Peanut Butter-Banana-Chocolate Yogurt Pops

It is August, so it’s no real surprise that it’s exceptionally hot outside. But maybe because we’d gotten lucky with comparatively milder summers for a few years, this summer has seemed really, really hot. In the middle of another triple-digit day, I have to wonder why I don’t own popsicle molds? I must have convinced myself that I wouldn’t use them very often, but right now they seem like an obvious necessity. I started pondering this kitchen tool question when I read about these yogurt pops in the July/August issue of Clean Eating magazine. They’re presented as one of three frozen breakfast pop options, and I was delighted with the ingredient list and its lack of refined sugar. They’re made with plain yogurt, natural peanut butter, cocoa powder, and a little maple syrup. I wanted to pull out the blender and get right to work. I had some paper cups that I could use to freeze the pops, and I just needed some popsicle sticks. And, that’s when I learned that I would have to go to a craft store to get popsicle sticks because the grocery stores where I looked didn’t have them. That should have been a sign that I need to just get popsicle molds. 

I pushed onward, found some sticks, readied the paper cups, and made the yogurt pops without molds. First, I toasted some unsalted organic peanuts and added salt. Next, a banana, some plain Greek yogurt, unsweetened almond milk, natural peanut butter, and maple syrup were pureed in the blender. Some of the peanuts were added to the cups, and half of the mixture in the blender was poured over the peanuts in the cups. Back on the blender base, cocoa powder was added and mixed into the remaining yogurt mixture. The chocolate mixture was added to the cups, and more peanuts were sprinkled on top. Additional peanut butter is also suggested, but I skipped that and just added peanuts. I appreciated the simplicity of this recipe, but if you’d like a truly layered look it would require a little more time. To get layers, the first addition of yogurt mixture in the cups would need to be frozen until set before the chocolate mixture is added. Without that added step, you get a swirly result. Also, since I was new to popsicles, I didn’t realize the mixture needs to freeze and set a bit before you place a stick in the center of each cup, or the stick will just fall to the side. 

I feel like I learned some good lessons in the realm of popsicle science here. And, I got to enjoy some delicious frozen treats. The salty, crunchy peanuts were a delightful contrast to the ice-cold, creamy frozen yogurt, and I always love the mix of banana, chocolate, and peanut butter. What’s your opinion on whether popsicle molds are a kitchen necessity, and if you have some which kind do you recommend?

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Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies with Peppermint-White Chocolate Brittle

As the holiday season was approaching, I pondered new and different cookie recipes to try this year. There are cookies that are good for giving as gifts in person and cookies that can withstand being mailed as gifts. There are also cookies that really only work for serving at home if they’re particularly fragile or require refrigeration. I was looking for options that fit into the first two categories. I also really wanted to spend some more time with a book that I bought a couple of years ago but hadn’t gotten around to mentioning here on the blog. It’s Cookie Love: More Than 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary by Mindy Segal, and it’s full of what I might call special occasion cookies. Although there are some straightforward recipes in the book, several of the cookies require a multi-step process. That was the case with these sandwich cookies, but I can tell you that all the steps involved were worth it. Segal named this recipe The Black Sabbath after the band’s early music because of the intense, dark chocolate flavor of the cookies. As written, the filling is made with cream cheese and flavored with crushed Starlite Mints. Because I wanted to end up with a cookie that wouldn’t require refrigeration, I made a buttercream filling instead. And, because neither grocery store where I shop sells Starlite Mints, I added peppermint extract to the buttercream. Then, more chocolate appears for dipping the cookies, and they’re finished with shards of peppermint-white chocolate brittle. 

