Basil Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

I wish that the internet would turn into a more grown-up version of its current self. As many of you may have noticed I have taken a little time away from blogging. The last year blogging has lost some of the charm it had when I first started (which was a while ago now). My kids were younger when I started, my youngest still took naps, and my oldest hadn't yet started school. I also feel that the internet has changed dramatically. While I love to talk about certain aspects of my life, I am a little burnt out of the over sharing and general debate nature that the internet and social media in particular have taken on. I really hate controversy. When possible I avoid it because 99 percent of the time I have vastly different opinions than everyone else. I grew up in Seattle in a very liberal household, went to a beyond liberal arts school (the same school k-12 with only 300 students), paid my own way through undergraduate and graduate school, and became the first person in my family to graduate college. I grew up very poor, we stood in line at the church food bank most weeks and my father worked his whole life in jobs that barely paid enough to survive. My opinions are a little crazy according to my husband, I rarely agree with any political party and would be perfectly happy avoiding contact with people with overzealous opinions (debating other people rarely leads to any kind of change of opinions). So the internet and I have had to have less contact. I honestly find social media and the internet a little tiring these days. I wish that people could learn the fine act of knowing when to keep their opinions to themselves, not everything has to be made into an argument or debate. Sometimes a simple 'Have a nice day' is just that and nothing more. I guess I am waiting for the internet to grow up, I'm too old to deal with all the drama.

My garden has been growing like crazy and I am swimming in fresh herbs. While I love basil, I get tried of making pesto over and over again so I decided to try a dessert recipe using the abundance of fresh garden basil I currently possess. I came up with the following recipe for Chocolate Basil Cake with Buttercream Frosting. Enjoy!

Basil Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Recipe Type: Dessert

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Cooking Time: 0h, 25m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 9

Adapted from The Food Network and Powerhungry.com

Basil Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten free replacement)
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Cooking Directions

1. Grease a 9 inch cake pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a food processor chop the basil and sugar until finely chopped.
4. Combine the basil/sugar mixture, melted butter, and cocoa powder until blended. Add the eggs one at a time, and whisk until smooth.
5. Add the vanilla.
6. In another bowl whisk the baking soda, salt and flour until blended.
7. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
8. Add hot water and stir just until combined (do not over stir or your cake will be flat).
9. Pour batter into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. After the cake has cooled make frosting.
11. In a standing mixer whisk butter and sugar together on low speed until blended. Turn up speed to medium and mix another 3 minutes.
12. Add cream and vanilla, beat for another 1-2 minutes on medium. Add more cream if consistency is too thick to spread.
13. Spread cake with frosting and enjoy!

My boys both start school in a week and a half so for the first time in 9 years I will have the house to myself for at least a couple of hours a day. I should have more frequent posts in the next couple of months I promise. 

Milk Stout Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I may have eaten a bowl of icing out of the fridge this morning. Last night I made a basil chocolate cake (which was actually very good!) and made a big batch of homemade buttercream frosting. This  morning it was calling for me to eat a bite, and then another, and before I knew it the bowl of leftover frosting seemed to have disappeared. This afternoon I made a batch of cream cheese frosting and had the same problem. There is something about frosting that makes me have to eat it, I can go without cake, but frosting is a completely different story.

So now that I have babbled on about frosting, it's time for a cupcake (and frosting) recipe. My husband loves trying new kinds of beer and our fridge normally has a variety of brands and types. For the last six months my husband has been nagging me to try a cupcake recipe that he found using Milk Stout online. So I finally gave in and made them today for my mother-in-law's birthday. The recipe is as follows.

Adapted from Left Hand Brewing.

Milk Stout Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Milk Stout Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

A delicious combination of chocolate and beer (yes beer). Great for parties!

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Cooking Time: 0h, 25m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 24

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 bottle Milk Stout
• 1 stick melted unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 1 pound confectioners sugar

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl mix together dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt).
3. In another bowl combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla.
4. One at a time add eggs.
5. Add sour cream and mix until combined.
6. Add dry ingredients and stir until mixture come together (do not over mix or your cake will be less fluffy).
7. Pour batter into 24 muffin cups (greased or with liners).
8. Bake for 12 minutes, rotate pan and then bake for another 8-12 minutes.
9. Combine the cream cheese and confectioners sugar to make the frosting.
10. After the cupcakes have cooled frost with the frosting.
11. Store in the refrigerator.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July today! These cupcakes were a great dessert for the steak, mashed potatoes, and salad that we had for dinner tonight. For a party they would be a nice way to have a dessert that both beer and chocolate lovers would like. Plus according to my family they are pretty yummy! 

