Chomps of Life

Easy & Healthy GF Chocolate Pancakes

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:00:47 -0800

A while ago I posted a recipe for gluten free pancakes promising a recipe for gluten free chocolate pancakes in the future. Well, today’s that day! These pancakes are super simple to make (provided you have a blender) and they taste amazing! Chocolate lovers (aka me), these are for you!

Gluten Free Chocolate Pancakes

1 egg

1 tablespoon dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 tiny pinch salt

1/4 cup oats

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Fry on a nonstick surface! (very very important that the pan is nonstick. My other pans couldn’t handle this batter)

Serve with a healthy drizzle (dousing) of chocolate ganache (1 tbs of chocolate chips melted in 2 tbs heavy whipping cream)!

On a side note, my camera is still broken :( Luckily I have this picture from before it broke.

Oatmeal Blueberry Banana Bread (Gluten Free)

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:07:00 -0800

First, let me apologize for the quality of the picture. My camera lens isn’t working so I have to make do with my iPhone camera for that time being.

However, I’m not going to let that get in the way of this gluten free oatmeal blueberry banana bread. This bread is anything but traditional, but it’s ridiculously delicious nevertheless.

It’s a crumbly, slightly sweet bread, reminiscent of cornbread. Kind of like this oatmeal pumpkin bread, just banana-y (no kidding).

At first I considered adding chocolate chips but I wanted to use up the carton of blueberries in my fridge and plus, without chocolate chips, I dare call this bread…healthy? (Well, before I drizzled it with a cream cheese yogurt glaze). Let’s go with that.

Oatmeal Blueberry Banana Bread

2 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1 tbs coconut oil

1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla

100 grams almonds*

200 grams old fashioned dried oatmeal*

1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 cup blueberries

*OR use 1/2 cup almond meal and 2 1/2 cups oatmeal flour

Stir together the mashed bananas, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla.

In a food processor pulse the almonds and dried oatmeal until a fine powder.

Add to a bowl and stir in the baking powder, salt, and spices.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Stir 30 seconds more.

Fold in the blueberries.

Bake in a 9 inch round cake pan at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let cool, then serve plain or frosted.

Cream Cheese Yogurt Glaze

To be honest, I eyeballed this glaze. Here are the basic measurements I used for two servings: 1 tbs cream cheese, 2 tbs plain yogurt, 2 tbs powdered sugar, 1 tsp milk

Chocolate Macarons

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:55:00 -0800

I’m not going to sugarcoat this: macarons are finicky little beasts.

Out of the various times (read: 5 or more) I’ve tried to make them, all batches have failed to some degree.

Sorry to say, the batch pictured was somewhat of a failure too. I admit I’m sort of deceiving you with these pictures.

This batch wasn’t a disaster by any means and the macarons tasted delicious, formed adorable ‘feet’ and had a perfectly soft/chewy texture combo, but the other 3/4 of the batch had cracks.

I’m pretty sure it’s because I didn’t let the macarons rest long enough before baking them, given the last ones in the oven had the fewest cracks. Lesson learned.

From my many attempts at macaron making, I can give the following tips with confidence:

Let the macarons rest!
Weigh the ingredients. For a while I didn’t have a scale and thought measuring in cups would work just as well. It doesn’t.
Let the macarons cool before filling. The last thing you want is to ruin a perfectly good beautiful batch of macarons with runny filling — I know from personal experience.
If the macarons stick, wipe a damp cloth on the bottom side of the parchment. (Works best if they are still warm.)
Don’t over or under fold the batter. Over folding can cause excessive spreading, and under folding can lead to bumpy macarons. (I wasn’t lying when I said macarons are finicky.)
If you succeed on your first try, gold star for you (and please, send some of your skills to me!). If you don’t, try again.

Chocolate Macarons

150 grams powdered sugar

110 grams almond meal

10 grams dutch processed cocoa powder (~2 tbs)

100 grams egg whites

50 grams sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Sift together the powdered sugar, almond meal, and cocoa.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually adding the sugar. Stir in the vanilla,

Fold the dry ingredients into the whipped egg whites until no streaks remain.