To make the cookies, you want to use a dark cocoa powder. In the past, I’ve used a very dark cocoa from Savory Spice Shop. This time, I found Droste cocoa powder from Holland, and it makes a lovely, dark, black cookie. The dough needs to be divided into two disks and chilled for several hours or overnight after being mixed. It was easy to roll between big pieces of parchment paper. Without the parchment, quite a lot of flour would have been needed for rolling since it is a sticky dough. After rolling to about a quarter inch thickness, the dough in the parchment layers should be placed on a sheet pan and chilled again before cutting the cookies. Each step works best when this dough is a bit cold. The cookies were cut, placed on baking sheets, and docked with a fork before baking. Once cooled, the cookies were matched up for best sandwich fitting. I made a simple buttercream with softened butter, melted white chocolate, confectioners’ sugar, peppermint extract, a little vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Each cookie bottom was given a generous swirl of filling. Next, the brittle was made with more melted white chocolate and, since I couldn't find round mints, crushed candy canes. For the brittle, you want some varied texture in the crushed candy. It adds mint flavor, a little color, and some crunch to the brittle. The mixture was spread on a sheet pan and chilled until firm. To finish, dark chocolate and milk chocolate were melted together. The sandwich cookies were partially dipped into the melted chocolate and topped with broken pieces of the white chocolate brittle. 

The sweet mint candy and white chocolate balanced the dark chocolatey-ness nicely. This was a really fun cookie to make and to eat, and they hopefully made good cookie gifts. Happy Holidays and happy cookie baking to all of you! 

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Pezzetti di Cannella

I have to mention one more cookie before the holiday season ends. This was a new one for me. It’s from the book Southern Italian Desserts by Rosetta Costantino. I received this book as a Christmas gift a year ago, and there are delightful cakes, pastries, tarts, gelatos, fruit desserts, and lots of cookies in it. Since I first read the book, I’ve been thinking about the La Deliziosa sandwich cookies filled with hazelnut cream. The cookies are actually made from pastry that’s cut into circles and then sandwiched with a pastry cream with added hazelnut paste. Last, the edges are rolled in finely chopped hazelnuts. They’re delicate and pretty, and they look delicious in the photo in the book. However, I needed to bake some cookies that would ship well and that could be kept at room temperature for several days. That’s how I arrived at the page for these crunchy, little cinnamon cookies. The recipe is from Puglia, and it includes lots of great flavor from cinnamon, cocoa powder, and lemon. It also makes a lot of cookies, but they’re petite, bite-size cookies that could last for weeks in theory. I’m not actually sure how long they could last because between packing and sending some and nibbling the rest, they disappeared in just a few days. 

The dough couldn’t be easier since it’s simply mixed with a fork and then kneaded by hand. Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and baking powder were combined in a large bowl. A well was made in the center of the dry ingredients, and eggs, vegetable oil, a little milk, and lemon zest were added and mixed with a fork before being kneaded by hand. The dough was then wrapped in plastic wrap and set aside for about 30 minutes. To form the cookies, the dough was first divided into four pieces. Each piece was rolled by hand into a long rope just a little over one half inch wide. The rope was cut on the diagonal into one-inch pieces that were placed on baking sheets and baked for twelve minutes until puffed and firm. A glaze was made with confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. The cooled cookies were tossed in the glaze and then set on baking sheets to dry. It takes several hours for the glaze to dry completely, and I left the cookies to dry overnight. Once dry, they were ready to be packed and shipped. 

I was intrigued by the combination of cinnamon, cocoa, and lemon, and now I’m so glad to have tried these cookies. Cinnamon takes center stage among the flavors, but the cocoa and lemon don’t go unnoticed. All together, they made these cookies completely addictive. And, since they’re tiny cookies, it’s very easy to keep reaching back for more. Next, I’ll have to circle back to the delicate hazelnut cookies or maybe some classic cannoli for serving right at home. 

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Chocolate Almond Swirl Cookies

I’m a little behind schedule here since I’m just now telling you about Christmas cookies, but better late than never. I was out of town for a birthday party right before Christmas, then Christmas happened, and so this post didn’t find itself ready until today. Swirl-shaped cookies became my theme for this year. As I started looking through files of cookie recipes and books full of cookies, I remembered a cookie I hadn’t baked for years that was kind of like a cinnamon roll in cookie form. With that shape in mind, I pulled every rolled up, spiral cookie option I found. This chocolate almond number was from the December 2004 issue of Living magazine. The recipe isn’t available online, so I’ll include it below. You do have to make two types of dough and roll them both out, there is some waiting while dough chills here and there, but layering the dough and forming the spiral is easier than you might think. The lighter, almond dough is made with ground, toasted, blanched almonds and almond paste, and it smells so lovely as it’s mixed you know it’s going to make an excellent cookie rolled up with chocolate dough. This was one of those treasures from the files that makes me happy I’m such a pack rat about keeping all those old recipes.

