The recipe calls these marshmallow puffs, but, according to Reiver, these are basically rocky road. Whatever you call them, they make a surprisingly tasty low-effort dessert.

Marshmallow Puffs

Slightly adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 27-36 marshmallows
• 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp. butter

Directions

1. Line a 23cm (9") square tin with baking paper and grease the paper.
2. Arrange the marshmallows in the prepared tin.
3. Combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat gently, stirring periodically, until melted and smooth. Alternatively, melt over low heat, stirring, until smooth.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture over the marshmallows and allow to cool until set.
5. Remove from tin, cut into squares, and serve.

I've been wanting to make these brownies for a couple of weeks. I finally managed to get it together enough to get the ingredients for them about a week ago, but it took me another week to find the spoons to actually make them.

Having tried it, I'm not sure the raspberry jam really adds anything, but I'm glad I tried it! The brownie itself is excellent. And the jam doesn't ruin it. I'm just not sure it makes it better either.

Photo goes here.

Chocolate-Raspberry Brownies

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 120g butter
• 120g unsweetened chocolate¹
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 300g sugar
• 100g flour
• 1/2 c. raspberry jam

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F) and grease a 20cm (8") square tin.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate over low heat.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and sugar.
4. Mix in the eggs.
5. Stir in the flour.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and dollop with jam.
7. Drag a knife through the batter to create a marbled effect.
8. Bake at 160°C (325°F) until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs stuck to it (~45 minutes).

---

¹ I couldn't find any unsweetened chocolate, so I just got very dark chocolate and used that. I ended up using some good-quality 72% dark chocolate. ^Back

I've made a few different chocolate waffle recipes before, but I hadn't tried this one yet. Honestly, it wasn't even really a recipe. It was just a suggested mix-in for the waffle batters in the Breakfast Bible. In theory, I was meant to add 1/2 c. sweetened cocoa powder to the standard batter and then top the resulting waffles with fresh cherries and cherry syrup. In practice, I have never heard of sweetened cocoa powder and I didn't have any cherries on hand. So, instead of that, I did my best to approximate when it came to the cocoa. And for toppings we tried homemade mandarin marmalade and whipped cream as well as bananas and chocolate sauce (with a little peanut butter on mine as well). Delicious!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Waffles

Adapted from the Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 190g whole wheat flour
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. Dutched cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 90g salted butter, melted

Directions

1. Combine the flour and sugar.
2. Sift in the cocoa powder and baking powder and mix well.
3. Beat the eggs and vanilla into the milk.
4. Stir in the melted butter.
5. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.
6. Allow batter to rest while waffle iron preheats.
7. Scoop a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat until all batter is used.
8. Serve waffles with your preferred toppings. Fresh berries, whipped cream, bananas, peanut butter, marmalade, and chocolate sauce all work well.

This is a nice, lightly enriched white bread. It's made with an overnight sponge and produces a lovely light loaf. With the twist that it has a line of chocolate running through the centre of the loaves.

The original recipe has it written up as making two petite loaves. I didn't have any loaf pans quite that small (19x9cm), so I decided to add 250g of sourdough starter (to bulk it up a bit and use up some starter). I ended up making one medium (20x10cm) loaf and then turned the rest of the dough into rolls, each one stuffed with a small piece of chocolate.

I think next time I'd use a bit more chocolate in the loaf. It seems to have spread out as the dough rose and resulted in pockets of chocolate rather than a continuous line through the centre as I'd intended.

White Bread with Chocolate

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

Sponge

• 3/4 c. water
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast)
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 250g sourdough starter @ 100% hydration (optional)

Dough

• 1/2 c. warm water
• 1/4 c. dry milk powder
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• ~400g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 150g dark chocolate

Directions

1. Combine water, yeast, ginger, flour, and sourdough starter (if using).
2. Mix well, cover, and set aside at room temperature overnight.
3. In the morning, add the warm water, milk powder, sugar, salt, and butter and stir to combine.
4. Add the remaining flour, a little at a time, until a soft dough forms.
5. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 15-20 minutes, incorporating any remaining flour as necessary.
6. Round the dough and place in a covered bowl to rise for 60-90 minutes.
7. Knock the dough back, divide into two equal portions, round each portion, cover, and rest for 5-10 minutes.
8. Grease two 19x9cm (7.5x3.5") or 20x10cm (8x4") loaf pans, two 20cm (9") square pans, or one of each.
9. If making loaves: press each dough ball flat, letter fold, place a line of chocolate along the short side, and then roll up around the chocolate. Pinch the seam and ends to seal and place, seam-side-down, into the prepared pans.
   If making rolls: Divide each dough ball into nine equal portions. Press each portion flat and place a small piece of chocolate in the centre of each one. Fold the edges of the rounds up over the chocolate and pinch to seal. Flip the ball over and roll it to form it into a tight ball. Place, seam-side-down in the prepared pan.
10. Cover and set aside to rise for ~40 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
12. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 20-30 minutes.
13. Turn off oven and allow bread to stand in the hot oven for ~5 minutes.
14. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.
15. If desired, brush top crusts with a little butter to give it a slightly glossy finish.

