Daring Bakers December-Panettone

Hey everyone! I just got back from a wonderful Christmas trip with my family.....in time to write up this post! The panettone ended up being ready on the day we had some friends over, which was perfect! Also, it is really popular around Christmas here in Brazil, so everyone was excited to try it! I'll definitely be doing this again!!! Mine was a wonderful orange, white and milk chocolate panettone and everyone really enjoyed it!

The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread!

And here's the recipe (copied from the challenge...anything in bold will be what I changed):

Ingredients (I halved everything)

Sponge
1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast
1/3 cup (80 ml) warm water
½ cup (70 gm) unbleached all purpose flour

First Dough
1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast
3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water
2 large eggs, at room temp
1¼ cup (175 gm) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour
¼ cup (55 gm) (2 oz) sugar
½ cup (1 stick) (115 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp

Second dough
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2/3 cup (150 gm) (5-2/3 oz) sugar
3 tablespoons (45 ml) honey
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract

1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) salt
1 cup (2 sticks) (225 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp
3 cups (420 gm) (15 oz) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour; plus up to (2/3 cup) 100 gm for kneading

Filling and final dough
7 oz milk chocolate, chopped

7 oz white chocolate, choppeed

Grated zest of 1 orange
2 to 3 tablespoons (30-45 ml) (15-25 gm) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour

Glaze:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

zest of half an orange

enough orange juice to make the glaze spreadable

Directions:

Sponge

1. Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and allow to stand until creamy. That’s about 10 minutes or so


2. Mix in the flour.


3. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size for about 20 to 30 minutes

First Dough

By hand:

1. Mix the yeast and water in a large bowl and allow to stand until creamy. Again, about 10 minutes or so
2. Mix in the sponge and beat well with a wooden spoon
3. Stir in the eggs, flour and sugar.
4. Mix in the butter well
5. This should only take about 5 – 6 minutes
6. Cover with plastic wrap and allow double in size, about 1 – 1 ¼ hours

By Mixer:

1. In the mixer bowl, mix together the yeast and water and allow to stand until creamy. Again, about 10 minutes or so
2. With the paddle attached mix in the sponge, eggs, flour, and sugar.
3. Add in the butter and mix for 3 minutes until the dough is smooth and even.


4. Cover with plastic wrap and allow double in size, about 1 – 1 ¼ hours

Second dough

By Hand:

1. Be sure to have your dough in a large bowl as above.
2. With a wooden spoon mix in eggs, egg yolk, sugar, honey, vanilla, essences/extracts and salt.
3. Mix in the butter.
4. Then add the flour. Stir until smooth.
5. At this stage the dough will seem a little too soft, like cookie dough.
6. Turn it out and knead it on a well-floured surface until it sort of holds its shape. Don’t knead in too much flour but you may need as much as 2/3 cup (100 gm). Be careful the excess flour will affect the finished product.

By Mixer:

1. With the paddle mix in thoroughly the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, honey, vanilla, essences/extracts, and salt.
2. Mix in the butter until smooth.


3. Add the flour and slowly incorporate.
4. At this stage the dough will seem a little too soft, like cookie dough.
5. Replace the paddle with the dough hook and knead for about 2 minutes.


6. Turn out the dough and knead it on a well-floured surface until it sort of holds its shape.


7. Don’t knead in too much flour but you may need as much as 2/3 cup (100 gm). Be careful the excess flour will affect the finished product.

First Rise

1. Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover with plastic wrap


2. Now we need to let it rise until it has tripled in size. There are two ways to go about this.

• Rise in a warm place for 2 – 4 hours
• Or find a cool spot (64°F -68°F) (18°C – 20°C) and rise overnight
• Or rise for 2 hours on your kitchen bench then slow the rise down and place in the refrigerator overnight. If you do this it will take some time to wake up the next morning but I preferred this method.

Filling and Final Rise:

1. Chop your chocolate and combine with the orange zest.


2. Press out one portion of dough into an oval shape


3. Sprinkle over half of the filling and roll up the dough into a log


4. Press out again into an oval shape and sprinkle over the other half of the filling
5. Roll into a log shape again.
6. Shape into a ball and slip into your prepared pans, panettone papers or homemade panettone papers. (I used a springform pan)






7. Cut an X into the top of each panettone and allow to double in size.
8. Rising time will vary according to method of first rise. If it has been in the refrigerator it could take 4 hours or more. If it has been rising on the kitchen bench in a warm place it should be doubled in about 2 hours.

