Cinnamon Toast Remix

Sometimes I just want a little dessert. And my favorite desserts are not chocolate-based or even fruit-based, but cinnamon-based. To quell this craving, the other night I whipped up a play on the classic cinnamon toast, with a little Mexican twist. And let me tell you one word to sum up this little recipe: heavenly.

The first thing I made was a cinnamon toast-like mixture. Three parts white sugar (could use Splenda) to one part cinnamon to one part brown sugar, with a sprinkle of kosher salt. Then I put in little bits of light Smart Balance (could have used butter), maybe a teaspoon at a time and mixed the spices into it with a fork. I continued adding bits until it had nicely “taken in” all of the cinnamon-sugar.

I next took six, small corn tortillas from the fridge and cut them each in half. My original craving was actually for a churro, so the corn tortillas came to mind as a way to make it a little crispier and churro-ier than cinnamon toast. I spooned a very small amount of the smart balance-sugar-cinnamon mixture onto half of each piece of tortilla and then folded the other half onto it so the stickiness of the mixture sealed it. I arranged all of the now quarter-tortilla-sized “churro quesadillas” onto a baking sheet and brushed them all with a tiny bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of sugar, cinnamon and salt. I placed them in a 350 degree oven for 11 minutes.

When I removed them from the oven, the house filled with the gorgeous waft of cinnamon and sugar. My creations looked delectable. They were a little caramelized on the bottom, crispy on the top and soft and gooey and delicious in the middle. It really was like a cinnamon toast quesadilla. I gave a few to a wowed Julia and gave a few to a ravenous Me. I would describe how incredible the taste was in deep detail, but I think I already told you everything you need to know. Heavenly.

Shake Up The Shake

After four days of lost appetites and minimal eating due to the stomach bug going around, Julia and I finally regained some semblance of hunger and decided we both had severe cravings for chocolate milkshakes. I don't think either of us has had or even thought of having a milkshake in a year or two, but some combination of eating about 500 total calories each per day for the last half week and the unseasonably warm weather made us both a little starry-eyed for a chocolate shake.

So we went out and got some chocolate ice cream and chocolate milk. I figured a couple scoops of chocolate ice cream and half a cup of chocolate milk into our mini blender would make for a lovely-textured and flavored shake after a good minute of blending. This would be just enough to quell this odd desire for a shake but not make us totally regret it.

But somewhere between this simple result and Julia cutely requesting chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream shakes (wide-eyed: “instead?”) at the store and us forgetting to buy chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, I decided to get a little more creative to accommodate the oversight. I wanted to take the same classic shake I mentioned above and make it taste like chocolate chip cookie dough instead of just chocolate. So I added the two ingredients that I associate most closely with chocolate chip cookies – vanilla extract and brown sugar. It didn't even take very much – maybe a solid teaspoon of each into the mix before blending – but oh what a difference it made. The potentially bland chocolate milkshake suddenly had that deep richness of a chocolate chip cookie.

I didn't even think it was actually going to work. I figured the flavors would either not show up or be too garish and ruin the taste. To my delight they took perfectly to the shake but were quite noticeable, making a very strong cookie element to the flavor. Personally I loved it, and so did Julia. It made this rare splurge all the more worthwhile, with a great flavor and fun new innovation making it all the better. Of course, that great silky, thick milkshake texture didn’t go anywhere as a result of these minor additions. And we didn't even need the added raw egg, butter or flour of real cookie dough to get that awesome cookie dough flavor. It made us happy and helped to finally make us feel better. Definitely worth it, this one time.

Sweet Trio Treat

Besides being sweet herself, Julia is always great at coming up with the perfect sweet little treat at the right times when they are needed most. Her latest was artful as well as luxurious, and above all, delicious. A trio of small chocolate shots, each with its own distinct character. You intrigued yet? I sure was.

The first was a plain dark chocolate, melted perfectly into that smooth consistency required of a drinking chocolate. Julia had melted it in the microwave to make it this time, but I have seen her do it on a double boiler as well. Given how well it came out in the microwave, with the perfect level of thickness and smoothness, I would personally never bother with the conventional method. To this first shot, no larger than a small bathroom cup, she added a generous dollop of whipped cream and a few chocolate sprinkles. This was the perfect addition to the chocolate, making it taste comforting and refined, like the fanciest shot of hot cocoa imaginable. Plus she knows I'm a sucker for whipped cream.

