Saturday, March 5, 2011

Chocolate Sweet

Double Chocolate Sweet Potato Oatmeal

Last night as I watched American Idol draw out two long hours of results, I had some time to do some thinking.
I wanted to create a fun Friday breakfast to celebrate the approaching weekend, incorporating fresh sweet potato into my morning oatmeal. I wasn’t in the mood to bake anything or for it to take longer than 10 minutes, so I decided that finely grating the fresh sweet potato into my oatmeal would be a sneaky way to cut down the cooking time that is normally required for such a tater.

Oh, and it worked. It worked wonderfully!
And because I was already sneaking in some veggies into my breakfast, I decided that some chocolate was in order to round it out. It’s all about the balance, right?

Normally, I am not a fan of overly sweet things in the morning, but I found that just a tablespoon of cocoa powder and 1/2 square of dark chocolate was enough to turn a normal bowl of oatmeal into something quite decadent, while still being nutritious and energizing.

Oh She Glows

Double Chocolate Sweet Potato Oatmeal

Inspired by my Carrot Cake Oatmeal and Live Well 360.
Super chocolaty without a ton of sugar, this bowl of oatmeal is high in volume and taste. The grated sweet potato is a wonderful way to sneak a veggie into your morning routine!
Yield: 1 serving
Base Ingredients:

1/4 cup oats
3/4 cup finely grated sweet potato
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 cup non-dairy milk (I used organic soy)
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp + 1 tsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. In a medium sized pot, stir together the oats, milk, chia seeds, and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Now stir in the grated sweet potato and the 1/4 cup of water. Cook on medium, stirring often, for a few more minutes.
2. Stir in the cocoa powder and cinnamon, being sure to get out any clumps. When the mixture has thickened up nicely, stir in the vanilla and maple syrup and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl and top with a bit of dark chocolate or your desired toppings.
Toppings I used: 1/2 square dark chocolate, 1 tbsp Chocolate Crunch Dessert Granola, few shreds of sweet potato for garnish.

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The Title: Double Chocolate Sweet Potato Oatmeal
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First, bring the oats, milk, chia seeds, and salt to a low boil and reduce heat to medium. Now stir in the finely grated sweet potato and 1/4 cup of water. Cook on medium, stirring frequently, for a few minutes.

Now stir in the cinnamon and cocoa powder, making sure to get out all the clumps!

Chocolaty goodness!
Cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently. Now add in the maple syrup and vanilla and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl and add your desired toppings!

On top: 1/2 square chopped dark chocolate (it got all melty and wonderful!), a few shreds of sweet potato for garnish, and 1 tbsp of granola.

The result is a super chocolaty and decadent-tasting bowl of oatmeal with a ton of volume thanks to the sweet potato. It was just the right amount of sweetness for me, but of course you can always adjust to your own taste buds!

I’ve seen this blog survey making the rounds so I decided to fill it out myself (I also did this while watching American Idol last night!).

A-Z Survey

A. Age: 27
B. Bed size: King (as of 2011)…can’t believe we waited so long! I think my legs are getting longer from all the stretching I do now.
C. Chore you dislike: Scrubbing tile floors
D. Dogs: growing up- Pepper + Jasmine….RIP!! Both muts, both amazing dogs. I can’t wait to adopt my next one. I’m a huge, huge, huge dog lover. I was never a cat fan until Eric bought Sketchie! Now I love both cats and dogs, but I am still partial to dogs….shhhh.
E. Essential start to your day: Slippers
F. Favorite color: I can’t pick just one so- Blue, Pink, Orange, Green. I love colour!
G. Gold or silver: Gold…I’m old school and it looks best with my skin tone. I prefer silver for house décor though.
H. Height: 5’4.5" (but with my stilettos 5’9"!)
I. Instruments you play(ed): Well, let me just say that my best friend and I were formerly (currently!?) known as the ‘Squeak Sistas’…we rocked that Clarinet throughout school! Squeak!
J. Job title: Business owner/recipe developer/photographer/blogger/dish washer/molly maid.
K. Kids: Just Sketchie and our stuffed animals right now!
L. Live: Gorgeous green & hilly countryside…aka: The Sticks. We have 1 traffic light. Seriously. We did the big city thing for a couple years and did not enjoy the traffic headaches, pollution, and congestion.
M. Mom’s name: OSGMOM….Or Lori.
N. Nicknames: Dawn (middle name), Angie/Ange, Granola (one of my friends started calling me this when I went vegan! ha), Martha, shots, Lulu, Lil Gal, Skirts, Lids.
O. Overnight hospital stays: None yet…*knocks on wood*
P. Pet peeves: Stinky feet, finding another person’s hair in a hotel bathroom, pesticides on produce, finding used bandaids on the ground/swimming pool, when post office loses my parcels, Tigerblood, thinking I have a food in the fridge and finding out it is GONE!
Q. Quote from a movie: ‘You guys look like a bunch of ice cream cones!’ (Any guesses?)
R. Righty or lefty: Righty, but I used to try to teach myself how to be ambidextrous when I was young. no such luck.
S. Siblings: Sister Kristi, half-sis and half-bro: Kerrie and Chris, Step sis and step bro: Jennifer and Michael.
T. Time you wake up: Between 7-7:30am. Bedtime is 11:30-12:00 (we are both night owls and LOVE to stay up late, especially on weekends!).
U. Underwear: Oh I didn’t think this was that kind of questionnaire!
V. Vegetables you don’t like: Chard. That is the only one I can think of, so I guess I’m doing good!
W. What makes you run late: Traffic, Blogging, unexpected clothing freak-outs. I’m usually early though and hate to be late.
X. X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, pelvic area (when I had pelvic strain from running in 2009), Head (I fell on the ice and hit my head in 2008…outcome still unclear!).
Y. Yummy food you make: I’m really loving my spin-off oatmeals lately.
Z. Zoo animal favorites: The animals that are released back into the wild!
PS- My current American Idol Favs are: Paul, Pia, Haley, and Casey! What about you?