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

So I am becoming somewhat of a hypocrite. When I started this blog I had a lot of idealism and firm rules in place on recipes. While I still believe in many of the ideas, I also have realized that some of my opinions have changed. The biggest change in my opinions is in regard to the use of recipes. I was pretty firm on my stance that I would never re-print a recipe from another site. While I still don't believe in re-printing recipes verbatim, I have softened my opinions on adaptations. That's part of the reason I took a couple of weeks off from blogging, I needed a break to decide what I wanted to do going forward on the blog. I have decided that I will begin to print recipes on my site with clear links to the original recipe and clearly adapted steps and directions. A lot has changed in the last three years since I started this blog and I have realized that I am constantly in a state of change myself. I hope that none of my readers will think badly of my decisions and continue to read my blog.

Now that I got through with the heavy stuff, on to the recipe. My kids are both home for the summer and have been eating me thru house and home. We are all big sweet eaters in my household so I am always trying new recipes for cookies and baked goods. Chocolate has always been my personal weakness, I can't get enough of the stuff. One of my favorite recipes is for No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, they are so good! The recipe is as follows.

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups oats
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a sauce pan.
2. Bring to a boil and rapid boil for two minutes. In order for the cookies to completely set you must allow the cookies to boil for two minutes. If they aren't boiled long enough the cookies will stay soft.
3. Take mixture off heat and quickly add oats, peanut butter, and vanilla.
4. Drop cookies onto wax paper (I normally make my cookies about 1-2 tablespoons each, but the size is really up to you) and let cool. If your cookies don't completely set place the cookies in the refrigerator until firm.

My kids really love this recipe. Every time I make them they only last a couple of hours. They also freeze well in-between sheets of wax paper and placed in a freezer bag. Since there is no flour in the cookies it's a nice gluten free option that doesn't use a gluten free all-purpose flour mix (just make sure your oats are gluten free). 

Glutenfree Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake

Online I'm pretty vanilla. I make a conscious effort not to write all the things that pop into my brain on a daily basis. Part of this is an effort to not offend anyone online, but a larger part of it is that what I put online is only part of the person I am. In public I'm not very controversial. I think many things, but have learned as I've gotten older that learning to bite your tongue is hard, but an important lesson. I transfer this understanding online. I could have larger blog hit numbers if I ranted about things daily, if I attacked another person's point of view, or spoke vocally about everything that entered my brain. I chose not to. Yes, the person I am on my blog is only part of the person I am offline. However, it is the part of me that highlights the things that I wish I could be more of in life in general. My blog is me edited down to the person that I strive to be and oftentimes fail miserably at attempting to achieve offline. It's still me though either way.

So vanilla always makes me think of desserts. I love dessert as most of you know and last week I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake from the March 2014 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 2 hours of total time, 20 minutes of which is active, and makes 8 servings. I did make a number of large changes to the original recipe. First, instead of using all-purpose flour I substituted brown rice flour and a tablespoon of xanthan gum. Secondly, I used my mixer. I know the recipe says not to do the whole recipe in the mixer, to stir the dry and wet ingredients separately and not to over mix or the top will crack. Well, I hate having to make more dishes, so I ignored the instructions. That's right I threw everything in the mixer with the paddle attachment and let it go. Yes, the top split a little bit, but it tasted just as good and no one in my house cared. Plus, I was happy since I only used one bowl. I did find that my total cooking time was a little longer than the recipe suggests, approximately 1 and a half hours total.

This cake turned out really well. It rose beautifully and the gluten free flour made for a moist cake. If you aren't a fan of brown rice flour, potato flour, sorghum flour, or white rice flour would work just as well. I rarely use gluten free all-purpose flour, but it would also be an acceptable substitute. If you use the all-purpose flour omit the xanthan gum since most pre-made gluten free all-purpose flours already have it in the ingredient list.

For the recipe go to Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake. 

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes Using Quinoa Flour

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes

Growing up once a year for my birthday my mom would buy a sheet cake from the Italian bakery. I would pretty much eat the entire sheet cake. I loved cake, and the Italian bakery sheet cake was delicious. My love affair with cake started with those birthday sheet cakes and only grew stronger once I started baking during my teen years. I would scour over cookbooks looking for new cake and cupcake recipes. Flash forward to a few years ago and my cake eating life was brought to a halt. I found out that I could no longer have gluten and I was devastated. Not only because I couldn't have pasta or bread, but because cake was taken away from me. I began trying various gluten free cake recipes using all purpose gluten free flour and pretty much hated all of them. Finally I came to the conclusion that I prefer straight flours, not store bought blends. Adding 10 different ingredients for one flour just isn't something that my taste buds seem to love. Now I try to use a variety of straight flours, some of which I have found I love and others I have never bought again. This week I tried a new recipe for Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes from the Bob's Red Mill site.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes Using Quinoa Flour