I set about making the almond dough first, but both need to be made and chilled before proceeding. For the almond dough, blanched almonds were toasted and allowed to cool. In a food processor, sugar, almond paste, flour, and salt were pulsed. The toasted nuts were added, and the mixture was processed until finely ground. Last, butter, eggs, and vanilla were added and pulsed to combine. The dough was wrapped in plastic and chilled overnight. For the chocolate dough, butter and sugar were creamed in a stand mixer. Eggs were added followed by milk, flour, and cocoa powder. The finished dough was wrapped in plastic and chilled overnight as well. Once both doughs are chilled, they needed to be rolled out on parchment paper. You should start with the chocolate dough and roll it to fit on the back side of your largest baking sheet that will fit in your refrigerator. Just slide the parchment onto the back of the baking sheet after the dough is rolled, and then refrigerate it while rolling the almond dough. The almond dough should also be rolled on a sheet of parchment to just slightly smaller than the chocolate dough. Next, the chocolate dough should be placed on your work surface and brushed with egg white, and the almond dough is transferred to the top of the chocolate. I didn’t have great luck with this. The almond dough fell apart as I tried to place it on top. The good news is that it doesn’t matter. You can move the almond dough around in pieces and fill any blank areas as needed. Then, sprinkle the almond dough with flour and roll the layered doughs together into a larger rectangle about 11 x 24 inches or so. Starting on a short side, the layers are then rolled into a spiral, and egg white is brushed on to seal. The rolled dough should be chilled in the freezer before slicing and baking.

The swirl shape makes a festive cookie and combines two great flavors in every bite. It’s also handy to be able to slice and bake a few cookies at a time if you’d like since the dough can remain in the freezer. I liked this spiral-shaped cookie theme, and now I’ll be looking for more cookies like this. I hope you’re all having a great holiday season, and Happy New Year to you all!

Chocolate Almond Swirl Cookies
from Living December 2004

Almond dough:
1 cup whole blanched almonds (5 ounces)
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup almond paste (7 ounces)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 egg white

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toast blanched almonds until just browned, about 13-15 minutes. Shake pan from time to time during toasting to turn the nuts. Allow nuts to cool.

-In a food processor, pulse sugar, almond paste, flour, and salt until very fine. Add toasted almonds and process until finely ground. Add butter, eggs, and vanilla and pulse until combined. Wrap almond dough in a plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to a day.

-To make the chocolate dough, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer. Mix until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and mix to combine, and then add the vanilla and milk and incorporate. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and mix to combine. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to a day.

-Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the back side of a baking sheet. Place the parchment on a work surface and sprinkle with flour. Place the chilled chocolate dough on the floured parchment. Dust the dough with flour, dust a rolling pin with flour, and roll the chocolate dough to a large rectangle to just fit on the back of a baking sheet. Slide the parchment paper with dough onto the back of the baking sheet and refrigerate while rolling the almond dough.

-Repeat the process of cutting a large piece of parchment paper and sprinkling it with flour. Place the almond dough on the floured parchment and dust the dough with flour. The almond dough is particularly sticky, so add flour as needed while rolling it into a large rectangle. The almond dough rectangle should be a couple of inches smaller than the chocolate dough rectangle. Remove the chocolate dough from the refrigerator and brush the top of it with egg white. Turn the almond dough onto the chocolate and remove the parchment from the almond dough. If the almond dough breaks during transfer, it’s not a problem. The dough can moved into place in pieces and patched as needed. Then, sprinkle the almond dough with flour and roll the two layers together into a larger rectangle about 11 x 24 inches or so. If you’d like a neater starting edge, trim a short side of the dough where you will start rolling.

-Begin rolling the dough from a short side and continue to form a dough log. Brush more egg white on the chocolate dough to seal the closing edge. Wrap the rolled dough in parchment paper and chill in the freezer for about an hour and a half before baking. -Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silpats. Using a serrated knife, slice the rolled dough into 1/4 inch rounds. Rotate the dough after each cut to keep an even shape. Transfer cookie slices to baking sheets and bake until just set, about 18-20 minutes. Cool on racks and devour unless you plan to share with Santa.

