Chocolate Brithday Desserts: Flourless Chocolate Cake

As mentioned in my previous Chocolate Birthday Desserts post, it was my friend Eriks Birthday this past weekend and I put myself in charge of desserts.  There was going to be a lot of people and I need a gluten free dessert that hopefully everyone would enjoy.  The first thing that came to mind was a flourless chocolate cake.  Any time I have had this cake, it has been really dense and rich, so you only need a tiny peice of it, which meant a 8" round cake would feed lots of people. 

This recipe came from Martha Stewart's Fresh Flavor Fast Cookbook and was super quick to whip up, it just needed pleanty of oven time.  I was a bit afraid I was going to really screw this up.  You have to beat the eggs whites twice to two different consistancies and they are basically the cake.  I assume because of the eggs, this cake was suprisingly light compared to similar cakes I've had.  It was still very rich, but was a bit more spongy in the center.  Maybe I didn't bake it long enough, I couldn't tell if it was pulling from the pan edges, but it had been in the oven 15 or more minutes than the recipe time, so I decided it needed to come out.  It was still super yummy and Erik was pleasently suprised by his second dessert that came out with candles and a loud, bar filling version of "Happy Birthday."  Give it a try, it's not as hard as it sounds!

Cooling, precandles

Flourless Chocolate Cake
8 to 10 servings

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (I had a bit less, so I added a tiny bit of dark chocolate chips)
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees with the rack in the center. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.
2. Place butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and place over, not in a sause pan of simmering water.  Stir occasionally until almost melted.  Remove from heat and stir until completely melted.  Whisk in egg yolks. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar, and continue beating until glossy stiff peaks form.
4. Whisk 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture; then gently fold in remaining egg whites.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and is set in the center, 45 to 50 minutes.
6. Cool completely on a wire rack; remove sides of pan. Serve at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Enjoy! 

He was very excited about this cake

Chocolate Birthday Desserts: Compost Cups

My friend and neighbor Erik had his birthday bash this weekend.  He is normally out of town on an annual ski trip, so he rarely has a bithday party with his New York friends and he wanted a big party this year.    It was an excellent party at a great bar, Local 61, in Brooklyn which could accomadate his massive guest list, friends from Ohio and Boston made a trip out for the extravaganza.  I made it my job to make a cake or dessert of some sort.  At first he claimed he didn't want one, and it always seemed like he and his brother were not much for sweets, so I wasn't going to do anything.  But I doubled check the night before to make sure he didn't want anything and found out that he apparently LOVES chocolate.  How I did not know this after three years is beyond me. 

Chocolate made my search much narrower and since it needed to be gluten free, a Flourless Chocolate Cake was the first thing that came to mind.  At breakfast the next morning with a couple of our friends the idea came up to make the dirt cupcakes that you see at a kids birthday with the  gummy worms coming out.  Why?  Because Erik is a Master Composter.  In his spare time he helped set up a composting program at the Gowanus Canal Concervancy and currently oversees the Grow NYC Compost Program.  Needless to say, he is serious about his compost.  So I decided I would be making two desserts, there were going to be a lot of people anyway.

I flipped through my cookbooks and recipe binders until I found a flourless chocolate cake, which I will share next, and a Chocolate Ricotta Mousse recipe from Real Simple.  I added some crushed Gluten Free chocolate cookies to the top and placed a gummy worm and Swedish Fish in little terra cotta pots I bought for muffin making.  They turned out super cute and were very rich and yummy.  The blending of the ricotta and chocolate smoothed out texture of the ricotta and made is silky.  The cookie crumbled added a nice crunch to the texture.  I was not a fan of eating the gummies with the chocolate, but they certainly good on their own.  You should definately give this recipe a try. With or with worms.

