You know, I wasn’t even planning to write about these cupcakes. They were just a quickie Valentine’s Day treat I whipped up at the last minute when my original plans went awry.  But, they turned out so well, that I just had to share them with you.  Isn’t it funny how these things happen?   I had originally planned to make a much fussier chocolate cake.  Unfortunately, it was a big, fat fail.  I didn’t have enough ingredients to remake it, so I then found myself scrambling around my kitchen to find something else that I could do instead.   My salvation came to me in a box of Devil’s Food cake mix.  Thank you, Duncan Hines!

Ordinarily, I would have never used a boxed cake mix. The crumb is usually too flimsy, and the chocolate ones are never chocolatey enough. But, I was desperate!

To bump up the chocolate factor, I added a few tablespoons of my richest cocoa powder to the mix. I also swapped out a cup of water for the same amount of strong brewed coffee. It worked like a charm! My cupcakes were moist, dense and full of deep, dark chocolate flavor.

I had just enough eggs left to attempt a silky Swiss buttercream to frost the cupcakes with.   I also had some of my wonderful slow roasted strawberries in the fridge, so I decided to use them to flavor the buttercream.   The strawberries are roasted in a mixture of sugar and balsamic vinegar, so they are slightly caramelized and intensely flavorful – a perfect addition to the buttercream.

The final flourish to my cupcakes was a super rich bittersweet chocolate glaze drizzled over their tops.

My inspiration for the cupcakes, as well as the glaze recipe, came from one of my new favorite blogs, Sweetapolita.  It is filled to the brim with the most magnificent cakes I’ve ever seen.  Honestly, it’s absolutely stunning!  If you haven’t ever visited Rosie’s beautiful blog, you must do it now.   Go ahead, I’ll wait.

See!  Didn’t I tell you it was fabulous?

And, don’t these cupcakes look impossibly indulgent?  They are sinfully good!  Would you have ever guessed that they got their start in a cardboard box?   Neither did all of the people I gave them to.  And, don’t you dare tell them, either.  I have a reputation to maintain!

As a teen, I remember having lots of conversations with my mother about dating and relationships.  Of her many “isms”, the one I heard most was “Looks aren’t everything.  It’s what’s on the inside that matters.”    Of course, she was right, but my superficial 16 year old brain didn’t always agree.  Before I settled down with Mr. SGCC, I dated a wide variety of boys.  Some were blindingly beautiful, and some had other, less obvious attributes.  More often than not, the pretty boys turned out to be a disappointment.   They were usually too busy flexing their muscles and  gazing at their own reflections in the mirror to worry about such mundane things as developing  a personality or perfecting the art of conversation.  Though I hate to admit it, it was almost always the slightly rumpled, kind of quirky guys that I had the best times with.  They were the ones that made me laugh and feel special.  They had substance.

Oddly enough, I’ve found the same thing to be true when it comes to desserts.  I can’t count the times I’ve drooled over a display of stunningly perfect pastries or cakes, only to be disappointed when I took that first bite.  Sadly, they don’t often taste as good as they look.   I guess looks aren’t everything in the world of sweets either.  This Chocolate Pavlova Torte with Raspberry Dream Cream is a good example.  On the outside, it looks kind of craggy, drippy and messy.  It wears its flaws for the world to see.  But on the inside, it is crunchy, creamy and chewy all at the same time.  It has personality up the wazoo.  And, it is truly sublime! 

A pavlova is a meringue-based dessert with a crisp, crackly outer shell and a lovely, soft, pillowy center.  It is said to have been created in honor of the famed 20th century Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova.  It’s a light and ethereal dessert that is often served covered with fresh fruit and whipped cream.  In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’ve taken it a step further, studding mine with bits of rich dark chocolate and smothering it with an incredible silky and luxurious raspberry cream.

