Chocolate Sweet Hearts

These heart-shaped, chocolate-filled hand pies  are a sure way to win your sweetheart's heart 

Made with LOVE


Say hello to my 💓
My heart is sweet and warm ... and stuffed with smooth and creamy chocolate, of course :)
These hand pies are all you love about pie crust and spreadable chocolate bundled up in cute and most dangerous heart-shaped cookie. 
Each one of this has a buttery, flaky and

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Chocolate Babka

Last year I had the smart idea to try making a matcha babka wreath with milk bread dough.  In my head it would be pretty, and green-tinged, and perfect for the holidays.  In reality, it was dense, ugly, and I ended up throwing it out.

This year I decided to follow this tried-and-true recipe for chocolate babka from Smitten Kitchen.  The only change I made to the ingredients is that I used the zest from a whole orange instead of half an orange, and the smells that came out of my oven were glorious.  I also tried shaping it using what I remembered from the pictures in the Baking Breads cookbook.

Since the recipe makes two loaves, I decided to give one of the loaves the "pull-apart swirly bread" treatment.  If you'd like to try it, roll out a quarter of the dough (half a loaf) into a rectangle about 10" wide and as long as you can get it.  Spread with 1/4 of the filling and roll it up along the long edge.  Seal the seam and place in the freezer for 15 minutes while you repeat the same with the other quarter of dough.  Slice each log into 8 pieces, and arrange all 16 pieces in a well-greased 9" springform or square pan.  Let rise for an hour and then bake for 25-30 minutes at 375°F until nicely browned.  Brush with syrup and serve.

Chocolate Babka (based on Smitten Kitchen)
makes 2 loaves

For the dough:
1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (about 100 F)
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Zest from 1 orange
3 large eggs
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

For the filling:
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

For the syrup:
1/3 cup water
6 tablespoons sugar

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit while you measure out the rest of the ingredients.  Add all the ingredients for the dough except the butter and mix with a dough hook until it comes together.  Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until it is all incorporated.  Knead on medium until the dough is completely smooth and comes away from the bowl.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, make the filling by melting the chocolate chips and butter together, stirring until smooth.  Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon and stir until it forms a spreadable paste.  Grease 2 loaf pans and line with parchment paper.

Remove half the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a floured surface until 10" wide on the bottom and as long as you can get it.  Spread the filling on top, leaving an inch border on all sides except the bottom.  Roll up the dough in a tight spiral starting from the bottom.  Wet the top edge and seal together.  Wrap with aluminum foil and place in the freezer while you work on the second half of the dough.

Remove the first log from the freezer and use a sharp knife to slice in half, lengthwise, revealing all the layers of dough and chocolate filling.  Make an "X" with the two halves, placing the prettier half on top.  Twist the top half and bottom half and place in one of the greased pans, tucking the ends underneath.  Repeat with the second half.  Cover both and let rise another hour.  Preheat oven to 375°F.

Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer meets no resistance when inserted and comes out without any dough (it will most likely come out with some chocolate filling which is very tempting to lick).

While the babka is baking, make the syrup by combining the water and sugar in a small pot and heating until the sugar is all dissolved.  Brush the loaves with the syrup as soon as they come out of the oven.

And if you manage to have any leftover babka, you can turn it into the most amazing bread pudding using this recipe from Serious Eats!  (I just added some coconut milk on top for contrast.)

Next:  Marion Cunningham's Yeast-Raised Waffles
Previously:  Pull-Apart Scallion Swirly Bread
Two Years Ago:  Zuppa Toscana
Three Years Ago:  Flower Pavlovas
Four Years Ago:  Tartine Lemon Cream Tart
Seven Years Ago:  Gaufres de Liege (Belgian Waffles)
Eight Years Ago:  Hua Juan

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Chocolate Covered Cookie Dunkers

These crazy delicious cookies are begging for a wholesome glass of milk!



This blog post is sponsored by The a2 Milk Company™ 


"Because when your milk is naturally easy to digest, life is easy to digest"






There are few simple pleasures in life that never get old, like dunking a cookie into a rich and soothing glass of milk. No matter how old you are, there is something delicious and

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Recipe: Skinny Chocolate Banana Pancakes

One of my favourite things to do while cooking is using up leftovers or food that's 5 to death. This recipe uses bananas - I hate it when they're old and bruised, but they work perfectly for pancakes! This clean eating breakfast treat is gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free, and the baking powder makes them super light and fluffy! :)

Skinny Chocolate Banana Pancakes
Makes: 7 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 tbs raw cacao powder
• 1 or 2 tbs maple syrup*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp coconut oil for frying

Optional extras:
Cinnamon
Raisins
Nuts
Dark chocolate chunks
Raspberries

Method:

1. Cut your banana into slices and add to a medium-sized bowl. Mash the pieces with the back of a fork until there are no big pieces left.
2. Add the egg, peanut butter, cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla, and baking powder to the bowl and whisk everything together. 
3. Stir in any optional extras (I added cinnamon, chopped pecan nuts, and dark chocolate chunks - yum!)
4. Add the coconut oil to a large frying pan on medium heat. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of batter onto your pan (mine fit three at once)
5. Cook for two minutes on each side or, flip over once little bubbles start to form on the surface of the batter.

Notes:
*This depends on how sweet you want your pancakes. I like mine sweet so I used two teaspoons.

