Goin Nutty on Bloc 11

October 4, 2009

Almonds, cashews, walnuts and pecans came together this weekend in Somerville at Bloc 11 Café on Bow Street for a quaint five table feast. The goal was two-fold; to both showcase the talents of local bakeries and to raise money for the Juniper Fund. The Juniper Fund is a recently developed scholarship fund in memory of a John S. Hall, a bass player for the Addison Groove Project who passed away in 2004.

As mentioned in previous posts, I have an issue with an insatiable sweet tooth, so after making a Juniper donation and entering the terrace filled with baked goods, all hell (or heaven) broke loose. It began with the Flour Bakery and Café table. As pictured above they boasted a hazelnut truffle of sorts with layers of chocolate, creamy vanilla mouse, crunchy cookie center all topped with hazelnuts and almond slivers.

Next stop, How2Hero’s.  

I went for them because there were apples on the table and I was trying to make myself feel better, but before I could go healthy, six trays of different cookie and muffin platters got in my way. Who could have predicted that pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with cinnamon spice and sweet vanilla frosting or cranberry walnut muffins, or pecan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies would be more satisfying than a granny smith apple? What’s unique about How2Heroes is that they are a new web based company devoted solely to delivering free baking recipes to the masses so that everyone can “cook, eat. and be merry” as they’re slogan says. From oatmeal pecan maple thins to sunrise fruit and nut cookies, the recipes are all available for free at how2heroes.com.

I finished my tasting orgy with the Kickass Cupcakes table, where a tower of miniature chocolate morsels beckoned me. Each one was a rich buttery dark chocolate cupcake with a hidden cashew nougat center, topped with all natural chocolate cream frosting.

My sugar coma was officially taking hold and I made for the exit where I may or may not have been forced to grab a ridiculous looking pecan almond canoli from Channel Café, for the T-ride home. When in Somerville, eat nuts and be merry, for tomorrow food is not necessarily free.