Pipe or scoop the batter onto 3 parchment paper lined baking trays. Allow to rest for at least an hour and a half.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 16 minutes. If the macarons stick to the parchment, wipe the bottom side of the parchment (below the macarons) with a damp cloth. This should loosen them and make them easier to remove.

Fill with ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

1 cup semi sweet chocolate

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

In a saucepan, heat the chocolate and heavy whipping cream until a smooth chocolate mixture forms.

Cool until spreadable.

On a side note, I’m interested in posting more dinner recipes! For some reason, I’m feeling quite sugared out. Lately I’ve been cooking my own meals (or having my mom order takeout), so there’s a bunch I can potentially share!

Lemon & Almond Ricotta Cake with Berries

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:18:00 -0800

Originally, my family’s Christmas eve plans included lasagna. My mom commissioned me to make it, and per my request went grocery shopping, buying noodles, tomatoes, and tubs of ricotta cheese among other ingredients.

The problem was, no one really wanted lasagna, and I didn’t especially want to make it either. I made a sample batch, and with homemade tomato sauce, it took me nearly three hours. I couldn’t really imagine repeating that process, especially in the midst of our Christmas dinner chaos.

So, instead we had fish tacos, shrimp, beans, rice, turkey, and mashed potatoes…a strange (but delicious) combination. Seeing this left me with two and a half tubs of ricotta cheese, I decided to make ricotta cake for dessert. I’m not a fan of cheese in dessert (though I’m learning to appreciate cream cheese frosting — cheesecake is still a nope), but the ricotta simply made this cake deliciously tender and moist.

Everyone loved it, so much so that I’ve made two batches to use up all the ricotta. I brought it to a gathering with friends, and every last crumb was devoured. My friends and family all loved it, so hopefully you’ll try it and love it just as much.

Lemon & Almond Ricotta Cake with Berries

NOTE: The first time I made the recipe, I used a loaf pan. The second time (pictured) I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 13x18 in jelly roll pan.

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2/3 cups oil

1 1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

lemon zest from 1 lemon (save the juice for a glaze - recipe below)

1 carton (~1 1/2 cups) blackberries/raspberries

~1/2 cup sliced almonds (i used the extra crushed almonds from a batch a macarons i made)

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk together the oil, ricotta, and sugar in large bowl for several minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the extracts and lemon zest.

Add the dry ingredients, and stir until most of the flour is incorporated.

Fold in the berries, continuing to stir until no streaks of flour remain.

Pour in a 9 inch loaf pan, sprinkle with almonds, and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool on rack completely.

Lemon Glaze

Juice from 1 lemon

1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar (depending on how much lemon juice))

There are two ways to use the lemon: for a glaze or for an ‘infuser’.

To make a lemon glaze topping, combine the juice from the lemon and enough powdered sugar to form a thin glaze. Pour or spread over cooled cake.

To make a lemon ‘infuser,’ add enough powdered sugar to temper the sourness of the lemon juice. Poke the cake with a fork when still warm, then pour the sweetened lemon juice over it. The sauce will add additional moistness and flavor.

I can vouch that both work well for this cake! It’s a great way to use up the part of the lemon the cake doesn’t use.

Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten free)

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 21:19:00 -0800

These cupcakes are like eating a cloud of fluffy chocolate brownie cake frosted with the inside of Lindor truffles.

My dad has been sneaking into the kitchen and taking two at a time, and he usually only nibbles at the desserts I make. I can’t blame him though; I’ve lost count of how many I’ve eaten.

These cupcakes are super chocolatey, and not too sweet (though a extra quarter cup of sugar or a few drops of stevia can fix that if sweeter desserts float your boat) and the frosting tastes like the inside of lindor truffles. Really, it does!

The cake is more creamy and dense than traditional chocolate cake and it reminds me somewhat of brownies, but that’s the only distinction I can make. There’s no bean taste whatsoever.

