I have blogged before about my longing for the frozen chocolate malts that you get at Wrigley Field. My first attempt earlier this year was quite disappointing, so I hadn't tried again since then. Now that it's Cubs season again, I decided to give it another try, and found this recipe from Cooking Light. I had to make quite a few modifications to get it right, but I think I've gotten pretty close. The first time I made it, I used water as the recipe instructed, but this makes the end product as hard as a rock, rendering it impenetrable to the requisite wooden spoon (we didn't even try to use wooden spoons the first time). The second time I used all milk, and the consistency is perfect. I used quite a bit less cocoa powder too - with the amount in the original recipe, the frozen malt comes out way too dark and chocolatey - for you Cubs fans, as you know, the real thing is just the palest shade of brown, and the chocolate flavor is there but not overwhelming.
I made so many modifications that I feel like I can consider this my own recipe. Now, I have not had the real thing at the ballpark in over a year, so this may not be an exact replica. I do think the color and texture are very close, and the taste is pretty darn good. You can find malt powder in the coffee and tea section of your grocery store. I used my ice cream maker, but if you don't have one - well, you should get one. But if you want to try to make it without one, David Lebovitz has instructions on his website on how to make ice cream without a machine.
Here it is, fellow Cubs fans!
4 1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Nestle)
2/3 cup malt powder (I used the Carnation brand - Horlicks is another good brand. Do not use Ovaltine!)
Whisk together 1 cup of the milk, the sugar, and the cocoa in a large saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until hot but not boiling. Add the malt powder and the remaining milk and whisk until thoroughly blended.
Cover and chill in the refrigerator. Pour mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.
When I made this, I was a little dismayed that there was still a bit of liquid in my ice cream maker after it was all churned - I guess because the recipe makes a little more than my canister can handle. However once this goes in the freezer for a night, everything solidifies and all is well. And then you have plenty of frozen chocolate goodness to enjoy. Because there is no cream in this recipe, it does come out fairly hard when you first take it out of the freezer - it helps to let it sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes prior to serving. Feel free to serve in paper cups with wooden spoons if you like!
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Chocolate Fondue
My husband and I got a fondue pot as a gift when we got married five-plus years ago. We used it a few times during our first few years of marriage, but then it just sat in the cupboard collecting dust for a while. Until we discovered a few weeks ago how incredibly easy it is to make chocolate fondue. Since then we have had it whenever we have guests over! The recipe we found takes only a few minutes to make, and you just zap it in the microwave and then transfer it to your fondue pot. You really don't even need to use a fondue pot for this, if you are going to eat it right away. We skip the wine, so this fondue only has four ingredients - cream, bittersweet chocolate (we just use Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips), butter, and sugar. We have dipped angel food cake, strawberries, and bananas in it, all of which are very good. This is a great dessert for entertaining - it looks so fancy, but it takes less than five minutes to make.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
I know for the uninitiated this cake doesn't sound that appealing. Chocolate and zucchini sound like two foods that should never go together, but in reality they make a really delicious cake. Our friend gave us some zucchini from her garden and I needed to use it for something. We were going to a party and needed to bring a dish, so I decided to try this cake out on some unsuspecting party-goers. I found this recipe (appropriately) on the Chocolate & Zucchini blog. I used Droste cocoa powder (available at gourmet grocery stores, and better than the Nestle or Hershey's stuff), and used Tollhouse semisweet chocolate chips. I didn't have a 3 quart springform pan (which is a 10" pan for those of us in America), so I used my 9" springform pan which worked out fine.
This is one fabulous cake. You can't even tell that there is zucchini in it. The zucchini just makes the cake extremely moist. Now, I'm not going to kid myself and say that this cake is good for you just because there are vegetables in it. There is still a stick of butter, a cup of sugar, and several eggs in it. But it is a lot lighter than some of the other chocolate desserts I have made, and still very chocolatey. Next time (and there will be a next time) I'll try bittersweet chocolate chips instead to make the flavor a little richer. (I like my chocolate cakes rich). My brown sugar topping got a little burnt, so I might skip that and just use hazelnuts only or skip that and just dust the top with powdered sugar.
