Tag Archives: chocolate

discovering raw chocolate at the Devonian Botanical Garden and making raw chocolate at home

18 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by in chocolate-making, raw foods

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

 

 

 

 

 

My love affair with chocolate has taken an exciting new turn…

Last month I attended a Heart Yoga and Raw Chocolate Workshop at the Devonian Botanical Garden. The class was held in the Ozawa Pavilion overlooking the peaceful Kurimoto Japanese Garden and Lacie Cosgrove was our amazing instructor. We spent the first hour and a half doing a yoga sequence focusing on both the physical and spiritual aspects of the heart. After the yoga, we gathered around Lacie as she taught us about the medicinal and nutritional value of raw cacao and its affect of stimulating and calming the heart. She brought along 6 samples of various blends and flavors mixed in to the raw chocolate and shared some of her secrets of making raw chocolate from scratch. We also had a lovely herbal tea to drink.

I was so inspired that I immediately went to Noorish, (conscious eatery and superfood elixer bar) in Edmonton to buy the raw cacao as well as the two books by David Wolfe that Lacie recommended which contain everything I need to know about cacao (Naked Chocolate and Superfoods). Note: I will need to do separate posts on Noorish, raw cacao, David’s books and more tips of chocolate-making in the near future!

Today, I decided to start with a simple recipe:

Raw Chocolate with Maca and Toasted Almonds

3/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup agave nectar (add 3/4 cup if you like your chocolate to be very sweet)

1 cup raw cacao powder

1 teaspoon maca (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup almonds, coarsely chopped

Toast almonds and set aside to cool. Distribute tiny cupcake paper cups (I buy these at craft stores in the candy-making section) on a plate, or lay out candy molds. Put a few pieces of nuts into each cup.

Place coconut oil in a double boiler and gently heat until it turns to a liquid state. Add the agave nectar and vanilla and whisk to combine. add the cacao and maca and which until smooth. Pour a small spoonful into each cup. Once all cups are filled, put chocolate in the refrigerator to set for at least one hour.

Enjoy! Store in the refrigerator or freezer in an air tight container.

By the way, when it came time to clean my chocolate bowl, I heated up some almond milk and added it to the bowl and whisked the last of the chocolate into the milk. Voila! Hot chocolate! I poured this into two tiny cups, sprinkled a bit of cayenne pepper on top and served this to B. A delicious and healthy treat!

chocolate almond bark with smoked sea salt

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in cook

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

If you like chocolate-covered pretzels you will love this almond bark with its rich sweetness followed by a hit of salt. Hunt for the best quality chocolate you can find for this recipe and use sea salt flakes (or fine sea salt), such as Maldon’s or Contemporary Ocean Products found at specialty cooking shops or health food stores. A decadent treat for those special moments. I have to warn you, this is a very addictive treat and I am already planning on making a second batch only a few days after finishing the last one!

Chocolate Almond Bark with Smoked Sea Salt

1/2 cup maple syrup syrup or raw cane sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1-1/2 cup raw almonds, freshly toasted

1 pound high-quality dark chocolate (62- 70% cacao), finely chopped

smoked sea salt flakes (to taste)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine maple syrup with 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat and cook until the mixture thickens and darkens in color. Remove from heat and add the butter, whisking until melted. Set aside 1/4 cup of the almonds and add the rest to the saucepan. Stir until well-coated.

Place chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water. Stir until melted, then add the nut mixture, again, stirring well. Transfer to the baking sheet, spreading the mixture out, topping with the reserved toasted nuts and sprinkling with salt flakes (to taste). Chill until chocolate sets, about 3 hours. Break bark into pieces and store between layers of parchment paper or waxed paper. Can be made up to a week ahead. Store in the fridge. Enjoy!

silverton chocolate coffee cake

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in cook

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Have you noticed how hard it is to find a good coffee cake these days? I’ve been craving coffee cake for weeks now and finally decided to hunt in my collection of cookbooks for a good recipe. Today, I found one that is moist, flavorful and goes perfectly with, well… coffee!