My Raspberry Dream Cream is inspired by Pierre Herme’s Extraordinary Lemon Cream found in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home To Yours. I am absolutely mad about that lemon cream! So, when it came to finding a filling for my chocolate pavlova, I decided to adapt Dorie’s recipe using raspberries instead.   The method for making the cream is similar to that for making a fruit curd.  The difference is that the butter isn’t cooked with the other curd ingredients.  Rather, it is added in after cooking and cooling them, creating an emulsion.  Dorie says that because the butter doesn’t melt and re-firm, as it does with curd, the resulting cream is lighter, richer and well… creamier.   I can’t vouch for the science involved, but I can say that the cream definitely lives up to its name.  It is extraordinary, and it tastes like a dream!

To make the pavlova shells, I used my favorite recipe by Nigella Lawson.  They aren’t really difficult at all to make, but baking them can be a little tricky.  It is important to cool them completely inside the oven after baking to avoid having them collapse.  They are still delicious even if they do fall.  But, why not avoid that if you can.

You can see from the photos that my pavlova shells did not turn out perfectly.  Honestly, I didn’t dare cut it before I photographed it for fear of it falling apart!   Unfortunately, when dealing with large hunks of baked meringue, some cracks and dings are inevitable.  I like to think that these are part of their charm.   That said, it is amazing what copious amounts of cream and fruit can hide.  Don’t ask me how I know this.  Just take my word for it.

So, there you have it – an imperfect dessert that is just perfect as it is, flaws and all.  With this much personality, looks really aren’t everything.

I’ve never met a person who didn’t like s’mores.  Even my non-sweet eating husband has been known to sneak a bite or two behind the barbecue grill when no one was looking.  I’m not surprised.  What’s not to love about oozey melted chocolate and ooey, gooey toasted marshmallows sandwiched between crunchy graham crackers?   Nothing, that’s what.  Never mind that they’re sticky and messy and a pain to eat.  That’s part of their charm.  They’re “s’mores”, and the name speaks for itself.

Although I found no concrete proof of this, s’mores are said to have been invented by a group of Girl Scouts on a camping trip, in the early part of the 20th century.  In fact, the first published recipe for s’mores appeared in the 1927 Girl Scout Handbook.  You’ve got to hand it to those Girl Scouts.  They’re an industrious bunch!  I wish I had been a Girl Scout when I was a kid.  My mother told me that that that they didn’t have Girl Scouts where we lived.  I think she made that up.  She said the same thing when I asked if I could take ballet lessons.  My mother was never much of a joiner.

Mini SGCC was a Girl Scout though.  She made it all the way through from Brownies to Cadettes.   Then she discovered boys, and that was the end of scouting – and s’mores. 

This S’more Pie is a slightly more sophisticated take on the original, though it has all of the same elements:  crunchy graham crackers, smooth, creamy chocolate and toasted marshmallows.  The graham crackers make up the crust and the chocolate comes in the form of a rich, velvety dark chocolate pudding.  And the toasted marshmallows…  Well, they’re still just toasted marshmallows.  I had other plans for them too, but I’ll get to that later.

The recipe for this chocolate pudding came from Gourmet Magazine.  It’s made with milk, cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate, and thickened with cornstarch.  What I liked about this recipe was that it didn’t have a custard base, so there were no eggs to worry about tempering.  This made it all about the chocolate.  Sometimes, eggs can get in the way and muddle things up.  Feel free to use your own favorite chocolate pudding recipe, if you have one.

The graham cracker crust is just a mixture of crushed crackers, sugar and melted butter.  It’s one of the simplest things in the world to make.  Maybe that’s why I love it so much.  No rolling, and it always turns out right.

The chocolate pudding is really a cinch to make too.  You just heat all of the ingredients together in a saucepan, and whisk until they thicken.   Gotta love that!

Before the marshmallows go on, the pie needs to be chilled for a few hours.  If you skip this step, you might end up with chocolate pudding soup when you toast them.  Chocolate pudding soup would probably still taste good, but it would be a little  difficult to eat with a fork.

