Chocolate Silk Pie July 5, 2013

Looking for a rich, chocolate dessert that somehow feels light, cold and summery? This is it. It’s easy, quick to prepare (although it needs a 6 hour rest in the fridge) and amazing with a good cup of coffee. Oh, and it comes from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. Are you shocked? Go make it immediately.

Katie

serves 8-10

Crust:
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
2 T sugar
Pinch of salt
5 T butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350.  In a 9 inch pie pan, stir together cookie crumbs, sugar, and salt.  Stir in melted butter.
2. Press crumbs evenly across the bottom and up the sides of your pie dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then cool completely.

Filling:
12 T butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
3 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract

1. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. While mixer is running, drizzle in melted chocolate.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating mixture at medium speed for 5 minutes after each addition, scraping down bowl (so this will whip for 15 minutes total).
4. Add vanilla and blend well.
5. Spread chocolate filling in prepared crust, and smooth top.  Refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Garnish:

1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 T sugar
Chocolate curls shaved from a bar of good quality, dark chocolate (optional)

1. Just before serving, beat cream with sugar until it just holds soft peaks.
2. Smooth evenly over pie and garnish with chocolate shavings.

Dark Chocolate and Brandy Pots de Creme April 7, 2013

This is your fast track to a rich, silky dessert tonight. It took me all of about 5 minutes to whip these up.

Pots de creme are a custard of sorts, traditionally composed of eggs and cream, then baked in a water bath.  This recipe ditches the cream and opts for hot coffee, which you blend with the chocolate and eggs. The heat from the coffee thickens the eggs, giving you the same result you would get whisking the eggs and cream over heat. Did that make any sense? What I’m trying to say is that this is even less work than a traditional pot de creme and the result is still silky smooth deliciousness.

I grabbed the recipe from Pioneer Woman, where you can find step by step photos of the process. I adapted the recipe to suit my preferences – more booze, brandy instead of Grand Marnier, a little more salt and a smaller batch (because it’s dangerous for me to have 12 of these sitting in the fridge). I hope you love them!

Katie

makes 6 reasonable sized servings or 4 indulgent ones

6 oz good dark chocolate (I used Lindt), chopped
2 whole eggs
1 T Brandy (or Grand Marnier or whatever you feel like), possibly more to taste
generous pinch salt
1/2 cup HOT strong coffee
unsweetened whipped cream, for serving
optional: candied orange peel or thinly sliced fresh orange peel, for serving

Place the chocolate in your blender. Crack in the eggs, then pour in the Brandy and salt. Blend for a few seconds until the chocolate is busted up and everything is thoroughly mixed.

With the blender running, slowly pour your super hot coffee in a thin stream through the blender lid until it’s all added. Blend another few seconds until smooth. Taste and add more Brandy or salt if desired.

Pour mixture into small cups or jars. Throw them in the fridge until set – it will take about 2 hours. You can easily make these ahead and keep them in the fridge for a day or two.

Top with a big dollop of whipped cream and garnish with sliced orange peel. Dig in!

Tip: I like making these in jars so that I can easily screw on a lid and store them for a few days. Even the whipping cream will stay fresh stored like this for 2 days.

Cocoa(nut) banana bread June 7, 2012

I’ve been making this banana bread like a fiend for a couple of months now; it’s my go to recipe for when I open the freezer and brown bananas start falling out (seriously, I keep them on the door and when it gets over loaded its like an avalanche whenever I open the freezer). And every time I share it with someone, they ask for the recipe, which I have been slacking on . . . until now. So here it is, the chocolatiest, coconutiest banana bread around.