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Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies (Homemade Oreos)

I’m a big believer that homemade is always best. The flavor is always far better than anything packaged, and I like being able to choose each ingredient myself. In fact, I almost never buy packaged snacks because of all those things on the ingredients lists that I’d rather avoid. So, I was immediately drawn to the new book from Lara Ferroni Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk, and I received a review copy. These versions of popular snacks not only cut out all the preservatives since they’re homemade, they’re also made with whole grains in some cases and less-refined sugars. Of course there are instructions for making your own Twinkies, Pop Tarts, Nutter Butters, and more sweets, and there are also recipes for Cheesy Squares, Corn Chip Strips, and Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips. There are even a few dips, Potato Chips, and Hot Pockets. Most recipes even have options for making them gluten free and/or vegan. I wanted to try the homemade Oreos first because I knew they’d be on another level compared to the store-bought ones. As a kid, I never really liked the middle of an Oreo because it didn’t taste like much to me. I was pretty sure I’d have a different experience with these.

The cookie dough is easy to make with a food processor. Whole wheat pastry flour, teff flour (or whole wheat flour), cocoa powder, muscovado sugar, salt, and baking soda were combined in the food processor and pulsed to mix. Cubed butter was dropped into the food processor one piece at a time while pulsing. The dough started becoming crumbly which is what you want it to do. Last, a little milk and vanilla extract were added while the machine was running, and the dough formed a ball. I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and chilled it for about 30 minutes before rolling it out. For rolling, I placed the flattened dough between sheets of parchment paper since it was a little sticky. That way, extra flour wasn’t worked into it while rolling. The dough was rolled to a little thicker than one quarter inch, and one and a half inch circles were cut. Although the yield for this recipe is noted as 40 cookies, I got exactly 24 circles even with re-rolling dough scraps. The cookies baked for about 10 minutes and were left to cool. The filling was made with butter, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and confectioners’ sugar. There are recipes in the book for pantry items like homemade confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and mint extracts, marshmallow crème, etc. I made the confectioners’ sugar which was a simple matter of placing granulated sugar and cornstarch in the blender and letting it run for about five minutes. In the end, I didn’t find the flavor much different from the organic confectioners’ sugar I buy in bags, but it’s nice to know I can whip some up if I find I have an empty bag and don’t feel like going to the store. I used a plastic bag with the corner snipped to pipe the filling onto the flat sides of half the cookies. They were sandwiched and left to set up for about 10 minutes before a first taste.

If Oreos had always been this good, I would have been a huge fan. These were definitely worthy of being twisted apart for licking the middle, and they were great for biting right through to taste the cookie and filling at the same time. I want to try the Corn Chip Strips next or the Cheese Squares or maybe the homemade Nutter Butters. I’ll definitely be making more homemade versions of snacks.

Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
Recipe excerpted from Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2012 By Lara Ferroni. All rights reserved.

About 40 cookies

There are two types of people in this world: those who eat their Oreos in one piece and those who carefully twist them open to expose their delicious insides, lick them clean, and then dunk the dark chocolate wafers into milk until they are perfectly soggy. Guess which one I am.

Cookies:
1⁄2 cup (60 grams) whole- wheat pastry flour
1⁄4 cup (30 grams) teff or whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup (26 grams) cocoa powder
1⁄2 cup (100 grams) loosely packed muscavado or cane sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking soda
6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup (130 grams) powdered sugar

To make the cookies, combine the whole- wheat pastry flour, teff flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Pulse several times to mix thoroughly. Drop in the butter 1 table- spoon at a time and pulse to create a crumbly mixture. Then, with the food processor running, drizzle in the milk and vanilla. Mix until the mixture starts to stick together, about 1 minute. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough until it is a little less than 1⁄4 inch thick. Use a 1- to 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies (you can reroll any scraps). Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before filling. While the cookies are baking, make the filling. With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the powdered sugar until fully incorporated.

Spread about 1 teaspoon of filling on half of the cooled cookies. Top with the remaining cookies and gently twist to seal. Let sit for 10 minutes before indulging.

For gluten-free Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies, replace the whole-wheat pastry flour with an equal amount of gluten-free all- purpose baking mix. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment for easier rolling.

For vegan Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies, replace the butter with an equal amount of coconut oil and the milk with an equal amount of almond milk.

