Peanut Butter Chocolate Hearts

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Sweets

Fact: Heart-shaped cookie cutters make everything infinitely more adorable. Everyone at work cooed when I brought these in.

It’s amazing how much I accomplished this weekend without a computer (or a sense of security) to distract me. I mean, I went DOMESTIC on my apartment. Seriously. So much laundry and cleaning and clearing and organizing and planning and shaking out the bad juju. The place is gleaming. I polished wood furniture. I hung pictures. I tidied my desk (a little). I cleaned out the fridge. When 7:00 p.m. rolled around Sunday night, I looked at my shining, spotless, never-been-cleaner kitchen, and I immediately wanted to mess it up.

I confess I also wanted to use my heart-shaped cookie cutter. Just because I hate manufactured/mandatory seasonal displays of affection doesn’t mean I’m immune to cute.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
pinch of flaky sea salt

1 cookie cutter, shape of your choosing. Pick one towards the smaller end of the size spectrum, otherwise you’ll wind up with A LOT of cookie.

For the cookies:

Beat butter in an electric mixer until smooth, light, and creamy, about three minutes. Add the peanut butter and beat until smooth, then add the sugars. Beat the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until well-combined, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl (is there anything that smells better than brown sugar and peanut butter combined? Well, yes, but not in this moment). Add the egg and mix until combined.

Set a sifter on tip of the mixing bowl and measure the dry ingredients into it. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix on low speed until combined. Dump the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, gather into a loose ball (it will be very crumbly), flatten into a thick disc, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour your work surface and break out the rolling pin.

You know it.

Unwrap the chilled dough and place on floured work surface. Deb, in her book, tells you that the dough will be crumbly, and you’ll be all “psh, I am an EXCELLENT baker, I got this,” and then the dough will crumble all over the place, just like Deb said it would, and you will be humbled. I actually recommend using your fingers to press the dough out and then using the rolling pin towards the end to smooth and level things out. You want the dough to be about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies and transfer them carefully to the prepared cookie sheets. An offset spatula or dull knife will help with this process, although there will still be some crumbling. Just press the cookie back into shape, and the oven will fix everything.

Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes, until the tops are set and the edges are ever-so-lightly browned. Allow to cool while preparing the filling.

For the chocolate peanut-butter ganache filling:

In a double boiler or a heat-proof bowl set over simmering water, combine the butter, peanut butter, chopped chocolate, and sea salt. Stir over heat until chocolate and butter are completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool until thickened and spreadable. I confess that I got bored/impatient and used the refrigerator to hurry things along, but you must keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t solidify.

Assemble the cookies:

Transfer the cooled ganache to a pastry bag, or do as Sweets did and use a ziplock bag with one of the bottom corners snipped off. Pipe a generous teaspoon (or more, depending on the size of your cookies; I probably used about a tablespoon for each of mine) onto one cookie, top with a second cookie. Repeat. Allow cookies to sit at room temperature about 30 minutes until set.

Share with a loved one, receive pledge of eternal devotion.

I am always single around Valentine’s Day. Always. 28 years of single Valentine’s Days. Fellas, behold what you’re missing.

This is a cookie that is full of delightful contradictions. It’s tender yet sturdy, light yet rich. The flavors are classic and nostalgic, the execution refined. My lingerie pick is perhaps unexpected, yet it perfectly captures the cookie’s many moods, and it’s so, so appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Behold, from Dottie’s Delights:

Bricolage Longline Bra, Garter Belt, and Knickers, Long Sheer Dressing Robe. All by Dottie’s Delights. Bra ($225) 32-34 A-D, Garter Belt ($125) and Knicker ($85) XS-XL, Robe ($170) One Size.

Sophisticated, elegant, retro, and sexy as hell. I will have a robe like that one day, as God is my witness.