I had originally planned to be all fancy and pipe Marshmallow Fluff rosettes all over the top of this pie.  This was a great idea in theory, but not in application.    While you would think that Fluff has enough substance to stand up when piped, it does not.  At least, mine didn’t.    My rosettes kept flopping and falling, and I’d have to keep pulling them off and start over.    I went through an industrial sized vat of the stuff before I finally gave up.  Burnished little peaks would have definitely been prettier, but sometimes you have to cut your losses and move on.  Besides, the pie looks more “s’more-like” with mini marshmallows on top.  I think it has a certain “rustic charm”, don’t you?

I will also tell you that this pie is not easy to cut.  The marshmallows are way too sticky and gooey to get a neat slice.  Of course, if you aren’t planning to photograph it, it doesn’t matter.  If you are, like I was, then use a really sharp knife moistened with a light coating of flavorless cooking oil.  I didn’t figure this out until after I had already massacred half of the pie – which is why I don’t have a shot of any of the slices.  I make these mistakes so you don’t have to.  You can thank me later.

All glitches aside, this S’more Pie is really some kind of wonderful!  And, you don’t even have to fire up the grill to make it.   But, don’t take my word for it.  Make one for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

Anyone remember the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercials?  In them, two unsuspecting souls would be strolling down the street – one eating peanut butter and the other eating a chocolate bar -  and would somehow collide with each other, smushing the peanut butter and chocolate together.  Each would be outraged, but after tasting the resulting chocolate/peanut butter concoction, they would be be smitten and wander off together,  hand in hand, licking their lips.

Take a look.

Yeah, I know. Who the heck walks down the street eating a jar of peanut butter? The Hershey Company, which owns Reese’s must be doing something right, however. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are one of the top selling chocolate bars of all time, generating approximately $398.9 million in revenue last year. That’s a whole lot of peanut butter and chocolate!

The point is that peanut butter and chocolate is a wildly popular and much-loved  combination, not only in candy bars, but in all kinds of sweets.  And, you’d be hard pressed to find a better example than these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

There are tons of peanut butter cookie recipes floating around the web, and many of them are very good.  But, my all time favorite is the one from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.  The recipe is easy to make and the cookies are divinely soft and chewy. The addition of peanut butter chips (Reese’s, of course) to the dough really amps up the peanut butter flavor.

The original recipe calls for chunky peanut butter.  I like to use the super chunky kind.  Those little peanut bits add a nice texture and extra crunch to the cookies.   Magnolia’s recipe also doesn’t include chocolate chips, but I say – why not?  Adding the chocolate chips just puts these cookies way over the top!  And, what’s not to love about that?

If you’ve never baked your own peanut butter cookies, this is a great recipe to start with. They truly are the best I’ve ever eaten.   I highly recommend having a nice icy cold glass of milk handy when you eat these cookies to help wash down all of that peanut buttery and chocolate goodness.  These cookies are rich, rich, rich!

]]> http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2011/10/25/irresistible-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe/feed/ 19 http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2011/10/06/faux-nutella-recipe/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=faux-nutella-recipe http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2011/10/06/faux-nutella-recipe/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:56:17 +0000 Susan http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/?p=3924 I’ve made no secret about the fact that I’m addicted to Nutella.  Just leave me alone with my own jar of that creamy, dreamy, chocolatey deliciousness and a great, big spoon, and I’m happy.  But, let’s face it. Nutella isn’t exactly considered a health food.  It contains gobs of …]]>

I’ve made no secret about the fact that I’m addicted to Nutella.  Just leave me alone with my own jar of that creamy, dreamy, chocolatey deliciousness and a great, big spoon, and I’m happy.  But, let’s face it. Nutella isn’t exactly considered a health food.  It contains gobs of sugar and smaller amounts of some yucky stuff like palm oil and artificial vanilla flavoring, whatever that is.  In light of my obsession, I can live with that.  But, considering how much Nutella actually consume, I thought I should maybe look into some other options.  