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Malted Madeleines

I’ve still never visited the Baked bakery, but I’ve had a lot of fun baking from the owners’ books. Now, there’s a brand new one. Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients highlights Matt and Renato’s ten favorite ingredients with a chapter of recipes for each one, and I received a review copy of the book. Those top ten ingredients are: Peanut Butter, Lemon and Lime, Caramel, Booze, Pumpkin, Malted Milk Powder, Cinnamon, Cheese, Chocolate, and Banana. They chose well. And, they’ve used those ingredients in tarts, cakes, cookies, muffins, milkshakes, pies, bars, buns, and breads. Everything in the book fits the Baked style of classic American treats made from scratch, and in some cases, given a new twist. I was sure the Caramel chapter would be my favorite with Caramel Coconut Cluster Bars and the Easy Candy Bar Tart, but then I got distracted by the Pumpkin chapter with the Pumpkin Almond Cake and Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. Then, there are Banana Mousse Parfaits and Honey Banana Poppy Seed Bread in the last chapter. I may need to throw a dessert party sometime soon. To jump in and start baking, I chose the Malted Madeleines from the Malted Milk Powder chapter. I wasn’t hosting a dessert party that day, and madeleines make a nice, small-sized treat. When cake sounds delicious, but you really just want something the size of a cookie, a madeleine is the way to go. Malted milk powder is also one of my favorite ingredients, but I don’t get enough opportunities to bake with it. The authors point out that the flavor is subtle and you might not notice it right away, but you’d miss the malt flavor if it wasn’t there.

Luckily, I took a moment to read the recipe all the way through the day before I was going to bake these. The batter needs to rest for one hour after it’s mixed, so I knew to plan for that. Flour, malted milk powder, cocoa powder, and baking powder were sifted together and set aside. Then, in a stand mixer, eggs, sugar, and salt were whisked until frothy. The dry ingredients were then sifted onto the frothy egg mixture and folded in. The bowl was covered with a towel and left to sit for one hour. The oven was pre-heated, and the batter was given a quick stir before spooning it into the prepared madeleine pans. I’m never sure what three-quarters full should look like in madeleine cups and mine were probably over that level, but it worked out fine. They baked for about twelve minutes and were left to cool. Some additional cocoa powder and malted milk powder were stirred together and then sifted over the madeleines after removing them from the pans.

I have a feeling that from now on, I’ll be using a lot more malted milk powder. In any recipe that involves cocoa powder, you can add two or three tablespoons of malted milk powder and reduce the cocoa powder by the same amount. You’ll get a slightly softer edge to the cocoa flavor and faint maltiness, and with more malted milk powder sifted on top, your nose will get a hint of what’s to come from the malt aroma. I can’t wait to find out what tips I’ll learn about using all the other favorite ingredients in the book.

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Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

I promised to show some holiday cookies, so on with the cookie parade. This is another one from the Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies publication from last year, and the recipe is available online. The flavors in these chocolate peppermint cookies are very similar to the chocolate mint sandwich cookies I mentioned back in March. But, I think these have a much more festive look. Here, peppermint extract is added to the chocolate cookie dough rather than the white chocolate as in the sandwich cookies, and each cookie is completely covered in melted white chocolate. Broken candy canes decorate the tops. The cookie dough was rolled out and cut into circles, but it would have worked just as well to form the dough into two logs and slice cookies from them. I’ve learned that regardless of whether the mint flavor is added to the chocolate cookie dough or the white chocolate and whether the white chocolate is sandwiched between cookies or used to completely cover them, this is a flavor combination that’s well-received.

The cookie dough was started by sifting together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer, butter and sugar were creamed until pale and fluffy. One egg and one egg yolk were added followed by the peppermint extract. The flour mixture was slowly added, and then the dough was divided and formed into two disks which were covered with plastic wrap and chilled for at least an hour. This is a sticky dough, so it’s best to roll it out between pieces of parchment paper. It may also need to be chilled before cutting rounds. Once all the cookies were cut, they were placed on baking sheets and chilled again for 15 minutes before going into the oven. After baking and cooling, each cookie was dipped in melted white chocolate and topped with crushed candy cane pieces.

