End-of-year giving + sublime black pepper-crème fraîche buttercream-topped brownie cake

Always game for a dense, terrific chocolate dessert, I brought this recipe over from a Donna Hay issue, to bake with my friend Jill a few weeks ago. After making a few tweaks it was out of this world, and prompted many hands raised online for "recipe please!"

Scroll down for the recipe.....


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Each year I like to share a variety of inspired goods to live more beautifully, holistically, and functionally. This year's gift guide is more an outline for giving well into the New Year.

Over and over again in 2017 my heart has burst or broken.
The women's march.
The travel ban protests.
Drilling in the Arctic.
The go-ahead for Pebble Mine in Alaska.
Charlottesville.
Needless lives lost from an increasingly militarized police.
The #metoo outpouring.
Reducing and auctioning off of our Public Lands.
Innumerable wildfires, floods, droughts, and earthquakes.
Alabama winning for all Americans.

We can all do more to fight for good, for war-torn or climate refugees, for Nature and all her beloved creatures. Instead of turning away and feeling overwhelmed, I am connecting to Nature and humanity more, and in ways where I feel a real contribution. I've assembled a few organizations or causes I support here - ranging from responsibly caught wild salmon, to animal rescue in the most recent wave of California wildfires - as well as a few creature essentials - since eating well is a must while fighting the good fight.

1. The Minos Moka pot is my go-to for a daily brew. This solid stainless stovetop pot produces a lush, intensely flavorful coffee in just a few minutes, and I absolutely love it. I've arranged a promotional rate of 15% off any of the items in their catalogue if you want one for yourself. Use this code, good for one month: XMASMOKA.

2. Sea Legacy, founded by National Geographic photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen. This pair travels the far corners of the world (and in a new campaign called "turning the tide," are inviting us to come with them) to document what is happening in our climate breakdown, and educate at-large on why exactly we need to protect ocean ecosystems. Giving options include beautiful printed art, as well as giving directly.

3. Food52, a community resource for all things delicious, as well as timeless, stylish, functional goods. I have a running list of objects to incorporate into my projects and love that they support American artisans.

4. Susie's Senior Dogs, an advocacy group for older dogs which I discovered through Instagram. Post-after-post of older dogs just waiting for humans to love unconditionally have provided me much laughter, some tears, and definitely a place in my heart for these incredible pooches. This sweet boy is Tupac and has stolen my heart with that gaze... One day I am going to adopt a senior dog and give them all the comfort and love they can handle.

5. Everyday Refugees is another group I discovered via Instagram. Through poignant, heart-wrenching images a squalid purgatory is revealed, where innocent children play and their families wait out days in hopes for a better life. See for yourself and give what you can to mitigate their time spent in these conditions.

6. Sonic Sea is an incredibly beautiful film which draws focus to the vast noise pollution in our seas. Which might hit you like "huh...." except for the fact that all large marine mammals such as right, humpback, and other whales, orcas, porpoises, and more, all use the sound carried by their songs to communicate the enormous distances they travel. When they cannot hear one another, they go silent, then become distraught, then they stop breeding and eventually, go extinct. Yes it is very dismaying, but there are many solutions to this problem! Gather a few friends and watch the film together. I promise it will be cathartic.

7. Humane Society of Ventura County is a shelter which has rescued and received countless animals through the most recent outbreak of wildfires. They are caring for a large number of horses, goats, and other livestock, as well as dogs, cats and birds. If you are in the region and can volunteer, amazing! If you are not nearby but would like to help, they have a Thomas Fire animal rescue fund to which you can donate, here.

8. Plastic Free Foodie 'Zine is a collection of colorful & delicious recipes contributed from over 60 Instagram food stars - there is a delicious chicory, spiced nut, and persimmon salad by yours truly - and produced by my colleague Christine Wong. After watching another cathartic film, A Plastic Ocean, she was moved to get people thinking more about single-use plastics so pervasive in our everyday lives. Where does all that stuff go, anyway?? The film is another stunning, beautifully produced insight to what's-going-on-in-the-world. All proceeds from this e-magazine fund the campaign to raise awareness, with the hope that we will shift our buying choices. Opt for reusables and natural materials in lieu of plastic, rigorously recycle, and make less waste in general.

9. The Pollinator Project is a simple way to help bees thrive: plant non-GMO seed packets wherever you can, enjoy the beautiful wildflower blooms, extend the range of butterflies and honeybees, who are an intrinsic presence in maintaining the diversity of our food.

10. Driftersfish for wild Alaskan salmon, a husband-wife duo who care about responsibly caught fish, so that we can rely on these incredible animals for our sustenance for decades to come. I visited them in Cordova this year and was struck by so many nuances: the use of different fishing nets based on the character - and color - of the water throughout the season; the recognition of indigenous fishing rights region-to-region; differing species of salmon throughout the season, and even witnessing the salmon for myself as they met their final path. (photos coming soon....!) You can order fresh or smoked fish at their store, and once you've feasted on their collection, discover which is your favorite.