This is the last granola recipe from the Breakfast Bible that I hadn't made yet. I made it this one according to the recipe. And it's good. But I found the proportion of walnuts way too low. I think I'd double them next time. I'd also like to try it with maple syrup instead of honey as the sweetener. I think that would go really well with the walnuts. And I'd try reducing the sugar next time. Because I found this version very sweet.

Dark Chocolate-Cherry Granola

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 1/4 c. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. dried cherries
• 60g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine oates, walnuts, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a small pot, combine the sugar, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla and heat until oil is melted and mixture is smooth and homogenous.
4. Pour the syrup mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine.
5. Spread the oat mixture out in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
7. Allow to cool, then break into small chunks.
8. Add the cherries and chocolate and toss to combine.
9. Stire in an airtight container.

Cocolate-Raspberry Torte

This is basically a flourless chocolate cake. It's incredibly rich and dense with no leavener whatsoever and only the tiniest bit of flour. It then gets filled with a mixture of jam and mashed raspberries and "iced" with ganache. And garnished with whole raspberries and toasted almonds. It is delicious!

Chocolate-Raspberry Torte

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 240g dark chocolate
• 12 Tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. instant coffee
• 1 c. almond flour
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 5 large eggs
• 3/4 c. sugar

Filling

• 1/2 c. raspberries
• 1/4 c. raspberry jam

Decoration

• 150g dark chocolate
• 1/2 c. + 1 Tbsp. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 c. sliced almonds, toasted
• ~24 whole raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. Grease two 20cm (8") round cake pans, line bottoms with parchment paper, grease the paper, and then flour the pans.
3. Melt the chocolate and the butter over very low heat.
4. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and coffee.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt and mix well.
6. Beat the eggs until lighter in colour and increased in volume (~3 minutes).
7. Gradually beat in sugar.
8. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until not quite fully combined.
9. Sprinkle in half of the almond mixture and stir to combine.
10. Add the remaining almond mixture and finish mixing.
11. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
12. Bake at 160°C (325°F) until done and toothpick inserted in centre comes out almost clean (16-20 minutes).
13. Allow cakes layers to cool in tins for 30 minutes.
14. Turn out onto wire racks, then flip one layer onto a serving platter right-way-up.
15. Mash the raspberries and mix with the jam.
16. Spread the raspberry mixture over the top of the right-way-up cake layer.
17. Place the second layer on top upside-down.
18. Combine the chocolate and the cream and heat over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth and homogenous.
19. Pour ganache over cake and spread evenly across the top and down the sides.
20. Crush the sliced almonds and press into the sides of the cake.
21. Decorate the top of the cake with the whole raspberries, placing them evenly-spaced around the perimeter.
22. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Chocolate Soufflé

This can be made as either one large soufflé or several small ones. I opted for the small ones today. Mostly because they don't take nearly as long to bake.

I really liked this soufflés. They were deeply chocolate-y and very light (as you would expect). I will say that I found them ever so slightly on the sweet side. I think I'd be tempted to either reduce the sugar or use unsweetened chocolate next time. I've written them up to use a bit less sugar than originally called for, but feel free to use unsweetened chocolate either instead or as well.

Chocolate Soufflé(s)

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided¹
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 Tbsp. Cointreau
• 250g dark chocolate, melted
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) for several small soufflés or 190°C (375°F) for one large one.
2. Grease your soufflé dish or ramekins and dust with sugar.
3. Combine the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt and beat until soft peaks form.
4. Gradually beat in 1/4 c. of the sugar. Set aside.
5. Beat the egg yolks until pale.
6. Add the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar and beat vigorously until very pale and thick and mixture makes "ribbons" when beater is lifted out.
7. Beat in the vanilla or Cointreau.
8. Fold in the melted chocolate.
9. Add ~1/3 of the meringue and stir to combine and loosen the mixture.
10. Add the remaining meringue and gently fold it into the mixture until no longer streaky.
11. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish(es).
12. Run a finger around the top edge to make a small "moat".
13. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 10-12 minutes for small soufflés or 190°C (375°F) for ~30 minutes for a large soufflé. Soufflé should be well-risen and slightly crisp on the outside, but still very soft and slightly wobbly in the middle.
14. Cut a circle of the "crust" off the top and spoon a generous portion of whipped cream over it.
15. Serve immediately!