Compost Cups
6 servings

• 15 oz ricotta (one container)
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate
• 2 or 3 chocolate cookies (gluten free if desired), crushed
• milk chocolate shavings
• gummy worms
• Swedish Fish

1. Melt the semisweet chocolate chips in a microwave dish.  Make sure you do not burn it so start with one minute on high, stir and put it back in for increments of 15 to 20 seconds, stirring in between each time.  There should be a few unmelted chunks the final time you stir them, and the stirring will finish melting it all.  It shouldn't take more than three minutes total in the microwave, depending on you machine.  
2. In a blender (or food processor if you have one), blend the ricotta, sugar, and melted chocolate until smooth.  Make sure to stop the blender and scrap down the sides to get everything mixed well.
3. Line six terra cotta pots with parchment paper and place a gummy worm in each one.   Fill the pots with the chocolate mousse mixture.  Sprinkle the crushed cookies on top.
4. Put them in the fridge to set up for bit, then stick the Swedish Fish in, they should not sink down once the mousse is a bit thicker, and sprinking the chocolate shavings on top.
5. Real Simple's recipe says that you can store this in the fridge for up to two days and to bring it to room temperature for serving.

Enjoy!

New Year Buttermilk Pancakes

After our awesome New Year's Eve party, the tenants of 731 needed a bit of recovery time and a delicious brunch to start the new year.  Plus it was Melissa's 26th birthday, she needed pancakes and I love making pancakes.   After cleaning up the mess from the night before and getting some coffee in our systems, I started mixing.

We had buttermilk leftover from the night before, so I decided to use it up and make buttermilk pancakes from the great Betty Crocker Cookbook.  I also needed to make the gluten free, so instead of doubling a batch I made one gluten free and one whole wheat batch of pancakes.  Both were absolutely delicious, as a pancake should be.  To make the Gluten free pancakes I used Bob's Red Mill all purpose flour in place of all flour.  

Regular on the left and GF on the right.

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Pancakes 

Makes 3 servings

Perfect circle.

• 1egg
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 

1. Beat egg. Add remaining ingredients in order listed and beat with whisk until smooth. 
2. Grease heated griddle with a bit of butter. 
3. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto hot griddle. 
4. Turn pancakes as soon as they are puffed and full of bubbles break. 
5. Bake on other side until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Trifle

For my latest breakfast adventure I made these pumpkin scones.  I had it in my little blond head that the recipe used most of, if not all, of a can of pumpkin.  Instead it only used 1/4 of a cup.  The funny thing is, in reading the first paragraph of the the scone post, I say that I was using up some leftover pumpkin.  Oops. 

So, that can sat in my fridge for a week before I finally got around to figuring out what I was going to do with it.  After contemplating several much more time consuming and difficult recipes, I decided to try My Baking Addition's recent post for Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifles.  I had a little bit more than a cup of pumpkin left over, but figured it would be fine if I mixed it all in.  I also made my own pumpkin spice.  I had all the ingredients for it and do not need one more spice in my tiny space.  The last change I made was the cookie used for the crust.  I wanted to make it gluten free so my neighbor could enjoy them as well, I knew I had to be able to share.   Rereading the recipe now, I see I forgot to fold half the whip cream in the pumpkin mixture.  They turned out fine for all my changes and mistake. Everyone still enjoyed them.  They were also super easy so I will have to remember to make them (correctly) more often and make a few scones after.     


Ingredients
makes 4 to 6 servings

• 12 Gluten Free Vanilla Cookies, crushed into crumbs
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree (again I had maybe a 1/4 cup more, but I am not sure)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 12 oz. whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed

1. In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Divide the crumbs into the bottoms of your trifle glasses (I used short Ikea ones and the one above). Gently press crumbs to form an even layer of crust.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin, vanilla, sugar and spices. Beat until well combined and creamy.
3. Spoon a layer of pumpkin mixture onto the cookie crust followed by a layer of whipped topping. Repeat layers until your trifle reaches the top of your glass. 
4. Store trifles in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup

• I avoided this recipe and ones like it for awhile because of time.   Sure it came from Great Food Fast so one should think it's quick but the time says 45 minutes, if its more than 30 minutes, the recipe is probably on the shelf for some weekend task.  Silly? Probably, but when I get home from work and it's already 7 PM I really don't feel like spending much time on dinner, so I can get to all the other random stuff I need to do.  I actually made this last Monday night. Given that I didn't need to stand over it the entire time, it really wasn't much of a pain in the butt to make.  I need to stop thinking that just because the recipe says 45 minutes, means I am chained to the stove or something. 
• The soup was great even though I forgot the orange juice and didn't make the pumpkin seeds.  The juice was an accident and the seeds were on purpose.  Instead we added our own spices.  My newish roommate is from Louisiana and had some Tony Chachere's Seasoning, (mom used to have this stuff. It shocks him that some one from South Dakota knows what it is.), which we sprinkled on top for a little spice.  I would have like it to be more cream based, but the sour cream helped take care of that.  It was also nice that my gluten free friend/neighbor could join in on the meal and after feeding 4 people there was enough left over for a few lunches. 
• Next time I will try it with the orange juice, but I still recommend it the way I made it. 
• Butternut Squash Soup (Serves 4 to 6)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 piece (2 inches) fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 3/4 pounds small butternut squash, prepared and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Sour cream