Baking

1. When you think your dough has only about 30 minutes left to rise preheat your oven to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 and adjust your oven racks
2. Just before baking carefully (don’t deflate it!) cut the X into the dough again and place in a knob (a nut) of butter.


3. Place your panettoni in the oven and bake for 10 minutes
4. Reduce the heat to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 and bake for another 10 minutes
5. Reduce the heat again to moderate 325°F/160°C/gas mark 3 and bake for 30 minutes until the tops are well browned and a skewer inserted into the panettone comes out clean.
6. Cooling your panettone is also important. If you have use papers (commercial or homemade) lie your panettoni on their side cushioned with rolled up towels. Turn gently as they cool. If you have used pans cool in the pans for 30 minutes then remove and cushion with towels as above

So there ya' have it.... my very first homemade panettone!!! We all loved it!!

If anyone tries out this recipe, please let me know what you think!!!\

Daring Bakers--Twelve Days of Cookies!

Good morning, everyone!!
Its time for another Daring Bakers challenge!!! This month we were challenged by Peta of Peta Eats to bake some yummy cookies! One of the recipes needed to be from the 12 recipes suggested by Peta, and the other could be a family favorite or just any other cookie, bar, or candy.

For the first part of the challenge, I chose to bake coconut chocolate cookies!!! Originally, the cookies were supposed to be like little drums, but due to our different flour, my first batch spread out like regular cookies, so we baked the second batch in mini muffin tins. Not as cute as the original, but still yummy!

Recipe (taken from Baking Glory)

Ingredients

Coconut Filling
• 6oz / 175ml Cream Cheese, softened
• ¾ cup Sugar
• 1 Egg Yolk (the only thing that I changed was to omit the yolk, and the filling still came out great!)
• 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 ¼ cup Coconut Flakes, unsweetened
Cookie Dough
• 1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour (I ended up using about 2 1/4 cups and my dough still wasn't stiff enough)
• ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder, sifted
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 ½ sticks Butter, unsalted
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Egg

Preparation Instructions

Beat the cream cheese with the ¾ cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, and vanilla extract and continue mixing for another minute.

Add the shredded coconut and continue beating until everything is well incorporated.

Preheat oven to 375° F / 190° C.

In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. In the bowl of a mixer add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy, add the egg and beat until smooth.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the mixture is stiff but still pliable.

Using a tablespoon, scoop some of the cookie dough into your hand. Flatten the dough into a circle that’s about 2in to 3in (5cm to 7.5cm) in diameter, add about a teaspoon of the coconut mixture into the middle of it and then fold the sides of the dough but do not seal it at the top.

Repeat this with remaining cookie dough.

Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake the cookies at 375° F / 190° C for about 18 to 20 minutes

Cool on a wire rack.

All in all, these coconut cookie s were fabulous and we all really enjoyed them!!!

Next up, I made two versions of pb cookies. My dad's birthday was this month, and he requested peanut butter!! The first recipe that I made was a traditional peanut butter cookie recipe, and the next, was a peanut butter cookie with peanut brittle that I found here. And here are the recipes:

Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Peanut Brittle (I halved the recipe and got 8 cookies)

Ingredients:
Brittle: 

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Cookies:

• 6 T room temp butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 T corn syrup
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/16 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 recipe peanut brittle

Directions:

1. First make the brittle but pouring the sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan and melting over medium heat, being careful not to stir too much in the beginning so that the sugar doesn't crystallize. Once it is more melted, start to stir so that it doesn't burn. Cook until deep amber, about 3 minutes. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in nuts, immediately pour onto a well-greased baking sheet. It will start to set really quickly so try to get it as thin as possible. 
2. Then, start on your batter by creaming the butter, sugar and corn syrup together for  2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the peanut butter, then the egg and beat for 30 seconds on high. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium-high for 3 minutes. During this time, your batter should double. 
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix no longer than 1 minute just until dough comes together. 
4. Crush half of your brittle by putting it in a ziploc and rolling with a rolling pin. Then add to your cookie dough, mix on low for 30 seconds. 
5. Using a a1/3 cup measure (I didn't fill mine up all of the way), portion out dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet at least 4 inches apart and refrigerate for at least an hour. 
6. Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 16-18 minutes. They should still be soft in the middle. 

