Chocolate Almond truffles

This is a delicious, not too sweet, soft truffle recipe I made with the immersion blender. Using dates instead of sugar and soy sauce for that unami flavor that goes well with chocolate, you will be surprised at how good this is!

1/2 C almond butter
1/3 C date paste*
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t tamari or soy sauce

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Chill in the refrigerator before scooping into balls. Turn this into icing by adding 1/4 C liquid. Makes about 1 C.

* soak a handful of pitted dates in enough warm water to cover for 1 hour. Drain the dates and reserve the soaking liquid. Add dates to a blender and add just enough soaking liquid to get a smooth consistency. (Use leftovers in baked goods and just reduce the liquid a bit.)

Mexican Chocolate Cake

(Picture above is courtesy of this post on Serious Eats - their recipe is very similar to this one.)

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo! A delicious, vegan, Mexican chocolate cake. Enjoy! This recipe is really from Mom, but I re-found it a few days ago and thought I'd post it...

CAKE:

1 ½ cups flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup unsweetened cocoa

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

¼ t. cayenne pepper

¼ t. salt

1 cup cold water

¼ c. canola oil

1 T. balsamic (or other) vinegar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat cake pan with cooking spray.
2. In bowl combine all ingredients, and stir until smooth.
3. Pour into pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cook in pan for 10 minutes.

ICING:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

½ c. cocoa

6 T water

1. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cocoa and water.
2. Pour glaze over cake.
3. If desired, dip small strawberries into glaze and place strawberries on to of cake.
4. Set aside for about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These delicious, quick, and pretty cookies come from a new blog I discovered, 17andbaking. I made them for the annual December frisbee tournament down on the Cape, Get Ho Ho Ho. Even though it was less than 35 degrees outside, I think these cookies warmed everyone up a bit. NOTE: The dough needs to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours so plan accordingly!

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (optional - my addition and it added a great flavor)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls with lightly oiled palms. I used a cookie scoop to portion the dough, a tablespoon or rounded teaspoon would also work depending on what size you like. Coat each ball well in confectioners’ sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Babkalicious

This is one of the most delicious Babka recipes I've tried, from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. Although the almond paste in the filling makes this recipe very moist, be warned that there is a strong almond flavor as well, which is different from most Babka recipes. With a few small revisions, here it is:

[two loaves: 2 8" cake pans, 2 medium loaf pans, or 1 baking sheet- all greased]

Sponge:

2 C unbleached white flour

2 packages of dry yeast, or 4 1/2 t yeast

1/2 C nonfat dry milk

1 1/4 C very warm water

Stir all ingredients together with a wooden spoon or in a mixer with a flat beater. It will be a heavy and wet dough. Cover tightly with a plastic bag and leave at room temperature to allow the sponge to form and ferment and double in bulk, about 2 hours.

Dough:

1/2 C sugar

1 t salt

1/2 t ground cardamom

1/2 t vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 1/2 C unbleached white flour, approximately

1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened

Filling:

1 1/2 C almond paste

2 C chocolate chips or grated chocolate

ground cinnamon to taste

Mixing dough: remove plastic from the sponge, stir down, and measure in the sugar, salt, cardamom, and vanilla. Stir well to blend. Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating each into the batter. Add 1 1/2 C flour and beat with a wooden spoon or flat beater until it has been absorbed into the batter-like dough. Drop in the butter, a small amount at a time, beating until it is mixed into the dough. Add flour, 1/4 C at a time, to form a dough that is quite soft, yet elastic. It will have enough flour when it can be turned from the bowl and be worked without it sticking to your hands or the table.

Kneading: Sprinkle the table lightly with flour, if necessary. Knead the dough only until it is smooth, about 5 minutes. (If using a mixer, use a dough hook.) Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover tightly again, and put aside to double in bulk, about 1.5 hours.

Shaping: Punch down and turn out on the floured table and divide into 2 pieces. Roll each to form a thin piece about 1/4" thick. Combine all the ingredients of the filling in a food processor is you have one- adjust to your liking, adding more chocolate, nuts, dried fruit, etc. Spread each rectangle with half the filling. Roll up the dough longwise, like for a jellyroll, and pinch the seas tightly to secure. Try to roll each snake a little bit longer.

For the cake pans, simply lay the twists loosely in the pan in a spiral form beginning in the center and working to the sides. For the loaf pans, fold the snakes at their halfway mark and twist them on themselves, kind of making a figure-eight formation, and lay in loaf pans or the baking sheet. Cover the loaves loosely and let rise not quite to double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Baking: 20 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350. Brush the tops with melted butter or the leftover egg whites. Bake until each twist is deep brown, about 45 minutes. If the crusts seem to be browning too quickly, cover with foil. Remove loaves from pans and cool before cutting.

