Recipe: Dark Chocolate Peppermint Patties

Thirty years ago in the town of York, Pennsylvania, my dear wife was born. Fitting then I should choose to celebrate this milestone by making Peppermint Patties.

I found an amazing recipe on Elena's Pantry, which instantly appealed to me. It used only four ingredients and had no refined sugar.  I also knew it would go over well with Swati and her friends.

And the verdict? They were delicious and the hit of the party. I even had some leftover melted chocolate which I then used to dip strawberries, cherries and walnuts.  Yum!

Note though this recipe requires Peppermint Oil (and not extract!). Extract contains oil, which can ruin this recipe, causing the chocolate to break apart. Peppermint oil gives this dish a nice strong flavor and should be diluted with another oil (such as coconut) for consumption.

Makes 12 patties

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint oil
1/2 to 1 cup dark chocolate chips, 73% cacao

In a small bowl, combine coconut oil, agave nectar and peppermint oil. Freeze mixture for about 10 minutes, until the mixture begins to harden. Use a small ice cream scoop or tablespoon to measure out balls on a parchment lined plate. Place in freezer until balls begin to firm up (another 5-10 minutes).

Meanwhile melt chocolate chips using a double boiler (I assembled a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water). Remove from heat.

Remove firm mint balls from freezer and flatten into patties using spoon. Quickly dip mint patties into melted chocolate using spoon. Cover patties completely with chocolate and place on parchment lined plate. Leave out for about 10 minutes until patties harden or return to freezer if making on a hot summer day.

See original recipe from Elena's Pantry

Recipe: Raw Chocolate Avocado Pudding

The secret is out! Yes, this delicious, rich chocolate pudding was made with avocados!

Swati and I shared this Valentine's friendly recipe with our friends Joan and Adam on Sunday. After many guesses over the secret ingredient (bananas being the closest) they were shocked to learn this pudding was made from the very same fruit used in guacamole. Did I also mention it is dairy free?

Truth is the avocado is a great substitute for dairy, providing the fat and rich smooth flavor you'd expect from a chocolate pudding recipe. It's also a pretty neutral tasting fruit that easily takes on the flavors of other ingredients.
 
You'll also find no sugar in this recipe - it's sweetened using dates and maple syrup. And yes, it can all be made rather effortlessly in a food processor. No cooking required.

Okay, enough talk already. Show me the chocolate.

Serves 6

1/2 cup pitted mejdool dates, soaked
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 ripe avocados
1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup water

Place the dates, maple syrup, and vanilla in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the avocados and cocoa powder and process until creamy. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the water and process briefly. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

The pudding will keep for up to three days in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Recipe: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

If you've ever wanted a simple recipe for a gluten-free cookie that didn't require the use of gluten-free flours or questionable ingredients like xantham gum, this would be it.

We discovered the concept for the oatmeal peanut butter cookie while vacationing this summer in Crater Lake, Oregon. To our surprise they were selling a packaged version of this treat in the gift shop!

When we returned home in August, Swati was eager to re-create the recipe at home. Her mission led her to the blog Mennonite Girls can Cook, which posted a great oatmeal peanut butter cookie recipe that she modified slightly.

I love that the recipe is simple and can be made easily. However, be warned, it is not health food! But after shunning flour and sugar for so long it was nice to indulge. Sprinkle a little sea salt on top of these treats for an added touch.

2 cups rolled oats (look for gluten-free oats if you have a sensitivity/allergy)
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the peanut butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Blend together using a hand mixer. Slowly add the oats into the bowl and continue to blend, leaving a few whole oats in the mix. When well mixed, add in chocolate chips and mix in with a spoon.

Grease the baking sheet with butter. Drop a teaspoon full of cookie dough on a baking sheet. Place the cookies one inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit on pan a few minutes before serving.

We definitely plan to make these again soon - next time experimenting with agave nectar or maple syrup.

Dark chocolate meets cardamom

In a couple of hours I will be headed to a New Years Eve dinner party at my friend Joan's house. When dishes were being assigned earlier in the week I jumped at the chance to bring dessert.

Why? Because I've been dreaming about making the Deborah Madison recipe for Chocolate Bark with Cardamom and Sea Salt, Apricots and Pistachios ever since I discovered it this month.

I am known for having a weakness for dark chocolate and cardamom, leaving me no choice but to make this treat. Other than the signature ingredients, the recipe only requires four others - pistachios, raisins, dried apricots, and sea salt. They all come together nicely in this treat - the sweet complementing the salty, just right.

To get started I melted a 5 oz bar of Green & Blacks organic chocolate (72% cacao). Since chocolate easily burns, I made sure the pot did not directly touch the stove. So I setup a medium-size pot inside a large one that contained simmering water. It worked perfectly.

Once you get this set up the rest is easy. You just add a bit of cardamom, 3 tbsp of chopped dried fruit and another 3 tbsp of chopped pistachios. Pour into a deep dish or pan (10 x 8 inches), add a bit of sea salt, and insert in refrigerator for about an hour to cool. And voila! You've got bark.

If you're also planning to make this for a party, take it from me, don't make it too far in advance. The wait will kill you!

Here's to a delicious 2009!

A halloween without Hershey's?

Chin up, fellow health nut. It's unlikely you'll find many of any Dancing Stars Chunks of Energy being given out this Halloween. Despite all the gains we've made, Oct 31, still belongs to our sugar-craving, pagan-loving children.

I'll admit, I use to be one of them. If someone tried pulling an apple, raisins, or anything remotely healthy on me, it would probably find its way to the wastebasket. Even a cookie or other homemade treat would likely be tossed. After all, didn't we need to worry about some scary mom putting razor blades in her food? I put my faith in the US confectionery industry. My favorites: Reeses peanut butter cups, Snickers, and Almond Joy. Special kindness was given to families that gave me more than one piece.

Now a halloween veteran, I must admit my tastes have changed. I find these conventional, mass produced sweets to be too sweet. I find the good stuff to be that which doesn't come in a wrapper. My Dancing Star chunks, for example, can be found in the bulk bin section at most natural foods stores. My favorites at the Park Slope Food Co-op are the Chocolate Almond Chip flavor and the Raw Goji Berry Cacao ones. The later is sweetened by dates, so you won't miss the sugar.

It might not be green Kool Aid, but I imagine your kids will love them too.

Why settle for mockolate, when you can have chocolate?

Attention: this is real chocolate. Hershey's, our legendary American chocolate maker, it seems is no longer in the business of selling the real stuff.

Last week, the Today show reported that Hershey's decided to switch the formulation of many of its products. Out is the cocoa butter, arguably what gives chocolate its definitive taste, with lower-cost vegetable oil. The result is a product that many claim is inferior, unless you are one of those people who likes white chocolate.

Instead of joining the chorus of naysayers. I'd like to point out there are still lots of great 'real' chocolate on the market today. And when I say real, I'm talking about the dark stuff, 68% cacao or higher. With these products you should notice "chocolate liquor" "cacao" or "cocoa" as the first ingredient. It should not be sugar.

I'm a big fan of the products made by Equal Exchange and Divine. These companies are purists, and use only organic, fair-trade cacao. You won't find any hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup here.

And what about the saturated fat you might say? Well, according to Dr. Andrew Weil, "Cocoa butter, the fat in chocolate, turns out not to be so bad. Although it is a saturated fat, the body turns it into monounsaturated fat, processing it like olive oil."

So have you forgotten about your Whatchamacallit yet? I recommend Equal Exchange's Dark Chocolate with Pure Cocoa Nibs (pictured).