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¹ The original recipe called for 3/4 c. of sugar total: 1/4 c. in the meringue and 1/2 c. in the base. I found this a bit too sweet for my tastes, so I've scaled back the sugar somewhat here. You could also try swapping out the dark chocolate for unsweetened, either instead of or as well as reducing the sugar. Try it and see which you like better! ^Back

TF and I both wanted dessert last night. But we were also tired and didn't want to have to apply much effort. Luckily these grilled bananas only required ~10 minutes of cooking time. They are especially easy if you have a gas grill or are willing to use the oven instead.

The ice cream is theoretically optional, while the whipped cream is not. However, I was really vibing with the ice cream last night and having both seemed like overkill. So we got a little bit of chocolate fudge ice cream and then skipped the whip.

Grilled Bananas with Pecans and Chocolate

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 4-6 bananas
• 60g dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans
• 1-2 c. chocolate ice cream (optional)
• 1/2 c. heavy cream, whipped (optional)

Directions

1. Set up grill for direct heat cooking and trim the ends off of the bananas. (Leave the peels on. Just trim the ends.) Alternatively, set the oven broiler to "high".
2. Grill the bananas, turning often, until softened and skins have turned dark (8-10 minutes).
3. Peel and slice the bananas.
4. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the nuts.
5. Top with ice cream and whipped cream (if using) and serve.

I was asked to bring some biscuits or scones to the Mother's Day festivities this year. (Yes, I know. This post is very late. I made these back in May. I've just been bad at actually getting around to the write-ups.) I did make some plain drop biscuits, but I thought it would be nice to make a second variety as well. The plain ones are great for toppin and enjoying with cream and jam, but the flavoured ones can be nice to have just on their own (or maybe with a bit of butter). Both were appreciated.

Photo goes here.

Chocolate-Orange Scones

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 6 Tbsp. butter
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbsp. orange zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Sift the baking powder into the flour.
3. Add the sugar and salt and stir to combine.
4. Cut in the butter.
5. Mix in the chocolate chips.
6. Beat the egg with the milk and orange zest.
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a fork.
8. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few seconds.
9. Pat dough into a 20cm (8") round.
10. Cut into 8 equal wedges.
11. Transfer scones to baking sheet and bake until done (~12 minutes).

The Kidlet requested cake pops for her birthday party this year. I was somewhat apprehensive since I've never made them before and they seemed a bit fiddly. But, truth-be-told, they weren't actually that difficult to put together!

On the one hand, you have to bake the cake and then crumble it and mix it with milk to form the "dough". Then form it into balls, partially freeze them, impale them on sticks, and coat each one in chocolate. So it is a bit of a process. But, on the other hand, you don't have to make icing or split, fill, and stack cake layers. You don't have to do any decoration beyond a few sprinkles. And they're extremely easy to serve. No plates or cutlery required!

All-in-all, I'd call these a great success and happily make them again in the future!

My cake pops were a little on the large size. According to the recipe, we were supposed to get 36 cake pops, but we only ended up with 30. I could have reduced the size a bit to the proper proportions, but I figured no one would mind the extra-large size. They're a little less dainty, to be sure. And a little more top-heavy. But I quite liked them nonetheless.

Cake Pops

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 210g all-purpose flour
• 200g sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. milk¹
• 2 Tbsp. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• ~2 c. white or dark chocolate chips
• 30-36 lollipop sticks
• sprinkles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20cm (8") square pan.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt.
3. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
4. Add the butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and mix until just combined.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) until golden and cooked through (~25 minutes).
6. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
7. Once cake has cooled completely, break into small (1-2cm) pieces.
8. Add the milk and sugar to the bowl and mix until a dough forms.
9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
10. Form the dough into balls (aim for 30-36 total).
11. Freeze for ~1 hour until firm, but not frozen solid.
12. Gently melt the chocolate in a large measuring cup and place in a bowl of hot water to keep it liquid.
13. Dip a stick into the melted chocolate and then stab it about halfway through one of the cake balls.
14. Dip the cake pop in the chocolate to coat completely.
15. Dip in sprinkles so that some are picked up by the chocolate.
16. Stand cake pop in a piece of florist's foam and allow chocolate to set.
17. Repeat dipping process with remaining cake pops.
18. Store at room temperature for up to 4 hours or in the fridge for up to 4 days.