When I was visiting Portland last month, I picked up a few bags of hazelnuts at the farmers market.  Did you know that Oregon is the number one producer of hazelnuts in the United States?  I had no idea!   Anyway, I decided to use some of them to make my own chocolate-hazelnut spread, aka faux Nutella.   There are a slew of different recipes floating around the web, but the one I liked best came from the Encyclopédie du Chocolat via David Lebovitz’s site.  The reason that I chose it was because it didn’t call for any processed sugar, oils or additional fats, which was what I was trying to avoid.

I did change some things around, though.  Instead of a mix of hazelnuts and almonds, I used only hazelnuts.  I cut the amount of honey in the original recipe down by one tablespoon, and used nonfat dry milk because I couldn’t find the whole milk kind.  I altered the proportion of milk and dark chocolate, and also added a few tablespoons of cocoa powder.  It was fantastic -  rich and creamy, with an intense, but not bitter, chocolate flavor.   I am officially in love!

Although there are several steps involved in making this faux Nutella, they are all pretty quick and easy to do.    First, you have to toast the hazelnuts and rub off their skins.  Then you have to grind them as finely as you can.  After that, you add ribbons of melted chocolate, followed by the rest of the ingredients.

The mixture that you end up with is very thin.  David warns about this in his post.  But, he also says that the spread thickens up nicely after being chilled for a few hours – which it does.  You also may find it to be a little bit grainy.  The original recipe does say to strain the mixture, but I didn’t – and I thought it was fine.  If you are bugged by it, by all means, strain away.

We’ve been enjoying this spread in lots of different ways, but I’ve become infatuated with it sandwiched in between two vanilla wafers.  It’s the perfect little bite!

So, go ahead and indulge in this guilty pleasure, with a little less guilt, by making your own faux Nutella.  I am!

]]> http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2011/10/06/faux-nutella-recipe/feed/ 20 http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2011/08/22/the-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2011/08/22/the-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:05:01 +0000 Susan http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/?p=3838 When Ruth Graves Wakefield mixed bits of semi-sweet chocolate into a vat of cookie dough back in the 1930’s, she unwittingly created what is arguably the most popular recipe of all time – the chocolate chip cookie.  By some accounts, it was an accident.  Others claim that Wakefield intentionally …]]>

When Ruth Graves Wakefield mixed bits of semi-sweet chocolate into a vat of cookie dough back in the 1930’s, she unwittingly created what is arguably the most popular recipe of all time – the chocolate chip cookie.  By some accounts, it was an accident.  Others claim that Wakefield intentionally added the semi-sweet chocolate when she ran out of regular baking chocolate.  Whichever version is true, cookie lovers everywhere are thankful.

Since then, professional chefs and home cooks alike have been on a quest to find the Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookie recipes.   A quick Google search turned up almost 2,500,000 entries.  That’s a lot of cookies, folks!   Of course, every chocolate chip cookie aficionado has their own criteria for what makes a cookie “the one”.  Some love them thin and crispy, while others seek out the thick and chewy.  Most people consider the ultimate chocolate cookie to be somewhere in between – thin and shatteringly crisp on the outside, while soft, gooey and chewy on the inside.    I’m an equal opportunity cookie eater.   I can definitely appreciate the joys of both the crispy and the chewy. How about you? 

To further confuse the issue are the numerous chocolate chip cookie mutations that have evolved over the years, including those containing various kinds of nuts, fruits, toffee chips and oh yes, even bacon.  It’s enough to make one’s head swim, preferably in a sea of melted chocolate!

