Chocolate Sourdough Bread

If you've never had a chocolate sourdough bread before...it's time you did!

It is such a nice treat.  You have the crisp texture of the crust combined with the rich slightly sweet, chocolaty flavor of the dough. 

A chocoholic's dream!

Read More

Magic Ingredient

 Sometimes you come across a recipe in which the combination of ingredients, baffle you.

You wonder how could this particular ingredient get mixed with the other ingredients and create something good?

This beffudlement forces you to try out the recipe. Eventhough, you know that there are recipes out there (more so these days because so many want to have their 5 minutes of fame) that should never be tried.

Well this was the case for me.

I was looking for something sweet and chocolaty (the key word being chocolaty). Hence, I was perusing the internet when I came across this recipe which incorporated the following ingredient into the mixture.

If you are wondering what this ingredient is...wonder not.

I had a big box of Mejdool dates and since I am the only one in our household that enjoys these delicacies I was afraid they would dry out before they were all eaten.

Therefore, I turned them into date paste/puree. 

By the way for those of you not aware, date paste is an ideal natural sweetener, that's a healthier alternative to normal, white, granulated sugar.

I know, here I am telling you the benefits and uses of date puree but at the same time saying how baffeled I was with finding a recipe that incorporated this ingredient.

Truth be known I always saw date puree as something you would add to a pastry, just like jam or peanut butter or as in the case of these Palmiers (which I had made a week earlier).

But never did I think of them being combined with chocolate for the ultimate treat for a chocoholic.

The recipe is quiet simple to make and well worth your time.

It only takes just a few ingredients......

And creates the most chocolaty sweets for your taste buds...key word chocolaty.

 Fudgy Date Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups pitted dates
• 1 cup hot water
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter* softened (1 1/2 sticks)
• 2 cold eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• Sea salt for sprinkling

For the glaze:

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons honey or other natural syrup-type sweetener
• 1 tablespoon melted butter or coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Grease or line an 8x8 baking pan. Preheat oven to 350F.

In a food processor or blender, puree the dates and hot water until smooth. Measure out a cup of the paste (mine yielded exactly a cup,) and transfer to a large bowl with the butter.

Cream the butter and date paste until smooth.

Add the eggs, one at a time and vanilla extract, mixing until fluffy and smooth.

Add the cocoa and flour, and mix on low until well combined.

Spread batter into prepared pan, smoothing with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle a little sea salt on top.

Bake for 18-23 minutes, or until edges are set. Allow pan to cool while you prepare the glaze.

Whisk together the butter, honey and cocoa powder. Add vanilla and whisk until smooth. If the glaze seems a little runny- add a dash more of cocoa powder. If it seems too thick- you can add a splash of milk. Drizzle over the brownies and sprinkle with more sea salt.

Brownies will last for up to a week in a sealed container in the fridge.

Footnote:

These chocolaty delicacies are a close relative to fudge rather than brownies. They are more dense than most brownies, but believe me when I say they have the right amount of sweetness and chocolate for anyone claiming to be a chocoholic.

 THAT WOULD BE ME!!😁😉

 

Recipe courtesy of The Baker chick

Read More

Potatoes

 You know Dr. Suess's poem Green Eggs and Ham where Sam I am tries to convince the narrator to try green eggs and ham but the narrator repeatedly says "I don't like green eggs and ham."?

At the end the narrator relents and eats the green eggs and ham and ends up loving the food.

Guess what??

I am not that narrator nor am I one who dislikes any type of food, especially one that involves potatoes.

I like potatoes mashed.

I like potatoes fried.

I like potatoes stuffed.

I like potatoes baked.

I like POTATOES!!

So when I see a recipe involving potatoes.......

I have to try it!!

 I followed the recipe all the way through with one exception, cut the number of potatoes down to four instead of seven.

 Ingredients:

 7   (12 ounce) russet potatoes, scrubbed

3   tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3⁄4   teaspoon salt

1     (5 1/4 ounce) package boursin cheese, crumbled

1⁄2   cup half-and-half

3   tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

2   garlic cloves, minced

1⁄4   cup chopped fresh chives

1   teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475°F.

Prick potatoes all over with a fork. Place on paper towel and microwave on high 20-25 minutes, turning over halfway through, until tender.

Slice off 1/4 of each potato, lengthwise. Let cool 5 minutes, then scoop out the flesh of the potato, leaving a 1/4" rim on all sides. After scooping out all 7 potatoes, discard one shell.

Brush potatoes inside and out with melted butter and place on a rack set in a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and bake 15 minutes until crisp.

In a bowl, whisk half the Boursin cheese with 1/4 c half-and-half until smooth.

In a small pan, melt remaining 3 tbsp butter. Saute garlic until fragrant and straw-colored, 3-5 minutes. Stir in Boursin mixture.

Press potato flesh through ricer or food mill. Fold in garlic-Boursin mixture, 3 tbsp chives, salt and pepper. Remove shells from oven and fill with mashed potato mixture. Top with remaining Boursin, crumbled. Bake until golden brown, 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining chives before serving.

 

• (source)

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Read More

A Little Taste of The Annual Fair

 The annual State Fair is here and I, like everyone else living around this area, attended the festivities and took some photos.

This is the first year that I was able to attend for free.

Yes! FREE!!

You know why?

Well when you get old, like me, the State decides it's only fair to allow oldies in for free, at least for one day.

That day was last Monday.

While there were some you'uns around, majority of the attendies were long in the tooth.😉

The State Fair unofficial icon is the Butter Cow.  

  

"Sculptor Sarah Pratt spent 90 hours over five days crafting the cow. The unsalted spectacle, first whipped up in 1922, has been a part of the state fair for a century. Pratt found inspiration for this year’s iteration while sitting between her chicken coop and pasture, thinking about the plants in her garden and the way we connect with the earth. In her sculpture, a nod to the fair’s “Grow with us” theme, a farmer tends to plants as a mischievous Jersey cow stands behind him.

The silky, glistening cow weighs between 650 and 700 pounds, and the farmer, adds another hundred"

(source)

Read More

Challenge Completed!

I was challenged to bake homemade scones and try to emulate a proper English afternoon tea.

I followed the directions on the recipe given to me, verbatim, as well as the tip:

 "Best tip I can give you, the dough should be very wet. Almost too difficult to handle. No kneading. Just bring it together and roll it out."

I was also required to "record" the process through a photoshoot.

I set up all the required ingredients and brought out a bowl. Thinking I would make the dough by hand.

Then decided that the food processor would be a much easier and quicker way of combining the dough.

The dough was quite wet, so much so that stamping the rounds, using a cutter, was not as easy as expected, but I somehow managed.

While the scones were baking in the oven, I decided to play around with the table setting.

It'd been a while since I captured a "pour". 😉

The scones were out of the oven in 12 minutes. They were not as thick as I had hoped (bakers error?) but the inside seemed to have baked fully.

The scones were then smothered with clotted cream and a dollop of raspberry jelly, just like it's done in Devon.

Of course I had to capture one more pour because they are always fun to do. 

I must say the combination of the clotted cream and the raspberry jelly on top of a fresh, warm scone was delicious! 

 

It was also very filling!

And so another challenge under my belt  😁

 

 

Read More