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¹ The original recipe only called for 1/4 c. of milk, but that wasn't nearly enough to form a cohesive dough. I needed to add an extra 1/4 c. of milk for it to reach that point. ^Back

Basic Waffles (with Variations)

I've been meaning to make waffles for breakfast all week. But I kept sleeping in and not quite getting to it. Today I finally managed to rouse myself early enough to get them done before the Kidlet went to school.

I was going to just make plain waffles. But then I saw that it had a bunch of suggested variations down at the bottom: chocolate, cheese, poppy seed, and nut. I briefly contemplated doing cheese waffles. But TF said that something sweet might be better since we don't really have much to put on savoury waffles right now. So, in the end, I went with the chocolate version.

They were perfectly serviceable waffles with a nice (if not particularly intense) chocolate flavour. They got a bit of crisp to the exterior and weren't too sweet either. I think I'd probably mix in some chopped dark chocolate next time. Just to punch up the flavour a little bit. But all-in-all this made for a perfectly acceptable quick breakfast. (Not the most nutritionally complete, to be sure, but okay as an occasional thing.)

Basic Waffles

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Beat the eggs with the milk and butter.
3. Add the flour and sugar and sift in the baking powder.
4. Stir until just mixed.
5. Pour a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
6. Serve with fruit, syrup, whipped cream, and/or other toppings of your choice.

---

Variations

Chocolate Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 30g cocoa powder, sifted
• 60g dark chocolate, chopped

Cheese Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 2 c. milk
• 1/4 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. grated Cheddar

Poppyseed Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. poppyseeds

Nutty Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. chopped toasted walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts

Waffles with Ham

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/4 butter, melted
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 250g flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. diced cooked ham

Sometimes you just get a craving that will not quit. I had one for chocolate cake hit me last week and nothing I did would banish the thought from my head. So I finally gave in and picked out a recipe I hadn't tried before.

I like a good sour cream chocolate cake. And I appreciated that this one didn't need any sort of glaze or icing. They suggest serving it with lightly sweetened raspberries and tangy whipped cream, but those are both completely optional and the cake is still lovely on its own or with just a light dusting of icing sugar.

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 65g cocoa powder¹
• 170g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp. instant espresso or coffee powder
• 3/4 c. boiling water
• 240g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 c. sour cream
• 12 Tbsp. (~170g) unsalted butter, softened
• 400g brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 5 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour² a Bundt pan.
2. Combine cocoa, chocolate, and coffee powder in a heat-proof bowl.
3. Pour the boiling water into the bowl, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes.
4. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is homogeneous. Set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt and sift in the baking soda. Mix well and set aside.
6. Add the sour cream to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
7. Cream the butter with the sugar until light (~3 minutes).
8. Mix in the vanilla.
9. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
10. Add ~1/3 of the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
11. Add ~1/2 of the sour cream mixture and, once combined, follow with 1/2 the remaining dry ingredients.
12. Finish up by mixing in the last of the sour cream mixture followed by the last of the dry ingredients.
13. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
14. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (40-50 minutes).
15. Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
16. Serve as-is or topped with a dusting of icing sugar, fresh or macerated fruit of your choice, and/or whipped cream. (Or tangy whipped cream, if you prefer.

---

¹ The original recipe calls for using natural cocoa powder. I got mixed up and used Dutched/alkalized cocoa instead. I was very happy with the results, so I'm going to go ahead and say that either is fine. I think there's probably enough acid in the sour cream that the pH of the cocoa powder doesn't really matter that much for this one. ^Back
2 If you're worried about flour showing on the surface of the finished cake, brush the pan with a paste of melted butter and cocoa instead. About 1 Tbsp. of each should do the trick. ^Back

So, I found this recipe on the Internet. It claimed to be a 2-ingredient chocolate cake ready in the microwave in 90 seconds. I was dubious, but decided to give it a try anyway.

Unfortunately, recipe as written, it didn't really work.
Four tablespoons of Milo mixed with a tablespoon of milk just produces a thin layer of chocolate cement at the bottom of the mug when microwaved. It's not inedible, but it's not very good either.