These tasted best on the second day because the texture of the brittle really came through by then!!! These were probably everyone's favorite of the three that I made and were really, really delicious!!! 

Finally, the traditional peanut butter cookies were delicious too!!!! I just used a recipe that was in our family Better Homes & Gardens cookbook....basic cookies, so I'm not going to share here but I really , really enjoyed this challenge and making two cookies that were so unique and different!!!

Can't wait til next month!

Two Years

So I just found out that today is my two year blogiversary!!! Wow! I can't believe it!!!!

I've definitely had times where I posted more than others....I've switched from wordpress to blogspot.....joined the daring bakers (!!)...the entire blog has changed and grown so much in the past two years that it is almost as if this weren't even the same blog. I've grown up some, and have learned a lot!

I may not have the biggest and definitely not the best blog ever, but I have loved the experience and "meeting" several people through the blog world!!! To celebrate my two years of blogging, here's a yummy smoothie recipe that I've been working on! I was inspired when I saw a post somewhere a while back on an orange push up smoothie, and adapted it to fit what is available here!!

Creamsicle Smoothie (makes two or three smaller smoothies...or one really huge one!)

Ingredients:

• 200g frozen citrus juice concentrate (ours comes in little pouches of 100 grams each...I used tangerine, though orange, mango or anything like that would work)
• 2/3-1 cup milk (depending on the consistency you want your smoothie)
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• 1/2 to 1 cup ice

Directions:

1. Combine your frozen concentrate, milk and sugar in a blender. 
2. Blend until fairly smooth and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add ice and blend until smooth.
4. Pour into glasses and enjoy!!!! 

Microwave Brownie Cake

Heeeey! Long time no see, huh? I've been coming up with some recipes....and didn't want to post until I had at least a couple in the works.....

I'm sure everyone has seen those microwave mug cakes at some point before.....I know I sure have! I actually made a couple a few years back, and while we all liked them, I have been looking for something a little more brownie-like, since I'm actually not the biggest cake person. I tried out a couple basic recipes for mug cakes to see which worked best and tasted best and from those experiments, came up with a pretty decent fudge brownie cake. 

I've made it a couple of times so far and it has turned out well, one thing I will say is that a little bit of baking powder goes a long way...the amount in the recipe below makes a very dense treat, while just adding a little bit more makes it much more cake-like. So it really depends on personal preference. For example, I preferred this version, while some of my family thought that, while tasty, it was almost too dense. 

Fudge Brownie Mug Cake 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• pinch salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar (depending on preference)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 1-3 teaspoons milk (or until batter reaches a good consistency)

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a mug or ramekin in the microwave.
2. Stir in the flour, salt, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, and egg yolk. Add milk until the batter reaches a consistency similar to that of a  thick brownie batter or cookie dough.
3. Place in microwave and cook for 45 seconds. If not done, cook in 5-10 second increments until it is. Top with some melted chocolate and enjoy!!

If anyone tries this out, let me know what you think!!!!

Daring Bakers October....Mille Feuille!

Hello!!

Hope everyone is having a nice Saturday so far! If you remember, a couple of months ago I said that I had joined the Daring Bakers club and made the cappuccino eclairs. Well, I haven't been able to do any challenges since then, so when I read what this month's challenge would be, I absolutely had to do it!! We're making mille feuille, also known as napoleons or custard slices, which are basically layers of puff pastry, custard, and an icing.

  Our October 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Suz of Serenely Full.
Suz challenged us to not only tackle buttery and flaky puff pastry, but then take it step further and
create a sinfully delicious Mille Feuille dessert with it!

