I cannot count the number of times I've made these cupcakes over the last five years since their creator, Nancy Cain, told me it was the single recipe in her then-new cookbook I should try if I only tried one.

I will admit I was skeptical. Not only were they gluten-free, as was everything in Cain's cookbook, Against the Grain: Extraordinary Gluten-Free Recipes Made from Real, All-Natural Ingredients, but I had  recently experienced full-on disaster with another baking recipe (not Cain's) featuring the same gluten-replacing ingredient.

But I had promised I would give them a try, and when I did I was floored. With just six simple ingredients that many people will have on hand (even in a pandemic), this is the best and easiest chocolate cupcake recipe I've ever baked.

Nancy Cain and her husband, Tom, cofounded Against the Grain Gourmet, a gluten-free baked-goods company, in Brattleboro in 2006. Tom and one of their sons had been diagnosed with celiac disease; Nancy, a scientist by training, approached recipe development for her family with that rigorous approach.

"I'm very good at holding variables constant," she told me back then.

Nancy has always prided herself on recipes that feature whole ingredients, no funny business. This is a case in point: You literally just blend the ingredients in a food processor, scrape the batter into the pan, and turn out moist, fine-crumbed chocolate cupcakes. 

I've since made the recipe as both cupcakes and as a whole cake for birthdays, team dinners and graduations; for preschoolers, teenagers and octogenarians. It is beloved by all, and I think only one person has ever guessed the secret ingredient on their first try. (No, I'm not going to tell you, but the recipe is below!)

As noted, the recipe is gluten-free (i.e., no flour required) and also dairy-free. That means it can deliver more joy to more people, but I make it even for gatherings without dietary considerations because it's so good.

The original recipe calls for a white-chocolate-lavender icing, but I make a simple chocolate glaze instead. Then I garnish with whatever fresh berries or edible flowers are in season.

The cupcakes pictured here were made a couple weeks ago and garnished with dandelions from my (unsprayed) lawn for a birthday girl who appreciates wild edibles. The cake version was made for another birthday and  decorated with some gorgeous, professionally grown blooms. Each brought a lot of joy.

Cocoabean Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For cupcakes:

• 1/3 cup coconut oil
  
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 4 large eggs
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  

For glaze:

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (dairy-free if desired)
  
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
  

Directions

1. Position rack in center of oven and heat to 350 degrees. Line cups of a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
   
2. In a food processor, blend coconut oil and beans together until they are smooth and creamy, scraping down sides of processor bowl as needed.
   
3. Blend in cocoa powder. The batter will become stiff. Blend in eggs and sugar until sugar crystals are dissolved. Scrape down sides of processor bowl a couple times to make sure everything is well blended. The batter will become creamy and look like chocolate pudding. Blend in baking soda.
   
4. Scoop or pour batter into prepared muffin tins; each liner will be about 2/3 full.
   
5. Bake cupcakes for about 30 minutes, until the tops are firm and a cake tester comes out clean.
   
6. Cool cupcakes completely before glazing.
   
7. To make glaze, melt together chocolate chips and coconut oil gently in a small, shallow bowl in a microwave, or in the top of a double boiler, just until they whisk together smoothly. Dip the top of each cupcake in glaze. (Tip: Twirl it as you pull out to prevent drips.)

Note: A friend tried to make them egg-free (using flax egg as a sub) and that did not work. I have successfully made the recipe, doubled, as a 9-by-13-inch cake and a 12-inch round. Both take about 40 minutes to bake. Double the glaze.

Source: adapted from Against the Grain: Extraordinary Gluten-Free Recipes Made from Real, All-Natural Ingredients by Nancy Cain (Clarkson Potter, 2015).

Reported cases of serious illness due to people mistaking highly poisonous false hellebore (Veratrum viride) for a prized wild edible, ramps (Allium tricoccum), have more than doubled in Vermont over last year's number: to 22 so far, according to Dr. Karen Simone, director of the Northern New England Poison Center.

"It makes you wonder: Are people just having more time on their hands, or are they going back to nature because of all the things that are happening?" Simone said. "It's hard to know, but it's definitely a big increase."

The Poison Center, based in Portland, Maine, serves Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire; it typically receives from zero to eight reports of false hellebore poisoning per year across all three states. The total number of cases to date is 25. All but three of those have been reported in Vermont, mostly in May. 