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 12 cupcakes. I made a few changes to the original recipe. First I used muffin liners that I got on clearance after Valentine's Day. I love when I only have to pay a few cents for liners. Second, I found that my baking time was a little longer than the recipe, 25 minutes total. Make sure to watch the cupcakes closely, they will go from done to burnt very quickly.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes Using Quinoa Flour

My kids loved these cupcakes. I was going to frost them, but my kids loved them plain. The fact that they ate the cupcakes without frosting says a lot since they are huge frosting fans. I was worried that the taste of the quinoa flour would be too strong, but they tasted chocolatey with no after taste. My husband thought that the quinoa flour tasted like peanut butter, which he really liked. Overall, these cupcakes were very popular with my family and I would make them again.

For the recipe go to Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes. 

Black Bean Brownies

Black Bean Brownies 

My youngest signed up for kindergarten on Friday. He was excited for weeks leading up to the day, went into the school and then panicked. My normally talkative and outgoing child turned mute. He did write his letters and play with blocks while I filled out the paper work, but refused to actually talk. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but since I home school him for pre-k I am always very self conscious. It doesn't help that when you walk in the door they ask you if they are in pre-k and I was the only mommy that said he was learning at home. Now I have a master's degree, in our state I am allowed to home school through high-school. However, everyone else sends their kid to pre-k. It hasn't held my kids back in school. My oldest went into kindergarten and was already a grade ahead in reading and is now two years ahead in math. I believe strongly in teaching at home and having school being a reinforcement of things already taught through workbooks and everyday life lessons. However, I still feel judged since everyone else makes different decisions. I have had to defend my decisions so many times to other women that have made different choices and feel the need to explain to me why their decisions were better. Luckily since he starts kindergarten next year I won't have to explain my home-school pre-k choices any longer which will be a nice change. 

I have been experimenting with dessert recipes using beans in the last couple of weeks. Last week I tried a new recipe for Black Bean Brownies from the Taste of Home website. 

Black Bean Brownies 

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 12 servings. I followed the original recipe with only a few changes. I did not have chocolate chips in the house and I didn't want to run to the store so I made the recipe without the chocolate chips. It made the brownies less sweet, but my kids ate them happily with the reduced sugar. I found that my total cooking time was a little longer than the recipe, my total baking time was approximately 30 minutes. 

Black Bean Brownies 

Without the chocolate chips added these black bean brownies are rich, but not overly sweet. My two boys prefer chocolate that isn't overly sweet, so they loved them. I have tried the recipe with the chocolate chips added and it's also good, just sweeter. Either way works depending on what you have in your cupboard. I love that the brownies have black beans instead of butter, it really cuts down on the fat. The total recipe only has 3 tablespoons of canola oil, which could also be substituted for virgin coconut oil or even applesauce depending on your dietary needs. 

For the recipe go to Black Bean Brownies. 

Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten Free/Reduce Sugar Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies 

My husband and I don't exchange Christmas gifts. That's right, none whatsoever. We do give lots of gifts to our kids and parents etc., but we decided a long time ago that neither one of is into giving each other gifts on Christmas. Instead we give gifts throughout the year. My husband will see a new red wine at the store and bring me a bottle home as a surprise. Our television will break and he will find a great sale and buy one for out living room. One year when we were first married I spend months collecting all the figures for a series of Gothic novels that he was collecting. It wasn't a birthday or Christmas, it was a just because gift. To add to the Christmas gift weirdness I also hate jewelry. While most women would be elated if they received diamonds, I would take them back. I hate diamonds, my husband had to convince me to wear a wedding and engagement ring, I can't stand them. My ideal piece of jewelry is a single strand of real pearls with a little black dress, timeless, beautiful and perfect. I also love kitchen utensils, exercise gear and power tools. My husband and I are perfect for each other because I don't think I would get along in any other marriage. He gets me, I get him and we enjoy being unusual together.

As most of you know I have a huge sweet tooth. I love pretty much anything with sugar and hate most salty snacks (which is funny since all three males in my house could eat salt right out of the shaker). I try to reduce the overall amount of sugar and fat in my family's diet, especially around the holidays since we tend to eat more treats than the rest of the year. Last week I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Greek yogurt.

Confederate Memorial Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

I made a few modifications to the original recipe. First, I eat gluten free so I tried the cookies both as written and then a batch that I made with coconut flour. Honestly, the coconut flour cookies almost turned out better, my boys loved them. Second, I made one batch with the full amount of sugar and the second batch with half sugar and half sugar substitute. They baked up the same as the full sugar version and it was nice having a lower fat/lower sugar cookie to snack on with my coffee in the afternoon. The gluten free version took a little longer to brown, which is normal with gluten free baking.