For attempt #2, I doubled the recipe -- 1/2 c. of Milo and 2 Tbsp. of milk -- and also added 1/4 tsp. of baking powder because it seemed like it really wanted some leavener. I gave that 2 minutes in the microwave (checking it every 30 seconds or so) and that seemed to work much better!

Don't get me wrong, it's still not great, but it's a marked improvement over version 1. And not the worst thing in the world if you're craving a quick chocolate fix.

Milo Mug Cake

Adapted from Taste.com.au

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. Milo
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. milk

Directions

1. Combine the Milo and baking powder in a mug.
2. Stir in the milk.
3. Microwave on high for 30 seconds.
4. Stir, then microwave for another 60-90 seconds, checking every 30 seconds or so.
5. Serve with fresh berries and/or ice cream.

It was my birthday yesterday. (I guess, technically, it's kind of still my birthday; it's still the 8th back in Ontario.)

Anyway, it was a pretty low-key birthday overall. Both because I didn't really want to do anything big for it and because the Kidlet had caught a cold and was feeling a bit under the weather. I did want to at least make a cake to mark the occasion though. And, after perusing the various recipes in my collection, I decided to hit up this one from my collection of recipes from the Something Awful CAKE thread.

It's a pretty simple, no-bake cheesecake recipe. Nothing too fancy. Just make the crust, beat together all the ingredients for the filling, pour it over, and chill until set. No fancy techniques or decorations. No icing. No layers. But that was honestly exactly the type of thing I wanted for the day. And, if I was going to do a cheesecake, how could I resist the Milo one? It was the perfect recipe to try out while I was here in New Zealand.

Not only is it a straight-forward, chilled cheesecake full of Milo. The crust is basically just a batch of chocolate crackles mushed into the bottom of a springform pan!

I mean, it's not quite exactly the recipe from Edmonds, but only because the author has you use real milk chocolate rather than getting you to make ersatz chocolate by combining shortening, icing sugar, and cocoa powder the way the Edmonds recipe does. Same idea though.

And, given that this recipe specifically calls for 250g of "good quality milk chocolate", Reiver pointed out that the author almost certainly had Whittaker's in mind. Since it's one of the only brands that still comes in 250g blocks. So, between that, and the Milo, and the inclusion of thickened cream, this does, indeed, feel like a very NZ recipe.

It is also, as it turns out, delicious! I liked this one a lot. It's easy to make, not too sweet, and nicely flavoured. The chocolate crackle crust comes out pretty firm, so it can be a bit challenging to get your fork through it, but it tastes lovely and adds an interesting texture to the base. Also, the fact that the crust is so sturdy makes it relatively easy to lift off the pan in one piece. I mean, it was a little tricky to get any implements under it initially. But once we managed to wedge the edge of a spoon under there, we were pretty much able to lever the whole thing up and slide it over onto a plate without any worries about the structural integrity. So that was handy!

I don't think this is my favourite cheesecake that I've ever made, but it is certainly a good one! I liked it a lot, I'm glad I tried it, and I would definitely make it again.

ETA: Now that I've clicked through to the link provided in the original post, I see that this was presented as an Australian recipe, not a NZ one. Oh well... I still think it was very approparite to NZ, so no complaints here.

Milo Cheesecake

From Raspberri Cupcakes via the Something Awful forums

Ingredients

Crust

• 250g milk chocolate (preferably Whittaker's)
• 1/3 c. dessicated coconut
• 2 c. Rice Krispies

Filling

• 300mL thickened cream or heavy (35%) cream
• 340g cream cheese, softened
• 75g sugar
• 4 tsp. unflavoured gelatine
• 3 Tbsp. cold water
• 200mL milk
• 1 1/2 c. Milo (plus extra to decorate)

Directions

1. Lightly oil a 20cm (8") springform pan.¹
2. Melt the chocolate over low heat.
3. Mix in the coconut, then stir in the Rice Krispies.
4. Once everything is well-mixed, press the chocolate mixture into the bottom of the springform pan in an even layer.
5. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Set aside.
7. In a clean bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
8. Beat in the sugar until well-combined.
9. In a small bowl, combine the gelatine with the water and set aside.
10. Heat the milk over medium heat until just boiling.
11. Remove milk from heat and mix in the Milo.
12. Add the softened gelatine to the Milo mixture and stir until smooth and well-mixed.
13. Add the Milo mixture to the cream cheese mixture and beat until evenly mixed.
14. Fold in the whipped cream.
15. Pour the filling over the crust.
16. Chill for at least 3 hours.
17. Run a hot knife around the edge of the pan and pop off the sides.
18. Carefully lift the cake off the base and transfer to a serving platter.
19. Sprinkle with additional Milo and serve.

