These rich, fudgy brownies full of huckleberry flavor are a wonderful summertime treat… and are tied to a pretty intense memory to match! If you are foraging your own huckles, please do so safely!

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I am a forest girl through and through. I grew up in the wilderness of Idaho, spending summers on a remote fire lookout that was an hour’s drive and a steep 4-mile hike from anywhere. Since the woods are so familiar to me, I do not fear them. When my city friends express fear of the wilderness, my eyebrows raise a bit, since I am absolutely more afraid of city streets after dark (and truthfully, far more terrible things have happened to me in the darkness of the city than of the wilderness.) 

Yes, our woods contain cougars, bears, and wolves. Yes, I have seen all of them in person, often not that far away. But animal behavior is more predictable than human behavior, and I have learned that animals are usually just as frightened of you as you are of them and the only time they are likely to attack is if they feel threatened or cornered, if they are protecting their young, or if they view you as prey (unlikely if you’re a fully grown adult.) Sharing space with these awe-inspiring animals means having an awareness of your surroundings and listening to your intuition. There have been times when I had a sudden thought pop into my head “it’s time to leave right now,” as the hair on the back of my neck prickled. Those thoughts are rarely anxious or emotive; rather I experience them as an inner voice clearly stating a fact. I listen to those gut feelings on the rare occasion that I feel them, and often find out later that there was a predator in the area. Clearly our subconscious minds are able to pick up on threats that our conscious minds don’t always process, whether that is noticing a particular shadow in the distance or smelling something unseen. 

The bears that live in this area of Idaho are brown and black bears - much smaller than the ferocious Grizzly that seems to embody the archetype of “bear” in our minds. I’ve come close to brown and black bears numerous times in the woods and usually the bear will scamper away from me, or watch warily from a distance. We give each other space, and everything is fine. The notable exception is when cubs are in the picture. A playful and curious cub may wander closer and closer to a human and once mama bear realizes that, she’ll do whatever she thinks is necessary to protect her baby. (Can’t really fault her for that!) That’s why anytime I see an adult bear, I quickly start scanning my surroundings for the presence of a cub. And if I see a cub first, I know that mama is probably not far away, and I give that cute little cub plenty of distance. 

One of my most memorable bear encounters happened just after the full solar eclipse that passed over Idaho in August of 2018. Feeling a bit hypnotized by what I had just witnessed, I drove up alone into the mountains for some quiet reflection in the woods. I came upon a lovely stream lined with black currants and shed my clothes to take a dip. The feeling of the breeze on my skin felt so lovely I decided to leave my clothes behind and wander a bit. Nobody else was likely to be in this remote patch of National Forest land. Not far away was a huge huckleberry patch, ripe with late-season huckles. I happily wandered further and further into it, nibbling on huckleberries and tossing some into a makeshift basket I’d fashioned out of my bandana. I lost track of space and time, the tunnel vision of ripe clusters of juicy berries pulling my full attention. After a while, I felt that familiar neck prickle, and I turned around to realize I was nearly nose-to-nose with a brown bear, who looked about as surprised as I was! I quickly surveyed the area for signs of cubs and, sure enough, there was one running around on the hillside behind his mother, but I was unsure if there was another cub and, if so, where it might be frolicking. “Okay, stay calm,” I told myself. “This can’t be how I die. ‘Naked Lady in the Woods Killed by Protective Mother Bear’ is not the headline I am ready to go out on.” Even in the charge of that moment, there was something undeniably humorous in my situation. 

Instead of running, I just stood there, still and silent, watching the bear as she watched me with the same mixture of trepidation and curiosity. (“Why is this human without their strange colorful hides?”) Once we’d established that neither was going to attack, we stood there a few moments longer just basking in mutual curiosity. I took in the details of her face, her glistening eyes and large nose, the texture and color shifts in the fur swirling down her body. I had the strangest sensation of being truly seen by her as well in a way that no human has seen me before. It was humbling.  I felt strangely calm as we watched each other, close enough to see the sunlight glinting off of individual hairs on her backlit shoulder. There was an undeniable connection that filled me with total awe. What a gift it was to share those long, sundrenched moments. 

A rustle in the bush just behind her snapped us out of our reverie. Ah, cub number two, and he was close. Time to go. I slowly backed away from the bears, keeping my eyes towards them until I was a good distance away, then I turned around and scampered through the woods back to my clothes. I drove home with my heart thundering in my chest, both at the adrenaline of my encounter but also because it felt like absolute wild forest magic. The huckleberries I nibbled on the drive home have become a sensory link to that particular memory. Now, just the taste of them fills me with a little of that wild forest magic still. 

Huckleberry Brownie Bear Paws 

In honor of that memorable occasion, I’ve created a delicious confection: bear paws (no, not bear claws the pastry.) Fudgy, crackly-topped brownies are filled with fresh mountain huckleberries (which contrast the chocolate wonderfully) then iced and decorated to look like black bear paws. Utterly delicious, let me tell you! 

Ingredients: 

1/2 c. vegetable oil 

½ c. huckleberry puree

¼ c. almond milk

2 c. sugar

4 large eggs

4 tsp. Vanilla extract 

2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. flour

½ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Baking powder

1 c. fresh huckleberries 

Toasted cashews, for claws

Chocolate buttercream, below

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9x13” pyrex rectangular pan. 

2. Whisk together the oil, huckleberry puree, almond milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, then add the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder. Batter should be thin and smooth. Fold in the huckcleberries and spread the batter evenly in the greased pan, using a rubber spatula to smooth the surface. 

3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. A crackly crust should form on top and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean (unless it hits a huckleberry.) 

Chocolate Buttercream 

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. cocoa 

5 c. powdered sugar

½ c. milk

1 Tbs. rum or vanilla 

Directions: 

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and stir until the mixture is thick. 

2. Pour the cocoa mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, then add the rum and mix in well. Add the powdered sugar and the milk a little at a time, alternating between the two and beating well between each addition. Adjust the consistency as desired with more powdered sugar or more milk until it is soft but not sticky. 

3. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a tip with lots of small holes. 

4. Cut a large foot shape out of the sheet of brownies and pipe the frosting on to look like fur. If you want it to look like the top of a foot, cover the entire surface, then stick on the cashews for claws. If you want it to look like the bottom of the foot, leave the ball of the foot and the toes unfrosted and place the cashews on at a lower angle to look like they are curling around from the other side. 

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