Kiss, Kiss

The LAST post of the year…2012 has been a great year full of many new opportunities. As one door opens another closes. I ended a chapter of my life as I graduated in May and began a new chapter starting my Master’s in August. Though it may not seem like much of a switch a lot changed. My research has become more demanding yet I feel I have more flexibility in my schedule and I have more time to do other things besides my studies.

My research is also allowing me to do some traveling…Minneapolis last October and San Antonio coming up at the end of January. These are just small trips but they allow me to try beers in other cities, expanding my blog reach.

Though I feel like I never can spend enough time blogging, I have been able to focus more and more on it. It took me quite a while but I finally created a facebook and twitter page 🙂

I continue to get more and more notice in the beer world…since Colorado has been considered the Napa Valley of Beer there are so many opportunities to grow as a beer connoisseur and blogger. I swear it seems like there is a Beer Festival every other week! Not to mention the endless list of breweries I hope to eventually visit.

My blog has changed tremendously since it first launched in late February with my first post where I did not even receive one like (lol) to a post where I received my first like from a fellow blogger and then wrote about how ecstatic I was in the next post. I have developed more of a style now but it is always evolving.

Bringing in the New Year I am looking to grow and expand as a food and beer blogger. I plan to dive deeper into food and beer pairings and even more excitingly, cooking and baking with beer. I am no expert in the area but I hope you will join me as I experiment more in the kitchen 😀

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

~Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:
½ lb butter
1 ½ c brown sugar
¾ c sugar
2 t pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 c smooth peanut butter
2 ½ c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t kosher salt
1-2 bags of Hershey’s Kisses

Instructions:
Cream the butter and two sugars. Add vanilla then the eggs, one at a time. Add the peanut butter and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in to peanut butter mixture. Do not over mix. Drop dough on baking sheet (for the purposes of kiss cookies make them small). Flatten cookies slightly before putting into the oven.

Cookies bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes but check them sooner. These cookies are done as soon as there appears to be no “wet” dough. While the cookies are baking unwrap the kisses if you have not done so already. As soon as cookies are done immediately push the kisses into the middle of the cookies.

Tips for making perfect kiss cookies:

Make them small. They will still be delicious if you don’t but the cookie to chocolate ratio will be off 🙂

Be sure to put the right amount of flour. If the dough seems too sticky you may add a little more. Once again, it will still taste great but with kiss cookies it is nice to have a fluffy cookie so that it encompasses the chocolate kiss 😀

The Brown Shugga’ Ale by Lagunitas Brewing Company seemed to fit perfect with this post. It may be a bias decision based off its name 🙂 The “Sweet Release” describes the sweet aroma upon cap release. The sugary smell caused by the brown sugar and malts lured you in but bold hops bit back upon the first sip. It was both sweet and very hoppy, complimenting each other well.

It had a white head and very large lacing. Surprisingly, it is 9.9% ABV. Even with the aggressive hops the ale goes down smooth. The mouth is left with a slightly bitter-sweet taste.

Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve!

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Get Your Groove On To:

~Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

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