Well, since I'd never made puff pastry or anything like this before, I didn't want to stray too far from the traditional dessert, but instead of a regular vanilla creme patisserie, I decided to incorporate a local fruit that is in season right now, the delicious passionfruit! I got three of the fresh fruit, boiled them with the milk and sugar for the creme, and then strained out the seeds to make a delicious, beautiful creme patisserie! Here's my full recipe:

Passion Fruit Mille Feuille

For the pastry:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water 

        beurrage:

•     14 tablespoons room temp butter
• 3 1/4 tablespoons flour

Pastry Directions:

1. Cut the 1/4 cup of butter in to the 1 3/4 cups of flour and salt until the mixture resembles dry crumbs. 
2. Add the water to this mixture, kneading on a lightly floured surface for about three minutes or until the dough is smooth.
3. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. 
4. While the dough is chilling, combine the room temp butter with the small amount of flour. Place between two sheets of plastic wrap and work into a 4in square. Chill for 10-15 minutes until the butter slightly firms up. 
5. Roll the chilled dough into a 6 inch square, place the beurrage in the middle, with each corner of the beurrage touching the center of one of the sides of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the beurrage and seal the edges. 
6. On a well-floured surface, roll the dough until it is a rectangle with about 1/4 in in thickness. Fold the right side towards the middle, and the left side over that, so you have a thin rectangle with three layers. Repeat the folding process, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for thirty minutes. 
7. Do two more folds and chill for 30 minutes.
8. Do the final two folds and chill until needed. (Note: If your kitchen is really warm, like mine, you might want to just do one fold at a time and refrigerate)

For the Pastry Cream:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 whole passionfruit
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pastry Cream Directions:

1. Combine 1/2 cup of the milk with the cornstarch, whisk until fully incorporated.
2. In a medium sized pot, combine the rest of the milk, the sugar and the pulp of the passionfruit (including the seeds!). Bring to a boil, remove from heat, pour mixture through a strainer to remove seeds and set aside. 
3. Add yolks and then the whole eggs to the milk/cornstarch mixture, whisk to combine. Pour in about 1/3 of the warm milk mixture, always whisking in order to prevent the eggs from cooking. 
4. Bring the remaining milk back to a boil, add egg mixture, whisking as you pour. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until it thickens. 
5. Beat in the butter and vanilla until incorporated, whisk until cream is smooth.
6. Pour into a bowl, place plastic wrap on the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate overnight so that the cream will thicken. 

For the chocolate sauce:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons flour

Directions:

1. Heat milk, butter and vanilla in a medium pot. 
2. Combine sugar, cocoa and flour, and when the butter melts, add the dry ingredients to the pot. 
3. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. 

Making the Mille Feuille:

• 1 batch pastry dough
• 1 batch pastry cream
• 1 batch fudge sauce
• 2 cups icing sugar 
• 2 egg whites
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. Roll the dough out into a 12x18 in rectangle and cut into 3 equal parts. 
2. Place one of the sections on a piece of parchment paper and refrigerate the other two, place paper on a baking sheet, top with another piece of parchment and a pyrex dish. 
3. Bake at 400 or about 15 minutes, remove the pyrex and top layer of parchment, bake 10 more minutes or until dough browns. Repeat for the other two sections. 
4. Once the pastry has cooled, place one sheet on a flat board or dish, spread with half of your chilled pastry cream, place another sheet on top of that, top with remaining cream. Place the last sheet of dough on the top of everything, place in the fridge. 
5. While the pastry is chilling, make the royal icing. Whisk the whites and the lemon juice until frothy, stir in the sugar. It should be thick enough to make trails across the surface. If not, whisk in a bit more sugar. 
6. Remove pastry from fridge, pour glaze on it. Immediately drizzle the chocolate sauce over the top and refrigerate for a couple of hours so that everything sets. 

Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches

Ok, I realize that it has now been two months since I last posted.......and I said that I was planning on getting back to posting regularly. I'm sorry. A lot has been going on, and I really didn't know in what direction I wanted to take this blog. I actually am still not 100% sure, but I do know that I have been having fun not just following recipes, but creating them and coming up with different flavor combos and testing them out. So, one thing that I know for certain is that I want to share some of my recipe "wins" with all of you invisible internet people out there. :D I'm really getting comfortable with cooking, and it is something that I love.