3/4 cup sugar (you could probably get a way with 1/2 cup, especially if using flavoured yogurt)

1/2 cup coconut oil (which is solid, like butter, which by the way works perfectly here if you don’t have coconut oil; I’ve used both. But try the coconut oil; it’s better for you and gives it a nice crisp crust)

3 ripe (or overripe) bananas, mashed

1 Tbsp coconut rum (or regular rum or vanilla, depending on what you’ve got)

1 3/4 cup spelt flour (you could also do half and half whole wheat and all purpose)

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp each, salt and baking soda

1/3 cup yogurt (coconut flavoured if you have it, plain if you don’t)

1/2 cup each, chocolate chips (or chunks) and shredded unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour your loaf pan. I often double the recipe and use 2 loaf pans and one mini loaf pan, so keep in mind this is a big loaf.

2. Using a stand or electric mixer cream together sugar and coconut oil. Add in bananas and blend well.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour through baking soda, giving it a good whisk to blend. Add half the flour mixture to the banana mixture, then the yogurt, then the remaining flour mixture, stirring just to combine each time. Fold in chocolate chips and coconut.

4. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 – 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, then flip out onto rack and cool completely.

 

Enjoy!

Ky

 

Chocolate Chocolate Zucchini Bread September 8, 2011

This is a picture of the snack I am consuming while posting this, including the jar of iced coffee in the background; so yummy. My mom always made chocolate zucchini bread when we were growing up, so this recipe comes from her, which I think she adapted in more recent years from the Looney Spoons cookbook, which I re-adapted to suit my preferences. This recipe makes 2 good sized loaves, but we made some into mini loaves and mini muffins, all of which turned out well, just adjust the cooking time accordingly (I think the mini muffins were done in 18-21 minutes and the loaves at about 30). This also freezes really well.

1 cup spelt flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp each, baking soda and cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar (I didn’t find this to be overly sweet, but you could probably sub in 1 cup agave syrup and cut the oil a bit if you wanted)

3 eggs

1/2 cup plain, fat free greek yogurt

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups packed, grated zucchini (I did mine in the food processor)

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prep 2 loaf pans with cooking spray and flour.

2. Combine dry ingredients, except sugar, in a large bowl.

3. Whisk together sugar, eggs, yogurt, oil, and vanilla in a smaller bowl. Add zucchini, then add to dry ingredients along with chocolate chips, stirring just to combine.

4. Pour half of batter into each loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes (mine were done at 45) or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in pan, then turn out onto wire racks to cool.

Enjoy!

Ky

 

Mom’s ultimate banana oatmeal chocolate chip muffins May 5, 2011

AKA I’m-a-terrible-and-unorganized-mother-who-forgot-that-she-was-in-charge-of-sending-the-snack-for-preschool-until-an-hour-before-sending-my-husband-to-volunteer muffins. So that was my panic attack at 7:54am yesterday morning. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before that very moment that I was to be sending a snack for all 18 4 year olds, or, for that matter, why it did finally occur to me. Luckily, I had an unopened box of fruit bars on the shelf in the cold room and this recipe, which I have made a million times before, always seem to have all the ingredients for, and can mix, bake, and cool in under 45 mins – thank you Mom, these are the tools you gave me. This recipe is currently written out in a much younger me’s handwriting and stuffed into my “This Recipe Bears Repeating” recipe box (photo below). These were made A LOT growing up, and I’m pretty sure they were usually consumed before they were completely cooled (so the chocolate was still melty). I have since adapted them to be whole grain, and I often sub in plain yogurt for the oil, but this time I had no yogurt. Here we go:

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the following:

1 cup spelt or whole wheat flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp each, cinnamon & salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2. Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl, stir together:

1 egg, lightly beaten

a scant 1/4 cup oil (which for me is less than 1/4 cup but more than an 1/8) or about 1/3 cup whole plain yogurt

either, 1/2 cup milk and 2 mashed bananas

or, 1/3 cup milk and 2/3 cup applesauce

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just to combine. Spray your muffin pans or line with papers and divide the mixture evenly among 12 regular muffin holes or 24 minis (as pictured). Bake for approximately 15-18 minutes for big muffins or 12-14 minutes for mini muffins

Enjoy!

Ky