Chocolate Mania

Chocolate Prices, CA Chicken and Pork Recall, Mardi Gras Cake, New Ben & Jerry Flavor

2011-03-04+20%3A00%3A18Gillian+Ferguson

Every Friday we’ll spotlight a few key stories in the week of food news. Please feel free to share links to stories you think are important:
- Google introduces new recipe search feature (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Chocolate prices are on the rise (Business Week)
- California food merchant recalls 64,000 chicken and pork products (LA Weekly)
- Bakers reimagine Mardi Gras cake (Washington Post)
- Ben & Jerry’s latest ice cream flavor is Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Late Night Snack’ (Huffington Post)

Monday, February 28, 2011

Thick and Chewy Chocolate

Chocolate - Thick and Chewy Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookie

These Thick and Chewy Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookies are destined to become your favorite cookie. A twist on the traditional chocolate chip cookies, these oversized cookies are exploding with chocolate and butterscotch chips. Thick from the edge to the center, chewy and soft. Serve warm from the oven with a cold glass of milk!
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookies
Printer Friendly Version
Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips.
Roll a scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join halves back together into one ball so that the top surface is jagged. Place onto prepared cookie sheet, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart.
Bake until cookies are light golden brown, outer edges start to harden, and centers are still soft and puffy, about 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets. Remove cookies using a wide metal spatula. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Source: adapted from The New Best Recipe

Chocolate Mini Turkey Tart

How To Make Chocolate Filled Mini Turkey Tarts

There s something magical about desserts that look like they took an eternity to make, but really don t. This recipe can be whipped up in less than 15 minutes and perfect for kids to lend a hand with — plus it puts to use specialty cookie cutters (like this turkey) that only see the light of day a few times a year!

What You Need
Ingredients
1 recipe pie dough (we won t tell if you use store bought, it works fine)
1 bag chocolate chips (peanut butter and butterscotch are great too!)
1 egg
sanding sugar
Equipment
1 pastry brush
cookie cutters of choice
parchment paper
baking sheet
small bowl
Instructions
1. Gather & Pre-Heat: This recipe is rather assembly line in nature, so having all your ingredients ready to go makes things infinitely easier. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees to get things going.
2. Whisk Egg: Mix 1 whole egg in a small bowl until combined. Set aside, but not too far from your baking sheet so there s less drips!
3. Roll Out Pie Crust: If you re using homemade, your goal is 1/8 of an inch. It doesn t have to be perfect, but as close as possible is always a good thing. If using store bought, unroll or thaw slightly and slip out of the pan onto a lightly floured surface.
4. Cut Your Shapes: You ll need two of everything, so cut as many pieces as possible in even numbers. The smaller your cutter the more you ll end up with, the larger it is, the less you ll end up with (obviously), but remaking extra dough is no big deal once the first batch hits the oven.
5. Place On Baking Sheet: Place 1 layer of dough cut outs on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave an inch between each (more if it s handmade dough and slightly thicker) piece. Save the tops for a different step.
6. Add Filling: Add a small amount of chocolate chips (say a tablespoon for large ones, less for smaller), making sure to keep them in the center of each shape and keeping them away from the edges.
7. Seal: Using the pastry brush, run a line of egg wash around the outside of the filling on the edge of the pie crust. Place the top piece over it and gently press the edges together. You shouldn t have to press hard as the egg does the work for you, but making sure all the edges touch is imperative to having them come out of the oven without leaks!
8. Wash and Sprinkle: Go over the top of each tart with your egg wash and gently sprinkle with granulated sugar or sanding sugar of your choice.
9. Bake: Allow tarts to bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on size) or until golden brown. Allow to cool on parchment paper before transferring to a cooling rack (though the entire sheet of parchment paper can be moved to a rack to reuse the pan for the next batch).
Additional Notes:
You can use almost anything as filling so if you re running low on chocolate chips (or chips of any kind for that matter), don t despair and try a little peanut butter and jelly, or even just jelly. Stray bits of candy, marshmallows or even a bit of cheese can get the job done if you re looking for a healthier alternative.
Need Some Help Perfecting Your Pie Crust?
• How To Make Pie Crust From Scratch
• Finishing Touches: How to Get a Perfect Golden Pie Crust
• Trader Joe s Pantry: Trader Joe s Frozen Pie Crusts
Want more smart tutorials for getting things done around the home?
How To Make Chocolate Filled Mini Turkey Tarts

