Published by mel on October 30, 2009 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
Ok, ok! I’ll concede that I might actually have a little, teensy tiny bit of a sweet tooth. There – I said it. Though it’s true that I often pass on the candy and cupcakes at work, I think I do actually crave sweet things. Sometimes. Especially if I make them myself, which means sweet, but not too sweet and most of the times means something Salted. What can I say? I’m a salt fiend. It just makes dessert more interesting – that pop of something salty – always surprising – makes sweet taste so much sweeter.
This time of year, I love ginger snaps. They’re spicy and somehow warming. My favorite kind are the really gingery ones that have a good bite and nice chew to them. The Whole Foods brand gingersnaps are just perfect. I had a half a bag of those, some dark chocolate chips and hazelnuts. So, I made bark with them, which is basically a pretty way of saying chocolate with mix-ins.
This recipe is actually really simple. Crushed store-bought ginger snaps, melted chocolate, ground hazelnuts and a bit of flaky salt. That’s pretty much it. The hardest part is waiting for the stuff to cool. Next time, I might try graham crackers or even pretzels. The possibilities are endless, and that’s why I love recipes like this.
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Published by mel on October 23, 2009 in breakfast, dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
If you like fall and pumpkins and seasonal food, then these cookies have your name written all over them. As I’ve mentioned many times before, dessert isn’t really my thing. But cookies are. I love cookies. Soft and chewy and filled with chocolate chips – cookies are my weakness.
They’re easy and delicious and they make your house smell like a bakery. These pumpkin cookies also take less butter than regular cookies, though not on purpose. The pumpkin just adds enough moisture, so you only have to use one measly stick of butter. A touch of cinnamon adds that subtle fall flavor without overpowering the cookie or competing with the chocolate.
In a word, they’re awesome. They’re perfect for the season. I love them. And you should love them too!
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Published by mel on September 11, 2009 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
What’s better than cold, creamy homemade frozen yogurt? Baileys, Banana and Chocolate Frozen Yogurt. I made some last night and it was good. I mean really, really good. It was all I could do to keep myself from having some for breakfast this morning. Instead, I am impatiently waiting for dessert tonight.
For some reason, bananas have a magical quality that prevents them from getting icy in the freezer. It’s probably why frozen bananas make such delicious delicious smoothies. (Jamba Juice obviously found this out a long while ago.) You can make this frozen yogurt with or without an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, your frozen yogurt will be a touch icy, but still creamier than you’d expect. It’s the bananas and the Baileys, which keeps it from freezing completely. And some grated chocolate adds a little bit of texture and just the right amount of chocolateyness.
My favorite frozen yogurt to date!
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Published by mel on June 4, 2009 in breakfast, dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
Yep. Salted Chocolate-Covered Graham Crackers. What else is there to say? These are amazing. I mean they’re graham crackers, covered in dark chocolate and sprinkled with flaky sea salt. The grahams are nice and crunchy. The chocolate is luscious and well, chocolatey. And the salt? It balances the chocolate perfectly, giving it a deeper taste, and the grahams a sweeter crunch.
These are quite possibly the greatest snack on earth. I suggest you go buy a box of graham crackers, some dark chocolate and the flakiest salt you can find. Whip these up, then sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy.
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Published by mel on February 25, 2009 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
I’m going to be a terrible blogger today. I’ve got no story to go with my cookies, and even if I did, I have no time to write it! But, I figure a recipe, description and a picture is better than nothing.
These are impulse cookies. It was Sunday night and I just really wanted something warm and chocolatey from the oven, so I used whatever I had on hand. Chocolate and espresso make a perfect cookie in my book. Add some pecans and I’m a happy camper. Make these cookies and you too will be a happy camper!
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Published by mel on December 10, 2008 in recipe and sides & bites.
My tree is trimmed. My lights are hung. There’s no snow outside, but it’s definitely time for Christmas treats. Chocolate-covered pretzels are one of my favorite snacks, no matter the time of year. I love the salty sweet combination, the rich chocolatey flavor and the texture of the pretzels when they crunch in your mouth. They’re the perfect sweet treat for someone who’s not really a sweet tooth.
To make them a little more festive, I also sprinkled them with crushed candy canes and sparkly clear sprinkles. The result is a cross between peppermint bark and chocolate-covered pretzels. Absolutely delicious. This recipe, along with a couple of others that I’ll post soon, are going to become pretty little Christmas presents. There’s no better way to spread holiday cheer than with a chocolate peppermint treat.