Holiday Tart, in Chocolate and Caramel

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Sweets

So last year I made this dessert to take to my father’s house for Christmas night dinner. I mean, I knew we’d all like it, as it is primarily composed of chocolate, butter, and cream, but I was wholly unprepared for the almost maniacal passion Dad conceived for this thing. In the lead-up to Christmas 2012, nary a phone conversation ended before Dad let me know in no uncertain terms that if this tart failed to materialize on his table Christmas night, I’d have wasted a plane ticket to Virginia. Bless him, is it any wonder I love chocolate as much as I do? I had also hoped to share the dessert planned for the pre-Christmas party at Mom’s house, but my flight was cancelled and Julia Lambert was forced to make it solo, which she did beautifully. I made it home in time to make the tart, though, and here it is, my last post of 2012.

[Note: remember how I said that I didn't understand why pie crust was such a big deal, and how I never had a problem with it, and how I was the greatest pastry chef of them all? Yeah, making caramel turns me into a STRESS BALL. Don't let that stop you. Take your time, follow your color cues, and at the end of the day, it's just sugar. Let your pan soak overnight and try again. Lady Mary recommends just making jar after jar of caramel until it's second-nature, and I can't help but wonder if she's on to something.]

Chocolate-Caramel Tart with Fleur de Sel
Recipe adapted from Cooking with Rockstars

Crust:

2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (store-bought chocolate wafers or chocolate Teddy Grahams work beautifully. I used Deb’s homemade chocolate wafers, and I encountered some interesting hiccups, to be explained below)
3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

Caramel:

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. water
2/3 c. heavy whipping cream
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 oz. pieces
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Ganache:

3/4 c. heavy whipping cream
6 oz. high-quality bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

So, I swore up and down that I had sent Mom a detailed grocery list for all the holiday meals and cooking projects. Turns out I only sent the menus, which are significantly less helpful. As a result, when it came time to make the tart, there were no cookies to be had in the house, and unsurprisingly, none of us wanted to go to the grocery store the morning of Christmas Eve. So I decided to make my own.

The beauty of making cookies only to pulverize them into crumbs is that your cookies can be TERRIBLY shaped, tra la.

Pulverize your cookies into fine crumbs and measure out about two cups of crumbs. Return the crumbs to the bowl of the processor.

Take it from me: if you use homemade cookies instead of store-bought, use only as much melted butter as you need to coat all of the cookie crumbs and make a damp, crumbly mass. Nice lovely homemade cookies are softer and already contain plenty of butter, unlike their drier store-bought counterparts. I made cookies, let them cool, pulverized them, and then merrily dumped all the butter in, creating buttery cookie soup. Don’t be like me. You probably need about 1/4 c. melted butter if you use homemade cookies, and 3/4 c. if you use store-bought.

Once all of the cookie crumbs are coated, transfer them to a 9-inch tart pan or pie pan, pressing them up the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake the crust for ten minutes, then remove and allow to cool at room temperature.

So this is maybe not the healthiest recipe.

Caramel time! Look, it’s not that big a deal. Caramel is just sugar that’s been cooked to not-quite-burning. Drizzle it over a cake or a sheet of parchment paper, and it hardens into to shining golden strands; add butter and cream and you have luscious, smooth, gooey, drippy caramel sauce. Let’s do this thing.

I suggest that this photo is pretty indicative of what it’s like to cook with Julia Lambert. Julia Lambert maintains that she was just reading a text from her boyfriend, and that she was being helpful. I counter that about 1 minute after I took this photo she abandoned her post at the stove to have a private dance party in her pajamas in the middle of the kitchen. She replies that this was to “entertain me”. Members of the jury, how do you find?

Combine the cream, vanilla, and pinch of salt in a measuring cup. Combine the sugar and 1/3 c. the water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally and brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush.

I mean, really, how did you ever cook before you had blurry smartphone photos to guide you on your way?

Continue to cook until the color deepens to a rich amber color. The time will depend on your pan and your stove, but for us the whole process was about 20-25 minutes (Lady Mary advises that as soon as the caramel starts to smoke slightly, it’s ready).

Boom. Amber.

Immediately remove the pan from heat and dump in the butter and cream-vanilla-salt mixture. It will sputter and steam and bubble quite a lot, but don’t panic.

More truly breathtaking food photography.

Return the pan to heat and bring back to the boil. Continue to cook until the butter is melted, any hardened caramel bits have dissolved, and the color deepens further, about 8-10 minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and refrigerate until the caramel has cooled but is still pourable, about 45-50 minutes.