Last week, we asked Emily Morton, general manager of Deli 126, if she could whip up a cocktail recipe for a front porch or backyard hangout — something to drink at home with the arrival, at last, of warm weather.

Our request happened to coincide with a phone call that Morton got from her parents in Williston.

“Did you know you can get wine in a can?” they asked her. Her parents had discovered it at a convenience store and bought a 12-ounce can to share.

“Yes,” their daughter replied. “I definitely knew.”

(I neglected to tell Morton that wine in a can was news to me, too.)

Morton wanted to share a cocktail recipe that uses ingredients people are likely to have at home. She decided to build the drink around 12 ounces of wine — dry white or rosé, canned or bottled.

Her drink, called Brighter Days Sangria, calls for jam and fruit. I used clementines, frozen raspberries and strawberries. Morton gave a shout-out to rhubarb, which is growing in her garden.

We had no liqueur at our house, so I made a quick run to the packie, where I hit the 2 p.m. rush. I bought a big bottle of Aperol, bright red and sticky. It should last a lifetime.

Brighter Days Sangria is quick and easy to make and lives up to its name.  Our only adaption, in a microwave-less house, was heating the jam in a pan on the stove. I even pulled a pitcher out of my sleeve — OK, down from a high shelf — a development that stunned my daughter.

“We have a pitcher?” she exclaimed.

If you want the pros to mix your drink, you can get a cocktail to go three nights a week at Deli 126. Morton and bar owner Jake Shane serve drinks in vacuum-sealed packages: grown-up juice boxes. Open and pour over ice.

Brighter Days Sangria

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 12-ounce can of dry white or rosé wine, or 12 ounces from a bottle
• 1 heaping tablespoon of berry jam, heated in the microwave until runny
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup liqueur (Aperol, peach, apricot, Grand Marnier, etc.)
• Berries, citrus slices, rhubarb ribbons from your fridge or garden
• 1/4 cup citrus seltzer (more if desired)

Directions

1. Whisk together the jam, lemon juice and liqueur in a pitcher.
2. Add fruits and wine.
3. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes.
4. Add ice and seltzer, and serve!

Source: Emily Morton of Deli 126

After landing a $5.4 million U.S. Department of Agriculture contract for the new Farmers to Families Food Box Program, the Abbey Group — a family-owned food service management company in Enosburg Falls — had just one week to pull together the first 1,000 food boxes.

The initial batch of boxes, filled with regional dairy,  precooked chicken and fresh produce, will be distributed in Barre on May 15 by the Vermont National Guard along with MREs (meals, ready to eat), a separate federal program. From then through at least June 30, boxes will be distributed weekdays in different locations around the state.

Local restaurateurs are circulating an online petition that asks Vermonters to help "save Vermont restaurants.” Launched over the weekend, the petition seeks support as the industry plans for reopening of dine-in service — at a date yet to be named — after its state-mandated closure on March 17 due to the coronavirus.

“We are here to let you know that the Vermont Restaurant Industry is in crisis and we need your support,” the petition reads. “Without easily accessible direct aid many restaurants will close permanently.”

Chicken Parmesan is one of those recipes I kind of take for granted. I don't make it much, but when I do I remember how good it can be. And it reminds me to think more positively about boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which I tend to dismiss for being bland and boring.

Too often, it disappoints with soggy chicken smothered under layers of tomato sauce and cheese. I owe this crispier, lighter version to a combination of suggestions from an old standby in my (ridiculously huge) cookbook collection, Italian Classics from the editors of Cook's Illustrated (Boston Common Press, 2002) and a recipe from the website Food52.
The key is mostly to broil the cheese onto pan-fried cutlets and to wait until serving to spoon over some hot marinara. Other than that, it's pretty simple, though a bit messy.

I can assure you that it does not require great culinary expertise, because my dear brother-in-law, Conor, earned his first fully fledged A for this dinner when he made it with my long-distance coaching a couple weeks ago. (This says more about the forgiving nature of the recipe than Conor's newly developed cooking skills. We've had both ups and downs in our recent cooking sessions, though the teacher might need to take some responsibility.)