I probably will also include fitness-related posts here....that is one of my passions. I am planning on going into college next year as a pre-Physical Therapy major, so fitness and health will obviously be a large part of my academic career as well as my professional life. I want this blog to reflect not who I was two years ago when it began, but who I am today. Yes, I have dealt with an eating disorder and definitely still struggle with negative feelings. But I am also a whole lot happier now, more content with myself, and really able to explore areas that I love, and I want to be able to talk about that.

Now, about the cookies. I don't know if anyone else has already made some like these....I'm probably not the first. But, this recipe I created by myself and am really proud of it. So, without further ado, here's my first completely original (to my knowledge) recipe:

Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches (makes 18-20 sandwiches)

Ingredients:
For the cookies:

• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• dash of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon (or more if you are like me and really, really love cinnamon!) 

For the filling:

• 1 egg white (I just used the leftover white from the cookies)
• 7 tablespoons sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons water
• pinch cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional....but really, really yummy!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in egg yolk, beat until incorporated. 
2. Gradually stir in flour until a dough forms. Add vanilla, carrot, salt, baking powder and cinnamon, mix until fully combined. 
3. Drop onto a baking sheet by rounded teaspoonfuls, giving the cookies 1-2 in space. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies have browned a little bit and the middles are set. These cookies are on the soft side, so they may not look completely done, but if the edges have browned, they will set up after cooling. 
4. While cookies are cooling, make filling. Combine the egg white, sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a small bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk for 3-5 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer, add in vanilla and cinnamon, beat on high until stiff peaks form, another 3-5 minutes. 
5. Spread filling onto half of the cookies, top with the other half. There will be filling left over, but it keeps for a few days in the fridge. Enjoy!!!! 

A funny story about these cookies...when I was asking my family for ideas for what to call the cookies, my dad said: "eye candy". When I asked him how he came up with the name he said that carrots are good for your eyesight, the cookies were sweet, plus they were pretty! Anyway, they were a hit over here, so if anyone tests these out, please let me know what you think!!!

August 2012 Daring Bakers--Filled Pate a Choux

Hey everyone!!!!! So, to begin my blog revamp I am super excited to say that I'm now a part of the Daring Bakers! whoo! There's a new challenge every month, and this month's happened to use pate a choux. If you remember, I have made eclairs before (check the recipe tab!) and enjoyed that, so I was really looking forward to trying something new with pate a choux. 

Kat of The Bobwhites hosted this month's challenge and encouraged everyone to get creative with the shapes and fillings of our choux. She made some cute swans, and here's the link. 

Yesterday, my sister and I made these and everyone loved them!!! We don't really have anything that we could have piped the swans with, so we just used some cookie cutters and made hearts and stars!Also, we had been wanting to try making faux caviar for a while and found a recipe here that didn't require any special ingredients, so we incorporated some chocolate "caviar" into the mix as well. Here's the recipe:

Cappuccino Cream-Filled Eclairs with Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate "Caviar"

For the cappuccino creme patissiere:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons very hot water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant cappuccino mix

1. In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup of milk and the cornstarch, stirring until smooth.
2. Heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan until boiling. Remove from heat.
3. Stir first the whole egg, and then the yolks, into the milk/cornstarch mixture. Add about 1/3 of the hot milk to that gradually, whisking the entire time. 
4. Put the saucepan back on the stove over low heat. Pour in the tempered egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until cream thickens and boils, to avoid lumps. 
5. Stir in the butter and vanilla.
6. Combine the water and cappuccino mix, stir into the cream. 
7. Pour cream into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap touches the surface of the cream. Refrigerate. 

For the choux:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs

1. In a medium sized saucepan, combine water, butter and salt. Bring to a rolling boil, remove from heat. Dump in all of the flour at once and stir until it forms a smooth paste. Cook a little bit longer until the flour pulls from the edges of the pot. 
2. Dump dough into a bowl, work for a few minutes until it is cool enough to touch. 
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating a little bit after each addition. Beat until a smooth, thick paste forms. 
4. Preheat oven to 375, grease or line baking sheets. Spoon or pipe out paste into desired shapes, making sure to smooth down any edges before baking.
5. Bake until golden and puffy. 
6. Remove from baking sheets, let cool completely before filling. 