HELLO, lovely.

Pour the cooled caramel into the prepared pie crust and transfer the tart to the refrigerator to set. You’ll want a nice deep layer of caramel, but there may be some left over, which, oh no, WHATEVER WILL YOU DO?

Now, here’s the best part: ganache. Ganache, I love you, for being so blessedly simple. Bring cream to a low boil over medium heat, remove from the stove, dump in the chopped chocolate, whisk until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature, then pour in a smooth, even layer over the chilled caramel. Refrigerate the tart until chocolate is fully set, at least an hour.

I didn’t get a picture of the final product, because we were busy eating it, but I think you can imagine what’s going on here.

Remove the tart from the fridge about 20 minutes before serving. Garnish with a fairly generous sprinkle of sea salt over the chocolate layer right before slicing. Serve very, very thin slivers, then collapse in a blissful sugar coma. Enjoy!

Last gratuitous cat of 2012, I swear.

Can you even handle my Dad’s cat, Bucky? Dad loves him more than he loves most people. He’s a Siamese. He’s adorable. He’s also brutally, brutally cross-eyed. I mean, holy pants, THIS CAT, y’all.

* * * * *

I have looked at A LOT of lingerie in 2012, thanks to starting Sweet Nothings. I have learned a tremendous amount about the needs, loves, requirements, and desires that lots of different women have when it comes to their lingerie. I have loved a lot of what I’ve looked at. Of everything I’ve looked at, of everything I’ve tried, the most surprising, the most delightful, and the loveliest has been the beautiful pink babydoll by Bijte I won at the Busty Clothing Swap. There’s really nothing else like it out there, especially in the full-bust market. So I paired our tart with the same lovely babydoll, in a chocolate shade rich enough and luxurious enough to hold its own against such sinful sweetness.

Silk Chiffon and Charmeuse Halter Babydoll by Bijte. Available in sizes Small (Plus) through Large (Plus). $95.00. Available on the Bijte website and at Iris Lingerie in Brooklyn, NY.

Thank you for being such enthusiastic readers, for sharing your stories and finds and questions, and for being your gorgeous, talented, sensitive selves. Have a very, very Happy New Year!

DIY: Hershey’s Kiss-mas Trees (yes, I hate myself for that pun)

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Sweets

I’m terrible about actually caring for my Christmas tree once it’s decorated, so I tend to wait until about halfway through December before hauling it home, so that it’s still alive come Christmas morning. I am not immune, however, to the abrupt and violent onslaught of Holiday Cheer NOW!!!! that erupts after Thanksgiving, so while my internet was down YET AGAIN, TIME WARNER, JEEZ, I HAVE UNDERWEAR TO BLOG ABOUT this weekend, I put my King’s College Cambridge Christmas Carols on shuffle and got out my glue gun, like a baller. Behold!

There is a blurry white cat with a stripey tail in this picture, FYI.

Yes, I stole this craft 100% from my mother, who made these for various holidays and gift-giving opportunities throughout my childhood. Hershey’s helps us out by offering seasonal colors, so there’s nothing to stop us from making Halloween trees and Easter trees and 4th of July trees and, well, you follow me. To business!

This is a very half-hearted DIY, but it’s also so insanely simple that I think you’ll do just fine. Get a styrofoam tree form from a craft store or florist (mine are from Michael’s). Cover your work surface and plug in your glue gun. Dab a dot of hot glue on the tree form. Stick on a Hershey’s Kiss. Repeat. You’re done!

Tiny tree is adorable.

I find it best to start at my top and work my way down, adding Kisses in rings. You will need about a billion more Hershey’s Kisses and about a hundred more glue sticks than you think you’ll need. Sorry, it just feels like that. I like to make multiple sizes of trees, and the larger ones definitely require lots of supplies, so those big “economy” bags are the way to go. Although how did these empty Kiss wrappers get all over the floor?

Tiny tree hangs out with some candles.

You can also make a “mistletoe” kissing ball, just swap out the trees for styrofoam balls, run a thin wire through the center, stick little sprigs of fake mistletoe in amongst the Kisses, top with a bow, and hang near your front door. Plant kisses on unsuspecting callers. Repeat.