A few years ago, on a mission for the New York Times, David Leite set out to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie.    In his search, he left no chip unturned.  One of his most interesting revelations was that letting the dough “rest” in the fridge for at least twenty-four hours before baking makes for a much better cookie.  The chilling process is said to allow the dough to “dry out”, which bakes to a better consistency.   Leite also discovered that Ruth Wakefield’s original recipe for the Toll House cookie did, in fact, call for letting the cookie dough chill in the fridge overnight.   Somewhere along the way, that little nugget of information got lost in the translation, and has never been included in the official recipe.  How do you like that?  For over seventy years, we’ve been doing it all wrong!

And apparently, size does matter when it comes to chocolate chip cookies as it does with other things in life.  On his journey to cookie enlightenment, Leite learned that  the bigger the cookie, the  greater the delineation of texture, from crisp to chewy to soft.  Among the gurus that he interviewed, the consensus was that the ideal chocolate chip cookie should bake up to a whopping five to six inches in diameter.  Now, this is where I draw the line.  If I got into the habit of eating six-inch chocolate chip cookies, or any cookie that big, I’d have to climb into my closet and dig out the “fat pants”.  And, I ain’t willing to dig them out again for anything – not even the most perfect chocolate chip cookie on the planet!  Besides, if I shoved a six-inch cookie in Mini SGCC’s face, she’d probably run screaming into the night, never to be heard from again!

What I was willing to do, however, was try this recipe making smaller cookies.  Instead of monster cookies, I made three inchers.    I still let them rest for thirty-six hours before I baked them.  I also still used a good quality bittersweet chocolate and sprinkled them with sea salt.  And, I added  some nuts, just because that’s how I roll.   I have to say, they were pretty damn fabulous!  They had a thin edge of crispy that splintered upon contact with my teeth, which then yielded to a soft, chewy, chocolatey center.  There were toffee and brown sugar undertones too -  just like there was supposed to be – that were beautifully enhanced by the little flakes of salt on top.  All in all, an amazing cookie.  Were they worthy of being dubbed the perfect chocolate chip cookie?  I don’t know. I think I’ll let you decide.

When we were kids, every family barbecue ended the same way.   We’d run around the backyard looking for long thin sticks, and load them up with marshmallows.  Then, as the fire on the charcoal grill began to die down,  we’d toast them over the glowing embers.   My little brother was all about instant gratification.  He’d jam his marshmallows right into the coals which usually caused them to catch on fire.    I, being older and wiser, patiently held my marshmallows over the coals, turning them every few minutes, until they were a nice golden brown.  My brother would look at the charred, black blob on his stick,  and then at my perfect toasty specimens and  turn on the waterworks.  What else could I do but share some of mine.  As much as I loved toasted marshmallows, I loved my little brother more.

Sometimes, my mother would present us with a box of graham crackers and some Hershey bars, and we’d make s’mores.  What bliss!  Seriously, is there anything better than a sticky, gooey toasted marshmallow sitting on top of melty milk chocolate and a crunchy Honey Graham?  I think not.  And boy, were they messy!  After eating them, my dad would have to hose us down before my mother would let us back in the house.

When Mini SGCC was little, we made s’mores too.  By that time, everyone had gas grills instead of charcoal ones.  I’m sorry, but to me, toasting marshmallows on a gas grill just isn’t the same.   Mini SGCC didn’t seem to mind, though.  She devoured her s’mores just the same – and made just as big a mess!

Since I wasn’t too keen on hosing down my sweet little cherub, or cutting strands of melted white goo out of her mass of golden curls, I came up with a much neater way for her to enjoy s’mores – Crunchy S’mores Bars.

Crunchy S’mores Bars have all of the essential elements of traditional s’mores – marshmallows, chocolate and graham –  but without the mess.  They are so ridiculously simple to make, that I’m almost embarrassed to share them with you.  But, they are also so incredibly good, that I’m willing to risk the humiliation.  Actually, they’re just an amped up variation of Rice Krispies Treats, except without the Rice Krispies and with chocolate.