11. Jessie Lazar makes thoughtful, functional ceramics, perfect for your every day. She is a native New Yorker - lucky for me, because that meant I could make a studio trip to drool over her collection in person! She is part of a large community of ceramic artists I cannot live without. Their beautiful works literally frame the food I produce and further the "handmade" quality I so prize on-set. Holding one of her bowls or mugs feels great, and makes the daily activity of eating special. One of her mugs is part of a special giveaway I am currently hosting on Instagram. Check it out!

Would love to hear your thoughts on any or all. Thanks for reading and finding your way to contribute!

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Black pepper-crème fraîche buttercream-topped brownie cake - adapted from Donna Hay
serves 10-15

for the cake
1 c AP flour, sifted
225g unsalted butter, chopped
400g 60-70% dark, bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 pasture-raised eggs
1/2 c organic cane sugar
1/2 c light brown sugar
1 tsp Aleppo pepper
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt

for the frosting
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c crème fraîche, room temperature
3/4 c confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
3 tbsp smoked whisky - I used a home-infused Lapsang souchong spirit, which turns out quite similar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a springform pan with parchment, fasten the collar, and butter all sides.

Place butter and chocolate into a double boiler placed over low heat and melt, undisturbed. Stir together to incorporate and set aside to cool slightly.

Place eggs, sugars, and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously for a few minutes, or until frothy. In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients: flour, pepper, and salt.

Pour chocolate mixture into egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Pour into lined springform pan and bake for 40 minutes or until just a couple crumbs cling to a skewer when inserted into the center. It should look fudgy. Allow to cool completely in the tin, set on a wire rack.

Place the butter, crème fraîche, confectioner's sugar, and cocoa in a large bowl. With an electric mixer on high speed, beat for 5 minutes or until fluffy and pale. If the frosting curdles, run a hairdryer around the periphery of the bowl as you beat to raise the overall temperature and reincorporate until silky. Add the black pepper and whisky/infused spirit and beat to combine. Taste and add more pepper or crème fraîche as needed. (the pepper serves as an accent, not an overall flavor) Use an offset spatula to spread over the cooled cake and cut into wedges to serve.

Jill and I fed it to our husbands, who groaned with delight between forkfuls. It was brought to a dinner party, where everyone enthusiastically nodded with approval. I fed the remaining slices to my parents visiting from out of town, to similar delight. If you make this cake, I want to hear about it!

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One more thing - my book Kid Chef is a national best-seller! If you're contemplating what to get a foodie friend or kid, it makes a great gift. Any home cook who hasn't attended culinary school will learn something from the thorough explanations and break-down of processes throughout. Each recipe is truly good eating - no gimmicks or dumbed-down food, something for everyone's ability and taste. Links to purchase your copy in the sidebar at the top ^^^, as well as here, through Powell's independent books.

Happiest of holidays to you all!!

Maine New Shell Lobster Tour

I received an invitation for a Maine lobster tour. How could I say no? Gratefully, we were blessed with pristine weather the whole time.

herring, which serve as bait in lobster traps

magic hour lobster boat experience

new arrivals at the Clam Shack, these lobsters will be cooked for lobster rolls and whole lobster meals

fried clams, scallops, and haddock on the back deck at the Clam Shack

their unique lobster rolls include claw, knuckle, and tail meat, and a smear of both mayo and butter

tasting at Oxbow brewery - a delicious and pastoral experience

Oxbow brewery beehives

A couple weeks ago, I was invited by Lobster from Maine to get better acquainted with Maine's lobster industry. I had no clue about a lot of things, including what distinguishes "new shell" lobster from just lobster.

This trip was highly educational. I left with new understandings about the treat that "new shell" lobster specifically is, and the rigorous measures implemented to ensure the lobster population remains healthy and prolific.

Lobsters outgrow their shells mid- to late-summer, shedding them for new ones. These new shells are much softer as they re-calcify, and lobster meat during this time is sweeter and more tender. Bonus, you won't need as many tools to properly enjoy a delicious lobster meal.  One way to identify new shells: they are redder in hue than hard shell lobsters, which are a deeper brown, with flesh that is more briny.

I was part of a guided tour of the MSC certified processing facility which handles lobster for all of the Luke's Lobster locations. Here we saw the machinery, as well as the man - and woman! - power required to dispatch, shuck, and process 35,000 pounds of lobster per day.

The rate at which the people work, shucking knuckles and claw meat in front of various bins lined up on long steel tables, in a (very!) chilled room, was astounding. Their speed and deftness was the work of millions of minutes fine-tuning this highly specific process. Which makes sense since they are paid by the volume they deliver each day.

The sprawling machinery throughout the plant was equally amazing. Some machines instantaneously froze uncooked lobster to ship, some which cooked the lobster, timed at graduated temperatures to retain maximum flavor and tenderness. Even the sanitary measures taken to keep quality standards at their best were rigorous…. We went through four rounds of gloves/booties/hairnets/hand sanitizing/etc just to enter! It really was an incredible experience. Thanks Mike, for your hospitality and thoroughness.