How to steal a Hershey’s Kiss.

The added beauty of these is that you can slowly steal Kisses off them without making it look like a candy-devouring monster attacked your holiday decorations. Just gently tug the little flag out of the wrapper, and the Kiss will tumble out with it. If you are extra sneaky, you can follow in young Sweets’ and Julia Lambert’s footsteps and sort of tap the wrapper back into place, as though No, You Weren’t Just Stealing Hershey’s Kisses Before Bed, Whatever Do You Mean, Mom?

It’s like nothing happened! Sort of.

Sweet Nothing Du Jour: Thanksgiving Edition

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Sweets

Edible Glitter: For All Those Times Your Truffles Wind Up Looking Like Weirdly-Shaped Rocks and Need A Little Pizzazz. Also Helps to Distract From the Chocolate That’s Now All Over Your Kitchen.

A very happy Thanksgiving to all American readers!

Espresso Bomb Ice Cream

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Sweets

What ho! I have internet again! Let’s GET DOWN TO IT.

[At some point in the future I'm going to provide the recipe for Espresso Bombs, but suffice it to say that they're essentially single servings of chilled coffee ganache, topped with chocolate-covered espresso beans. Chocolate, cream, espresso: an unholy trinity of awesome that inspired this ice cream.]

Julia Lambert and I take our birthday desserts VERY SERIOUSLY, especially when we get to celebrate our birthday together, so I have a zillion intense Gchat conversations in my archives devoted to the discussion of cake and ice cream for this past weekend. We went back and forth on the cake for a while, but once we’d made our decision, the ice cream was a no-brainer: it had to be chocolate. Our dad was also in NYC this weekend, and have I mentioned whence cometh my sweet tooth? This guy. He asked if he could man the blender and make us some boozy mudslide milkshakes, and we realized our chocolate ice cream was going to need a major coffee kick. We may be breaking with mudslide tradition slightly, but I think once you taste this ice cream you’ll forgive us.

There are generally two ways of making coffee ice cream: using instant coffee/espresso or infusing the custard with whole coffee beans. My guess is that most baking gurus would say to infuse (heat cream, milk, sugar, and coffee beans, allow to steep for an hour, then continue making ice cream as usual, straining the beans out of the custard before chilling and freezing), but here’s the thing: I’m hugely caffeine-sensitive. I drink coffee only under the direst circumstances, and with the understanding that my appetite and energy levels will be screwy for the next day and a half. So I don’t have any coffee beans in the apartment, but I do have a jar of espresso powder, because I’m a baker and most things chocolate-adjacent taste richer and deeper with a teaspoon or so of espresso powder tossed in, and for some reason the caffeine doesn’t bug me as much when it’s not served straight-up. So I’m going to be lazy and use that here. Those of you who ARE coffee drinkers will probably thank me for preserving your coffee beans for their intended use.

Espresso Bomb Ice Cream

Inspired by recipes from David Lebovitz and Marcel Desaulniers

2 c. heavy cream
1 tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 oz. semisweet chocolate
1 c. whole milk
3/4 c. granulated sugar
5 tbsp. instant espresso powder
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

I made a double batch, so there are lots of egg yolks here. There was also LOTS of ice cream. All was right in the world.

Place a heavy-duty gallon-size freezer ziplock bag in a large Pyrex measuring cup, set aside. Coarsely chop the semisweet chocolate.

I think the best way to chop chocolate is with a very sharp serrated knife. You’ll break big blocks of chocolate up more quickly, and you won’t dull the heck out of your other cooking knives.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 c. of the cream, the espresso powder, and the cocoa powder and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the cocoa and espresso. Reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for about 30 seconds, and then remove from heat. Stir in the chopped chocolate until smooth, and then whisk in the remaining cup of cream. Pour the chocolate mixture into the ziplock bag and set a mesh strainer on top of the measuring cup.

Fill a large bowl with ice and set aside.

