chocolate

KNR, p. 96 “Chocolaty Chocolate Banana Muffins”

 

WChocChocMuffins

Sheila tried out a new muffin recipe. I thought she was making cupcakes for dessert because of the mouth-watering chocolate smell in the air, but she said that these were going to be for breakfast instead. There’s less sugar than a cupcake, and they have fruit in them, so that qualifies as a breakfast treat. Works either way for me!

 

Chocolaty Chocolate Banana Muffins

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Standing mixer

Ingredients
  

  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 jumbo egg (or 2 large eggs)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, stone ground
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour (King Arthur works nicely)
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/3 cup Ghirardelli cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1.5 cups)
  • 1 cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat oven to 375.
  • Set standing mixer at slowest speed.
  • Cream oil and sugar.
  • Add egg(s) and vanilla and beat until smooth.
  • Add flours, baking powder, and baking soda a little at a time and beat until smooth.
  • Add cocoa powder and salt and beat until smooth.
  • Add mashed bananas and mix thoroughly.
  • Add chocolate chips and stir until blended.
  • Divide mix evenly among greased, floured muffin tins (or use baking cup papers)
  • Bake 20-25 minutes in center of oven or until toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Notes

*Photo by Patti Phillips

 

 

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KNR, p. 236 “Almond Cherry Chocolate Torte”

 

We like chocolate cake and we also like brownies because of the denser consistency. But, if we wanted to have a gluten-free chocolate dessert, neither one of Sheila’s go-to recipes would quite work. Sheila played around with some ingredients for the flavor she wanted, and then we both taste-tested the results.

 

After we poured the cherry juice over the cherries on top of the chilled torte, the dessert was a lot like a mousse in texture. We ate it with and without the juice, with and without the foam, with and without the ice cream. We taste-tested our way through the entire dessert while the photos were taken. My tummy liked it all.

 

"Almond Cherry Chocolate Torte"
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 Tablespoon butter or margarine (grease cake pan)
  • 2 Tablespoons chocolate powder (unsweetened) (dust pan)
  • 12 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate, broken into sections
  • 1/2 cup whipped butter
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons brewed dark roast coffee
  • 2 teaspoons pure almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 5 egg whites
  • 3/4 cup fine almond flour
  • 4 cups frozen cherries, pitted
  • 1/4 cup water
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. Lightly grease sides and bottom of a springform cake pan with butter or margarine and dust with cocoa powder.
  3. Place 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate and whipped butter in the top of a double boiler, melt, and whisk together by hand until thoroughly mixed together. Remove from heat.
  4. Using large bowl, an electric mixer, and whisk attachment, whip egg yolks, 1 cup of the sugar, coffee, 1.5 teaspoons of the almond extract, and sea salt until thick and creamy.
  5. Add chocolate/butter mixture and continue to mix until blended.
  6. In a separate bowl and with a clean whisk, beat the egg whites until fluffy, about a minute. Slowly add 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and beat for another two minutes or until peaks form. (Should be stiff enough that a spoonful of the mixture will stay in the spoon when held upside down)
  7. Fold the almond flour into the egg whites, then carefully fold that mixture into the entire chocolate mix.
  8. Pour the batter evenly into the cake pan. There may be lots of bubbles in the mixture. If so, gently, but firmly bounce the pan on the counter once or twice to break up most of them.
  9. Place the pan on a cookie sheet in the middle of the oven and bake until the center puffs and cake edges pull away from the pan, about 40-45 minutes.
  10. Remove pan from oven, place on cooling rack for 40 minutes. As it cools, the center of the torte will collapse a little, creating a depression in which to put the cherries later.
  11. Place the pan on a flat cake plate/stand and remove the sides.
  12. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
  13. Place cherries, water, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar into a sauce pan and heat on medium heat until sugar melts – about two minutes. Stir.
  14. Place cherries and the resulting juice in a covered container in the refrigerator to soak and chill for two hours.
  15. When chilled, strain the cherries and save the juice.
  16. Spread the cherries evenly in the depression on the top of the torte.
  17. Lovely with ice cream and the cherry juice poured on top.

Cherry Foam: 

If you’d like to make the foam shown in the photo below, use the electric mixer and the whisk attachment. Whisk the well-chilled cherry juice until foamy, about two minutes. This only works while the juice is cold, so work quickly.  Skim off the foam, about two tablespoons for each slice, and use as a light flavorful topping to the dessert. Or just pour the juice on top of the cherries. The flavor will be the same.


Enjoy!  🙂

Photos: by Patti Phillips

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KNR, p. 45 “Kerrian’s Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake”

 

We always serve special desserts on holiday weekends, whether we are having an all day BBQ, guests at a special meal, or a sit-down dinner after church. Sheila and I work as a team on the desserts. She bakes them and I do the taste-testing while she works on the balance of sugar and chocolate. Teamwork pays off!

Sunday’s recipe is a creamy chocolate cheesecake. Sheila says that it was easy to make. It was easy to eat the samples.

Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake

Sheila and Charlie Kerrian
Course Dessert
Servings 8

Equipment

  • 8" springform pan
  • parchment paper
  • pot with double-boiler insert
  • standing mixer with large bowl & paddle attachment

Ingredients
  

  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil for spring-form pan - we use almond oil
  • 20 2" chocolate chip cookies
  • 4 Tablespoons butter (salted)
  • 10 oz Ghirardelli milk chocolate baking chips
  • 10 oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup extra fine sugar
  • 12 oz whipped cream cheese
  • 1 pint heavy cream
  • 2 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
  • sour cream & fresh fruit for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and wipe the sides with oil.
  • Crush the cookies with a rolling pin.
  • Melt the butter in a sauce pan, remove from heat, then stir in the crushed cookies.
  • Press the cookie/butter mixture into the bottom (and 1/2 inch up the sides) of the prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for at least 30minutes.
  • Place all the chocolate into the top of the double-boiler, with gently simmering water in the bottom. Melt the chocolate, stirring frequently until thoroughly blended and remove from heat.
  • Add sugar and cream cheese to the mixing bowl and beat on lowest speed until smooth.
  • Slowly add the heavy cream and beat on the lowest setting until thick and creamy.
  • Slowly add the melted chocolate and continue to beat on lowest setting until thoroughly blended. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and beat again.
  • Add Bailey’s and mix until blended. Mixture should now have thick pudding consistency.
  • Spoon into the spring-form pan and then level the surface with butter knife or spoon.
  • Chill in refrigerator for 2-3 hours (until very firm).
  • Transfer to cake plate and serve with fresh fruit and sour cream. Also nice with ice cream.

 

 

If you don’t own a spring-form pan, or are not comfortable using one, the recipe will also work nicely in a 9” deep-dish disposable pie pan. Press the cookie crumb/butter mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the unlined disposable pan, then follow the rest of the directions as written.

Spoon any extra filling into ramekins, chill, garnish with fruit, and serve as individual desserts.

*This recipe first appeared on chocolate guru Janet Rudolph’s site: www.DyingforChocolate.com

*The photo was taken by Patti Phillips. We promise that no bodies have ever been discovered in Kerrian’s Kitchen. 😉

 

 

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