Tag Archive for 'chocolate'

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Published by mel on November 10, 2008 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

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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homemade banana chocolate granola bars

Published by mel on July 18, 2008 in breakfast, dessert, recipe and sides & bites.

homemade banana chocolate granola bars

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.

homemade banana chocolate granola bars

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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chunky oatmeal almond chocolate chip cookies

Published by mel on June 25, 2008 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.

chunky oatmeal almond chocolate chip cookies

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.

chunky oatmeal almond chocolate chip cookies

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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heidi’s triple chocolate cookies

Published by mel on March 24, 2008 in dessert and recipe.

tiple chocolate espresso cookies

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.

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valentine’s sausage & chard with farro risotto

Published by mel on February 15, 2008 in dessert, entree and recipe.

sausage kale tomatoes parmesan farro risotto

I’ve never done the Valentine’s Day thing. The big fancy dinner, the flowers, the chocolate. Frankly, I’m just not into it. While I do love going out to dinner and exploring new places, I don’t particularly like crowded and cramped restaurants, prix fixe or valet parking. I do like cooking a new meal, using fine china and dining at our formal table using cloth napkins.

I’ve cooked for Tom almost every Valentine’s day we’ve been together. In fact, the only year I didn’t cook for him, I tend to forget how we celebrated. Our first February 14th, I made him seared tuna steak with a cold noodle salad. It was his first tuna steak and we ate on the floor of my East Village studio because it was the only place to sit comfortably in those 275 square feet.

The second year is the one I really tend to forget. It’s the year he had a Spanish class until late and we went to Otto for pizza on my lunch hour. A cab splashed me with some very dirty melted snow as Tom was walking me back to work.

Last year, I made a pizza with sausage, artichokes and ricotta. Speaking of love, I love pizza.

This year, I sauteed sausage, heirloom tomatoes and swiss chard and spooned it over some Parmesan farro risotto. I served it in my pretty fine china and we had a quiet meal without the tv.

chocolate ice crea,

I had also made some of David Lebovitz’s Easiest chocolate ice cream the night before, which ended up being supremely smooth and delicious. Of course, I made some modifications because I just couldn’t help myself. I subbed vodka for the dark rum because that’s what was in the cabinet, and I sprinkled it with fleur de sel which made the chocolate even more chocolatey and gave it a subtle crunch every few bites. The entire dessert-making process took less than 10 minutes, but tasted like it took 100. Too bad it all kind of melted before I took the photo which makes it look wholly unappetizing. Sigh. Aha! Replaced it with something MUCH better than the melty poo.

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chocolate truffle cookies

Published by mel on February 15, 2007 in dessert and recipe.

chocolate cookies

Last Sunday was dreary…or at least it was dreary by Miami standards. After a most unproductive day, I decided I wanted to give myself a little project. To sate my chocolately craving, I decided to make Chocolate Truffle cookies. Thank God I had just purchased some cocoa powder. And I had some truffles stashed away in the pantry from an over-sized basket a client gave my Dad for Christmas.

Also, ever since I tried salted caramels, I’ve been obsessed with salted sweets. The salt enhances the sweet, and make everything completely addicting. So, I added a mini-pinch of fleur de sel to the top of my truffle cookies…and they were oh-my-God-so-good!

cookies!

recipe »

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