Using the same saucepan, whisk together the milk, sugar, and salt and warm the mixture over medium-low heat. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg yolks in a slow, steady stream. Pour the custard back into the saucepan and heat until it reaches approximately 160-165 degrees Fahrenheit, thickens, and coats the back of a spoon. Pour the custard through the strainer into the chocolate-cream mixture in the ziplock bag, add the vanilla extract, and stir. Press as much air as possible out of the ziplock bag and seal.

Place the sealed bag in the bowl of ice, top with more ice cubes, and then add cold water until bowl is full. Allow the ice cream custard to cool completely, around 40-60 minutes. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

This stuff is STRONG. I advise going for small servings, as I did here (although mostly it was an excuse to show off my adorable juice glass that was just so preciously à propos). Why yes, I DO amuse myself.

For mudslides according to Père Sweets, toss a few scoops of ice cream in a blender with some crushed ice, a splash of Kahlua, and a splash of chocolate liqueur. You can figure out the rest, I daresay. Enjoy!

“Lucia” by Fauve

“Lucia” in Chocolate. Balconette bra 30-40 D-GG, Half-cup bra 30-40 D-G, Brief, Short, Thong and Suspender XS-XXL.

It’s not often that you find beige or brown lingerie that’s particularly elegant, sexy, or thrilling, especially in the full-bust market. More often these colors are reserved for seamless or molded basics that don’t embrace the warmth and depth of rich chocolate shades. Fauve steps up to the plate, however, presenting their Lucia range in a gleaming chocolate satin that perfectly matches the silkiness and depth of our ice cream. While the earlier Ruby and Blue shades (some sizes still available on sale) are, for me, the ones that got away, the subtle glamor of the Chocolate shade has a seductive appeal. The details in the Lucia range are truly stunning: the black lace trim is elegant and sophisticated, I adore the asymmetrically-placed fabric bows that appear on the bras and accessories, and beautiful suspender belts get me every time. The briefs even feature a sexy sheer back with a ruched seam, which is great for curvy rears, topped with yet another sassy bow.

View of the details on the brief.

Fauve is a bit more luxurious than sister brand Freya, and is priced accordingly, but I think the elegant details make it absolutely worth it. A Sophisticated Pair published a great preview of Fauve’s Spring/Summer 2013 line last week, and Autumn/Winter 2012 styles are just beginning to hit stores. I think the A/W 2012 collection was photographed a bit . . . strangely for the brochure, but the lingerie itself is lovely as ever. Check it out!

Chocolate Almond Raspberry Tart

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Sweets

True Blood’s season finale is today, and while Ezmeralda’s viewing group has all agreed that the show is trashy and terrible and has been kind of beyond awful the last three seasons, we’re still gonna watch it. I’ve missed about three weeks because of various ailments, but since the plot is basically “Everyone wants to kill and/or have sex with everyone/everything else,” I think I’ll be able to keep up. This week the dinner theme is Sunday Bloody Sunday (because the show is about VAMPIRES, do you GET IT?), and I decided to skip the obvious Red Velvet Cake (I have a great one, it’ll probably come up at some point) and go to raspberries for my red instead. I love a dessert like this in the summer: rich, sweet, with fresh fruit to brighten it up. Plus, there’s not too much fuss: you make a quick crumb crust, fill it with almond paste and a chocolate ganache, and top it with glazed raspberries. Piece of ~~cake~~tart, especially helpful considering I just looked around my apartment and remembered Mom is coming for Labor Day weekend, and this joint is NOT parent-clean yet. Hop to it, Sweets.

Chocolate Almond Raspberry Tart
adapted (oh-so-barely) from Bon Appetit’s December 2010 issue

For the crust:

1 1/4 cups finely ground chocolate wafer cookies (about 25, or 4 billion chocolate Teddy Grahams)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted Continue reading →

Sweet Nothings Du Jour 8/22/12

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Sweets

In which Sweets leaves her notebook with the most recent draft of her upcoming post at the office, and does gym/laundry/cat pictures instead.

Homemade fudge pop! Cranky Ruby! (The barely-visible sports bra is the new Panache sports bra, worn in the halter configuration, and it is currently my one true love)

This Friday night I’m dancing at S Factor in front of people other than my fellow students. I have not danced in front of people in approximately 1 billion years. I’m freaking out a little bit. But Roommate and Ezmeralda are both coming, because they rule, and I’ve made them promise to cheer obnoxiously.