If you’re feeling particularly healthy, you could replace the eggs with egg whites and sugar with erythritol, but these aren’t bad as is. So relax, and eat a couple (or ten).

Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes

3 eggs

1 cup cooked black beans

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup sugar (increase to 3/4 cup if you like sweeter desserts)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor, blender, or with a hand emersion blender until smooth. The batter should be very creamy and thick — like chocolate pudding.

Divide into 30 mini cupcake liners.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Frost, or eat plain!

Inside of Lindor Chocolate Truffles Frosting

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup coconut oil

Combine and microwave until melted.

Let sit at room temperature until spreadable, or speed up the process using an ice bath.

Frost the cupcakes!

Five Minute Gluten Free Pancakes!

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:57:00 -0800

Five minutes from now you could have seven gluten free pancakes. Seven soft, fluffy pancakes that taste just as delicious as their wheat-filled counterparts. I’m so head over heels for these pancakes that I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to make regular ones again.

I’ve made this recipe six times in the past week — three times plain, once with chocolate chips, and twice with cocoa — and all versions received raving reviews from my parents and peers alike. Make this recipe, fall in love, and never spend more than five minutes making pancakes again.

EDIT: From an attempt to cook these pancakes on a regular frying pan, I’ve realized how important a nonstick surface is. So unless you want to make scrambled pancake, use nonstick!

Five Minute Pancakes

(1 minute for gathering ingredients, 1 minute for blending, and 3 minutes to cook; it’s really that easy!)

1/4 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon powdered sugar (I use 1 pitted date!)

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a blender.

Blend for about a minute, or until the mixture is smooth.

Cook at medium-high heat on a non stick pan until golden brown.

Serve plain, or with syrup, jam, ice cream, or chocolate sauce.

Because I’m still pancake-crazy, come back soon for:

Gluten free chocolate pancakes!

(Pumpkin pancakes, banana pancakes, cinnamon bun pancakes are in the making too — I have grand dreams for this recipe.)

Costa Rican Banana Cake

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:22:34 -0800

I’ve been to Costa Rica twice.

The first time was in 2009, when a past Spanish teacher invited some of his other former students to join a group of his current students on a trip there. Most of former students (the people I knew) couldn’t go, which left just my friend Sonia and me.

By that point, even though I had taken Spanish for three years, I would still fumble during simple conversations. My parents allowed me to go on the conditions that I would speak solely in Spanish, but considering I was there with 20 other teens and a close friend, none of whom could speak much better than I, that didn’t happen.

Instead I spent close to a week making new friends (in English) and having fun, not a total waste I think! (Though, if you ask my mom and dad, they grumble and say, “Yeah, yeah.”)

Me and Sonia in Costa Rica!

This summer, I lived with a Costa Rican family for three weeks. My days were divided between community service and Spanish lessons, with the occasional excursion on the weekends.

Since I visited with my friend and her sister, I wasn’t completely immersed and did speak some English, but with twenty hours of Spanish classes a week, I definitely improved my conversational skills and learned a lot.

When I’m at home, I tend to cook most of my meals myself, mostly because I’m impatient and can’t bear the lag between asking for food and actually receiving it.

In Costa Rica, my host mother generously set out plates of food for me three times a day, and for three weeks I happily ate black beans, flavored rice, cabbage salad, and vegetables, with the occasional caramel candy or slice of cake.

During one of the excursions, I bought a Costa Rican cookbook from a giftshop, already dreading a life without homemade rice and beans at every meal. It’s filled with recipes for savory and sweet dishes, and all the recipes I’ve tried so far have been successes.

I’ll post recipes for rice and beans soon, but they were both devoured before I could take pictures. Luckily, I snapped some shots of this banana cake in time.

This cake is denser than most banana cakes I’ve had, and the recipe called for cloves and nutmeg rather than cinnamon, but it was still delicious.

Costa Rican Banana Cake [Queque de banano]

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground gloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

8 ripe bananas

1/2 cup butter, melted & cooled

1 1/2 cups sugar (The cake was pretty sweet so next time I would reduce the sugar to 1 cup or 3/4 cup!)