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¹ I ended up using a 24cm (~9") springform pan for my rendition of this cake. Obviously this resulted in a wider, but shorter cake, but it was fine. The crust was still thick enough and everything seemed to work out fine. That said, if you'd like a taller cake, the smaller pan is definitely the way to go. ^Back

These are pretty simple, but really good! They're just simple baked meringues with a bit of cocoa and dark chocolate stirred in. But they're pleasantly crisp on the outside and soft in the centre, with just a bit of chew to them. I suspect that comes from using a Swiss (rather than French) meringue as the base. You can get French meringues that are crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, but in my experience, they're normally more fluffy than chewy.

I always find Swiss meringues a bit trickier to get right and somewhat more difficult to get to the stiff peak stage. They never seem to have quite as much structure as a good French meringue. And, of course, mixing them over the double boiler is always a bit of a faff. But sometimes it's necessary to get the desired result. And I was quite happy with the results I got here! Although I did have to adjust the sugar a fair bit. This seemed to be another case of compounded rounding errors. The measurements for the sugar were given as 1 3/4 c. (14 oz./440g). But 14 oz. is only ~392g. And, unlike flour (which can vary a fair bit based on how you measure it), sugar tends to be a fairly consistent 200g/cup. So, 1 3/4 c. should be a neat 350g, not 440 or 392!

Chocolate Meringues

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 7 large egg whites
• 350g sugar
• 30g natural cocoa powder
• 125g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. Bring a pot of water to a simmer.
3. Combine the egg whites and sugar in a heat-proof bowl.
4. Place the bowl over the simmering water and beat vigorously until sugar dissolves completely and mixture becomes opaque.
5. Remove from heat and beat until stiff peaks form.
6. Sift in cocoa powder and add dark chocolate. Carefully fold ingredients together until mixed.
7. Spoon large dollops of meringue onto the prepared baking sheets.
8. Bake at 180°C (350*deg;F) for 9 minutes.
9. Rotate and swapt the trays and bake for another 9 minutes.
10. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

I made some burnt caramel sauce a while back. It was a bit too burnt, but when mixed with the next, slightly undercooked batch that I made, it was just about right. We'd been gradually using it up as a topping on waffles and desserts, but there was still quite a bit left and I didn't want it to go begging. So, when I ran across this simple tart recipe, it seemed perfect.

The original recipe actually called for making six 3" tartlets. I don't have any small tartlet tins though. But, some quick, back-of-the-envelope calculations told me that one 10" tart would require ~ the same amount of crust as six 3" ones, so I just went with that instead. And that did seem to be about right. I mean, the crust was a bit thicker and tougher than I would have liked, but I'm hoping that swapping out the AP flour for pastry flour and correcting the mistake in the recipe¹ will help with that.

Chocolate-Caramel Tart

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Pastry

• 90g unsalted butter
• 60g icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar
• 150g soft (plain/standard/pastry) flour
• 30g natural cocoa powder
• 1 large egg
• 1-2 Tbsp. milk

Caramel

• 1 c. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 2/3 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Ganache

• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 185g dark chocolate

Directions

Pastry

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Sift the icing sugar and cut it into the butter.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder and cut them in as well.
4. Beat the egg and mix it in with a fork.
5. If the pastry is still not coming together, add a little milk a tsp. at a time until it does.
6. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of a loose-bottomed 25cm (10") tart tin.
7. Place the tart tin on a baking sheet, line the pastry shell with baking paper, fill with pie weights, and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 10-15 minutes.
8. Remove paper and weights and return to oven for 5 minutes.
9. Set aside to cool.

Caramel

1. Combine the sugar and water, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Uncover and continue cooking, swirling (but not stirring!) occasionally, until sugar is completely dissolved (~5 minutes).
3. Contine cooking until caramel is fairly dark (~4 minutes longer).
4. Remove from heat and carefully stir in cream.
5. Return to medium-low heat and cook, stirring, until smooth.
6. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
7. Once butter is incorporated, stir in the salt and vanilla.
8. Pour the caramel into the baked tart shell and chill for at least an hour to firm up the caramel a bit.

Ganache

1. Combine the chocolate and cream and warm over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. (Althernatively, scald the cream over medium heat and then pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for five minutes. Then stir until mixture is smooth.)
2. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. Once ganache and caramel have both firmed up slightly (but ganache is still pourable), pour the ganache into the tart shell.
4. Chill for at least two hours or until firm.
5. If desired, sprinkle with a small amount of flaky salt before serving.