Albert Jenkins Grave Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

These cookies turned out really tasty. I love that they have Greek yogurt which reduces the total amount of fat and adds protein. They worked perfectly being made gluten free and reduced sugar, which is nice since I have dietary restrictions (Celiac Disease). I would definitely make this cookies again in the future!

For the recipe go to Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

A recipe for chocolate chip cookies using Greek yogurt (no butter or oil). Light, fluffy and can be made gluten free!

Preparation Time: 0h, 5m

Cooking Time: 0h, 10m

Total Time: 0h, 15m

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies

My husband hates cake and most sweets. I love any type of chocolate, and have eaten an entire cake by myself on more than one occasion. He likes salt, I can barely stand it in most dishes. We are opposites snack and food wise. When we got married he could care less about the cake. He nodded his head and pretended to be listening, but in the end I chose everything myself. He did have a ton of opinions on the meat try at the buffet at our reception, I could have cared less. Sometimes I have to laugh at how different our food tastes our. When we went to Columbus for a job interview when we were in our mid twenties we went to a restaurant. I ordered mini beer battered corn dogs, he ordered a sashimi lettuce wrap plate. The waitress gave me his and him mine. Nope, I love fried fattening foods and he likes salad. He likes savory, I like sweet. One of my husband's new favorite flavors is salted caramel. He has found caramel sauce, ice cream, candy, you name it, if it comes in a salted caramel flavor he will eat it. So to indulge my family's love of salted caramel I decided to use the last of the packaged caramels I had from my sponsored parties a couple of weeks back and make Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies.

Ruben Pizza from Backyard Pizza Huntington, WV

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 45 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 16 cookie bars. I did make numerous changes to the original recipe. First I used 2 1/4 cups of flour. I have never owned a 1/8 cup measure and didn't want to deal with a half of a 1/4. Most of the time I weigh my cookie ingredients, I did not for this recipe. I did not use heavy cream with the caramels. Instead I used 2 percent milk. I rarely have cream in the house and see no reason to buy a container for only 3 tablespoons. I heated the baking caramels and milk on the stove until they were fully melted and then followed the remainder of the recipe. When the cookies were done I let them cool for 30 minutes, then for an hour in the fridge. They were still hard to work with so I cut them, took them out of the pan and placed them in the freezer. This allowed the bars to be less gooey.

Last Heirloom Tomato of the Season (It freezes tomorrow night!)

I would make a few changes to this recipe. First, do not make it in a 9 inch pan. The cookies came out too high and had to be cut very small so the taste wasn't over whelming. I would suggest using a 13 by 9 inch pan. This way the cookies would be nice and thin, while still having the great salted caramel taste. I would also suggest that if you use baking caramel like I did to let them set in the freezer, the cookies were great after they had set in the freezer for about an hour. Overall, these cookies had a nice sweet/salty combination according to my kids and husband. I think with the few changes I suggested the cookies would be perfect and nice for a party since salted caramel is very in in the foodie community right now. Great for Thanksgiving or Christmas!

For the recipe go to Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

A nice combination of salty and sweet, these Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies would be perfect for a party or to enjoy all by yourself!

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Cooking Time: 0h, 30m

Total Time: 0h, 45m

Yield: Serves 16

Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

My treadmill has sat lonely for the last month. Between strep throat and a stomach bug I was sick for almost 4 weeks. Not fun and it has thrown off my normal eating and exercising schedule. I am a creature of habit, when I don't eat well and get in my hour of treadmill everyday I get tired. Not just a little tired, but exhausted by the middle of the afternoon. When I eat a balanced diet and do my walking I feel energized and great. That's not to say I don't love an occasional treat. I have a definite sweet tooth and believe in using moderation. Since I eat gluten free I am always looking for ways I can have a treat and use gluten free flours. Last week I tried a new recipe for Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies from Allrecipes.com.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 dozen cookies. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I substituted rice flour for the all-purpose flour. I have started buying a superfine brown rice flour that I love. It isn't gritty at all and I was able to fine a great deal on it making it affordable. Chocolate peanut butter was on sale at my local grocery store so I had a number of jars in my cupboard. I substituted the chocolate peanut butter for the regular peanut butter used in the recipe. Finally, I used an extra cup of oats since my family likes lots of oatmeal in their oatmeal cookies and I made my cookies larger than the recipe suggested. My baking time increased by a couple of minutes per batch and I ended up with a total of 2 dozen cookies.

My husband and two boys aren't big fans of gluten free baking. However, they really liked these cookies even though they were gluten free. The combination of the chocolate peanut butter and oatmeal was delicious and I liked that they were baked unlike one of my husband's favorite recipes which is similar, but made as no-bakes. Overall, a great recipe that converted well to being made gluten free.