Continue reading ‘Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Pretzels’
Published by mel on November 10, 2008 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a cooking funk. I rushed home from work last Thursday, brimming with excitement to finally use the hazelnuts that Oh! Nuts sent me in some banana chocolate hazelnut muffins. Sadly, those didn’t turn out they way I’d hoped and were promptly infested by ants because I left them too loosely covered on the counter top. It’s a sad moment indeed when you have to throw out tons of fancy dark chocolate and hazelnuts. I almost cried. But instead, I pulled myself together and made cookies. Because nothing makes you feel better than warm cookies straight from the oven.
That is, until you realize that you left an entire stick of butter out of your recipe. Sigh. They were still delicious. I mean, how bad can chocolate and hazelnuts be? But they were a little too crumbly and lacked some of the dense, chocolate-y-ness I was looking for. Had I made them the right way, they would have tasted like chewy, fudgy Nutella. And so, I’m posting the recipe below (with the correct amount of butter) because I think everyone needs a little chocolate hazelnut cookie now and again.
The rest of this week, I’m going to be trying out some Thanksgiving recipes. Everything from turkey stuffed and wrapped in goodness, to an all-vegetable side that we’re hoping will balance out the Manchego potato gratin, cornbread and chorizo stuffing, banana bread, pumpkin bread, and everything else that comes with Turkey day. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping this goes a little better than my chocolate hazelnut experiments. Wish me luck!
Related: Chunky Oatmeal Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Published by mel on July 18, 2008 in breakfast, dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
I love love love granola. Crunchy and nutty with bits of dried fruit. It’s amazing. Recently, I bought some Udi’s Original Granola and have been slightly obsessed with it ever since. The secret is cashews and banana chips. You know those crisp, sweetened banana chips that are usually in the nut section of the grocery store? I’m talking about those. They’re amazing in granola. They’re amazing paired with toasted cashews.
Udi’s was my inspiration for these homemade granola bars. Honestly, I always thought granola bars would be a bit of a pain in the — um, yeah — to make. But they’re really not. It took me under 30 minutes start to finish and the hardest part was chopping the cashews (and washing the dishes). Simply toast some nuts, boil some syrup, mix everything together in a big bowl and pour them into a baking dish. They’re just as easy as rice krispy treats, only infinitely more healthful and satisfying.
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Published by mel on June 25, 2008 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
I think people are finally starting to change their minds about what’s considered healthy. At least, I hope they are. For me, it’s not about low-cal and low-fat and no-fat, but more about keeping refined and processed foods to a minimum. This means that I no longer keep white flour or refined sugar in the house. Also, no margarine or other artificial fats. Instead, I’ve got organic butter and olive, walnut, peanut, sesame and canola oils. Whole wheat or grain flours are infinitely more satisfying than their bleached counterparts — there’s just no way you can eat 10 whole wheat cookies. Those 100-calorie packs? Well, I bet you can eat more than 10.
Since white flour’s out, I usually have to tweak cookie recipes. My favorite substitute is oat flour, which I make at home by running some rolled oats through the food processor. It gives cookies that chewy, homey oatmeal flavor that I absolutely love with dark chocolate chips. For this recipe, I also mixed in some grated chocolate which melts nicely throughout, and some chunky almond butter for crunch and, um, nuttiness.
The result is a healthier cookie. Yep, cookies can be healthy even if they’re made with a stick of butter. Since they’re more nutritious, you only need a couple to satisfy your sweet tooth. And I promise no one will know they’re “healthy.” I actually gave these cookies to a big, burly fireman for his birthday and he gobbled them right up. I only told him they were good for him afterward.
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Published by mel on March 24, 2008 in dessert and recipe.
Tom and I were at the supermarket Saturday night because we were running low on milk for our Sunday morning coffee. We had made an early dinner of seafood sausages, burgers and beer, but no dessert. Our sweet tooth got the better of us when we were picking up the milk, and we started foraging for some snacks.
Every package of cookies I picked up was laden with refined flours, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and too many ingredients I couldn’t pronounce. So, instead of buying a box of chemical cookies, I pulled out my iPhone and sought out a recipe I knew I had bookmarked somewhere – Heidi’s Triple Chocolate Espresso Cookies. So much better than anything store-bought, they’re delicious and wholesome, though decidedly not dietetic.
I made the whole batch, but froze 2/3 of the dough because neither of us can stop ourselves around fresh baked cookies. Most of all, I was delighted to discover that the base dough was easy and versatile. I’m already thinking about interesting mix-ins like dried cherries, pinenuts and and pretty much every other nut under the sun.
Continue reading ‘heidi’s triple chocolate cookies’
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