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Day 18, Chocolate Chunkers

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 18

These chocolate chunkers may not be the most attractive cookies ever to grace a blog, but they surely rank among the most delicious. And why wouldn’t they? Dorie Greenspan developed the recipe. ’nuff said.

I’m a batter eater from way back and honestly had a hard time convincing myself to cook these at all, but after resting for 10 minutes out of the oven they somehow improved upon what I thought was perfection. As we nibbled in the following days, Gil and I took to microwaving the cookies for 15 seconds or so to melt the chocolate a tiny bit, which was a great idea; they’re rich, and one is perfectly satisfying when they’re ever so slightly gooey.

Did you know that you can click on any image and it’ll take you to its flickr page? I only bring that up because, unless you’re using the biggest of monitors, the following behemoth will be tough to view in one window. Sorry ’bout that, but these cookies merited an ingredient shot. Plus, I’d just bought that chocolate spear, which is AWESOME […]

Day 12, Churros & Chocolate

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 12

When Gil and I visited Madrid for a week in October (it was for work! really!), I fell head over heels in love with the city. It wasn’t just the beautiful scenery (though it was a feast for the eyes), or that there seemed to be one restaurant per resident (though dining establishments were numerous and mostly quite good) or the flirtatious old men (though they were wonderfully, shamelessly mischievous). No, my friends, it was the churros.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 12

We needed a pick-me-up the day of our arrival, and I insisted upon visiting Chocolateria San Ginés, where I discovered the wonders of the churro. You may wonder why a gluten-free blogger went straight for fried dough. A fair question! When I travel, I throw aside gluten-free considerations and indulge, knowing I’ll pay the price. And while my joints got progressively worse, it was tolerable — nothing like the hobbling I’d experience here if I’d eaten even a fraction of that wheat. So yay, […]

Two-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse

gluten-free dessert

I’ve had this chocolate mousse bookmarked since Food52 first posted it, but I’ve never had a great excuse (not that I needed any, I suppose) to make it until now. Gil was out of town for our sixth anniversary earlier this week, so I wanted to make something special for the weekend. I mean, there’s a beef heart thawing in the sink, but that’s maybe just a tiny bit less romantic than chocolate mousse.

gluten-free dessert

This an incredibly easy and forgiving recipe with only two ingredients — chocolate and water — so how can you mess that up? Just be sure to use the best chocolate you can, since it really shines here.

gluten-free dessert

My first batch didn’t really set (which is where the forgiving part of the recipe comes in), so I added a little more chocolate to the mixture then put the pot back over a low burner to melt. Starting over […]

Chocolate Cake!

gluten-free chocolate cake

I saw this chocolate-sour cream cake on Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn last week and simply could not get it out of my mind. A two-layer chocolate-sour cream cake! I had to make it. HAD TO. Because Gil’s birthday was just a few days ago, it gave me the great excuse I didn’t really need (because I have this here blog, you see). I used Jules Gluten-Free Flour in place of the AP flour in the original recipe.

gluten-free chocolate cake

So I got to work as soon as Gil left for for the office this morning, and it still took most of the day because I’m not much of a baker. Nor am I much of an icer, from the evidence presented above. Still, a crumb coat must be applied, no matter how messily.

gluten-free chocolate cake

I think it looked pretty nice once I was finished. And even though powdered sugar-based frostings […]

I Have Two Words For You

Gluten-free treat with hazelnuts and chocolate

That’s right: Nutella pudding.

Gluten-free treat with chocolate and hazelnuts

I was perusing Food52 a few days ago and noticed a little “We Think You’ll Like” section in the corner with this recipe leaping from the screen. Oh, Food52, you know me so well.

Strictly speaking, it’s a gianduja pudding because there’s no Nutella product in there, but that doesn’t matter — if you love hazelnuts and chocolate, you’ll fall hard for this dessert.

Gluten-free treat with hazelnuts and chocolate

Oh, and the recipe taught me something new — Dorie Greenspan’s method of aerating the pudding before it chills to get an even silkier texture.

Gluten-free treat with hazelnuts and chocolate

Because of that little step, this pudding is light and airy, while Nutella is dense and perhaps too rich to eat […]

Where did you get 240 dollars?

My night: Sitting on the sofa, eating pudding, watching red carpet coverage.

I cook, then I chill.

Of course, it’s not just any pudding, but coconut chocolate pudding from 101 Cookbooks.

Yes, it’s just as good as it looks. Get the recipe here.

Holiday Treats, Part the First

Hi, everyone. For the second year in a row, I’m afraid my schedule won’t allow for an annual Advent Calendar. (For honestly annual Advent Calendars past, see the 2007 & 2008 installments.) Part of the craziness is just my day job, which always astounds me with its busy-ness — you’d think I’d get used to holiday madness after working for a clothing retailer for 10 years, wouldn’t you? — but also

< < < < BIG ANNOUNCEMENT  > > > >

I have a photo assignment! I’ll be shooting photos for a cookbook (not my own) starting next weekend!!!! It’s really just a dream come true, as clichéd and silly as that sounds, especially because I’ve toyed with giving up on this blog so many times. But without it I certainly never would have learned enough about photography to even consider doing this for a living. (Just putting it out there, universe…)

Anyway, instead of the Advent Calendar, I’m hoping to squeeze in a few posts on easy-to-make treats that might be nice for […]

Oh. Mah. Gah.

To celebrate Gil‘s 38th birthday tomorrow, I thought I’d treat him to dinner this evening at a nearby restaurant with the excellent and unusual reputation of fine French dining in a casual strip mall atmosphere. Sadly, today’s snow closed the restaurant prematurely and we had to reschedule for next weekend, so I broke out the latest issue of Food & Wine to make him a birthday dessert that would take some of the sting out of his missed dinner.

“That must be some dessert!” you say. “Whatever could it be?” Oh, just a little something called Warm Chocolate Croissant-Bread Pudding.

As you know, I’m no stranger to the charms of bread pudding and I’ve often substituted croissants for bread when I’ve thrown caution (and calories) to the wind, but this is easily 10 steps beyond anything I’ve made. And it was so simple! Just a few ordinary ingredients, about an hour of my time, and Gil and I were stumbling around in a lovely chocolate- and carbohydrate-driven serotonin haze.

’08 Advent Calendar, Day 21

This was the perfect weekend for curling up with a steaming cup of rich hot chocolate. It doesn’t make the snow any easier to navigate, but certainly takes your mind off it.

For the 2007 Advent Calendar, click here.

recipe after the jump

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’08 Advent Calendar, Day 15

What? Like I’m not going to make truffles at Christmas? I adapted Alton Brown’s recipe by adding minced mission figs to the ganache, and while the truffles were delicious, they were truly a lot of work. I may just leave this one to the experts in the future.

For the 2007 Advent Calendar, click here.

recipe after the jump

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