For the recipe go to Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.

Recipe for Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake

Gluten Free Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake

Hopefully everyone else is doing better with Easter prep than I am. I think that I finally have decided what I am going to make. Since it's just my family this year due to sickness it should be very easy to make Easter dinner tomorrow. Hopefully. My husband still isn't feeling well so it might just be my two boys and I eating, which will be fine with me it means more dessert for me. I was smart and bought my ham early while everyone was still feeling well. Doing things early is always a must in my household since things always seem to get crazy. Regardless tomorrow will be a great day to spend with my family and I hope all my readers have a great Easter. If your still looking for a sweet to serve tomorrow I might be able to help. Last week I tried a new recipe for Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake from the April 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients in the cake and 5 in the glaze. It takes a total time of 1 hour, 35 minutes of which is active and makes 8 to 10 servings. Since this recipe is already gluten free I made very few changes. I do have a few suggestions though. Make sure to spread the batter even in the pan before baking. If you skip this step half of your cake will rise higher than the other half. Gluten free cake never has much of a rise so if you don't smooth out the batter it will not turn out right. My cake took exactly 30 minutes to bake. For the glaze make sure to sift the confectioners sugar. If you miss this step your glaze will have lumps. The pics in the magazine are a little deceptive. If you are like me and eat gluten free regularly you know that gluten free recipes don't look fluffy and light like their gluten counterparts. They still taste great but without a large amount of baking powder you aren't going to have a high cake. If you want a higher cake you could try experimenting with adding baking powder.

My two boys really liked this recipe. They ate the majority of the cake. The original recipe uses almond flour, but it would probably work with rice flour or sorghum flour instead as long as you added butter or oil to balance the fat. The cake made a nice snack with a cup of tea, it wasn't overly sweet which I liked.

For the recipe go to Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake.

Recipe for Cocoa Brownies

Gluten Free Cocoa Brownies

I have a slight chocolate addiction. While other people grab for salty snacks I am the one eating a dark chocolate bar. I seem to have passed on the tradition to my two boys who make a bee line to the chocolate bars at whatever store we go to. Since chocolate is my vice I try to limit my chocolate intake to dark chocolate bars and the occasional homemade treat. I love baking at home since I can control the ingredients and I know exactly what goes into every recipe. My kids have been so spoiled that my oldest runs in the door most days asking what I made for his after school snack. One of my favorite chocolate desserts is brownies. Last week I tried a new recipe for Gluten Free Cocoa Brownies from the Food Network.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes one hour of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 16 servings. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First I used a combination of regular and dark cocoa. I love using dark cocoa in baking it gives recipes a nice slightly less sweet flavor. Since I eat gluten free I used brown rice flour in place of the all-purpose flour. Any type of gluten free flour would probably work, so if you prefer sorghum, white rice flour etc. it should come out similarly. Instead of baking the brownies in a 8 inch pan I used a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish. There was way too much batter for a smaller pan and using the larger size was perfect. Since my pan was larger my baking time was increased by approximately 5-10 minutes.

My family doesn't love most gluten free treats. Oftentimes they turn out dry or too moist. These brownies turned out great and my whole family loved them. I like that the recipe would work well with or without gluten which is nice. The actual texture of the brownies is a nice cross between a fudgy and cake brownie, not overly moist, but not too flaky. I would definitely make this recipe again.

For the recipe go to Cocoa Brownies.

Chocolate Avocado Shakes

Chocolate Avocado Shake

I made cookies of the first time in almost a month today and the males in my house ate them within a couple of hours. It always amazes me how they claim that they don't really like sweets and then eat a ton of them. I have been attempting to limit the amount of sweets that my family eats and I have been successful except for the whining. The last couple of weeks I have heard a lot of whining including my oldest telling me that I didn't love him as much anymore since I hadn't made him cookies as an after school snack. Instead of cookies and baked goods I have been trying to make sweeter snacks that are healthy as well as delicious. I absolutely love avocados and recently have read a number of sweet recipes that incorporate them. Today I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Avocado Shakes from the April 2013 issue of Eating Well magazine.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 10 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 2 servings. For the milk I used vanilla almond milk, maple syrup for the sweetener and dark chocolate chips for the chocolate. If you wanted to make the recipe vegan you could use nondairy chips. I used the ice setting on my blender to blend everything up since I wanted to make sure that there were no large ice chips.