Luckily, we had to leave the party early before too many people had gotten dessert, so we got to take a lot of the cake home and enjoy it for ourselves. Some might say that's selfish, but I would call it being smart, wouldn't you? :)
This is one fabulous cake. You can't even tell that there is zucchini in it. The zucchini just makes the cake extremely moist. Now, I'm not going to kid myself and say that this cake is good for you just because there are vegetables in it. There is still a stick of butter, a cup of sugar, and several eggs in it. But it is a lot lighter than some of the other chocolate desserts I have made, and still very chocolatey. Next time (and there will be a next time) I'll try bittersweet chocolate chips instead to make the flavor a little richer. (I like my chocolate cakes rich). My brown sugar topping got a little burnt, so I might skip that and just use hazelnuts only or skip that and just dust the top with powdered sugar.
Luckily, we had to leave the party early before too many people had gotten dessert, so we got to take a lot of the cake home and enjoy it for ourselves. Some might say that's selfish, but I would call it being smart, wouldn't you? :)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
My old college roomie graciously shared this cookie recipe with me after reading my lament about my lack of cookie-baking prowess. She makes this cookie all the time and seemed pretty confident that I would adore it. Now, I trust this friend, more so than some random blogger who recommends a recipe to me, so I rushed to the kitchen (okay, I thought about rushing to the kitchen, then made the cookie a week or two later).
My first attempt to make this cookie was a little bit disappointing. The original recipe says to bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes. I baked mine for about 19-20 minutes and they came out a little too crispy and dry. I know everyone has their cookie consistency preferences (chewy/crispy/cakey/raw/etc.), but I prefer chewy. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating all of the cookies. Oh, just kidding, not all of them. I let my husband have a few.
Now usually when I try a recipe once and it doesn't knock my socks off, I don't make it again. But like I said, I trust this friend and her judgment. If the cookie didn't come out as I had hoped, it was probably my fault and not the recipe. So I tried it again - this time letting the butter soften a little more, and cooking them for 15-16 minutes (just long enough for the edges to brown a little). The first sheet spread a little too much, so I put the rest of them in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before they went in the oven. I also just baked one sheet at a time (the first time I baked two sheets at once and rotated them halfway), and made the cookies a little bigger than I did the first time.
The result? Oh so chewy and delicious. I'm glad I didn't give up on this one. The cookies are substantial given all the oatmeal in them. They make a perfect dessert or afternoon snack. The first time I made them, they were still good 4-5 days later (and actually had softened up a bit), so they last a fair amount of time. So to my roomie - thanks for the recipe! I owe you one.
My first attempt to make this cookie was a little bit disappointing. The original recipe says to bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes. I baked mine for about 19-20 minutes and they came out a little too crispy and dry. I know everyone has their cookie consistency preferences (chewy/crispy/cakey/raw/etc.), but I prefer chewy. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating all of the cookies. Oh, just kidding, not all of them. I let my husband have a few.
Now usually when I try a recipe once and it doesn't knock my socks off, I don't make it again. But like I said, I trust this friend and her judgment. If the cookie didn't come out as I had hoped, it was probably my fault and not the recipe. So I tried it again - this time letting the butter soften a little more, and cooking them for 15-16 minutes (just long enough for the edges to brown a little). The first sheet spread a little too much, so I put the rest of them in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before they went in the oven. I also just baked one sheet at a time (the first time I baked two sheets at once and rotated them halfway), and made the cookies a little bigger than I did the first time.
The result? Oh so chewy and delicious. I'm glad I didn't give up on this one. The cookies are substantial given all the oatmeal in them. They make a perfect dessert or afternoon snack. The first time I made them, they were still good 4-5 days later (and actually had softened up a bit), so they last a fair amount of time. So to my roomie - thanks for the recipe! I owe you one.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Best Cocoa Brownies
I was in the mood for brownies the other day. I find brownies to be a little easier to make successfully than cookies. I can buy a better cookie than I can make. But I can make good brownies pretty easily. I have been meaning to try this recipe for a while and finally had a good cocoa powder to make them with. These were great - very rich and chocolately. I have been disappointed so many times with chocolate cake and brownies that look really chocolately, but when you bite in there is almost no chocolate flavor. If I wanted brown cake, I would order brown cake, not chocolate cake. These brownies, however, will not disappoint. I didn't get a candylike crust like the recipe described, but I did get some really good brownies. Yum.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Super Bowl Sunday
This year's Super Bowl wasn't quite as exciting for me as last year's since the Bears weren't in it, but we still had fun having people over and eating a lot of food. This year we had about twenty people over, some of those being kids. I made way too much food, but now I have lots to eat this week. Next time I'm going to let other people bring more, and I'll scale back a bit. You know, the problem with preparing for a Super Bowl party is that there's no time to relax afterwards. You spend all weekend in the kitchen, have your party, clean up, and then it's back to work the next day. At least with Thanksgiving I had three days to recover!