Silverton Chocolate Coffee Cake

3/4 cup freshly brewed espresso or 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder dissolved in 3/4 cup boiling water

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons instant coffee powder

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 eggs, separated and at room temperature

1/2 cup organic granulated sugar (or natural sweetener of your choice)

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons hazelnuts, toasted and peeled

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 egg white

pinch of salt

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper or waxed paper. Grease the paper and set aside.

In a saucepan over low heat, combine the brewed espresso, chocolate, coffee powder and butter, stirring occasionally until melted. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Slowly whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until well blended.

In a food processor (or large mortar and pestle), process the 3/4 cup of toasted hazelnuts until finely chopped, about 20 seconds. Add the flour and cocoa and process for 10 more seconds. Measure out 1 cup of the chocolate batter. With the machine running, gradually add the mixture to the food processor through the feed tube to form a paste. Stir the paste back into the batter and beat until well blended.

In a large bowl, beat the 4 egg whites with the salt until stiff, glossy peaks form. Whisk about one-quarter of the beaten whites into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the remaining whites until blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until firm, about 30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out slightly sticky. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool. Unmold, remove the parchment paper and place the cake on a plate. Chop the remaining 2 tablespoons of hazelnuts and sprinkle in the cake along with the powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Resource:

Perry, S. (2001). The New Complete Coffee Book: A Gourmet Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Cooking. Vancouver, BC: Raincoast Books.

festive rum balls

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in cook

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

It’s February and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. These pretty little rum balls are so easy to make and very effectively communicate “I love you” in the universal language of chocolate. These are wonderful served with cognac or hot coffee after a special dinner.

Rum Balls

15 lady finger bisquits

1/2 cup unsalted butter

5 squares semi-sweet bakers chocolate (or 150 g of dark chocolate), broken into pieces

2 tablespoons rum

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 cup ground hazelnuts or almonds

cocoa powder

Pulse the lady fingers in a food processor until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. (You can also hand grind these in a large mortar and pestle.) Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then stir in the chocolate pieces and remove from heat. Stir in the egg yolk, rum, icing sugar, ground nuts and ground biscuits. Mix well. Mixture should be firm, so add more ground biscuits or nuts if the mixture is too wet. Cover and refrigerate until firm. Roll the mixture into balls to fit into small petit fours cases. Chill once more and then roll in sifted cocoa powder to coat. Stored in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Yield: 30 rum balls

chocolate cake with wild berries

08 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in cook, wild berries

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

This cake has never failed me. Even non-chocolate lovers dive in! Perhaps the secret is the sauce? This cake is worth the effort to make and always looks good for any sort of presentation. I normally use Grand Marnier or Cointreau in the sauce for the liqueur. Garnish the cake with whole berries or edible flowers. Today I sprinkled some the the rose petals that I dried back in July on top. For the sauce, I used some of the Saskatoon berries and wild raspberries that I had picked last summer as well.



Chocolate Cake with Wild Berries

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter

2 tabelspoons corn syrup

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F). Grease a spring form pan. Heat 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan until melted. Cool for 5 minutes then stir in flour and eggs yolks until well-mixed.

In electric mixer, beat egg whites on high speed until foamy. Add sugar, a few spoonfuls at a time, and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg white mixture. Spread in pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes then run a knife along the sides of the cake to loosen. Open spring and remove. Invert cake onto a wire rack and remove bottom of spring form pan. Allow cake to cool completely.

Heat 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter and the corn syrup over medium heat until the chocolate chips are melted. Mix until smooth and then spread over the top of the cake, allowing some to drizzle down the sides.

Garnish with whole berries. Serve with Wild Berry Sauce and whipped cream if desired.

Wild Berry Sauce

2 cups of fresh or frozen berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, Saskatoons, dew berries, etc.) or 1 package (10 oz) frozen berries, thawed, drained, juice reserved

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1-2 tablespoons orange or raspberry-flavored liqueur (if desired)

Add enough water to the reserved berry juice to measure 1 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan and stir in the juice and berries (reserve some whole berries for the garnish, if desired). Heat to boiling over medium heat, allowing the mixture to boil for about a minute. Remove from heat and stir in the liqueur. Serve warm over chocolate cake or ice cream.

Enjoy!