They have a snowy, pretty look and fresh, mint flavor. The broken candy cane pieces on top of each cookie add visual appeal and also make the cookies more easily stackable without sticking to each other. I might go back to the sandwich cookie version when it’s not the holiday season, but this mix of flavors is a winner any time.

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Chocolate Coconut Sorbet

After growing up in Illinois where icy, cold wind can whip right across the flat, open land and chill you to the core, I can’t really complain about winter in Austin, Texas where I live now. That is, I can’t complain about the temperatures. What I can and do frequently complain about is winter allergy problems. January is ‘cedar fever’ time, thanks to the abundant pollen from mountain cedar, or ash juniper, trees. Coughing, sneezing, congestion, and lack of sleep become a way of life, and I’m willing to try any and every home remedy I can to combat those issues. One common allergy remedy is avoiding dairy. That seems simple enough except for the fact that I really enjoy eating cheese, and I bake quite a lot with things like butter, cream, and milk. However, when I’d suffered allergy symptoms to the point of almost losing my voice, I decided to put more serious effort into avoiding dairy until the worst part of the season passed. I remembered from reading In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite that author Melissa Clark’s husband doesn’t eat much dairy, and she had created a frozen treat for him using coconut milk. If I could still have something a lot like ice cream for dessert, while not having cream, I could do this dairy-free thing for a short while.

Not only is this an ice cream kind of dessert with no cream, it also has no eggs. It’s made with coconut milk which is naturally rich, but the end result is still a bit lighter than an average ice cream recipe. You begin by warming coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Then, chopped bittersweet chocolate, cocoa powder, dark rum, and a little salt were added, and that was whisked until the chocolate was melted and the mixture was smooth. Once again, I used a mix of regular cocoa powder and some black onyx cocoa powder which gives the mixture a good, dark color. The coconut mixture was then transferred to a measuring pitcher and chilled before being refrigerated for a few hours. Once completely cold, it was churned in an ice cream maker.

The chocolate coconut sorbet was creamy and richly chocolate-flavored. There’s a suggestion in the recipe to serve it with shredded coconut and a chocolate sauce to make it reminiscent of a Mounds bar, but instead, I topped it with toasted, shredded coconut, chopped almonds, and pieces of candied orange peel. All those crunchy, chewy toppings made it an especially fun dessert, and the almonds took it in more of an Almond Joy direction in the end. And, you know, I didn’t miss the dairy one bit.

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Mocha Sherbet Freeze

I spotted this sherbet on Saveur.com the other day, and it seemed like a very good antidote to our unrelenting August heat. I was ogling the frothy, icy, chocolaty beverage and wishing I had a glass of it in my hand when Cowgirl Chef all but dared me to go ahead and make it. So, I did. The recipe is also found in The Perfect Scoop, and since it’s a sherbet, it’s not terribly decadent. It’s made with espresso, cocoa powder, and milk. Once the sherbet has been churned in an ice cream maker and then left in the freezer to firm up, it’s then blended into a slurpingly good mocha freeze and topped with whipped cream making it a little more decadent than how it started. I made one change to the blended beverage by adding some Kahlua, and it did help alleviate the hot weather at least until my glass was empty.

I have to tell you a little more about the whipped cream garnish. I received a creative whip from iSi North America which makes whipping cream a very fast operation. I added a couple of teaspoons of sugar to a small container of cream, closed the top and shook the container to dissolve the sugar, and then poured the cream into the creative whip which is charged with nitrous oxide. You shake the creative whip canister a few times, and then pull the trigger for thick, whipped cream. That was so much easier than whisking for several minutes or pulling out the mixer. Obviously, you could use this tool for all kinds of creative foams or meringues, but I was thrilled to simply have effortless whipped cream on my mocha freeze. As I mentioned, I added some Kahlua. To make the freeze, you combine scoops of the sherbet with ice cubes and more espresso in a blender pitcher. I used half the suggested amount of espresso and half Kahlua. It was blended until smooth, whipped cream was piped onto it, and chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans were sprinkled on top.

Coffee and chocolate are great year-round, and in a frozen format, this fit perfectly with my criteria for summer desserts. It was cold, not heavy, and flavorful without being too sweet. Scoops of the sherbet all by itself were delicious too, but the blended beverage was a special treat.