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and spices.

In another bowl mash the bananas.

Add the butter, sugar, eggs milk, and vanilla.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Bake in a greased 9x13 pan for about 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie!

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:28:00 -0800

(It’s pretty ugly, I know.)

I have no clue why I like pumpkin pie so much. Technically, I think it should revolt me. I don’t like squash, can only stand sweet potato in fry form, and am I firm believer in keeping sugar and vegetables separate. I don’t even like mushy foods.

There’s absolutely no reason why I should be obsessed with a pie that’s basically soft, sweetened squash, but considering this is my third post about pumpkin pie and I’m just approaching 50 recipes, clearly I am. It’s not even a phase! I briefly had another food blog two years ago, and even with only 10 posts, pumpkin pie made an appearance. I might have a problem.

This year, I didn’t even have cake for my birthday — I HAD PUMPKIN PIE — and I’ve been eating pumpkin pie as breakfast (and dessert) for the past three days straight. Is there a pumpkin pie eaters anonymous club I can go to?

Please?

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Adapted from here.

See when you’re obsessed with pumpkin pie as I, you don’t want any crust distracting you from the real goodness — the filling. So here’s a crustless pumpkin pie recipe I adore. The pie pictured was really just me throwing ingredients together so it turned out a little more custardy than I prefer, but I’ve made the recipe below several times and the pie is always perfect. I even have a picture!

1 can PURE pumpkin puree (15 oz)

1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I just add heaps of cinnamon, and a little nutmeg, cloves and allspice)

1/2 cup biscuit baking mix (NOTE: For a more custardy texture, I’d reduce this to 1/4 cup, OR, I’d do what I did for pumpkin pie first pictured and add 1/4 cup potato starch instead.)

3/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon molasses (optional, but adds a great flavor)

Combine everything but the biscuit baking mix in a food processor. Blend until combined.

Add the biscuit baking mix and pulse until smooth.

Bake in a greased pie pan for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream!

Oh, and I forgot to say, Happy Thanksgiving! I’m still recovering from my family’s chaotic nineteen people affair. (Partially because I ate my weight in food.)

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:10:00 -0800

Unless I’m baking for a particular reason (a present, a party, to try making a new dessert), I don’t usually follow recipes. There’s something liberating about blending ingredients without any idea of what the end result will be. It’s the ultimate trial and error method for learning how ingredients interact - and I’m a trial and error sort of person (did you know I once spent 2 days making vegetarian marshmallows 3 different ways).

For a while I would just make simple cakes and biscuits, but lately I’ve been having more fun, working quinoa and beans and oatmeal into the baked goods I make. I just throw ingredients together and scribble down in what quantities, and usually, the end result is fine!

An example “recipe”

This method is how I somehow ended up with this gluten free pumpkin bread (which I’m pretty excited about, not gonna lie).

It wassuper easy to make, and it’s not dry NOR gummy like many gluten free baked goods tend to be. I’m already thinking about all the possible variations: chocolate cake, banana cake, carrot cake, everything cake. Yum~

I topped it with this cream cheese frosting, but I’m sure most anything would taste good.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal

1/4 cup gluten free protein powder

1/4 cup potato starch (I’m willing to bet tapioca starch would work too - and it’s easier to buy think.)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 ounces plain greek yogurt*

1 cup pumpkin

2 tbs syrup (maple, honey, or pancake syrup)

2 tbs oil

1 egg

*The final bread had a bit of tanginess from the yogurt. I liked it, but will probably replace with applesauce in the future.

In a food processor, blend the oatmeal until powdery. Add the protein powder, potato starch, baking powder, salt, and sugar, and pulse a couple times until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, pumpkin, syrup, oil, and egg.

Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Whisk about 30 seconds.

Bake at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes in a greased 8x8 pan, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Top with frosting, and serve.

Three Ingredient Banana Cookies

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:31:00 -0800

These are quite possibly the easiest cookies to make, ever.

They are vegan, gluten free, and sugar free, yet still taste great and are fun to eat. I added some cinnamon and chocolate to make them even more fun.