All in all we had a great time. Here was the line-up:
Buffalo Wings
I made these last year, and they were so good that they deserved repeating. I made about six pounds of wings and made 1 1/2 times the sauce. These were eaten up and I only had about eight wings left at the end of the party. I served them with blue cheese dressing. Just like Hooters wings, but without the degradation of women.
Sweet Chili-Glazed Chicken Wings
I made these last year also, but this time I cooked them in my roasting pan with the wire rack so they didn't get soggy. I baked them for 30 minutes, then broiled them for a few minutes just to get them a little crispy. I left out the chili-garlic sauce and most of the crushed red pepper since kids would be eating them.
New England Clam Chowder
I was rooting for the Giants but I still liked the idea of making this to go along with the New England Patriots. This clam chowder was delicious - thinner than I'm used to, but what flavor! This was an excellent recipe, especially given that it calls for canned clams and bottled clam juice! Unfortunately, I discovered that chowder is just not a popular Super Bowl food. Most people went for the wings and other things that could be picked up and eaten with their hands. But I would definitely make this one again, for ourselves or for company. I used 1/2 cups of flour, and added the reserved clam juice at the end so that I could control how thin it would end up - otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.
Deviled Eggs
Same recipe as last year, always a crowd pleaser. No matter what fancy appetizers you make for a party, deviled eggs are always the first to go.
Guacamole
I stuck with Alton Brown's recipe that I used last year, but doubled it this time. We had a lot left over - we didn't have as many guacamole fans as we thought we would. My avocados were not the best, but this was still very good.
Hummus and Pita Chips
I've made this hummus before and blogged about it here. Very good, but didn't get eaten much at the party, likely because I had way too much food out there. Well, that just goes to show you that I'm a good Filipino. Better to have too much food at a party than not enough! That would be a Filipino host's worst nightmare.
Veggie Tray
I did the same as I did last year, and made my own tray of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and celery sticks. I made Ranch dip using a Hidden Valley ranch dressing packet and a 16 oz. tub of sour cream.
Grapes
Believe it or not, this may have been the most popular item on the buffet line. Kids love grapes. And when you are full but want to keep eating, a handful of grapes goes down pretty easy. I had a large bowl full of red and green grapes. My husband was sure to cut up the bunches so that guests could grab a handful easily.
Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch
I follow David Lebovitz's blog, and was excited to see this recipe this past week. His pictures on his blog just made it look so delicious! This was pretty good, but not knock-my-socks-off. I think it would be better if I had some sea salt sprinkled on top of them like he suggests. This is not very difficult to make, so if you happen to have matzoh crackers laying around, this is a good use for them.
Cinnamon-Scented Devil's Food Cupcakes
I think I have a standard rotation now for the Super Bowl - wings, guacamole, deviled eggs, and cupcakes. These are my building blocks. I made a different type of cupcake this year. I've had this one bookmarked for years, and finally tried it this weekend. I didn't want to use all of my precious Droste cocoa powder (that I had to buy in Wisconsin because they don't sell good cocoa powder in east Tennessee!), so I used half Nestle's and half Droste. I colored the frosting so that 1/3 of the cupcakes had white frosting, 1/3 had red, and 1/3 had blue (since those were the colors for both teams). I used regular cupcake liners instead of panettone molds, and ended up with about 45 cupcakes. These were excellent cupcakes - moist, rich cake, and the frosting has a subtle almond flavor. These were a lot of work, but I've realized that all cupcakes made from scratch are a lot of work. For special occasions they are worth it!
Some of my guests also brought a spinach dip with crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and another veggie tray. Needless to say, we all left with full bellies and happy hearts, celebrating the Giants win and enjoying some good party food.
All in all we had a great time. Here was the line-up:
Buffalo Wings
I made these last year, and they were so good that they deserved repeating. I made about six pounds of wings and made 1 1/2 times the sauce. These were eaten up and I only had about eight wings left at the end of the party. I served them with blue cheese dressing. Just like Hooters wings, but without the degradation of women.
Sweet Chili-Glazed Chicken Wings
I made these last year also, but this time I cooked them in my roasting pan with the wire rack so they didn't get soggy. I baked them for 30 minutes, then broiled them for a few minutes just to get them a little crispy. I left out the chili-garlic sauce and most of the crushed red pepper since kids would be eating them.