Chicken Parmesan is somewhat less flexible than some of the other recipes I've shared in this column. You could obviously make it with veal cutlets, or thin boneless pork cutlets (which tend to taste like chicken). It would also work with sliced eggplant, of course, making it eggplant Parm. I have a feeling it could even work well with thick "steaks" of cauliflower (cut 1-inch slices crown to stem from the widest center part of the cauliflower; keep the stem on to hold them intact) briefly steamed and patted dry, but have not yet tried that.

Conor actually made it with boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts, because that's what he had on hand. As proven by his grade, it was obviously delicious, if a little more raggedy looking.

You could make the tomato sauce from scratch if you want, but good store-bought sauce works perfectly well. Any pasta shape is fine, and mozzarella can be fresh or the pre-shredded kind.

As some readers might recall, Conor has embarked upon this effort to build cooking skills because he and my sister will be welcoming their first child next month. They recently completed a five-plus-hour online birthing preparation class, which left them exhausted and only somewhat less anxious than before.

How Conor will fulfill his assigned roles as breathing coach and chief hydration officer remains to be seen. I have full faith, however, that he will be able to feed the new mother a fine chicken Parmesan.

Crispy Chicken Parm

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 (about 1½ pounds) boneless, skinless chicken breasts (sub: boneless, skinless thighs or other suggestions per above)
  
• 1½ teaspoons plus a pinch coarse salt, divided
  
• ⅓-½ cup all-purpose flour
  
• Freshly ground pepper
  
• 1 large egg (maybe one more if needed)
  
• 1 cup panko Japanese-style breadcrumbs (sub: dry or fresh breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs)
  
• 3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan
  
• 1 (24-ounce) jar marinara sauce
  
• Pasta, your choice
  
• 4-5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
  
• About 4 ounces fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced (sub: 1 cup shredded mozzarella)

1. If you don't have a large broiler-proof skillet, line a rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan with foil and set aside.
   
2. Trim any extra fat from chicken breasts. If they have smaller tenders attached, pull those off. Place your palm flat on the top of each breast and very carefully slice through horizontally in half (with the knife blade parallel to your palm) to make two relatively even, thinner pieces of breast. Sprinkle one teaspoon of salt evenly over chicken and set aside on cutting board.
   
3. Arrange three wide, shallow soup bowls in a row. In the first, whisk together the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, ⅓ cup flour and several grinds of fresh pepper. In the second, beat egg with a drizzle of water and pinch of salt. In the third, stir together panko and Parmesan.
   
4. Set water to boil for pasta.
   
5. Using tongs or your hand (this gets messy), dip each piece of chicken (including any tenders), first in flour to coat lightly on both sides and then egg, before pressing each side into the breadcrumb mixture. Place on a clean cutting board or large platter as they are coated. (If you find you need more of any coating layer, just add a little more to the bowl; much better than wasting excess raw-chicken-contaminated ingredients.)
   
6. Start cooking pasta per package directions and pour marinara sauce into a saucepan set over medium to heat up.
   
7. Set a large (ideally broiler-proof) skillet over medium-high heat and heat 3 tablespoons of the oil until it shimmers. Add chicken pieces in batches to avoid crowding. Cook until dark golden brown and crisp, about 3 to 4 minutes each side. As chicken is done, remove pieces to a clean plate or foil-lined rimmed baking sheet if using. Add remaining oil to skillet as needed to finish cooking chicken. If using broiler-proof skillet, wipe out any extra oil and put chicken back in skillet to go under broiler.
   
8. While frying chicken, turn on oven broiler with a rack in the highest spot. When pasta is cooked and drained and marinara is hot, sprinkle mozzarella evenly over fried chicken pieces and broil for 2 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
   
9. Serve chicken over pasta with marinara spooned over top.
   

Got cooking questions? Feel free to email them to [email protected].

Two problems in Vermont — food insecurity and dairy surplus — converged Friday afternoon in a St. Albans parking lot, where Franklin County farmers gave away 2,500 gallons of milk to a steady stream of Vermonters.

“We come from a lot of generations of dairy farmers up here in Franklin County, and we love our community so much,” said Meghan St. Pierre, 26, of  Pleasant Valley Farms. “A lot of folks are struggling right now.”

Tags: King's Corner Deli , breakfast , Burlington , food , Web Only , Image