These shakes were a little too adult tasting for my kids. My husband and I really enjoyed them, but my two boys thought that they tasted weird. That was fine by me since it meant that there were more for me. I like that this recipe is high in potassium since my potassium got dangerously low last winter so I make sure to eat a large variety of high potassium foods. It is also full of healthy fats; avocados are a great way to add healthy fats into your diet and this recipe is nice since it is also sweet.

For the recipe go to Chocolate Avocado Shake.

Peanut Butter, Dried Cranberry and Chocolate Chip Cookies

When dark chocolate first started becoming popular I hated it. There was something about the taste that I thought was bitter and I just could never eat more than one bite. I did love milk chocolate and I had a sweet spot for 5th Avenue candy bars. To this day there is something about that candy bar that makes me happy. After getting married and having kids I decided that I should give dark chocolate another try. I fell in love. Now I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate and the darker the chocolate the better. I have even been known to eat parts of the bittersweet baking bars that I buy to make cakes and cookies. I think a large part of it has to do with getting older. The older I get the more I notice that my tastes for certain foods has changed as well. Foods that I used to cringe at in my 20's I now love in my 30's and the foods that I thought I would never stop loving I barely touch. What hasn't changed is my sweet tooth. I still love to bake and do so at least once a week. This weekend I tried a new recipe for Peanutty Fruit and Chocolate Chip Cookies from the February 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour 41 minutes, 35 minutes of which is active and makes 45 cookies. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First instead of all-purpose flour I used brown rice flour. Second I substituted honey for the granulated sugar and sorghum syrup for the light brown sugar. Finally, I had just bought powdered peanut butter at the store so I used it instead of the 1/2 cup of regular peanut butter. The first time I made these cookies they came out of the oven and would not set. This can happen with gluten free baking, it is a lot of trail and error. So I crumbled the cookies, added an egg and rolled them into cookies again. I put them back into the oven for approximately 10 minutes per batch.

Even after all the changes these cookies turned out very well. The combination of the chopped chocolate and the dried cranberries was delicious and the cookies only lasted a matter of hours. These cookies could also be modified to use other dried fruit such as cherries or a darker chocolate such as bittersweet. I think an even darker chocolate and dried cherries would make this recipe even better.

For the recipe go to Peanutty Fruit and Chocolate Chip Cookies. (registration required)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I have a major sweet tooth. Over the years I have tried numerous times to give up sugar without much success. Now in my mid thirties I have resigned myself to the fact that while I hate salt I love sugar. Potato chips and salted treats do nothing for me. I literally could sit with salty snacks in my cupboard for months. Sweet treats on the other hand call my name. I love them. Since I know that sweet treats are a serious temptation for me I have learned over the years that denying myself only makes matters worse. To stay thin I allow myself treats ever week in moderation. Denying myself completely just makes me want to eat the entire cake instead of a small piece. As I age closer to 40 I have also discovered that it takes a lot more work to stay thin so I have modified my diet to try to include as many natural foods as possible. In the last month I have tried to start swapping out granulated sugar for honey and molasses. The flavor is still there, but I can reduce the overall amount of sugar needed and it doesn't cause me the same amount of sugar highs. Yesterday I tried  a new recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies from the January 2013 issue of Family Circle magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 28 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 28 cookies. I did make a number of modifications to this recipe. First instead of using 1/2 cup of butter I substituted 1/2 cup of canola oil. I am trying to reduce the amount of butter that I am baking with and this was an easy substitution. Secondly, instead of the 1/2 cups of granulated sugar I used 1/2 cup of honey. For the 3/4 cup of brown sugar I used slightly less than a 1/2 cup of molasses, so between the honey and molasses I had approximately a cup of liquid. Since I increased the amount of liquid by using honey and molasses I added an additional 1/4 cups of brown rice flour. I eat gluten free so I omitted the all-purpose flour and used equal amounts brown rice flour instead. My baking time was slightly longer than the recipe since I made substitutions, approximately 5 minutes per batch.

For gluten free cookies these rose very well. Oftentimes gluten free desserts end up flat, but these did a great job of baking up. My husband actually thought they were a little too cakey, but my two boys and I liked the texture. I liked the peanut butter, but I wasn't a big fan of the chopped peanuts. I think if I made the recipe again I would leave them out as an ingredient.

