Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts

Monday, December 30, 2013

Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies

A recipe with chocolate in the title twice means guaranteed deliciousness. These cookies are chewy and chocolatey and decadent. I had to taste test a few of these just to make sure. These yummy morsels were a perfect addition to my Christmas baking - which also included Snickerdoodles, Easy Rolled Shortbread, Peanut Butter Blossoms and Kiss Me Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies (original recipe here)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup lard
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
3 tsps vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag white chocolate chips
  1. Cream butter, lard and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add in eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.
  2. Sift in dry ingredients and mix until just combined and then hand stir in the chocolate chips.
  3. Drop teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets at lesat an inch a part as these will spread out quite a bit.
  4. Bake in 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes and let cool before transferring to cooling rack so they don't break apart on you!
  5. Now you can taste test your cookies, or share with friends... Whatever suits you!
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Chocolate Fig Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Fig fig fig. What a fun word. Oh what, you don't like it? Fig off then!

If dried figs are new to you, I can tell you that they are sweet and very seedy. They aren't my favorite dried fruit, but I have a Costco-sized bag of them that need to get used, so. I decided they would go fantastic with chocolate, because, well, everything goes with chocolate! I found a recipe here that looked really great, and with a few minor adjustments they turned out lovely.

One warning though, this cake is a million times better the next day. The flavors get a chance to meld together and the cake gets really fudgey.

Chocolate Fig Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
10 dried figs (finely chopped)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
  1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans. 
  2. Finely chop your figs and pour 1 cup of boiling water over them. Let them sit for 30 minutes. I mashed mine a bit with a fork. You could probably even puree them to make sure they are lump free.
  3. Next, sift your dry ingredients together. Then mix in your wet, followed by the figs and water mixture. Pour into your cake pans and pop into oven for about 30 minutes.
Chocolate Glaze
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup margarine
  1. Microwave chocolate chips and margarine together and stir until smooth.
  2. When your cakes are cooled, top with chocolate glaze. You can stack them or keep as individual cakes.







Chocolate Fig Cake with Chocolate GlazeChocolate Fig Cake with Chocolate Glaze


Chocolate Fig Cake with Chocolate GlazeChocolate Fig Cake with Chocolate Glaze



Chocolate Fig Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Dinner in a Cup

Dinner-in-a-Cup, which shares similarities with Lunch-in-a-Glass and Breakfast-from-a-Blender, is the Meal of the Future. Forget pots and pans and stoves and ovens. A blender and a receptacle to drink out of is all you need! Note that a cup is not strictly necessary as the blender itself is fun to drink out of, but try to keep it on the down-low as people may judge you unfairly, they just don't understand.

Dinner-in-a-Cup is, essentially, a protein shake. (Note, I've steered myself away from saying "basically" as a segue as I read somewhere that some feel it has a condescending tone, so have jumped on the Essentially train- it sounds smarter but essentially has the same meaning!) Making dinner for one is a terrible feat and I only ever endure it so that Lunch Leftovers are created. There's nothing fun about slaving away on a dinner then sitting down to eat alone-especially when you are a terrible cook. Don't get me wrong, I love dinner foods, but these days I travel to various destinations to get them.

Infomercial; Dinner-in-a-cup is Great! I get home from the gym, take out the blender and throw in stuff, pour it in a cup and drink it back. Five minutes is all it takes and cleanup is a breeze!

My go to recipe: pour about a half a cup of milk in the blender, add a cup of frozen berries and a banana, a few table spoons of plain yogurt, a scoop of chocolate protein powder, a tablespoon of ground flax, a dash of cinnamon and blend away. I sometimes use banana and peanut butter, but it's rather indulgent and makes me feel guilty.

As I type I am drinking back my dinner and have to say- the walnut addition in today's blend was an unusual choice that won't be repeated as I've choked at least twice already.