chocolate raspberry cake recipes

Chocolate Recipes - chocolate raspberry cake

Let me get straight to the point and tell you that this is one of my very favorite cake recipes. It’s chocolate (which scores it several points right off the bat) accented by a delightfully tart raspberry filling. The layers are moist and rich and the three of them piled up together give it some impressive height.

The cake is a little more complex and the ingredients are a little pricier than the average cake (especially because I always seem to accidentally buy twice as much chocolate as necessary because the original recipe calls for a ganache filling instead of raspberry), but it’s definitely worth it. Still, I currently only make it once a year for the annual February get-together for the birthday celebration of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Chocolate Raspberry Cake

This year’s family get-together was especially fun with the addition of Jill, an old college friend of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and because my niece, Amelia, is now nearly 2 1/2 years old. We don’t get to see Amelia nearly often enough and each time we see her it’s like I’m looking at a whole new person! She grows and develops new skills so quickly and it’s so cool to see how much she has changed.

I had the great honor of being her guest of honor at many, many tea parties over the course of the weekend. I don’t hang out with many 2-year olds and was amazed at how happy she was to do the same thing over, and over, and over again. And over again, and again. Amelia has such a sparkle in her eye and a laugh that can only make me smile inside and out, so there’s nothing I would have rather done this weekend than sit and sip tea with Amelia, Coco, Baby Duck, Mama Duck, and Owl. It was a really fun weekend that kept my mind off my upcoming knee surgery and left me feeling renewed and very, very well fed.

Double Chocolate Layer Cake

Adapted from Gourmet, March 1999 via Smitten Kitchen
This isn’t a very complicated cake, but there are still a few steps to it. To make it a little more manageable, I like to make the layers one night, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and freeze them. The next day, I make the raspberry filling and ganache and assemble the cake.
For cake layers
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
For ganache frosting
This makes enough for a very thin layer of frosting. If you want more frosting, you might want to make an additional half recipe. It’s a rich cake and I don’t think it needs the extra frosting, but wanted to give you a heads up that it is a thin layer.
8 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Raspberry Filling
You could probably get away with only making a half recipe, but it’s nice to have extra raspberry puree on hand (and hey, you can slather it right on your cake if you want more raspberry goodness.
2 10-ounce bag frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Special equipment: three 9-inch round cake pans
Make cake layers:
Preheat oven to 300F and butter pans. Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment and butter the paper.
Finely chop the chocolate and place in a medium-sized nonreactive bow. Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
In a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add the sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.
Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35-45 minutes.
Cool the layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment paper and cool the layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature, or can be frozen for several days.
Make Raspberry Filling
2 10-ounce bag frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Puree the raspberries in a food processor, blender or immersion blender. Press the puree through a fine-mesh strainer with the back of a spoon, removing the seeds. Heat the puree in a small pot with the sugar and cornstarch until mixture boils, stirring constantly. As it boils, it should thicken quickly. Let it thicken to about the consistency of cold maple syrup.
Let it cool complete before spreading it over two layers.
Make frosting:
Finely chop the chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
Transfer the frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). If necessary, you can stir the ganache over a bowl of ice water to cool it off quickly and evenly.
Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

Chocolate Ginger

Chocolate - Chocolate Ginger

Plain chocolate. Ginger, crystalised (tasty) or stem (heaven).
Wonderful. Addictive. Ahhhhh….

CRYSTALISED GINGER

Costiness: £2.47 for 250g from A Quarter Of

STEM GINGER

Costiness: £3.10 for 250g or £29.99 for the whole 3kg jar

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Chocolate Boule

Cranberry Chocolate Banana Sourdough Boule

My son has been begging for banana bread. I have been obsessed with sourdough boules. So I found the recipe for Cranberry Chocolate Sourdough on SourdoughHome. As you can already guess, I decided to make it, adding the bananas. It was a mixing nightmare, super elastic dough, smushy bananas & boiled cranberries refusing to be mixed in. So I just kind of squished it together and over 3 hours attempted some S&F's. After 3 hours it finally relaxed & I was able to shape it into a kind of boule and bake it. Pictured are the results. I thought for sure I'd made another flop, but we all like it, weird as it is.