When it comes to baking on school nights, I’m super lazy, so these were an easy way to use up ripe bananas. Plus, my dad was able to try them, something he isn’t usually able to do because he’s still on his raw food + fish (+ chocolate ice cream, but he’d deny it if you asked) diet.

If you have bananas and want an easy recipe to try, make these cookies. They’re not thick and buttery like most cookies, but they’re still delicious! I ate them with ice cream and melted chocolate - just because.

Three Ingredient Banana Cookies

1/2 cup mashed bananas

3/4 cup old fashion oats

1 tsp cinnamon

Optional Ingredients (I added all):

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 cup chocolate chips

Mash the bananas.

Add 1/2 cup oats.

Grind the remaining 1/4 cup oats in a blender or food processor to create a fine powder, then add. OR, simply add the remaining 1/4 cups whole.

Add the coconut butter and stir the batter.

*OPTIONAL* Add in the vanilla extract and chocolate chips.

Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.

Scoop into round balls onto a baking sheet, flatten with your fingers, and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Buttermilk Pancakes with Berry Syrup

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:53:11 -0700

Pancakes and I have a shaky history.

I remember my brother Jonathan took me to an iHop when I was younger, around the time my dad switched to a raw food diet and cut my access to all “junk food” off, and being completely astounded by the sheer number of syrup flavors, let alone pancake combinations, served. Of course, at that time, all food not raw or completely natural had a negative stigma attached to it, so my experience was only slightly tainted by the guilt of eating white flour and sugar (the horror!). Still though, they were delicious and definitely fueled the love for pancakes I have today.

Pancakes and I are on good terms now. I haven’t been to an iHop since (turns out, they’re really not that delicious compared to homemade ones), rather I prefer to make my own pancakes. My favorite part of homemade pancakes is making syrups to go along with them, a process which is actually super, super easy. Berry syrup, caramel syrup, pudding (?), the toppings for pancakes are endless.

I’m definitely going to be making pumpkin pancakes sometime soon, but for now, these super simple, but delicious, buttermilk pancakes ought to suffice.

Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/8 cup buttermilk

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Stir together the flour, baking soda, sugar,and salt.

In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg, and butter.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, and GENTLY fold together. Do not overmix.

Cook on medium heat until golden brown.

Berry Syrup

1/4 cup pancake syrup (I used this sugar-free syrup, and I highly recommend it. It’s delicious!)

1/4 cup diced/crushed berries (I used about 3 strawberries and 2 blackberries)

Combine the syrup and berries together in a pan. Boil until the syrup is thick and the berries are cooked.

Serve with buttermilk pancakes! (Or basically anything)

Classic Chocolate Brownies

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 18:53:07 -0700

I’m currently trying to write my common app essay, which is, to put it lightly, a painful and mind numbing process.

So here are some brownies I made a while ago. (What I would do for one now.)

Classic Chocolate Brownies

adapted from here

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, vanilla, sugar, and eggs.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake in a 9x9 or 8x8 inch greased baking pan at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until the sides begin to pull away from the pan.

Classic Banana Bread

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:45:53 -0700

Last week I came home to six overripe bananas. They were sitting on the counter: mushy, with outsides spotted brown, and no one wanted to eat them.

So I did what anyone would do; I made banana bread. I used a really simple recipe (normally I use one that calls for creme fraiche among other specialty ingredients), and surprisingly, the results were really good!

I topped slices with strawberries and chocolate ganache, and wow, it was delicious!

Classic Banana Bread

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups mashed bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In another bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, and vanilla.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.

Stir in the mashed bananas.

Add fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until barely mixed.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees, for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Malawi Peanut Balls (Mtedza)

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:52:00 -0700

I’ve never really liked peanut butter. Peanut butter is just so rich and sticky, and only really tastes good when paired with lots and lots of jelly and bread. However, these cookies are crumbly and buttery and just taste so good. They remind me of peanut shortbread.