For the ganache:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 12 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 14 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons oil

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. Heat until everything is combined. Pour into a container. 

For the chocolate "caviar":

• 2-3 cups oil (refrigerated overnight)
• 1/4 cup salt
• 3 oz hot chocolate (we made ours with milk and the ganache above) 
• 2 packs unflavored gelatin
• 3 tablespoons water

1. Combine the water and gelatin, stirring until there are no clumps of gelatin. Let sit while you prepare the hot chocolate.
2. Fill a large bowl with ice, add water till about 2/3 full. Stir in the salt. Pour the cold oil into another bowl, set inside the ice bath. 
3. Pour the hot chocolate into the gelatin mixture, stir until the gelatin melts. With a dropper, drop 2-3 drops of chocolate mixture into the cold oil to make a "caviar". Keep dropping the chocolate into the oil until the bowl is full. Let sit about 3-5 minutes, remove with a strainer and set finished caviar in another bowl. Repeat this process as many times as you can before your gelatin mixture gets too thick. 

For assembly:

1. Once pastries are cool, poke holes in each one that are large enough to pipe the cream into. Fill a pastry bag with some of the creme patisserie, and pipe it into each eclair until it is full but not stuffed. 
2. Once all eclairs are filled, drizzle some of the ganache on top, and then sprinkle with the "caviar".
3. Enjoy! :D

So there ya have it, our take on a "fun" filled choux! If anyone tries this, please let me know what you think!!!!

See ya later!

Under construction

I don't even know who is reading this any more, but if anyone's out there, I do realize that I've definitely been absent from the blogging world for a while now.
I feel like, as I've said before, I was getting to a point where I was only posting based on a routine, ie recipes on a certain day, workouts on another, etc. For me, this time off has really given me a chance to see how much I've grown and changed in the year or so that I've had this lil' blog. Although I still have bad days, I've gotten a lot better at dealing with my eating disorder and usually feel a lot better too. Of course, that means that a lot of what I focused on at the beginning of this blog has changed. My love for cooking has really come alive (even non-healthified stuff! :D) and I've fallen in love with exercise in a whole new way. My relationship with my family, friends and God has also grown and I wanted the blog to grow with me.
I promise that I'll be back to full posting very, very soon. I'll definitely talk about some of the same stuff I did before, but hopefully I'll be able to grow this blog of mine into something that I never dreamed it would be when it began.

I did it again....

Well...I just completely checked out again, didn't I? Sorry about that!!! I really do promise to get back to a regular posting schedule again soon!!!!

Anyway, some pretty fun stuff happened this past week....so I'll do a little recap!

First of all, I've completely fallen in love with Instagram!!!!! Here are some of my favorite pictures that I've taken:

If any of ya'll have instagram, follow me at healthychocoholic please!!! :D 

Also, we had a friend over Saturday! We made cupcakes together!!!! 

She frosted several of them and put sprinkles on them all!!!!! The cupcakes themselves were a plain yellow cake with some chocolate sprinkles mixed into the batter. We were going to do funfetti, but the store didn't have colorful sprinkles so we just went with chocolate to see what would happen....turned out really well!! The frosting was seriously the best frosting I have ever had.....creamy and delicious w/o being too heavy. Both recipes came from my mom's old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, so let me know if anyone is interested in the recipes!!!!

Also, yesterday was Father's Day (actually, brazilian father's day is in august) so we made my dad one of his favorite meals: chicken and dumplings!!! I also made a biscuit recipe that I recently tried out for the first time and loved! They are super fluffy and the whole recipe comes together in under 30 minutes!!! Here ya go:

Butter Dip Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions:

1. Cut butter into chunks and place in the bottom of a small pyrex dish. Place in an oven preheated to 450 for about 5 minutes to melt the butter. 
2. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Pour in all the milk at once and stir until just combined. Dough will be very sticky. 
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat out into a rectangle. You may need to sprinkle some more flour on top of the dough in order to work with it, just don't overwork the dough. Separate dough into 12 small chunks (or more if you want bigger biscuits) and roll into balls. Roll each  chunk in the butter and place in the dish. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. 