For the second of the three petite shots, she toasted up some coconut in a dry pan for several minutes until it was lightly browned and crispy. She used the same melting chocolate in each of the shots, but put a small heap of the crunchy coconut on this one instead of the whipped cream. This gave it a nuttier, earthier feel than the first, but was just as delish.

Finally, Julia went over the top to wow me with the third shot. Malted milk balls! She took a few malted milk balls and crushed them up to create the topping for the third shot. It was an ingenious decision because the bits of malted milk ball that went in the warm chocolate melted a little and allowed their soft, malty flavor to permeate throughout. But what's the milk ball without the crunch? Never fear, there was still a nice crunchy layer on top that had not melted. This sent me over the moon with love for the third shot as well as with the entirety of the treat.

Ten minutes by Julia in the kitchen, with a dollop of creativity and that all-important dollop of whipped cream made us pretty happy campers for the rest of the evening. Isn't that what a great treat is meant to accomplish? If not, then I might have to coin a new word for Julia's.

Julia's Dinner Party: Wine, Sides and Dessert

This is the final installment in the Julia's Dinner Party Series. In case you missed the first three parts, be sure to check out the amuse-bouche, the salad and the entree.

So wine. Two great bottles of red and a bottle of white that my parents brought over added wonders to the enjoyment of the food. The names and specifics of the wines or details about their taste? Not my forte. Might want to wait for my Dad's own review of the dinner. He's the real "winey" one in the family. And he knows a lot about wine too! Couldn't resist.

The sides that I served with the stuffed peppers were a white wine mushroom medley and a winter vegetable mash. The medley was pretty simple. I chopped some white, shiitake and baby Portobello mushrooms and sautéed them in olive oil, salt, pepper and a lot of fresh thyme and parsley (roughly chopped) on medium heat for about 5 minutes. At this point, I added in 8 ounces of Chardonnay, stirred, cranked up the heat to high and covered it. I let it cook for another 8 minutes or so, but I was checking to make sure that I took it off right when all the liquid had been absorbed. I served them as is, and they were great – tender, yet a little crispy from the sauté, and very flavorful from all the herbs and wine. They added a nice flavorful vegetable that was not too heavy. Exactly what I wanted.

The winter mash consisted of three large white potatoes (peeled and chunked), three large yams (peeled and chunked), one medium head of cauliflower (de-leaved and chunked) and one thick, large carrot (peeled and chunked). I put them all in a large pot and filled it up as high as I could with cold water (without fearing bubbling over). With things like potatoes and carrots that you want to turn out fork tender, the key is to bring them up to boiling evenly as opposed to dunking them all in already-boiling water, which would lead to the outside cooking long before the inside. I also added a teaspoon of salt to the water and put the pot over high heat.

I let the veggies boil away for over 25 minutes, stirring them occasionally. I really wasn't timing, since they are done when you can break through a chunk of each type of veggie easily with a utensil. The carrots take the longest, but they get there. When everything was fork tender, I drained them and let them cool for 15 minutes right in the pot. I then used a little mashing utensil to carefully start breaking apart the veggies and combining them together. I continued doing this and folding the less mashed parts toward the top from the bottom until I had an even texture and color. It was a lovely light orange and mashed quite easily without cream, butter, oil or any fancy potato-masher machines. I was pleased, but wanted them to be richer for the occasion. So I drizzled in a small stream of cream as I mixed, until the mash was just a little smoother and creamier. It was only a couple of tablespoons into what had become a TON of mash. Finally I took a red onion and, after finely dicing it, put all the pieces in a frying pan with some hot canola oil and seasoning until all the little bits were golden and crispy (about 8 minutes). I poured the onions and a little of the now-onion-flavored oil over the mash and mixed them in. It added a smoky richness to the mash and really enhanced the flavor. I’m going to definitely keep that little idea in mind for the future. Bottom line, the mash was superb and was the dark horse favorite of the guests. Plus, there was so much that it made for great leftovers. My Mom even suggested reheating so with a poached egg on it. Yum!