I originally intended for this post to go with “Alphabet Around the World,” but these were too good to wait until the letter “M”. They’re cute bite-sized treats — perfect for a tea party or the like.

Malawai Peanut Balls

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup roasted peanuts

1 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

1 cup flour

Powdered Sugar

Chop the roasted peanuts into fine pieces. (I think a food processor might work for this, however be careful not to over-process, or you will end up with peanut butter.)

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Stir in the vanilla, salt, and crushed peanuts.

Stir in the flour.

Divide into 2 tablespoon sized portions (easiest with a small ice cream scooper) and roll into balls.

Bake at 350, for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

While they are hot, roll in powdered sugar.

Place on a rack and allow to cool completely.

If desired, roll in powdered sugar again.

Blondies

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:18:48 -0700

Whenever I need a quick dessert, something to bring to a friend’s house or just to eat myself, I make these blondies. They’re EXTREMELY easy to make and don’t require any fancy ingredients. Perfect for when I’m feeling lazy (which is, well, most of the time).

And, they taste pretty awesome.

Blondies

adapted from here

1/2 cup (8 TBS) butter, melted

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

Stir together the melted butter and brown sugar.

Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Fold in the flour until no streaks remain.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour in a greased and parchment’d 8x8 inch pan and bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle.

C is for Choux Pastry Puffs

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 11:21:00 -0700

Okay, I have a confession. If you couldn’t already tell, these are actually eclairs. Choux really only refers to the dough used to make eclairs, while eclairs are choux dough doused in chocolate and loaded with custard (an improvement if you ask me!)

But to continue my Alphabet Around the World Challenge, which has been neglected for far too long, I needed a recipe that started with a C, and Choux fits that criteria!

This recipe was actually very simple, although a bit time consuming, and the results were delicious! I’d shy away from calling any recipe with choux foolproof, but this one seems to be very close to that! :)

Alphabet Around the World: A, B, C

Choux Pastry Puffs

recipe adapted from here

1 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 cup water

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a rolling boil.

Once boiling, immediately add all the flour, and stir until combined.

Continue cooking about a minute, or until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan (internal temperature should be 80 degrees C or 175 degrees F).

Remove from heat.

Allow to cool until 50 degrees C (120 degrees F).

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition.

Put the dough into a pipping bag (or plastic bag with corner cut).

Pipe the dough onto baking trays. They will puff up during baking so separate each piece by 3 inches.

Spritz the baking trays with water, and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until dark golden brown.

When the eclairs are removed from the oven, cut small slits into the sides to allow steam to escape.

Let cool completely.

Easy Vanilla Custard Filling

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

Bring to a boil a pan filled with about 2-3 inches of water.

In a glass or metal bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except the vanilla.

Place the bowl over the boiling water.

Whisk for about 20-25 minutes, or until the custard thickens considerably.

Remove from heat, whisk in the vanilla, and then let cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze

1 cup semi sweet chocolate

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

In a saucepan, heat the chocolate and heavy whipping cream until a smooth chocolate mixture forms.

To assemble the Eclairs

Cut 3 slits in the side of each eclair. Twist the knife when you cut them to form a more circular hole.

Place the cooled vanilla custard in a pastry bag (or plastic bag with corner cut), and then pipe into each slit until each cavity is filled.

Either brush or dip the eclairs into the chocolate glaze, then place on a baking rack and allow to sit until hardened.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 23:32:18 -0700

I’ve made countless versions of chocolate chip cookies: some calling for bread flour, others for egg yolks, some even for vanilla beans and brown butter and the like, but I’ve found, when it comes down to it, simplicity is best.

These cookies are good. They’re not too thin, not too thick, not too crispy, not too soft. They’re not the most extravagant cookies - they’re far from it - but they’re buttery and chocolatey, and sometimes simplicity is best.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

recipe adapted from here.

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 bag (2 cups) semi sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

In another bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract.