New England Clam Chowder
I was rooting for the Giants but I still liked the idea of making this to go along with the New England Patriots. This clam chowder was delicious - thinner than I'm used to, but what flavor! This was an excellent recipe, especially given that it calls for canned clams and bottled clam juice! Unfortunately, I discovered that chowder is just not a popular Super Bowl food. Most people went for the wings and other things that could be picked up and eaten with their hands. But I would definitely make this one again, for ourselves or for company. I used 1/2 cups of flour, and added the reserved clam juice at the end so that I could control how thin it would end up - otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.
Deviled Eggs
Same recipe as last year, always a crowd pleaser. No matter what fancy appetizers you make for a party, deviled eggs are always the first to go.
Guacamole
I stuck with Alton Brown's recipe that I used last year, but doubled it this time. We had a lot left over - we didn't have as many guacamole fans as we thought we would. My avocados were not the best, but this was still very good.
Hummus and Pita Chips
I've made this hummus before and blogged about it here. Very good, but didn't get eaten much at the party, likely because I had way too much food out there. Well, that just goes to show you that I'm a good Filipino. Better to have too much food at a party than not enough! That would be a Filipino host's worst nightmare.
Veggie Tray
I did the same as I did last year, and made my own tray of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and celery sticks. I made Ranch dip using a Hidden Valley ranch dressing packet and a 16 oz. tub of sour cream.
Grapes
Believe it or not, this may have been the most popular item on the buffet line. Kids love grapes. And when you are full but want to keep eating, a handful of grapes goes down pretty easy. I had a large bowl full of red and green grapes. My husband was sure to cut up the bunches so that guests could grab a handful easily.
Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch
I follow David Lebovitz's blog, and was excited to see this recipe this past week. His pictures on his blog just made it look so delicious! This was pretty good, but not knock-my-socks-off. I think it would be better if I had some sea salt sprinkled on top of them like he suggests. This is not very difficult to make, so if you happen to have matzoh crackers laying around, this is a good use for them.
Cinnamon-Scented Devil's Food Cupcakes
I think I have a standard rotation now for the Super Bowl - wings, guacamole, deviled eggs, and cupcakes. These are my building blocks. I made a different type of cupcake this year. I've had this one bookmarked for years, and finally tried it this weekend. I didn't want to use all of my precious Droste cocoa powder (that I had to buy in Wisconsin because they don't sell good cocoa powder in east Tennessee!), so I used half Nestle's and half Droste. I colored the frosting so that 1/3 of the cupcakes had white frosting, 1/3 had red, and 1/3 had blue (since those were the colors for both teams). I used regular cupcake liners instead of panettone molds, and ended up with about 45 cupcakes. These were excellent cupcakes - moist, rich cake, and the frosting has a subtle almond flavor. These were a lot of work, but I've realized that all cupcakes made from scratch are a lot of work. For special occasions they are worth it!
Some of my guests also brought a spinach dip with crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and another veggie tray. Needless to say, we all left with full bellies and happy hearts, celebrating the Giants win and enjoying some good party food.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Chocolate Ice Cream
I borrowed David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop from the library this week. I made his Philadelphia-style chocolate ice cream this weekend. It was very rich and creamy - just out of the ice cream maker it tasted like a chocolate mousse. I think the chocolate taste was a little too strong - and this is coming from someone who loves bittersweet chocolate! I liked the texture, but I may look for a different recipe or use semisweet instead of unsweetened chocolate.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts.
Our friends who came over last night also got to enjoy these brownies. These are incredible, if you like fudge and peanut butter (I'm so glad I don't have a peanut allergy!). I was making the peanut butter frosting, and had a taste of it when I was done with it... I almost had to sit down. It's amazing how good peanut butter mixed with butter and powdered sugar can taste. Mmm.
I used bittersweet chocolate for the brownies as that's what I had. For the ganache I used 1 cup of semisweet morsels and 1 ounce of bittersweet chocolate. Maybe next time I will try using all semisweet chocolate - I love the taste of bittersweet but I think it overpowers the oh-so-delicious peanut butter frosting. I also used creamy peanut butter instead of chunky. This is definitely a brownie you make for parties and company - your friends will love you and will think you are the best baker ever.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Chocolate Babka
I made this a week or so ago - I had never heard of babkas, but the picture looked really good so I figured I'd try it out. It was very tasty, but it took a lot of work. Well, it took more time I should say. You have to let it rise a couple times. And then it requires a rolling pin. Any recipe that requires me to break out the rolling pin is immediately labeled labor intensive. All in all it was very tasty but I'm not sure if I would make it again - maybe for a special occasion.
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