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Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

Recently, there had been a lot of talk about Girl Scout cookies, and those sweet, little girls standing at tables with stacks of cookie boxes are pretty hard to turn down. Everyone has a favorite Girl Scout cookie. I’ve always liked the Do-Si-Dos and Samoas, but the hands-down most popular has to be the Thin Mint. I had heard so much exicitement about them lately, I thought it would be fun to make them from scratch. I looked through a few books and found some reasonable facsimiles, but the one that seemed closest to the original in appearance and texture was the thin mint cookies from Super Natural Cooking. The chocolate wafers are made with whole wheat pastry flour and powdered sugar, and they’re dipped into mint-flavored melted chocolate.

The cookie dough was mixed and then wrapped in plastic and left to chill in the freezer for 20 minutes to make it easier to handle. Still, it was a sticky dough, and in the book, Heidi suggests rolling it out between layers of plastic wrap. I could tell that rolling it on a floured surface would have caused a lot of extra flour to be incorporated, but with big sheets of plastic, rolling the dough was a breeze. It was rolled to a thickness somewhere between one quarter inch and an eighth inch. Too thin and the cookies would have been brittle; too thick and they wouldn’t have had a nice crunchiness. The cut cookies were baked and allowed to cool. Then, semi-sweet chocolate was melted and flavored with mint extract. A tip to keep in mind is to add a little extract at a time and taste as you go. I added the extract in one half teaspoon increments and ended up adding a total of two teaspoons. But, each brand is different so, unfortunately, tasting is a task you just have to do. With a face full of chocolate, I set about dipping the cookies and then letting them dry on parchment paper.

The good news about making your own thin mints is that you can choose the ingredients that go into them. In the cookies, I used Van Houten cocoa powder from France (a lovely gift that I continue to enjoy). And, for the chocolate coating, I used 58 percent cacao El Rey feves. You can also decide how minty you want them to be. It’s hard to say no to those little girl scouts selling their cookies, but the homemade version is pretty irresistible too.




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Mocha Kahlua Cake

Let’s just jump straight to dessert. Back when I baked the oatmeal maple bars from the Greyston Bakery Cookbook, I mentioned that the mocha kahlua cake from that book might be nice for dessert on Christmas Eve. Well, it most certainly was. This is a cake of rich, chocolate layers with a kahlua custard between them, and it’s topped with a mocha buttercream frosting. If you follow the instructions exactly, you’ll have a very grand cake that’s three layers tall. I went for a slightly less grand final version of only two layers, and I baked the remaining layer’s worth of batter into cupcakes which are in the freezer now. I made the full amount of custard and the extra bit intended for a second layer of filling became a nice, little snack. I also made the full amount of frosting and gave the top of the cake a thick coating.

The cake batter was made with cocoa powder and espresso powder and six separated eggs plus two additional egg whites. The whites were beaten into soft peaks and carefully folded into the batter. After the cakes came out of the oven, they were brushed with kahlua which added flavor and kept them moist. As the cakes cooled, the custard was made with the two remaining egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, half-and-half, and kahlua. I tasted it several times as it thickened to be sure it was as delicious as I thought it was. It was. The custard was chilled and then layered between cakes, and then the stacked layers were chilled for about an hour. Last, the buttercream was made with, of course, butter, cocoa powder, more kahlua, confectioner’s sugar, and half-and-half. It was a thick and sturdy frosting with just enough chocolate flavor. The finished cake does need to remain in the refrigerator, and I just barely had space for it.

As the cake sat for a few hours, it became even more tender from the kahlua soaking and the custard layer. Although kahlua was added in several places throughout this recipe, this wasn’t a boozy tasting cake. It was chocolaty and mocha-sweet with just a little taste of the liqueur edge. There was a nice mix of flavors, and that mix was just rich enough without being too much. When asked to choose a type of cake, Kurt has always said ‘chocolate,’ but from now on, he may start saying ‘mocha kahlua chocolate.’




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Chocolate Espresso Macarons

I am a food geek to the extent that I have cooking and baking goals. There are things I want to try, and I plot and plan for that some day when I'll have the time or the patience or the inclination to tackle them. French macarons were one of those things for many years. When the Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook was published back in 2005, one of the recipes she demonstrated from the book was French macarons. I already had to have the book, but when I saw that demo, I couldn't wait to have a look at that recipe. Then, over four years went by, and I never got around to attempting these little cookies. I've seen lots of other blog posts showing gorgeous examples of macarons, and I eavesdropped, so to speak, on Twitter conversations about baking macarons. Jamie from Lifes a Feast and Deeba from Passionate About Baking have created the MacTweets site that's all about macarons, and they encouraged anyone who hadn't attempted them before to go for it. I finally did it, and what you see here is my first ever effort.