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Apricot and chocolate chip loaf cake

Do you really always want elaborate cakes? Sometimes I do and sometimes it is the downright simple that really hits the spot. So, on that note, this cake is going to be one of the downright simple variety and no  less good for that. It is perfect with a hot cup of tea.

One thing that my mother taught me about cooking was:

If you don't put good things into your food don't expect a good result.

So this cake is made with all good things but the making is simple.

What you'll need:

250g self raising flour
120g butter
120g sugar
2 eggs
perhaps a splash of milk
100g dried apricots, the no soak variety. Chop them up a bit
75g chocolate chips
a teaspoon of vanilla extract

To make:

heat your oven to approx gas mark 4 or 160 C.

Put the flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients until it resembles small peas. No need to be too fine with this.

Add the apricots that should be about the size of peas, and the chocolate. Stir in.

Break the egg into the mixture and stir well. Do't over stir as this mix is a bit like a muffin mix and you can toughen it if you over mix. Only add a splash of milk if you find that it's dry.

Put the mix into a greased a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at approx gas mark 4 or 160 C. It will be cooked when as knife or cake probe is insirted into the middle and it comes out dry. Approx 30 - 40 mins. It depends on your oven.

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Boston Cream Pie with a twist

I just love Boston Cream Pie. It's soft sponge is filled with creamy custard that melts in your mouth. If this is not good enough this flavour overload is enhanced by a topping of fabulous chocolate ganach. It is a cake of dreams and begs to be eaten alone so that you can sigh over every mouthful.

The twist? Use rum to flavour the cream.

To start you will make a light crumbly sponge. There are two possibilities for this cake: a Victorial sponge or a genoise. I chose to make the genoise as it is the lighter of the two. Also, as this cake needs to be stored in the fridge, the lower butter content of the genoise stops the sponge from firming up.

So start by making your cake.

Heat your oven to C 180.
Have a 23cm or 9 inch tin ready. Grease and flour it in readiness for your sponge.

I used 3 large free range eggs which were at room temperature.
100g caster sugar
100g SR flour
30g butter melted
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Start by breaking the eggs into a very clean and grease free bowl that is large enough to allow the eggs to expand when they have been beaten. Using a hand held whisk, beat the eggs until they are foamy.

The next step is to add the sugar. I was once told to heat the sugar before adding it to the eggs as this helps to create volume in the whisked eggs. I have always used this method when possible. It means that you don't have to have the eggs over  boiling water and to my mind this is no bad thing. Boiling water and electricity are not always good bed fellows. Whist the sugar and eggs together until they reach the ribbon stage. This will take about 10 minutes.

Now fold the sifted flour into the mix and then fold in the melted butter. Make sure that there are no streaks of flour or butter left. Be careful not to over mix as the sponge will not rise.

Cook in your preheated oven until golden and the sponge springs back when touched gently with your finger tip.  I did say gently. This is what it should look like when turned out onto a cooling rack.

NB I used a silicone baking form. I greased and floured it first as there is so little fat in the songe that I didn't want it to stick. As you see, it didn't.

I left the cake upside down as it gave a better surface to ice later on.

Allow your sponge to cool. Then transfer to a serving plate. Do it before you fill it an ice it. You will find that it is too soft to do it later. You will thank me for this advice.

While it's cooling make the pastry cream.

2 large egg yolks.

2 heaped tablespoons of sugar

1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour

1 teaspoon of vanilla or, for a real treat, 2 tbsp dark rum. Yumm

200ml whole milk

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar until they are well blended. Beat in the flour and cornflour and set aside. Add the vanilla essence.

Bring the milk to the boil. I did mine in the microwave. Slowly pour half of the hot milk onto the egg mixture, whisking all the time, then add the remaining milk.

Bring the mixture back to the boil and simmer for one minute, whisking continuously, or until smooth.

Pour the cream into a clean bowl and top with cling film to prevent a skin forming.  Cool as quickly as possible. When cooled, refrigerate until needed.

So by this tile your cake will be well and truly cooled. Cut through the middle horizontally and fill the bottom half with the cooled pastry cream. Plese remember that the cream sets as it cools so if you put it on too soon it can run out and spoil the effect of the cake. As you can see, mine is fairly thick. If you have stouble setting your custard I have found a quick cheat. Mix half of the custard with some instant custard (about a tbs will usually do the trick) and heat in the microwave until thick. Then add to the remaining custard and leave to cool. Works a treat.

Put the top of the cake over the cream.

Now you can ice the cake with the chocolate ganach.

50 g dark chocolate of your choice chopped
75 ml double cream
1 teaspoon of oil.

This is simplicite itself.

Bring your cream to just below the boil. Add the chopped chocolate and oil and mix well. The chocolate will melt in the hot cream and will not need to be reheated. Allow to cool to a point where the ganach is still pourable but not so liquid that it will run straight off the sides of the cake.
Allow to set and then get a knife and dive in. You won't be disappointed.

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Red Velvet Cookies

Beautiful Red Velvet cookies that are easy to make and delicious too.

1 package of Duncan Heinz red velvet cake mix

1 large egg

1/4 cup of oil

1/4 cup of water

1 cup of white chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF

Combine cake mix, egg, oil, and water. Beat until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredient(s).

Drop by tablespoon full about 2 inches apart on to parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 11-13 minutes or until done.

makes about 3 dozen cookies.

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