To give these bars their “s’moreness”,  I use Golden Grahams cereal and milk chocolate chips.  Trust me, it works.  All you do is melt the marshmallows in a saucepan with some butter, and mix in the cereal and chocolate chips.  Then, you press the whole gooey glob into a pan, drizzle it with melted chocolate and voilà!  Crunchy S’mores Bars!

I suppose that I could have fancied things up a bit and browned the butter, added bacon or used some exotic, organic, single origin, fair trade certified chocolate.   You know, to try and impress you.  But, these are cereal bars, people.   Sometimes, it’s better to leave well enough alone.   Besides, everyone who’s ever tried these bars has loved them, so who am I to mess with success.

Have you ever wondered why it is that certain foods can elicit such strong emotions in us?    I was told once that every experience we have ever had is filed away in our subconscious mind.  Even though we may not remember them, they are all there – waiting to be triggered by some seemingly unrelated sight, touch, taste or smell.  I have found myself in this situation many times.  I’ll be going about my business and then suddenly – POW!   A familiar scent wafting out of  someone’s window as I walk by,  the locking of eyes with a kindly stranger on the street, or even watching a television commercial can send a flood of long-forgotten memories rushing to the surface.   The process of making this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream was one of those times.

As I gathered the fresh mint I needed from my garden,  I suddenly saw myself at five, lying in a patch of green.  It took a minute or two, but I eventually realized that I was remembering myself as a little girl playing in my grandmother’s garden.  She had lush, thick rows of fragrant, fresh spearmint growing up and down the little flagstone path that led from the street up to her front door.  I thought it was so exotic!  I would lie down in the piles of feathery, textured leaves, drinking in their intoxicating scent, until Grandma would come out of the house and tell me to get up because I was “a crusha da meent”.   I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought seeing this crazy little kid rolling around on the ground!

Now that I can recall the experience again, it is so clear and vivid in my mind.  And, I’m very grateful to that mint for bringing such a cherished memory back to me.  That must be why I’ve always felt the need to have fresh mint growing somewhere in my yard, even though I don’t normally use it all that much.  Somehow, just knowing that it’s there is a comfort.  

When I bought some new little mint plants at the farmers market a few months ago, the guy that sold them to me warned me that they would grow like crazy.  Boy, was he ever right!  I’ve got peppermint, spearmint and applemint growing everywhere – scads of it!  Among other things, I’ve been steeping it into tea, chopping it into salads and pureeing it into soups.  I love that fresh, clean burst of flavor it brings wherever I add it.    The funny thing is that, while I enjoy using mint in all kinds of savory dishes, I really don’t care for it in sweets.  I especially don’t like it paired with chocolate, which is why nobody was more surprised than I to find that I absolutely adored this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.  Yes folks, it’s true.  I loved, loved, loved this ice cream!  I’m such a dichotomy.  Or pain in the butt.  You decide.

Why then, you might ask, would I even bother to make an ice cream whose main ingredients are chocolate and mint – a combination I usually dislike?  The answer is simple.  I’m trying to use up some of that damn mint before it takes over the rest of my garden!  I’m sorry, but there’s only so much peppermint tea that one can drink.  And frankly, I’m getting a little sick of tabbouleh.

The recipe for this ice cream came (again) from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.  I know that I use this book a lot, but I just haven’t found another I like better for making frozen desserts.  David’s recipes are easy to follow – and they work.

So, let’s make some ice cream!

The first thing you need to do is collect a big pile of fresh mint leaves.  I used a combination of peppermint and spearmint, because I had both.  The mint is simmered with milk, sugar and cream, and then steeped in them for about an hour.  This infuses the mixture with lots of lovely “mintiness”.

Next, it’s time to make the custard.  Whisk up some egg yolks and pour a little of the warm, milky mint mixture in.  Keep on whisking so that the eggs don’t scramble.  Add it back to the pot and cook it slowly until it gets nice and thick.  You’ll know it’s ready when you can run your finger down the back of a wooden spoon and leave tracks.  After that, you’ll need to strain the custard in case there are any curdled egg bits in there.  You definitely don’t want little globs of scrambled egg in your ice cream!