For the recipe go to PB Chocolate Chunk Cookies.  (registration required)

Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Growing-up baking was something I loved doing. My mother was a great cook, but her baking skills were hit or miss. Case in point the first time I brought my husband back to Seattle to visit my mother was hosting a Christmas Eve party. She insisted that I should add an entire bag of raspberry flavored chocolate chips to the delicious brownies I was preparing. I was skeptical and said so, but my mother won out. They were terrible. The whole night I spend hovering over the desserts explaining that I had made everything, except the decision to put raspberry chips in the brownies. I look back at this story now that my mother has passed and laugh. She was a great mom in many ways, but not a great baker. Luckily I taught myself to bake when I was very young by trying every recipe in my mom's old cookbooks until they came out right. There were many cookie misses that had to be thrown out, but eventually I learned to cook everything in all the cookbooks. In college I made cookie platters until the early morning hours for co-workers, friends and families on their birthdays. How I found time for it still amazes me. My sweet tooth has stayed with me through the years, even though many other things have changed. This weekend I was in a baking mood so I decided to make gluten free cookies. I tried a new recipe for Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies from the January 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 18 minutes of which is active and makes 24 cookies. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Since I eat gluten free I substituted gluten free flour for the all-purpose flour used in the recipe. Additionally for the chocolate I used an 8 oz bittersweet baking bar. I found that since I made these cookies gluten free they took slightly longer to cook than the recipe suggested. They also spread out thinner, which is normal for gluten free baking. Make sure to bake the cookies on parchment paper. It really does make a difference on how evenly the cookies bake and makes it much easier to release the cookies from the pan. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I really liked the combination of salty and sweet in this recipe. My husband and I were both skeptical of how the salt would taste with the chocolate, but were pleasantly surprised by how delicious the cookies turned out. Since I made my cookies gluten free they were thinner and flatter than they would be with wheat flour. Either way they would be delicious.

For the recipe go to Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Chocolate Pudding

Last night for New Year's Eve I didn't even make it to midnight. I fell asleep at 10:30. I did attempt to make it to the New Year by drinking coffee, but even that couldn't keep me awake. My kids fell asleep at 9, so I did slightly better for them. Today I made black-eyed peas for good luck and my husband and I enjoyed the champagne that we never drank last night. I tried a new way of preparing my black-eyed peas and they were delicious. While I might not of stayed up to ring in the New Year, I do have traditions that I try to keep. One of them is to make a delicious dessert for New Year's Eve. There is something comforting about saying goodbye to another year with something comforting and sweet. Earlier in the day I made a new Chocolate Pudding recipe from the January 2013 issue of All You magazine to help celebrate the New Year.

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I allowed the pudding to fully chill before serving and I served the pudding in canning jars. The look of drinks and desserts in small canning jars is great and looks unique. I did find that the recipe only made three servings, instead of the 8 suggested by the recipe and magazine photo. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I thought this pudding was delicious. It wasn't overly sweet, but instead was rich and full of chocolate flavor. My two boys loved the pudding and the homemade whipped cream I served on top. I think if I made the recipe again I would double it, since my family eats large servings and it only made three. This is definitely a recipe I would make again in the future.

For the recipe go to Chocolate Pudding.

Pumpkin-Chocolate Torte with Pumpkin Whipped Cream

My kids are able to make huge messes. As I sit here writing this post my living room floor which I have picked up 5 times today is once again full of toys. I think I might pick up the same toy over and over again everyday. My husband doesn't seem to be much better than my kids. I think he believes that his socks will actually walk themselves to the hamper. They don't. When I was gone for a week this fall my husband didn't pick-up any of his dirty clothes and dishes and was genuinely confused how nothing was clean or put away. Part of it has to do with my expectations of cleanliness. Growing up my mother had a lot of stuff. Not just a few things, but literally our house and then apartment were full of stuff. Nick-knacks covered every available space and there was always stuff everywhere. I am the opposite. I like everything put in its place. My living room is decorated, simply with everything having a spot. It drives me crazy when things are cluttered. Christmas has a tendency to stress me out not for the reason that most people deal with, but for the clutter. As soon as my kids open their gifts I am going around organizing. One way that I keep myself sane is chocolate. I love chocolate and it has an immediate effect on my anxiety. This week during the craziness of the holidays I made a Pumpkin-Chocolate Torte with Pumpkin Whipped Cream from the December issue of Eating Well magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 4 hours 50 minutes of total time, 50 minutes of which is active and makes 10 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I did not line my pan with parchment paper and I had no problems taking out my torte, so I don't believe that the step is necessary. For the whip cream I chose to just make a straight whip cream without the pumpkin puree and with just a small amount of vanilla. Finally I let the torte firm up overnight before serving. I think this helped it to firm up completely. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys and I really loved this recipe. I like that it only has 11 grams of fat per serving, which is much lower than most dessert recipes. The taste isn't overly sweet, but still has a nice chocolate flavor. I did not drizzle the top with melted chocolate, but I think it would be delicious if you wanted to add this step.

For the recipe go to Pumpkin-Chocolate Torte with Pumpkin-Whipped Cream.

