Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Flourless Chocolate Cake (You'll Never Guess the "Secret" Ingredient!


I recently discovered this surprisingly delicious flourless chocolate cake on the allrecipes.com site. It's the easiest cake I've ever made! In addition to being gluten-free it's also very high in protein due to the main ingredient; are you ready for it? Garbanzo beans! I know what you're thinking, sounds gross, right? I thought the same thing until I made it. It was so chocolaty and decadent it even fooled my chocoholic father-in-law! This little beauty makes for a dramatic dessert for company. Top it with some fresh fruit and a dollop of whipped cream and your guests will think you spent forever in the kitchen!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch round cake pan.
  2. Place the chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in the microwave for about 2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds after the first minute, until chocolate is melted and smooth. If you have a powerful microwave, reduce the power to 50 percent.
  3. Combine the beans and eggs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Add the sugar and the baking powder, and pulse to blend. Pour in the melted chocolate and blend until smooth, scraping down the corners to make sure chocolate is completely mixed. Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan.
  4. Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What's HOTTER Than a Greenwich Daddy Who Loves to Cook?

















For me? Nothing! Since the early days of our courtship my husband has been creating delicious culinary masterpieces for my enjoyment. (Trust me, I know how lucky I am.) Back then our menu consisted of heavier dishes such as Cassoulet, Confit of Duck and the like, however today, we're focused on eating a cleaner diet of lean protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and really good dark chocolate. (see cookie recipe in another post)


His passion for cooking has definitely rubbed off on me and is a very important part of our relationship. We both love talking about food and shopping for it together- and thankfully, my husband loves cooking and I love eating!

Recently, we started a new weekly routine of heading out to a local Farmer's Market in search of some fresh, local goodies to build our menu around for the upcoming week. The result from this week's find was this oh-so-satisfying Butternut Squash soup w/Kale and a side of artisanal bread. Absolute HEAVEN!

Friday, February 19, 2010

I'm Back (Bearing an Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe)



Let's just pretend that little lapse of time between now and my previous post didn't happen, ok?

Moving right along...I have something I'd like to share with you; a recipe for a
no-flour, dairy-free, low sugar Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie. And the best part? All you need is six ingredients, two steps and twenty minutes to make them!

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup unsalted organic almond butter
  • 3/4 cup Sucanat
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 sea salt
  • 3 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa or greater) broken into small pieces

Instructions:
One: Preheat oven to 350* F
In a medium bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients until blended.
Stir in chocolate.

Two: Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown. Let cool on baking sheet s for 5 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack and let cool for 15 more minutes. Enjoy!

Nutrients per cookie:
Calories: 110, Total Fat: 8g Sat. fat: 1.5g, Carbs: 10g Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 3g Protein: 2g, Sodium: 55mg, Cholesterol: 10mg
Taken from Clean Eating Magazine