Chocolate Almond Cookies

I was craving chocolate. You know those kind of cravings ladies. I don't know if it's all in my head, but I needed chocolate. Thankfully, I had a bag of dark chocolate chips stashed away. When I pulled them out, I remembered that these were the ones that spent a hot afternoon in the trunk of my car and melted into a massive block. No problem, I simply grated up the chocolate and mixed it in. Making these again, I get chocolate bars to grate...unless I have another meltdown in my trunk.

1/4 cup water

1 Tbsp ground flax seeds

Mix ground flax and water. Set aside for about 10-15 minutes until it thickens.

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup almond flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

1/8 cup agave

Add agave and water/flax mixture. Stir to combine.

Handful of sunflower seeds, shredded unsweetened coconut, etc.

Fold in mix-ins. I used what was in my cabinet - a handful of sunflower seeds and a couple of Tablespoons of shredded, unsweetened coconut. Nuts would also be good.

These are vegan and could easily be gluten-free by subbing gluten-free flour. 

Slow Cooker Oatmeal

A big steaming bowl of oatmeal just hits the spot sometimes. I could eat oatmeal almost everyday. I usually have a box of instant oatmeal stashed in my desk at work for those days when I only have five minutes to eat and didn't bring anything.

I've seen and heard about steel cut oats for years, but this is the first time I've had them. Surprising, given my love for oatmeal. I put this in my crock pot before I went to bed, and woke up to a bowl of comfort food just waiting for me to dig in.

Slow Cooker Oatmeal 

1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups liquid (I used 1 coconut milk + 2 cups water for a creamy oatmeal. Almond, soy, etc., or all water would work well too)
salt
mix-ins (I used cinnamon, 1 tsp of gingeroot, minced, raisins, almond slivers, and then topped with chia seeds)

Put the oats, milk and/or water, salt, and any other mix-ins you want cooked in a crock pot. I put in the raisins so they would be nice and plump, ginger, almonds and cinnamon. Cook on low for three hours. I topped my with chia seeds for some extra omega 3s.

This makes about four servings. I put the leftover in a silicon muffin tin and baked on 350 degrees for 40 minutes. It's still moist, but is muffin shaped and will be great for breakfast this week.

I'm already looking forward to trying different combinations: cranberry, strawberries and cream, pumpkin in the fall, peanut butter and jelly. I'll probably end up with some pretty funky ones.

Buckwheat Porridge

I work with two women who grew up in the former Soviet Union. One day at lunch, they talked about having buckwheat as children. Made into a porridge, it was the quintessential kids' breakfast throughout the bloc.

I love oatmeal and hot breakfast cereals so I had to give it a try. I put the groats in a saucepan and lightly toasted. Then I added water and salt, brought it to a boil, and cooked until soft. Then I added cinnamon, dried cranberries, a few almonds, and a little agave.

It was really good and really filling. Perfect for the winter. Surprisingly, buckwheat isn't a grain at all; it's a seed related to rhubarb and sorrel, which means it is gluten-free.

It's also scores pretty high on the healthy scale having lots of amino acids and having a positive impact on cholesterol. It sounds like I need to eat more buckwheat porridge in the new year!

 

twd ~ chocolate spice quickies

Whenever I have someone over for dinner, I spend as much time thinking about the dessert as the main course. I see it as the big finale. I planned an intimate dinner for two last week, and took Dorie's suggestion to pair the chocolate spice quickies with ice cream. It was delicious. The cookies are great solo, and are subtle enough in flavor to be addictive. These aren't rich, despite the spices and chocolate, which is one reason why they paired so wonderfully with Dorie's chocolate ganache ice cream.
The ice cream overshadowed the cookies a bit. I added a little expresso powder and salt to the ganache to bring out the intense chocolate.
Thanks to Jessica of My Baking Heart for this week's pick! Check out her blog for the recipe and some beautiful food pics.

twd ~ Tropical Crumble

I've been fighting with my laptop for the past 45 minutes. It doesn't want to type. It tells me I am holding down the control button, even when I raise both hands above my head and wave a white flag.



What I really don't want to do is get on the phone with tech support people. How long will it take? Will it be under my warranty? If I keep banging around on this thing will it suddenly start working again?

I'm hoping it keeps behaving long enough to make my post. Hey, it's almost midnight.

The tropical crumble, on the other hand, was not a problem at all. It was simple and easy, and turned out to be quite delicious.



I made a few substitutions. I used almonds instead of pecans, and orange zest instead of lime. I added just a little coconut to the topping, and a smidgen of whipped cream at the end. The cream quickly melted, but blended nicely with the fruit anyway.



I've fallen off exercising lately, and finally put in a good 6 miles this evening so I didn't feel too bad about eating this straight from the oven at 10pm. It was too perfect at the park not to enjoy it! I saw a film crew doing scenes for the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting. Chris Rock was the only one I could really recognize or hear.

Thanks to Gaye at Laws of the Kitchen for this week's pick!

twd ~ Chocolate Biscotti

Thanks to Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes for a wonderful pick this week!

