Flourless Chocolate Cookies

  

I made these to bring into my final thesis seminar meeting.  Of course we already handed in our theses, so this was just a celebration.  Since it is still Passover, I had to do something flourless and I didn't want to make macaroons again.  So I made these amazing flourless chocolate cookies from Francois Payard's Chocolate Epiphany.  They are so good I make them year round, plus they have the added bonus of being flourless for Passover (or for those who can't eat gluten).  I'm not the only one who thinks they are that good.  One of my classmates told me that they were "really good, and not just for Passover food."

Basically, these cookies are powdered sugar, cocoa powder, egg whites, and ground/chopped walnuts.  The trick is to not over mix them.  If you do the egg whites stiffen a bit too much and the cookies end up puffier and a little less brownie-like in the center.  That said, I tend to over mix them a bit, and I still love them, so don't worry too much.  Just know that they won't look as even and flat as his do in the book.  FYI, I make mine smaller than he calls for, just because I like being able to have two cookies but not be piggy.  If you do that, just make sure to check them often, as they'll bake quicker.

Chocolate Coconut Pie

Wow this was amazing!  I really wanted to try a recipe from my new Martha Stewart Pies and Tarts cookbook that I got for my birthday.  However, with my thesis due this past Monday I didn't have time before Passover to bake a pie.  I was a bit irked, because I really didn't want to wait any longer.  Happily I found this pie (Crisp Coconut and Chocolate Pie...or perhaps Coconut Crisp and Chocolate Pie), which is Passover friendly.

This is not only an incredible Passover dessert, but also a wonderful anytime dessert.  It is basically a thick pie crust made of coconut filled with chocolate ganache.  The crust is baked before you pour in the ganache and then it is just chilled.  This process, in my opinion makes it a good summer pie, because the oven isn't on for long intervals and it's served chilled.  Plus there's something summery about coconut, I think.

Anyway, my one pointer for this is do not make it too last minute.  The cookbook says to let it chill for anywhere from an hour to a day.  The one hour guideline is too short.  It's what I followed (because I'm rather impatient!) and the filling was not fully set.  That said, it was still amazing!  It had an almost pudding like texture.  Although, if I'm honest, I did like it slightly more the next day when it was fully set and chilled through to the center.  I'd suggest making it in the morning or very early afternoon if you can, then let it chill until dessert time.  That seems like it would work well.

Vanilla and Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

These are the same coconut macaroons I make a lot.  I love them anytime, so during Passover, when I can't eat the majority of baked goods, they are wonderful!  This time I made them a little differently.  I made a double batch by doubling the quantities of coconut and egg white and increasing the amount of sugar (but not quite doubling it since I use sweetened coconut).  I divided the coconut mixture in half and flavored each half separately.  In the first half, I used vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract in the vanilla ones to give them an extra kick.  In the second half, I added cocoa powder and a tad extra super fine sugar until it looked chocolately and delicious (not that you can taste it, since it is so eggy, but you can tell when it's chocolately enough because it looks it.)

Both flavors came out wonderfully and were big hits.  Pops liked the vanilla a bit more, mom liked the chocolate so that worked well!

P.S. I could have sworn I took a photo of these, but I can't find it...sorry!

White Chocolate, Cranberry, Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies, from Nigella Christmas, are really good.  I made them two years ago to give as gifts on Christmas cookie plates and they are a prefect Christmas cookie.  After all, white chocolate and cranberry seems very holiday-y.  However, when my professor said she loves cranberry and white chocolate cookies, I figured I had to make these for my class.  They were quite a hit.

I barely did anything differently from the last time I made them, so I won't ramble on about them too long since you can read about them here.  All I did was leave out the nuts.  The recipe calls for pecans but I have a friend who is in that class with me who is allergic to nuts.  So I just left them out.  They were really good that way!

P.S. Sorry, I forgot to photograph these.  Just look at that old post to see them, they looked the same (even without the nuts.)

Mini Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Hmm, the color of this photo came out kind-of funny.  Ah well, they still look nice.

Yesterday was my birthday, so I wanted cake.  But let's face it, I really didn't need a whole cake in the house, so I made cupcakes (that way I can give some away easily).  The recipe for the lovely fluffy white cupcakes is from Nigella Bites.  It was surprisingly easy (not that cupcakes are hard, but these were especially simple).  And gosh they were good!  They tasted sweet, but not overly so, and the texture was perfectly cakey and fluffy.

The recipe called for either royal icing (not my favorite) or ganache (I didn't have heavy cream) so I made my favorite vanilla buttercream instead.  I actually didn't use vanilla extract to flavor it, instead I used vanilla powder.  I'm not quite sure how they make it, but it's by the same company who make my vanilla extract.  It's real vanilla, but not with the alcohol and, well, powdered not liquid.  I like it because it doesn't change the color or texture of the buttercream but it still gives it a strong vanilla flavor.  I colored it pink with my new food coloring paste (a ton of fun, I can't wait to use it again) and piped it onto each cupcake with a wide plain pastry tip.  I topped them with an upside down white chocolate chip, because I thought it would be pretty and match the pink and white polka dot muffin papers that I used.  Wow they looked good...and they tasted good too!

The color came out odd on these too, but differently.  Shame, but I suppose you can still get the picture (no pun intended!)

Orange Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze, con't

Oops, I completely forgot to post the photo of the Orange Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze.  Here it is, and an extra for good measure!

Orange Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze

I made this quite a while ago and posted it on my old blog, and I feel bad about posting it.  Not that it wasn't excellent, and I certainly want to share it at some point.  The thing is, I've been baking quite a bit because I'm relatively stressed with end of senior year stuff (i.e. finishing my thesis), but I don't really have time to upload new photos and write about what I've made (writing anything that isn't schoolwork is getting difficult!)  Ah well, this is really all I have the time and energy for right now!

I just bought a bundt pan earlier today (when I wrote this ages ago), so I had to use it. Coincidentally, I had recently bought a really excellent new cookbook, Dessert University, which had a bundt cake recipe I wanted to try out. So I made Orange Sabayon Cake, which is really just a orange bundt cake made with with batter prepared, in part, the way a sabayon sauce is prepared. It is a really excellent cake that’s kind of like a light pound cake. The cook book recommends different ways of serving it, but most of them involve heavy cream (which I was out of), so I made a simple glaze with equal parts cocoa and powdered sugar. I just added enough water to make it spreadable and painted it on the bundt with a pastry brush. Simple, and perfect for the cake (perhaps not quite as perfect as ganache and chocolate mousse...though it won’t harden your arteries just by looking at it!)