Finally, we had dessert, a cake that none other than Julia herself baked (in honor of her Mom’s birthday). It was a double-layered, double-chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache filling and cinnamon butter cream frosting. It was a divine confection and one that had people running for seconds (and coming back the next day for thirds), despite such a large feast. She graduated early from University of Michigan, got a great job and even wowed the crowds at her own dinner party. What a gal! A gal well worth celebrating.




The Saturday group at Julia's next celebration on Sunday.

All Natural Sweet Tart

You've heard of strawberries and cream. Raspberries and cream. Even blueberries and cream. But what about cranberries and cream? Probably not. But why not? Cranberries in their raw and natural state are loaded with tart, tangy flavor and antioxidants. Why would we want to avoid those?

I decided that mincing my fresh cranberries in the food processor would get them to the perfect edible consistency of a topping, say, for ice cream or a salad, or the base, say, for some cream. I had ran out of ice cram and actually did have some whipping cream, so I decided that cranberries and cream it would be.

First though, I zested and juiced one lemon into my minced cranberries, along with a heaping tablespoon of sugar. The sugar elicited the natural juices of the berries and added some much needed sweetness to the tartness of the berries. This made it a great dessert: juicy, sweet and tart. Maybe a little too much so. It needed that cream still to temper the sweet and the tangy. So I whipped the cream with a little sugar, salt and vanilla extract and layered it a little in bowls with the cranberries. It was like a little free-form sweet-tart parfait.

I found the taste to be just what I look for in a satisfying dessert – light; not too sweet, with a balanced, deep flavor. This packed all of those things, as well as a little punch. It's not like I sweeted away all the tart just because it's dessert. I'll call it the tangy and very necessary punch of the antioxidants.

Puff Up Your Sweet Tooth

I can't think of a more fun ingredient to work with than puff pastry. It's delicious, easy, and you can do a lot of creative things with it. And no pretense here – it is not a health food at all; it's got plenty of butter in it. But every once in a while, it is certainly a worthy treat in both savory and sweet applications. I did an awesome little savory one not so long ago with puffy Asiago straws. I had a little left over in my freezer and wanted to use it for a improv little treat. I had just the thing: mini cinnamon rolls and mini jelly rolls. Yum!

The first thing to do is thaw the sheet of puff pastry. There was not even a full sheet left, so it was perfect for one mini cinnamon roll and one mini jelly roll for each of us, and no leftovers.

Once the piece was thawed, I brushed one side with some melted Smart Balance. I then cut it into long strips, about three quarters of an inch wide or a little more. On two of the strips I generously sprinkled a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. On the other two I spooned a thin layer of raspberry preserves. Then I began rolling each one from its end into a roll, taking care not to let any of the precious ingredients spill out. I turned each on its end and placed them spread out on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet. It's important that they don't tip over in the oven, so I pushed each one down on the bottom so that it wouldn't be prone to tip. Lastly, I brushed a little more Smart Balance on top and sprinkled the lightest amount of sugar over the layers.

I then placed the sheet in a 400 degree oven for 17-18 minutes. As you might expect, these little rollups that were probably no more than an inch in diameter when they entered the oven, puffed up to several inches wide. They were puffy, crispy and golden on the outermost layers and dense and moist in the center layers. Sticky and delicious, sweet and indulgent of course. And so easy to make! Maybe that's a dangerous thing. I'll have to avoid the frozen puff pastry in the grocery store again until I have another special treat to use it for.

Tapicocoa

The last time I summarized my recipes, I noticed the “desserts” section was a little thin. I wouldn't say that was intentional, but maybe subconscious, since most of my dessert techniques are pretty lacking. Especially compared to Julia who can bake from scratch, create and modify baking recipes to become amazing, make and dip truffles, write calligraphy in chocolate, make meringues and custards and even fresh marshmallows. Plus she makes the absolute best, most perfect chocolate chip cookies in the world. As attested by just about everyone who has ever tried one (or ten) of them. All these skills, and many more even, really dwarf the things I can do, so I often don't really bother. Who would?

Well that creates a little problem when I want to treat her to something sweet, something chocolate or something rich and creamy. But I can do a few things still – like melt chocolate in a double boiler and follow directions on a package – and I'm a conceptualizer at heart, so it was not a problem recently when I endeavored to make Julia a dessert that would impress even her.