I love biscotti. It's so nice to have a perfectly dippable sweet treat to accompany coffee or tea. It feels much more grown-up than cookies, and perhaps that's why I've never thought about making it. I tried once before, with mixed results. This recipe was great - almonds, chocolate chips, cocoa.

I only made two slight changes - it might be a record for me with a TWD! I halved the recipe, and I mixed the chocolate half bittersweet chips, half dark chocolate chunks.

The dough was very sticky and I had a little trouble shaping it into logs. The recipe says to bake for 20 mins or so, remove and cut into nice biscotti strips, and bake for another 10 mins or so. I think I baked it a little too long during the first baking round because I had trouble cutting it without making a crumbly mess.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this biscotti was the keeping factor. I went out of town unexpectedly because of a feline death in the family. When I came back last night, and pulled the biscotti out of the cabinet, it was just as good as last Monday when I made them!

twd ~ Toasted Almond Scones

Mike of Living Out West was the lucky twd'er that got to choose this week.



I quartered the recipe and ended up with four little cutie scones. I used all milk, no cream, and somehow ended up with a very sticky, wet dough. I added a couple of tablespoons of wheat flour and crossed my fingers, hoping for the best!

These were delicious! They aren't very sweet, which I really like in a scone. The toasted almond taste is wonderful! I wasn't sure these were going to be worth the trouble, but they definitely are. And, actually, they aren't that much trouble. I forgot all about these, all weekend, and remembered Monday night at 10pm. They were done by 10:30 and waiting in a little box for breakfast! Yum!

twd ~ Pear Torte

Cakelaw of Kitchen Laws had a wonderful pick for this week - perfect timing to take advantage of the lovely pears this season! I did what I often do, and made it sans crust. So it's not really a torte, but it is delicious!

twd ~ Crunchy & Custardy Peach Tart

Rachel of sweet tarte had such a great idea when she picked this! It's perfect for summer, and living in Georgia, we have some great peaches.



It was also great timing to have something that could sit in the frig overnight. My sister, who is 2.5 years older, has been living in Shanghai for the past two years. She’s truly more than a sister so I’m very excited that she is moving back to the states. She arrived on Thursday afternoon and moved to NYC on Monday. I made the tart on Wednesday, and served it to my mom, sister, and my sister’s friend Greg, after she came in from the airport. We all met at my apartment, and It was a hit – everyone had a piece and cleaned their plates!



The tart kept well in the refrigerator overnight. The streusel topping was a little soft, but otherwise, it was perfect. I ran out of butter when I was making the Sweet Nut Tart Crust, so I used oil instead. Surprisingly, it turned out really well. The texture was definitely different, and not quite as good, but it worked.

Meet Charlie! The adorable black cat who is now fully recovered from dental surgery and feeling very frisky! Well, when he's not sleeping.

Coconut Banana Cakes

Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities picked an awesome recipe this week. It's Lots of Ways Banana Cake, and let's you get creative yourself.



I quartered the recipe, which made five cupcakes. I left the batter recipe the same, and added a coconut rum buttercream icing on top, sprinkled with coconut and almond pieces. For the icing, I used 3 Tablespoons of butter at room temperature. I added ~1 Tablespoon of coconut rum, and then confectioner's sugar until the right consistency. I couldn't stop dipping my fingers in the icing bowl while waiting for the cakes to cool! It was really good. The cake was lovely as well. A little dense and moist. I think it definitely needed a little something on top to sweetened the whole deal.

Israeli Couscous with Vegetables

I love it when I throw things together and it comes out delicious! It makes me fill very accomplished. Of course, this doesn't happen everytime, or even the majority of the time. Oh, if it only would...

This started with Israeli toasted couscous, which is bigger than the standard variety, and has a lovely soft texture. I poured it in a bowl, covered it with frozen lima beans, salt, pepper, and raisins,and covered with boiling water. After the beans were warm and the couscous was ready, I added coconut flakes and almond pieces. For the first bowl, I drizzled it with virgin olive oil, but found I really didn't need it and actually preferred it plain.

Oh Wow Raw Oatmeal

I've been trying to watch what I eat lately, trying to get my waistline back in shape. A couple of years ago, I did the raw food diet for a couple of months and lost some poundage. So I pulled out Ani Phyo's Raw Food Kitchen. Some of her breakfast recipes use oat groats. I found oat groats in the bulk section of Whole Foods. I got about 2 cups and rinsed and soaked them overnight. The groats then go into a food processor with add-ins. I plopped in almonds, wheat germ, cinnamon, ginger, and agave. Whirl and add water or milk to desired consistency. If you use regular milk like I did, it's not raw anymore. There are plenty of milk subs or water will work.

twd ~ Swedish Visiting Cake

All baked up, and no where to go.

This is cake is really quick to make. Its a no fuss, no frills bitt of cake. But it's still very tasty! The top gets a sprinkling of sugar that adds a shiny, sweet crunch. It smelled lovely - all vanilla, butter, and sugar!

The recipe calls for lemon zest to rub the sugar into. The only citrus I had was grapefruit, and it worked well.

It seems like I have a lot of cakes and sweets these days. Lots of family birthdays and leftover treats. That's why this little cake is going into the freezer for another day.