Flourless Chocolate-Coconut Drops

I love chocolate. Not just a little bit, but I literally eat a dark chocolate candy bar every weekend when I go grocery shopping. Since I have such a large sweet tooth I also workout on the treadmill for an hour a day and rarely sit down until the evening rolls around. I don't believe in denying myself the foods that I love, but instead I eat everything in moderation and make reasonable substitutions when available. It helps that I also am now gluten free so I snack a great deal less. The pre-packaged gluten free options are very expensive and honestly most of them are not delicious. I would love to say that I am always motivated to cook and bake from scratch, but I am human and oftentimes lack the desire to go in the kitchen and make myself something to eat. I try to stick with recipes that are easy to make and take little prep and cooking time. Last week I tried a new recipe for Flourless Chocolate-Coconut Drops from Everyday Food magazine, which looked like an incredibly easy gluten free snack recipe.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 2 dozen cookies. For whatever reason every store in my area is currently out or no longer stocks dutch process cocoa powder. Due to this fact I used regular cocoa powder. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients and made no substitutions. It took a bit of mixing to combine the ingredients and my cookies came out perfect so don't worry if you have to stir numerous times to ensure that all the cookies are fully mixed. Finally, watch the cookies in the oven. Mine took exactly 15 minutes to bake and would have burned left in any longer. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These cookies turned out delicious. I like that they don't use flour so they are gluten free without having any aftertaste from using gluten free flour. The texture is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside which is both adult and kid friendly. These cookies would be great for a holiday cookie plate for a friend or family member eating gluten free while still yummy enough to serve at a party for all types of guests.

For the recipe go to Flourless Chocolate-Coconut Drops.

Thanksgiving Recipes - Crustless Pumpkin Pie, Gluten Free Cushaw Pie and Individual Mashed Sweet Potato Casseroles

I love cooking for the holidays. Growing-up our house was always busy during the holidays with my mother cooking, cleaning and hosting. I never really understood how big my mother's family was until I went to other people's houses. My mother was the oldest of 12 kids and I have so many cousins that I would have to sit down and count it out to figure out the exact number. Needless to say, our house was always busy and even though I was technically an only child that was more in theory that actual practice. Every weekend there was either family at our house or we were visiting someone. Growing-up this led to a lot of jealousy on my part. I never really understood why I had to share my mother with so many other people. Now that my mother is gone and I have gotten a lot older I realize that some of my best memories involved growing-up in the constant chaos of a very large extended family. There was never a question of what to do, just who to do it with. You were never alone, which now that I have a family of my own and live far away from home I miss more than I would ever think possible growing-up. Baking and cooking is one way that I keep the spirit of my mother alive and well with my own family and this Thanksgiving I tried new recipes, mixed in with recipes I make every year. Here is a break-down of how Thanksgiving at my house looked.

I hate turkey. I know that sounds horrible, but I think I may be one of the few Americans alive that hates turkey. I have tried to grow to love the poultry over the years, but I just can't do it. It's doesn't help that the leftovers last for days and I have never been a fan of turkey pot pie (I know I seem to not like any quintessiantal American food). So this year I decided to go outside the box. I made individual cornish game hens and my kids absolutely loved them! Here is a pic of the finished product:


The game hens went over very well and my youngest child ate a whole game hen all by himself. Plus the leftovers made for two great pots of homemade stock the next day.

For side dishes I made garlic buttermilk mashed potatoes, seen here:


And Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Apples (link to recipe in text).


And last minute I had extra sweet potato puree so I made individual sweet potato casseroles:


I modified a recipe found here. I added extra marshmallows since my kids love them and slightly reduced the amount of orange juice to approximately 1 tablespoon.

For dessert I made two pies the day before Thanksgiving. I was kind enough to be given over 20 pounds of sweet potatoes and cushaw squash from a friend of my husbands. Thanks to this generosity I was able to make two pies and a side dish without spending any money, which I love! For the first pie I made crust-less pumpkin pie. I can no longer eat gluten so this was an easy way to make the pie gluten free. I followed this recipe and here is the photo:


I did let the pie cook longer than the suggestion, I would say closer to an hour. Part of the longer cooking time was due to the fact that I made one deep dish pie and a series of mini pies in small souffle pans.

The second pie I made was a gluten free cushaw pie. I combined two recipes to make this pie. The first recipe was for a gluten free pie crust. Here is the link. Be very careful when working with this crust. It takes time in the freezer to fully set, do not try to over knead it or it will be tough. Additionally, make sure to follow the directions where the crust is set between two pieces of parchment this is an important step and the only way that you will be able to move your crust from the counter to the pan. For the actual pie filling I followed this recipe.

That was my Thanksgiving. I was happy that all my recipes and dishes turned out delicious and I was surrounded by my family. I hope all my readers had a great Thanksgiving!