So what can I make from a package? Brownies? Blah, too rich, too much fat, just too much. Chocolate pudding? Blah, too boring. Tapioca pudding! Now there's our winner! One of our personal favorite puddings can be easily made from a package (the one I found was Kraft brand), and super easily at that. It essentially involved boiling the tapioca mixture with low fat milk, a beaten egg, some sugar and vanilla and then letting it set. It's cool (pun intended) – the dry granules from the package actually become gelatinous and tapioca-like not during the boil but during the cool down.

But this tapioca pudding, albeit tasty and easy, was not a creation. It was simply a preparation. But who has ever had chocolate tapioca pudding? Now that would be a creation!

So I started simmering some water and set up a glass bowl on top of the simmering pot to create a standard double boiler. I took some milk chocolate chips and some dark chocolate chips and placed a mixture of the two into the double boiler along with half a cup of low fat milk. Then I stirred the chocolate until it was melted and kept adding milk a little bit at a time until it was the consistency of a thick liquid, perhaps like the consistency of butter milk or heavy cream (for reference).

Once my chocolate was melted and ready, I removed my tapioca from the fridge and carefully folded the chocolate into the pudding. This was not an exact science. I added in chocolate until the tapioca pudding was sufficiently chocolate-colored and yet still of the same tapioca pudding consistency. To be honest, I used most of the chocolate, which can NOT be a bad thing.

What we got was a deliciously rich-tasting, creamy chocolate tapioca pudding (read: awesome). Not something either of us had had before or heard of before, and it served the purpose of a wonderfully-pleasing dessert. So I guess in the face of adversity, this was a victory for me. Maybe I'll try dessert endeavors more often from now on. Or I'll just leave it to the pro.

Marzipan Joy!

There are a few things that make almost everybody happy. Paid time off. Puppies. Massages. Skipping a few (wink wink). And chocolate! Who doesn't love chocolate? Well it's okay if you don't, but it seems like ever since someone decided that dark chocolate and nuts are good for you, it's even OKAY to love chocolate!

Finding chocolate that is enjoyable, affordable and still “healthy” is often the difficult part with chocolate. I mean, lobster is even healthy, but it's not like we can afford to eat it all the time! Back to chocolate. Mass-produced chocolate like Hershey's and even nicer varieties are often waxy, lack great taste, plus are often loaded with more fat and sugar to make up for less real chocolate. On the other end of the spectrum, there is luxury chocolate like truffles from Godiva. Wonderfully rich and tasty, but also wonderfully expensive and not so healthy either. Dark chocolate has just enough sugar to make it enjoyable, but the antioxidants and even fiber are what has people buzzing about chocolate. But with nice chocolates, truffles and ganaches, there's often enough butter and cream to pretty much negate the chocolate benefit. I enjoy a handful of dark chocolate chips and almonds as a healthy and delicious snack or dessert sometimes.

But why not one-up it? Make a little more indulgent version of this snack that’s almost as healthy as straight dark chocolate and almonds but has the class and delight of Godiva and the ease and price of Hershey’s. Make your own marzipan – in just a couple minutes! I’m not talking about spray-painting little molded fruits for three hours. I am talking about making balls of canned marzipan and rolling them in some melted dark chocolate on the stove. Let them harden for a few minutes in the fridge on a plate or in mini cupcake wrappers like you see store-bought chocolates in. Believe me – they will look, and more importantly, taste, like a fancy marzipan truffle. Julia did the dipping of these quite artfully, but adequate dipping will not be that hard to get the hang of. And it will take you 5 minutes! They have a great, soft texture when just cooled, where the chocolate is hardened but not brittle. It literally is like biting into a soft, little puff of beautiful chocolate-almond joy!

If you are not familiar with the canned marzipan, it is exactly what it sounds like – amazing right? And the only ingredients in the can are almonds and sugar, so while it is a little sweeter than the classic snack, the fat still only comes from the natural fat of the almonds and cocoa. You can find the Love ‘N Bake can of marzipan in grocery, craft and specialty food stores and can make these beautiful (see picture) delights for a special little dessert.

There is no way that I’ll forget about these treats, and I’ll most likely be begging for them or making them (less prettily) myself quite frequently in the future. And you should too! It’s chocolate! It’s meant to make you happy, right?