my lovely wife hurt her back choreographing a piece for an upcoming performance, and after suffering through the afternoon and a comforting dinner (to be featured shortly) she intimated that something sweet sure would hit the spot. So I suggested that maybe I might sort of be able to wrangle something along those lines while she put the boy to bed.

After making him something like a dozen different paper airplanes, (try this site if you have kids) I crept downstairs and got to work. Luckily, we uncharacteristically had all sorts of desserty goodness on hand. Here’s what I came up with (and would totally be posting on CakeSpotting if they hadn’t banned me ages ago).

I will be accepting clever names for these in the comments. The winner may or may not receive one as a prize, depending on how long they last.

Here’s what you do:

1. Melt a stick of butter in the double boiler along with a standard-size package of free-range chocolate chips and a pinch of salt.
2. When melted, whisk in 6 or so finely minced seeded kumquats. A splash of good local apple brandy at this juncture wouldn’t suck. Remember to add some to the chocolate mixture, too.
3. Transfer the mixture to a larger bowl and add a couple of handfuls of cashews from the container in the back of the fridge that’s been there for ages, and then stir in shredded coconut from the time you wanted to make macaroons and didn’t. As it cools, the coconut will sort of bind it together so it doesn’t flow all over the silpat when you spoon it on. Which is what you do next.
4. Put them in the fridge for 10 minutes to cool down, and then make your wife very happy.

Store them in the fridge, since the butter makes them quite soft at room temp. They’re really good, especially for a seat-of-the-pants invention. Let the naming begin. (“Crazy Chocolate Cashew Coconut Kumquat Clusters” is not eligible.)