Make sure you chill the custard for a good, long time.  Otherwise, your ice cream will not set up properly, and that would be a crying shame.  Once it is thoroughly chilled, churn it up in your ice cream maker.

Now, here’s the tricky part.  To make your “chips”, melt some bittersweet or semisweet chocolate.  I just do this in the microwave.  When the ice cream is about two to three minutes away from being done, drizzle the melted chocolate right into it in a thin stream.  When the warm chocolate makes contact with the cold ice cream it will break up into small, very thin and shatteringly crispy flakes.  Forget chocolate chips.  This is way, way better!

When your ice cream has finished churning, scoop it into a freezer container and freeze it for as long as you can wait before diving into it.  And I warn you, this might not be very long at all.

You’ve probably noticed that while this ice cream has a pale, greenish tinge, it isn’t really green.  That’s how it’s supposed to look.   If you need to see a more “in your face” green, you can add a few drops of green food coloring.  I  think it looks pretty and much more palatable the way it is, but to each his own.   Whatever you do though, please, please, please don’t add any of that fake, mediciney tasting mint extract!  It doesn’t need it.  And if you do, please don’t tell me about it, because I might just cry.

Enjoy!

I’ve been feeling a little blue lately.  It’s a barely perceptible, nondescript blue,  like a bad color cast, which is the worst kind because it’s the hardest blue to define.  I’m not quite sure exactly where it came from either.  One day I looked around and it was just there.  Every so often, a bunch of little things start to pile up on top of each other and the blue just sneaks in.   I’m sure my  recent “pot stirring” experience didn’t help.   This blue is a tricky little sucker too.  Depending on the direction of the light, it sometimes seems to disappear, and you think it’s moved on.  But then, when you least expect it – poof – it’s back again, and your white balance goes all off.

There are only so many things you can do to ward off the “blue”.  I already made homemade caramels last week, so my only other alternative was to bring out the big guns – chocolate.  Did you know that chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, has mood enhancing qualities?  It contains small amounts of phenylethylamine -  a mood-regulating chemical naturally found in the brain.   Chocolate has also been shown to boost serotonin levels – our brain’s  own natural antidepressant – as well as endorphin levels.  Endorphins are neurotransmitters produced in the brain, usually during some kind of physical exercise,  which serve to reduce feelings of stress and pain, and can actually induce feelings of euphoria and well-being.  Just a few bites of your favorite chocolate can help chase away your blue too.

Short of nibbling on an actual chocolate bar, I can think of few ways to replicate that pure, intensely chocolate flavor.  The best I know is with this chocolate sorbet from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.  With no milk, cream or eggs to muddle things up,  this sorbet is pure, unadulterated chocolate love.  And, if that doesn’t make you happy, I don’t know what will. 

First, scrounge around your kitchen for some deep, dark chocolate pieces – the darker the better.  One great thing about this recipe is that you can mix and match leftover bits from other recipes.

You’ll also need some unsweetened cocoa powder.  David recommends the Dutch-process kind.  I don’t really know what difference it makes, but if David says to use it, I just do.  He is the god of frozen desserts.

Mix the cocoa powder in a saucepan with sugar and a pinch of salt.  We all know that a little salt enhances the sweet.

Add water and bring it to a boil.

After the cocoa mixture has boiled, take it off the heat and whisk in your lovely dark chocolate bits.

Ooooh!!!

Add some more water and a splash of vanilla.  Then, chill.

Anybody wanna lick the whisk?

Once the sorbet base is super chilled,  pour it in your ice cream machine and churn, baby, churn!