Easy Chocolate Mousse

No one will be able to guess what the secret ingredient is! This is a mish-mash of a bunch of recipes, but the final recipe is all mine! It has a bit of a Mexican-chocolate flavor - you can omit the cinnamon and use other flavorings (amaretto, orange, etc.).

1/2 cup whole or lowfat milk
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6-7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
12 oz (1 package) silken tofu
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons brewed dark coffee or espresso (pref. at room temperature)

Pour the milk into a small pot and bring to a simmer. Remove the milk from heat stir in the cocoa powder, sugar, and cinnamon. Let cool.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler - if you don't own a double-boiler, you can cobble one together using a tiny saucepan set under a larger mixing bowl. Fill the tiny saucepan with an inch or two of water and bring barely to a simmer - place the big mixing bowl with the chocolate on top of the tiny saucepan and let the heat come up and gently warm the chocolate while you stir occasionally until completely melted. Remove from heat.

Add the milk mixture and silken tofu to the melted chocolate. Process with a hand or regular blender until completely smooth - or process everything in the Cuisinart. Stir in the coffee and vanilla. Taste and adjust for flavor, adding a bit more sugar if needed.

Chill in the big bowl (or in individual bowls) for at least 1 1/2 hours, the longer the better. The pudding will set up nicely as it cools.

Makes 6 decadent servings.

Caramel Matzoh Crunch

It's almost that time of year...

• 4-6 unsalted matzoh boards or sheets
• 1 cup unsalted butter or unsalted Passover margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed firm
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees F.

Line a cookie sheet completely with foil. Cover bottom of pan with baking parchment - on top of foil. This is very important as mixture becomes sticky during baking. Line bottom of pan evenly with matzoh boards, cutting extra pieces of matzoh, as required, to fit any spaces on the cookie sheet as evenly as possible.

Combine margarine or butter and brown sugar in a 3 quart, heavy-bottomed, saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking 3 more minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour over matzoh.

Place in oven and immediately reduce heat to 350 F. Bake 15 minutes, checking every few minutes to make sure mixture is not burning (if it seems to be browning too quickly, remove from oven, lower heat to 325 F, and replace)

Remove from oven and sprinkle matzoh boards immediately with chopped chocolate or chips. Let stand 5 minutes then spread melted chocolate over matzoh. While still warm cut into squares or odd shapes. Chill in refrigerator until set. You can also serve it in confectioners' paper cups as a candy.

Robust Chocolate Veganry (aka best chocolate cake)

A staple cake from 3D 2007. Don't be fooled/turned off by the fact that this cake can be vegan. Its the moistest chocolate cake I know.

2 C brown sugar
1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 t salt
3/4 C cocoa
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 C milk (soy/rice/dairy, can be chocolate0
1/2 C oil
2 t vanilla
1 C boiling water

Mix and stir in boiling water. Bake 35 minutes at 350.

Martha Knows her Shit!: Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe.

beat together:
1 stick butter/soy garden
1 T fresh ginger, chopped finely
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C molasses

dissolve 1 t baking soda in to 1 1/2 t boiling water and add to butter mixture.

mix in:
1 1/2 C + 1 T flour (spelt even works nicely!)
1 1/4 t ground ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1 T cocoa powder

dough will be softy stift. add 7 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped. Roll into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Bake at 350 for not very long.

Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

These come from my friend Dara - the recipe won a brownie bake-off a few months ago!

PUMPKIN BATTER:
1 T unsalted butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 c canned or fresh pumpkin puree
1 t vanilla extract
½ t ground cinnamon
½ t ground ginger
1 T flour

CHOCOLATE BATTER:
5½ oz good-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 eggs, at room temperature
1½ c sugar
1 t vanilla extract
¼ t salt
1 1/3 c flour

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9-inch baking dish.

2. Prepare pumpkin batter: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter with cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sugar, scraping bowl occasionally. Bet in egg, then add pumpkin puree, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. Stir in flour.

3. Prepare chocolate batter: Combine semisweet chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Set bowl over saucepan with 1-inch of simmering water and stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, combine eggs with sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat at low speed until light and fluffy- about 4 minutes. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in melted chocolate. Sift flour over the batter and fold it in just until combined.

4. Spread chocolate batter evenly in prepared pan. Using a Tablespoon, drop dollops of the pumpkin batter all over the top. Using the back of a butter knife, swirl the pumpkin batter slightly into the chocolate.

5. Bake for 30-40 minutes (starting checking on brownies at 30 minutes to see if they're done- a toothpick inserted into center should come out clean).

6. Let brownies cool completely before cutting.

Yield: 24 brownies