the Friday Feeding; VOL. 50

It’s gonna be another great week-end at the store with chocolate, jam, cheese, salsa and wine tasting all the while Jordon TW fiddles up in the Feed Loft from 1-3, and those leaves keep swirling downward to make a carpet to step through. Ah Autumn! See all the details at the end of this post.

Last week at the store you had a blast learning about and tasting some really good cheese and we met so many nice visitors driving through our town peeping at leaves, taking in the sights at Shaker Village and revealing in our little village.  And we live here….lucky us.

In the news…

We are thrilled to announce that Kevin Groleau of Woodshed Coffee fame in Laconia will be fresh roasting coffee for us each week for your daily cup and for our shelves. You may have heard by now in the town newsletter and on Facebook that Granite Ledge Coffee decided to remove their product from the store which is why we have made this change.

Starting this afternoon you will find some blends packed up just for us with a great variety in roasting levels for a truly dark cup all the way down to subtle light roasts.  To keep it even fresher, we are stocking just bags of beans so when you purchase we will grind it for you if you wish, keeping that just-roasted flavor in the bag even longer.

Come by for a taste sample any time!

Let’s bake.

Chocolate Date Cake

The sweet caramely taste of dates draped in dark chocolate makes for a wonderful autumn dessert.  Serve this cake with a nice Port or a fruity red wine.

1. The cake

Preheat your oven to 350º  Grease and flour one 9” cake pan.  See this post* for how to do that.

In a mixing bowl or in a stand mixer beat the following together until smooth:

• 1 stick room temperature unsalted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar

Add and beat well:

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups sweetened or unsweetened apple sauce; room temperature

Add and beat well:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda

When smooth, add and beat one minute:

• 1/4 cup milk

Spoon this into the prepared pan, smoothing the top and dropping the pan a few times to settle the batter into place and remove any air pockets. Bake for 32-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool ten minutes in the pan then run a knife around the edge and turn over to flip out.  Remove  any paper* and cool completely right side up.

While cake is baking, prepare the date spread topping

2. Date Topping

In a sauce pan place the following and boil for 10 minutes:

• 1 1/2 cups orange juice
• one 8oz package of whole dates (do not use chopped dates.  They have a coating on them that does not allow them to cook down properly)

When done cooking, use an emersion blender or place in a food processor or smash with a folk until the mixture is smooth.

3. Spread the cooled date mixture on the top of the cooled cake

4.  Chocolate glaze

In a small sauce pan heat until bubbly:

• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add:

• 3/4 cup Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips

Stir this with a whisk until smooth.  Pour this warm glaze over your plated cake letting it drip and pool around edges.

Decorate with Mitica’s Chocolate covered dates.  We are sampling these dates this week-end.

Click here to download next’s weeks Food Specials menu.

Columbus Day week-end activities –

• Saturday October 12, 10-1. Sample Chocolate Covered Dates, Caramel Apple Creamed Honey and Blakehill Farms Pumpkin Maple jam.
• Saturday October 12, 1-3. Listen to the Celtic Fiddling celebration by Jordon Tirrell-Wysoki in the Feed Loft
• Saturday October 12, 4-6. Wine tasting, salsa tasting, cheese tasting.
• Sunday/Monday October 13/14. Sample dips and coffee all day long.

Have a great week-end,

Jane and Dave