I’m telling you, people, this chocolate sorbet is the stuff dreams are made of!   It reminds me of that smooth, thick, dark, impossibly rich chocolate chaud, or drinking chocolate, that I slurped down all over Paris back in the day – only frozen.   It has a lush, velvety texture that kind of lives on your tongue for a minute or two after melting.  I swear I can actually feel those endorphins bubbling up and rushing through my body just thinking about it.  Lucky for me, I still have a small container of sorbet in the freezer that accidentally got stashed underneath the frozen lima beans.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

You have got to make this one, people.  It’s sinful, I tell you – absolutely sinful.  And, the recipe is so easy.  There’s no egg yolk tempering or cornstarch thickening or ice baths to worry about.  Forget the “runner’s high”!   A chocolate high is much more fun and requires no more exertion than moving your spoon from the bowl up to your mouth.    Trust me.  This indescribably delicious chocolate sorbet will not only chase away your “blue”,  it will make you forget that it ever existed!  I promise!

Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again.  The time when Girl Scouts everywhere literally are everywhere, selling their Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs.  I’m talking about Girl Scout cookies, people.

Yes, the little darlings are out en masse, camped out in front of every supermarket in town, hawking their wares. And, they are good at it, too!  Seriously.  They must throw in a Dale Carnegie course or two when they sign you up!  It would take the most hardened of hearts to resist those sweet, angelic faces. I don’t know about you, but my steely resolve goes right out the window each time I look into a pair of those sad and pleading eyes.  So, I buy cookies – lots of them.  And then, I take them home and try to figure out what the heck to do with them!

This is my niece, Samantha.   She’s a Daisy.  Sammie takes her Girl Scout cookie selling very seriously.  Could you resist that face?  I didn’t think so.  I bought ten boxes from her.  Is there a twelve step program for this?  If so, sign me up. 

Over the years, I’ve found some fun and creative ways to use my stash of Girl Scout cookies. By far, one of my favorites is in these Tagalong Crescents.  These buttery, flaky treats are super easy to put together and they take hardly any time at all.  The pastry is nothing more than store bought refrigerated crescent roll dough.  The dough is filled with a  rich and creamy blend of cream cheese,  peanut butter, sugar, chocolate chips and crushed Tagalong cookies.  Honestly, from start to finish, these little babies will take you less than a half hour to prepare.  As you take that first delectable bite of tender, warm from the oven pastry surrounding smooth and lush chocolate-peanut buttery goodness, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them.

Once you’ve stockpiled your cookies, the first thing you need to do to whip up these Tagalong Crescents is make the easy peasy filling.  Beat some cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar together.  I use creamy peanut butter, but crunchy will work fine here too.  Don’t use that “natural-style” peanut butter, though.  It’s oily and grainy and well… it just looks a little bit gross to me.  I don’t know how it would bake up, either.  If you do use it and your crescents suck, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

When your cream cheese and peanut butter mix is nice and fluffy, stir in the crushed cookies and some chocolate chips.  I use mini chips because I find that they melt a little easier.  But, just use what you have handy.  I don’t think it really matters a whole lot.

Once your filling is ready, it’s time to unroll the crescent dough.  Set the triangles on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a Silpat, and spread a small blob of filling onto each one.  Leave a small border around the edges so that you don’t have a big, oozing, melted mess when you bake them.  Unless of course, you like big, oozing, melted messes.  Then, by all means, spread to the edge!

After that, roll up each of the dough triangles, starting from the wide end.

After all of the triangles are rolled into crescents, brush each with some egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar.  This will make the crescents all nice and glowy.

Bake the crescents until they puff up and brown.

Let them cool for a few minutes and drizzle some melted chocolate chips on top.  You can skip this step, but since you already have an open bags of chips, you might as well use them.

That’s it!   Didn’t I tell you that this recipe was easy?  And, you probably already have all of the ingredients lurking around in your kitchen, except maybe for the Tagalongs.  But, I’m sure it won’t be too hard to find those.  If you need a few boxes, I’m sure that Sammie can hook you up.