From there, we were shuttled to the famous Clam Shack for their unique take on lobster rolls and tasty local beer, as well as a selection of their house specialty, the crunchy-juicy fried scallops, clams, and haddock.

Stools at the Clam Shack, painted the buoy colors of their prized lobstermen

Steve educating the group on what he looks for in fresh lobster

Did you know the length of a lobster's antennae reveal how fresh a lobster is? Lobster don't like each other (one reason why their claws are banded once captured) and will clip or chew each others' antennae once in captivity. The longer a lobster has been in a holding tank, the less likely they will have their full antennae, which should be almost as long as their bodies.

And, did you know that lobsters are left- or right-handed, and their dominant claw is the larger one? This is also referred to as the "crusher" claw, while their non dominant claw is the "pincher" or "shredder." Being pinched by the crusher claw can feel like having your finger broken, delivering up to 100 lbs of pressure. Yikes.

Boiling or steaming lobster in seawater is considered the best cooking method

I loved this stone-filled pail, which served as the counterweight to the trap-door style steamer lid

our crew knows how to feast...

We could have lazed about all afternoon after this meal, but our drivers had a lobster boat outing next on the list

filling the bait bags

flocks of seagulls kept us company, diving for leftover bait tossed overboard 

Kelly Rizzo of Eat Travel Rock hamming it up

author Rowan Jacobsen striking a pose

Here's the scoop on sustainability: all Maine lobstermen use this tool to measure the lobster carapace. Any lobster smaller or larger than 3.25-5 inches gets released to continue populating. That's more than two-thirds of the lobsters brought from the traps on our brief ride out. In addition, any "berried" females trapped - those bearing eggs - get a notch made in their tail to denote "not to be caught" and are also released.

How can you tell the difference between male and female lobsters? In the below photo, the more delicate swimmerets (mid-body and down) on the right lobster denote female. This is also the region where females store their eggs. See photo following….

On the next day our crew of chefs, authors, bloggers, and journalists took a drive to the pastoral oasis that is Oxbow Brewery.

the resident cat, who by all accounts made everyone fall in love with him as he enthusiastically rolled around….

the brewery gardens include many berry varietals, which they often incorporate into their ferments

the honey harvest is also incorporated into some of the beers

the practice at Oxbow is to do it well, which often means slow

we sampled a smoky and terrific barrel-aged oktoberfest

brewer Mike Fava obliging sustainable fish advocate Michael-Anne Rowe for the camera

an al fresco lunch and beer included many tastes - even their special Dell'Aragosta, a beer made using lobster (it was amazing!)

at brief stop at a lobster dealer on the harbor, I captured the load-in of bait

we went for a private tour of the Maine State aquarium and witnessed some extremely unusual lobsters - this split color lobster is extremely rare, they say one in 50 million

this lobster has just molted - its shell was just a thin membrane

albino lobsters are the most rare of all - one in every 100 million!

cobalt lobsters are gorgeous, a one in a million occurrence and the result of proliferation of a special protein…this one was just brought in by a lobsterman and will now be part of the educational program at the aquarium

Our last stop was a lobster-chef food competition - 19 different creations for everyone to judge

The Boothbay Harbor Claw Down has sold out every year 

I came, I ate, and I was wowed. One thing I couldn't help but wonder was how climate change is affecting this industry. They, like many industries, communities, and ecosystems, are no doubt being impacted. It is a very tricky subject to navigate with enough merchants of doubt planting non-truths throughout media to complicate the discussion, and no easy answers.

I did learn that during some recent seasons, lobstermen have to travel into deeper waters to find the same volume of lobsters as in previous years. Time will tell if their sustainability practices are enough to maintain healthy stocks - of lobsters, and of the fish on which lobsters sustain themselves.

Forage fish such as herring which commonly serve as bait to trap lobsters are often fished by means of trawling. This disruptive practice essentially rakes the ocean floor and destroys much life along the way. It isn't the only practice, but trawling inflicts exponential damage to an increasingly fragile marine ecosystem, and will have to change in order to keep the health of the ocean intact.

Right now, the ocean is currently overfished 25-35% worldwide and we are experiencing vanishing fish populations in large areas off many shores. This human-caused impact adds another layer to the climate change issue already in play. How can the Maine lobster industry keep its sustainable edge as other ocean populations face strain?

Since it is all one ecosystem, it appears we must address the ocean as a whole. Not easy, I know, and it certainly doesn't help matters that industry standards vary so widely from one fishery to the next. This is an essential consideration as we continue to consume, given that we want to make informed choices.

I hope Maine lobster thrives and that their diligent practices are used as a model for the greater fishing industry, so that our oceans can return to a healthier place.  It will take public pressure in order to do that.

to slow down before the return back home, I took a day out on the coast and soaked in nature 

low tide wandering the rocks

still perfect weather

I hope this collection inspires you as much as it did me. 

Travel. See Maine. Sample delicious new shell lobster and see for yourself. Bring your best self and take it all in…

And then when you return home do something. It will take all of us.