The suggested recipe on the MacTweets site is from Helen at Tartelette, and it is very similar to the recipe in the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. I followed Helen's recipe exactly with Jaimie's suggestion for adding a little cocoa powder and espresso powder. I also heard from Jaimie that she uses pre-ground almonds rather than grinding them in a food processor, and I did that as well. So, the almond meal was whisked with confectioner's sugar, and then cocoa powder and finely ground espresso were added. Egg whites were whipped with granulated sugar, and then the almond meal mixture was folded into the meringue. I saw a useful tip in the Martha recipe for marking circles on a baking sheet by repeatedly dipping a one and half inch round cutter into flour and then pressing it on the silpat. Then, when piping the meringue, you have a guide for making the cookies all the same size. I was sure I owned some large, plain, piping tips, but when I went searching for them I found I only have star tips. I should take an inventory of my kitchen supplies. So, I went the cut a hole in a disposable piping bag route. The first hole I cut was, of course, too big, and the cookies spread a bit after being piped and I had to start over. The second time around, I made them very petite, inside the marked circles, and sprinkled a few bits of sanding sugar on top of each. I baked them at 280 degrees F, as instructed, and couldn't believe it when I saw that pretty, ruffled feet had formed.

I followed Helen's instructions for making a vanilla buttercream, and can I pause for a moment to dwell on the silky deliciousness that was that buttercream? One more moment. After letting the macarons cool, and then ever so gently peeling the silpat from the backs of them, and seeing a few of them crack and shatter, I filled the rest with that buttercream. For a touch of holiday spirit, I rolled the edges of exposed filling in crushed candy cane pieces. These cookies are a fun challenge in the kitchen, and the possible flavor combinations are endless. I don't think they'll ever become my favorite cookie to eat, whether I've made them or purchased them. They are light with a barely there crunch on the surface and a hint of chewiness, and the filling was extremely good, but they're also a little on the sweet side even for a cookie. I am thrilled, though, to have finally made French macarons and the experience has only increased my respect for those bakers who make them look so colorful, delicious, and effortless.

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Chocolate^2 Chip Espresso Cookies

If there is such thing as a sweet tooth, I would like to suggest that there may also be such thing as a coffee tooth. Going with that assumption, my coffee tooth has been acting up lately, and that led me to this recipe for double chocolate espresso cookies from Demolition Desserts. The cookie dough was made with cocoa powder and finely ground espresso, and dark chocolate and white chocolate chips were added. You might think a dark, chocolaty, coffee-flavored cookie like that would be slightly bitter, but this one wasn’t. I suspect it’s the brown sugar that smoothes out the flavors in the dough. The tender, almost-cakey texture is a nice surprise about them too. You can use any ratio you wish of white to dark chocolate chips, and I went with a whole cup of white to one-third cup of dark chocolate.

In the recipe, the suggested method for preparing the dough is to stir it by hand with a large wooden spoon. I prefer the hands-free method of tossing everything into a mixer, so I went that route. The flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and ground espresso were sifted while the butter and dark brown and granulated sugars were mixed. One egg, vanilla, and salt were added to the butter before the flour mixture was mixed in just until combined. I folded in the white and dark chocolate chips, and then the dough was refrigerated for 30 minutes. Small, one-inch balls of dough were formed and baked for about ten minutes.

These cookies are found at the beginning of the book with a few other versions of the chocolate chip variety like the chocolate chip cookies xs. This particular chocolate chip espresso cookie is also used in the chocolate chip mania dessert found on page 35 of the book. For that, the cookies are baked as minis and are stacked on top of a blondie with brown sugar-chocolate chunk ice cream and chipped cream with dark and white chocolate sauces. That sounds like a great way to satisfy a sweet tooth, a coffee tooth, and a chocolate tooth all at once, but for now, the cookies by themselves made me and my coffee tooth very happy.

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