Fold in the dry ingredients until there are no streaks of flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Refrigerate for at least an hour (or just skip this step - most of the time i do)

Divide the dough into 2 tablespoons sized portions, and then bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Bake for shorter or more time depending on personal preferences. :)

Update:

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:29:00 -0700

For the past six weeks, I have been everywhere but home. Czech Republic, New York, Costa Rica - you name it.

While I definitely got to eat a lot of delicious food when I was traveling (especially Costa Rica; the traditional food there was unbelievable), I couldn’t exactly bake or blog.

BUT, I am home now, making tons of food (my parents aren’t so enthusiastic about the kitchen’s rapid decline of our kitchen), and documenting the things I have made.

So, I have about 6 drafts (so far), and I’m going to try and post them consistently.

It’s time to start blogging again. :)

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:53:00 -0700

This week I was looking up recipes to make as a post-finals celebration and I stumbled upon this recipe for funfetti cookies. Even though chocolate cake is my ultimate favorite (you can beat chocolate, really), I’ve always loved funfetti cakes. Funfetti specked foods are just so pretty, and of course, delicious. But mostly pretty.

Anyways I decided to make the cookies, and figured that I could make an extra large batch and give some to my teachers as a ‘thanks for putting up with me the whole year’ sort of deal. So I did. Wednesday. At midnight. (time management isn’t one of my strongpoints, obviously)

I was making the dough - had nearly finished making it actually - when I realized that I didn’t have any sprinkles. Since funfetti cookies without sprinkles are a no-go, I figured that I could just roll them in cinnamon sugar and call them snickerdoodles. Surprisingly, it worked out really well!

These cookies straight out of the ovens were just pillows of warm, soft, cookie goodness. Once they cooled they assumed a more traditional soft, chewy center, crisp edges cookie texture, but that was perfectly delicious as well. The recipe was really simple, and the results were delicious. Try it~

P.S. I’m thinking about incorporating some gifs into my posts. They’re fun to make and way cooler to look at that traditional pictures.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

adapted from here

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 large egg

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cups cornstarch

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Cream the butter and 1 1/4 cups of sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg and two extracts.

In another large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones until no streaks of flour are visible.

Using an ice cream scooper (or just by eyeballing it), make 1/4 cup sized balls of dough.

In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and the cinnamon.

Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture, and place on a greased baking sheet.

Bake for about 13 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the edges are light golden brown.

Let cool on a baking rack for several minutes (or be like me and just burn your tongue), and then enjoy with plenty of milk!

Dulce de Leche Gelato (with cookie chunks!)

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 17:25:00 -0700

When I was in Mexico I ate an embarrassing amount of dulce de leche.

Dulce de leche drowned chocolate ice cream. Dulce de leche crepes. Dulce de leche drizzled doughnuts. Dulce de leche everything.

You can blame me though—you would too if you were in Mexico and had an unlimited supply of it.

In honor of this delicious topping, I made Dulce de Leche Gelato with dulce de leche cookie chunks. Unfortunately I don’t have the recipe for the cookie chunks, because they resulted from a experimental recipe flop, but I think nearly any type of crushed cookie would work fine for this recipe (oatmeal especially, yum!).

The recipe for the ice cream base is creamy and caramel-y, but not too sweet. It took a matter of ten minutes and seven people for the entire batch to be eaten, and we were licking our bowls afterwards. Let me tell you, I can foresee a lot of this ice cream in my future. A lot.

Dulce de Leche Gelato

recipe adapted from this book

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

2/3 cups sugar

1 cup dulce de leche

1/2 cup crushed cookies

Combine the milk and heavy cream in a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until bubbles start to form. Stir occasionally.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the mixture is thick and pale yellow.

Gradually pour about 1 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking the entire time.

Add the egg yolk sugar milk mixture back in the saucepan. Whisk until smooth.

Heat the mixture until it is 185 degrees, and thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Pour the base into a bowl, cover the top with ceram wrap, and allow to cool.

Whisk in the dulce de leche, and then refrigerate until cold.

Churn the ice cream base in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Right before the ice cream is finished, add the crushed cookies and allow to process for about 10 seconds.

Place the ice cream into a container, and then freeze for several hours. Enjoy!