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¹ The original recipe calls for "1 1/4 c. (6 1/2 oz./200g) all-purpose flour". Unfortunately, I just went with the metric measurement without checking their conversions. And their math is way off! 1 1/4 c. of flour weighs ~150g, not 200! So, my pastry was way too dry an dwould not come together at all. So I ened up having to add a bunch of milk to get it to the right consistency. But that really wasn't ideal. And between the extra mixing and the extra volume and having to work it so much to get it to a not completely ridiculous thickness, it was pretty tough by the time I'd finished with it. So, as noted, hopefully by using the corrext amount of a soft flour next time, I'll be able to mostly avoid that particular failure mode. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was still good! I just felt that the pastry was a bit of a letdown and detracted from the delicious filling a bit. ^Back

I've been hesitating on making the rest of the waffles in the waffle book because they're all meant to be dessert waffles rather than breakfast options. And I have so many other desserts to make. And most of them call for ingredients that I don't typically have on hand anyway. So, I've been making other desserts instead and the waffle recipes have just been sitting there. Staring at me.

But we needed something for breakfast this morning. And we had all the bits for these s'mores-inspired waffles. They're pretty sweet and rich. But, honestly, they're no worse than most of the things in the "pastries" section of the Breakfast Bible. So, I figured I'd just roll with it and give 'em a try!

They were pretty good. Although, even with a reduced quantity of chocolate (~75% of what the recipe called for), we all still found them very rich and excessively chocolate-y. I think next time I'd probably go with half chocolate. I also had a bit of trouble getting the somewhat unusual, watered down Swiss meringue to whip up nicely. It still worked. And the finished texture was actually quite nice. It just wouldn't hold a peak. Maybe that was just down to my impatience with the double boiler though. I may not have let it cook enough before transferring it to the stand mixer. Either way, it was still pretty good. Just a bit tricky to work with.

The recipe suggested making these with either malted or peanut butter waffles. I decided that peanut butter waffles (with some of the AP flour swapped out for whole wheat) sounded like a nice combo, so I went with those. That said, I do think that the malt waffles would have also been very nice. As would whole wheat. I might actually try 100% whole wheat peanut butter (or malted) waffles next time. I think the whole grain would be a nice way to evoke a bit more of the graham cracker character that I normally associate with s'mores.

S'mores Waffles

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 1 batch (6-7) peanut butter or malted waffles (preferably made with whole wheat flour)
• ~180g dark chocolate, chopped
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
• 6 Tbsp. warm water
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract¹

Directions

1. Make waffles as directed and preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Place the waffles on baking sheets and top each one with ~30g of the chocolate.
3. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for ~2 minutes to melt the chocolate and crisp the waffles.
4. Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a simmer and place a heatproof bowl over it.
5. Add the egg whites, cream of tartar, and water to the bowl.
6. Gradually add the sugar while whisking vigorously.
7. Keep whisking until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mergine is opaque and warm to the touch.
8. Transfer to a stand mixer and beat on high speed until soft peaks form (3-5 minutes).
9. Beat in vanilla.
10. Spoon the meringe into the waffles and return to oven until meringue is lightly browned on top and cooked through (4-6 minutes).
11. Serve with a glass of milk on the side.

¹ Oh no! I just realized that I completely forgot to add the vanilla to my meringue! That would have made it so much nicer! Whoops. Oh well... not much I can do about it now. :( ^Back

I can no longer remember what I made this chocolate sauce for. But I remember making it and I remember it being tasty!

Dark Chocolate Sauce

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 c. corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 170g dark chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions

1. Combine cream, corn syrup, and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate and butter.
3. Let stand for 2-3 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
4. Serve warm or transfer to a jar and chill until ready to use. Reheat before serving.

The Kidlet and I made this cake to take to Thanksgiving. It is a very rich, dense cake full of oatmeal and chocolate. And the peanut butter icing adds even more decadence.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Slightly adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 225g dark chocolate chips (or coarsely chopped dark chocolate)
• 1 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. sugar¹
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting

• 1 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 200g icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar²
• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream, whipped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a 23x33cm (9x13") cake tin/baking dish.
2. Place the stick of butter with the oats, pour over the boiling water, and let stand for 1 minute.
3. Stir the oat mixture to thoroughly combine and let stand until cooled.
4. Meanwhile, toss the chocolate with 2 Tbsp. of the flour and set aside.
5. Beat the eggs with the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla.
6. Add the oat mixture once cooled and stir to combine.
7. Mix in the remaining 1 1/2 c. of flour.
8. Stir in the flour-coated chocolate chips.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
10. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35-45 minutes.
11. Allow to cool completely before icing.
12. Beat the peanut butter with the butter until light and fluffy.
13. Mix in the vanilla and salt.
14. Gradually sift in the icing sugar while continuing to beat vigorously.
15. Fold in the whipped cream.
16. Spread the icing evenly over the cooled cake.

