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Strawberry Cream Cheese

By Christy on May 13, 2012 in Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast, Desserts, Gluten-free, Recipes

Yummy, luscious, oh-so-sweet local strawberries! I ordered a pound of these beauties and savored a few every morning with breakfast for a week. When I reached the bottom of the container, I had a few mushy berries left. Too scrumptious to just throw away or turn into compost, I used the Full Quiver cream cheese I had in the fridge to make a strawberry cream cheese spread. A touch of cinnamon adds an interesting taste but feel free to omit or substitute vanilla if you prefer. I used brown sugar to sweeten but of course, you can use honey, agave, or plain sugar.

3-4 strawberries

8 ounces cream cheese

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Rough chop berries and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon sugar. Allow berries to sit for at least 1/2 hour to macerate, which means the sugar will draw moisture and flavor out of the berries. Add berries, cream cheese, and cinnamon to a mixing bowl and mix for 2-3 minutes on high speed. Taste and add more sugar if desired.

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Gluten Free Browned Butter Salted Caramel Brownies

By Christy on April 8, 2012 in Desserts, Gluten-free, Recipes

Browned butter adds a wonderful depth of flavor to your baked goods. The trick is to brown the milk solids in the butter to get a rich nutty flavor without burning it. Use medium to low heat and keep a close eye on it. It will bubble, hiss, and turn brown but you know it is ready when it quits hissing and turns eerily quiet.

3 ounces butter (6 tablespoons), unsalted

8 ounces good quality chocolate (the Sunspire chocolate chips come in a 9 ounce package, add remaining ounce into batter before spreading in pan)

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon cocoa

2 tablespoons corn starch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup salted caramel sauce, recipe to follow

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch square pan with foil or parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Brown butter over low to medium heat. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Retained heat should melt the chips, stir until smooth. Stir in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Sift together cocoa powder, corn starch, and salt. Add to chocolate mixture and beat vigorously for at least one minute. Mixture should turn paler and be smooth looking. If you do not beat batter long enough, it may break and become crumbly when you bake it. Since there is no gluten from flour, better to err on the side of over-beating. Fold in any remaining chocolate chips if desired. Spread into prepared pan. Pour caramel sauce in parallel lines on top batter. Draw a knife through the batter and caramel sauce in perpendicular lines to get a marbled effect. Bake for 30 minutes until brownies are set.

Salted Caramel Sauce

This makes extra sauce, it makes a delicious ice cream topping or dip for fresh fruit.

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3 ounces butter (6 tablespoons)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Use a large saucepan to make the caramel, it will bubble up and sputter when you add the butter and whipping cream and if your pan is too small, it may spill over or worse, burn you. Mix sugar and water together and cook over medium heat. You can stir it until it starts to boil, but once it does, do use a spoon to stir it any longer, only lightly swirl the pan if you have to distribute the heat. The art in a caramel sauce comes from finding that fine line between deep caramel flavor and burned. Once it starts to brown, it quickly goes from brown to burned, so watch it close and the second it gets dark enough, remove it from the heat and add the butter. Stir to melt the butter and smooth the caramel. Place it back on the heat and bring it to a boil again, then add the cream and salt. Mixture may seize up but will smooth out again as it heats.

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Easy Chocolate Truffle Pie

By Christy on March 17, 2012 in Desserts

Happy Pi Day! Ok, I know it was Wednesday (3.14) but life got in the way of posting this sooner. (Love you SXSW! Ready for you to go now.)

The secret to any great chocolate dessert is great chocolate. Greenling carries an excellent product in the Sunspire chocolate chips. For this recipe you will need 2 packages but you will only need about 1/3 of the second package to get the correct amount of chocolate. If you do not use enough chocolate, the pie may not set firm enough to slice.

First thing you will need is baked pie crust in a 9 inch pan. You can use a store bought crust but I encourage you to try my simple make it the pan pie crust. No rolling or chilling, just measure the ingredients into the pie pan, mix it up, and pat it out. It does not produce a flaky crust, more crumbly in texture but those tend to stand up better to wet pies and not turn soggy.

1 baked pie crust

1 cup whole milk

5 egg yolks or 2 whole eggs (egg yolks will produce a denser, richer pie)

2 Tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 2/3 cup chocolate chips (one grocery store package, which is a little over 11 ounces)

1 Tbsp vanilla (or rum, Kahlua, Amaretto, whatever you like)

Place eggs, salt, and sugar in a blender and spin on high until it turns very pale yellow. While eggs are mixing, heat milk on stove until simmering. Add chocolate chips to blender and pulse to break into very small pieces. With blender running, slowly stream in milk. The hot milk will melt the chocolate and cook the eggs. If you are concerned about the eggs not being thoroughly cooked, you can use egg substitute. Add flavoring. Pour into baked pie crust and chill at least 2 hours.

Mmmmmmmm pie!

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Avocado Mousse

By Megan on February 22, 2012 in Desserts, Recipes

Even though you probably have no trouble eating up the delicious avocados we’ve been getting week after week (my son has taken to eating them with a spoon!), there’s no reason why you can’t try something new, right?

Chocolate doesn’t necessarily seem like a logical pairing for avocado, but I’ve been seeing avocado cakes, brownies, and more popping up all over the internet and in cookbooks. The luscious avocado, it turns out, is a perfect ingredient for the last course of the meal.

This mousse is a creamy, dreamy, dairy- and guilt-free delight. If you’re a chocoholic like me, you won’t be let down by this dessert. You can easily swap out the honey for agave nectar, if you’re vegan.

Avocado Mousse
serves 2

2 small or 1 large avocado
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Slice the avocado in half and remove the pit. In a blender or food processor, puree avocado flesh until smooth. Add cocoa powder, honey, and vanilla, and blend until completely mixed and no lumps remain. Scoop into dishes and serve immediately, or chill until ready.

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Beet Brownies

By Megan on January 12, 2012 in Desserts, Gluten-free, Recipes

Now that it is beet season again, I’m more determined to if not like the darn things by themselves, to at least find ways of incorporating them into foods I do enjoy. And, of course, I enjoy chocolate. What food blogger doesn’t like chocolate, right?

Beet brownies aren’t a new thing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be proud of them. Plus, these are gluten-free, so I know I can feed them to my friends without having to worry about dietary issues. I’ve found that garbanzo bean flour to be really reliable for me in the gluten-free department – it has worked well for cornbread, cookies, and now brownies. These did end up a little more cakey than I had expected, so if you like a more fudgey brownie, use a bit less flour.

You’ll notice that I included gram measurements for the chickpea flour and cocoa. This is due to differing scoop methods – I’ve been burned in the past with recipes that only list a cup measurement, so I have decided to be more precise when it comes to my flour measurements on posts. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, they are extremely affordable and perhaps the best tool you’ll add to your arsenal.

Beet Brownies
serves 15

250 g / 9 ounces beets
1 packet (2 tablets) Taza Mexican chocolate (or 3 ounces 70% chocolate)
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (70 g) garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup (30 g) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Trim long roots and greens from beets and clean off any dirt. Dice them into quarters (or smaller, depending on the size of your beets) and set in a pot of water to boil. Boil until easily pierced by a fork, approximately 30 minutes. Drain and let cool until they are comfortably handled.
Meanwhile, melt chocolate in the microwaves at 30-second intervals. Whisk until smooth and completely melted. Set aside. In another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, and set aside.
Once the beets have cooled, the peels should slip off easily. Place peeled beets in blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together beets, chocolate, and sugar. Beat in the eggs, and add the vanilla. Stir until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the large bowl and stir until well-incorporated.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool as much as possible before cutting. Great the first day, better the second.