Oh! Hey Mom. I’m, um . . . I’m helping you! I’m helping you pick out something to wear on Friday!

Definitely not trying to eat your tutu. No sirree.

Pretty Darned Great Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Sweets

I never thought I’d post a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Everybody everywhere makes chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has their favorite recipe, their secret trick, their family’s classic. Heated debates will start between chewy vs. crispy camps and nuts vs. no-nuts supporters (chewy, obviously, and I go back and forth on nuts). The New York Times interviewed some of the major players in the baking world and declared that they’d found the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe. So I figured the chocolate chip cookie thing had been done to death.

Good grief. It weighed more than Gus.

But you see, I bought a seriously huge bag of chocolate chips at Costco that I thought at the time would be a solid investment, and then I got them home and remembered that chocolate chips are my Kryptonite and they were going to destroy me unless I used up as many of them as I could. I’ve been pretty good about actually putting them in food instead of straight into my mouth, and I’m going to use the tail-end of the bag to make a batch of Deb’s fudge pops here soon. This weekend, though, was the first weekend in a while I haven’t been lying in bed sick in some way or other, the temperature has dropped and it is lovely and breezy and slightly overcast, and my apartment is slowly getting cleaner, and what could possibly be more cozy and domestic than chocolate chip cookies? I usually just crank out the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag, but I felt slightly more industrious, so I did my internet research, chose a little of this recipe and a little of that one, made some lucky mistakes, and somehow produced what might be the best chocolate chip cookies I, Sweets, have ever made. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they’re the ULTIMATE ones, but I did find some simple little tweaks that take a classic recipe to levels of Dang, These Are Pretty Darned Good. Continue reading →

Chocolate Crack (um, Crack-Up, rather) Cookies

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Sweets

My lingerie and lady-business posts vastly outnumber my recipes at this point, but even so, the recipes are embarrassingly choco-centric. I can’t help it, chocolate is my drug of choice. This recipe is another oldie-but-goodie from Death by Chocolate Cookies, and I’ve been making it since I was in middle school. These cookies are so, so good and appealingly simple: you stir your ingredients together, chill the dough while you’re doing other things (painting your nails and watching Captain America being my preference), put them in the oven, and through the magic of baking, the outside morphs into a craggy, crackled chocolate landscape. They’re also very tender, chewy, and addictive, and I’ll note that they don’t travel particularly well. No matter how carefully I’ve packed them in the past, they tend to arrive at their destination sadly beyond repair. They do freeze well, if you’re one of those weird people for whom batches of cookies linger longer than a few days, but be sure to seal the container tightly.

Chocolate Crack(-up) Cookies
adapted, barely, from Death by Chocolate Cookies by Marcel Desaulniers

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. confectioner’s sugar

Continue reading →

Sweets’ Nutella Ice Cream

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Sweets

It started with this article from the Hairpin making the rounds in my newsfeed. Nutella, you and I have been apart for far, far too long. And then I realized I hadn’t made ice cream in a while, either, and lo, it was already mid-July, and I was wasting the summer, and then I realized how much closer I was to 28 than to 27, and then it turned into a true-to-form worry cycle. I think I know how to fix it, though.

I had tried making Clothilde’s Nutella Ice Cream once before, and it was great in a pinch, but it didn’t do it for me. It was too sweet and slightly grainy and it didn’t melt right and it just wasn’t ice cream enough for me. It was more like straight-up frozen Nutella, but with more sugar. Which is . . . fine, you know, if that’s your thing, but I wanted something more definitively ice-creamy. So I set out to make my own version, which usually goes interestingly (read: poorly), but I used Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream as my starting recipe. Nut butters already have plenty of fat and . . . emulsifiers? That is most definitely not the right word. Things that make other things thick and smooth and creamy. Anyway, I wanted to start with this recipe instead of a traditional egg-based custard, simply because I thought it would be easy to scale back the sugar and have Nutella ice cream without trying all that hard. Not to sound too smug, BUT I WAS SO RIGHT, YOU GUYS. Continue reading →

Sweet Nothings

Tag Archives: Chocolate