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¹ The original recipe called for 3/4 c. sugar and 1 1/4 c. brown sugar. I used the full amount of granulated sugar, but only 1 c. of brown sugar this time around. The cake came out great, but I'd be tempted to try it with slightly less sugar next time. Maybe just 1/2 of granualted and 1 c. of brown. And, if that works well, I'd be tempted to omit the granulated sugar altogether on future attempts and just roll with 1 1/4 c. of brown sugar. That said, I didn't want to adjust things too much too fast. Hence the incremental approach. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for 2 c. of icing sugar. I weighed my sugar and found it came in at ~125g/cup. So I used ~250g of icing sugar for my frosting. That said, I found it a little sweeter and stiffer than I'd ideally like, so I think I'd aim for closer to 200g of sugar next time. ^Back

I've been mostly using Bernard Clayton's recipes when making bread lately, but I felt like changing things up a bit this time. I'd been looking at the King Arthur Flour website for pancake recipes anyway and figured that maybe I'd give some of their bread recipes a go. They have quite a few sourdough recipes listed, but this chocolate sourdough sounded particularly interesting. The cocoa makes for a very dark, rich-tasting bread. And the chocolate chunks add a bit of sweetness without being overwhelming.

The recipe claims that this bread is more savoury than sweet. And, while I'd agree that the dough itself is not very sweet, the amount of chocolate worked into it does shift it more away from the savoury end of the spectrum than I was expecting. It's definitely not aggressively sweet or anything and I do think it works well paired with mild cheeses as a sort of sweet-and-savoury combo, but I would still say it leans more savoury than sweet, personally. It's lovely! I just wouldn't necessarily classify it as "savoury".

Chocolate Sourdough Bread

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

Preferment

• 25g ripe (fed) starter @ 100% hydration
• 210g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 145g water

Dough

• 480g water
• 500-600g hard (strong/high grade/bread) or all-purpose flour
• 36g Dutched (alkalized) cocoa
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 200g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Combine the starter, whole wheat flour, and water and mix well.
2. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 12-16 hours.
3. The next morning, add the water to the preferment and use your fingers to break up the dough and mix it into the water.
4. Mix vigorously for a few seconds, then begin adding the flour, cocoa, and salt. Start with 500g of flour, but add a little more if the dough seems excessively sticky or loose. That said, it's probably better for the dough to be a little too loose than too tight.
5. Mix very well, then cover and allow to rest for 30-60 minutes.
6. Perform a bowl fold, cover and rest for another hour or so.
7. Wet your bench/work surface and turn the dough out. Press it into a large, flat rectangle.
8. Sprinkle the chocolate evenly over the surface.
9. Perform a letter fold (folding the dough into thirds) and then roll it up (as if shaping a large loaf).
10. Return to bowl and allow to rest for another 30-60 minutes.
11. Repeat the folding/rolling and resting process until the dough begins to feel light and well-risen. (Probably 1-3 additional fold/rest periods, but it will depend on the temperature of your room and the activity of your starter.)
12. Knock the dough back and divide into two equal portions.
13. Round each one, cover, and rest for 10-20 minutes.
14. Shape into loaves and place, seam-side-up, into well-floured bannetons.
15. Cover and place in fridge to proof overnight.²
16. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 250°C (475°F) and put a kettle on to boil.
17. Grease a baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
18. Turn the loaves out onto the prepared baking sheet. Optionally lightly wet the surface of the loaves.
19. Slash loaves as desired.
20. Once the oven is preheated, pour some boiling water into a large pan and place it on the lower oven rack.
21. Place the bread on a rack set above the pan of boiling water and bake at 250°C (475°F) for 15 minutes.
22. Reduce heat to 200°C (400°F), remove water pan, and bake until done (~15 minutes longer).
23. Turn oven off and allow bread to stand in hot oven for an additional 5-10 minutes.
24. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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¹ I didn't have room in the fridge when making this bread, so I proofed mine at room temperature. I think it took ~2 hours at 21°C (70°F). ^Back