Dinner in a cup- because utensils and chewing are for suckers ;)

View my Avocodo-Banana-Berry-Smoothie blog recipe here.


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Mission: Chocolate Cupcakes

  I sometimes offer bribes at work to get people to do things for me. For example, last week I needed help with a rather techy email. I wanted it done for when I got into the office the next morning. I threw a baking bribe at Simon to get his speedy cooperation. Cupcakes for email. Fair trade? I think so. I can tell you he does too! I made a comment that the liners were going to be pink and flowery and he said that it wasn't manly enough. I decided to go all out and use pink flowery liners with pink icing and red sprinkles. I can tell you, he was thrilled. Here's a bit of a photoblog.



Curious Kitten hasn't quite gotten the hang of staying off the counters. She likes to lick the greased tins. I like to let her.



 Letting the spoon fall into the bowl just means you get to lick the spoon clean. NBD.


Watson, unsurprisingly, likes cupcake batter too.



Round 1, no cupcake liners. These were basically a test batch to snack on.




Please note that these domed cupcakes are decorative and not for your eating pleasure. I will have you know that everyone at work made yummy noises after eating.

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Un-Official Foodie Handbook

Before I had officially decided that I wanted to be a Foodie, I was just a girl who obsessed about food. New ingredients, new recipes, new restaurants; Low fat, low calorie, high protein, high fibre; What to try, what to buy, what to bake; Where to go and what to order... A thousand seemingly insignificant food related details. It's just food afterall, right? Wrong. Now that I'm Shelly the Foodie I have legitimate platform to obsess about foodstuff.

As per Wikipedia:

Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.

Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news. Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food.

I think my lack of refined taste will suit me well as a foodie. Come along with me on my journey [insert beckoning arm gesture here].

Pick a country, any country... Ethopia? okay sure. I'll tell you about the time (Last Saturday) when we went for Ethiopian food. For some of you that may not know, Ethiopia is a country on the East coast of Africa with a population of around 80 million people and boasts to being one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today. WOW!

Rumor had it that Alanna and her cohorts Leslie and Vicky were heading down to commericial drive to cross Ethiopian Food off their Bucket List. When my plans fell through that night I called and begged Nikita to bring me along. Nothing gets my juices flowing like Ethiopian food. Please note that was said straight-faced sarcastically. On the way downtown Nikita mentions that she has something to tell me. Now I can't remember exactly how she said this, but it was in such a way that frightened me. Basically, Bad News Bears.

"You have to eat with your hands at this restaurant, there isn't any cuttlery," Nikita mumbles.

"WHAT?! Have you seen how long my nails are?" I gasp in horror.

After a minute or two of sulking i get over it. Shortly after we arrive at the restaurant, which is called Addis. The pronunciation is unverified. We threw it around a bit and came up with "ah-dee".

The three musketeers have already arrived and a minute later the waiter brings us some menus. On the menu there are a variety of chicken, beef, lamb and vegeterian dishes with minimal descriptions. We ask the waiter what his recommendations are and he isn't very helpful. A gentleman who has just finished his meal and is leaving the restaurant comes over and apologizes for eavesdropping then tells us he had the vegetarian and the chicken dish and that it was more than enough for him and his dining companion. We take his recommendation and add a beef dish as well to round out the meal.

The food comes. It is on a large round plate topped with, what seems to be, a pancake. This pancakey adornment has also been rolled up and served on a side dish for us to use as our utensils (remember? no cutlery!). The beef and chicken are nicely cooked and seasoned. The assortment of vegetables are decent as well. This is definitely a meal that is best had with good friends or family as there is a lot of grabbing and reaching and mess. After the meal is over and our parking has almost expired we go up to the till to pay. $35 dollars for the five of us. I convince Nikita to buy a box of chocolate covered almonds for a good cause (the cause being my grumbling tummy).

Annonymous quote:
I had no idea they had Ethiopian food judging by the photos I have seen in National Geographic.