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, and squash; cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. 
2. Stir in 4 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until squash is tender, 20 minutes.
3. Puree soup in batches. When blending hot foods, allow the heat to escape to prevent splattering. Remove the cap from the hole of the blender's lid, and cover with a dish towel or paper towel.
4. Serve hot, with sour cream, pepper, and any other seasonings.

Enjoy! 

Peanut battered mushrooms

Thanksgiving was a welcomed day for me, since it was the first day I truly was able to settle into my new place in St Louis. Adam and I drove 800 miles over two days in snow, rain, and wind to get here, and spending the day indoors was the best idea we had.

Instead of the usual turkey + mashed potatoes and gravy, we did things a little different. He made pork tenderloin, crusted with salt and pepper because that was all the seasonings I had; and I made the salad. Along with these, though, we tried something we've never done before: peanut flour battered mushrooms.

It's hard to describe how I feel about battered mushrooms. I used to hate mushrooms. Since going gluten free, I find that I eat them more and more, and I actually quite like them now. But the battered-bowling alley-style mushrooms have never really been a big hit in my book. I was curious how the peanut-battered ones would turn out.

We used crimini mushrooms, because their size is perfect for battering, and their flavor is pretty good. The batter was 1 cup peanut flour (from Trader Joe's), 1 egg, and Tuscan vinegarette dressing and olive oil to wet the batter; plus a dash of salt and pepper. It was super easy, and I fried them in a saucepan with about 1.5inches-deep pool of olive oil. They were cooked until they turned dark brown.

I actually thought these were pretty darn tasty. The first batch was a little bland, so I added more salt and pepper to the batter and the flavor improved. We also put chevre (garlic and herb) cheese on these and it melted a little to stick to the mushrooms. I'd like to think these were healthier, since they were cooked in olive oil and peanut flour, but I am probably delusional.

Winter warmth

I woke up yesterday and the morning light coming through my window seemed unusually bright. Looking outside, all I saw was white. I'm not sure what triggers this emotion, but I shouted a "woohoo!" and heard my boyfriend giggle downstairs.

I love snow. LOVE snow. It reminds me of so many of my favorite things. Skiing. The UP. Bozeman. Thanksgiving. And for some reason, zucchini bread. Maybe that's because my mom made it at the holidays from zucchini she had in her freezer. Or maybe it's because its so good when eaten straight out of the oven. Whatever the reason, it snowed, so I instinctively wanted to make zucchini bread.

 

I found a really delicious zucchini bread recipe in The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods book. This one is a little less traditional than what I think of when I think zucchini bread, but I'm glad I tried it. I thought the pineapple might have given it a more summer-ish feel, but there's no way zucchini bread can ever be anything but a winter food.

 

Pineapple-Zucchini Bread with Teff Buckwheat

Slightly modified by substituting buckwheat flour for the teff flour, pecans for walnuts, and skipping the lemon peel and raisins:

Dry ingredients

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 cups featherlight mix
• 3 teaspoons xantham gum
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon cloves

Wet ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable/olive oil blend or melted butter
• 1 bag of frozen-then-thawed shredded zucchini (probably about 2 cups)
• half a 20oz can of chunked pineapple

and... 1 cup-ish of chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large muffin pan with butter or oil.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, and set aside.
Using a mixer, beat eggs until frothy, then add sugar and oil. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in zucchini and pineapple.
Spoon in flour mix and then add pecans.
Bake for 15-25 minutes or until fork comes out clean. Let the muffins sit in the pan for ~5 minutes before taking them out, and then pour the rest of the batter in to make the rest of the muffins.
Makes 12 large muffins.