These biscuits are seriously so good!!! The dough is super light and fluffy, plus you save time by melting the butter in the dish instead of cutting it into the flour mixture!!!! 

Well, that's pretty much my week in a nutshell!! :D

What have you guys been up to?

Checking In

Morning everyone! I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted! I know that a couple of weeks ago I wrote about wanting to post only when I felt like I had something to actually talk about, and really, this past week, I was focusing on relaxing and hanging out with the family (we had a four day weekend!) and not on writing. Gotta say, it did feel nice to just "check out" for a bit and have fun.

Anyway, I have a couple of things that I do want to talk about today....so here we go!

First of all, over this past week, I have discovered the easiest chocolate dessert ever. It literally takes five minutes. It is called brigadeiro de colher, and is basically chocolate with the consistency of a dulce de leche! So, so good! :D Here's the recipe for ya:

Brigadeiro de Colher

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Ingredients:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 heaping tablespoons sweetened cocoa powder (like for chocolate milk or something)
• 1/2 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir to combine.
2. Microwave for two minutes, checking to make sure it doesn't boil over. When time is done, take the bowl out and stir the ingredients for a little while to cool them down. Repeat once.
3. Microwave for one minute. Remove bowl from microwave, stir again. The mixture should be fairly thick, and it will thicken more as it cools. Eat by itself or with vanilla wafers, fruit, etc!

If anyone tries this out, let me know what you think!!!!!

Now, I do want to talk a bit about something that I haven't brought up in a while....my workouts. I've really changed up my routine and have tried out some new workout styles. I still run and definitely still go to spin class, but I've also been incorporating more bodyrock type workouts.....more intense bodyweight circuit training. In the past couple of weeks, I have done more pushups than I thought I would ever do! :D hahaha I've definitely noticed an increase in strength, which is pretty cool. I'm still trying to find the right balance for me, personally. I noticed last week that I got a little burned out....I ended up taking Thursday off because I was just too tired to work out. So, my exercise routine is a work in progress, but it has definitely changed over the past few weeks. 

Soo, what did you do this weekend?

See ya'll later!

TV, Snacks, and Pizza

Morning everyone!!!! Happy Friday! :D

Not a whole lot has gone on since I last posted.....I did take the online SAT prep test and did ok, so I'm feeling a bit better about tomorrow. Other than that, I've been trying to enjoy my break from school....I can't believe that next year is my last year of high school!!! It will actually be a pretty great year, I think, especially because I'm only taking 4 classes instead of the usual 6, because a couple of years ago I took an extra class and only need four more credits. Also, I haven't decided on all the classes that I will take, but I think that the ones I have decided on will be really interesting!

So, a few days ago I saw a recipe for a healthy apple "crisp" snack and wanted to try to recreate it. I couldn't find the recipe again, so I ended up making up my own, and it was really good!

(you can't really see the oats in the pic....I had already sort of mixed everything in!)

Quick Apple "Crisp" (makes one large or two medium sized servings..I made two)

Also, this isn't quite a true crisp...more of a snack-y take on one!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium apple, chopped (peel the apple if you prefer)
• 2-4 teaspoons sugar (granulated or brown, to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1-3 tablespoons oatmeal (depending on how "crisp-like" you want it to be)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly butter two ramekins, set aside.
2. In a bowl, toss your chopped apple with the sugar and cinnamon, then divide the mixture equally between the ramekins.
3. Sprinkle the oatmeal on top of the apple mixture.
4. Bake for 15 minutes or until the apples are soft and the oatmeal has crisped up a little bit. 

This was really a good snack, especially since it was raining that day and I had one ramekin pre- and the other post-spin!!!

Also, tonight we're having a meeting here at home with some of our ministry team and I'm making Chicago-style pizza!! Whoo!! We all really like it and it has been a while since I made it, so I'm looking forward to that! Also, none of the ministry team has actually tried the pizza yet, so it will be fun!

Finally, since I am on holiday, I've been looking for some good tv to watch. 

What are some shows that you like????

Well, that's it for today....

What do you have going on this weekend?

Spring Rolls and SAT

Good morning! Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day!

So last night, we had some leftover Chinese stir fries with fresh fried rice and....homemade spring rolls!! It was actually my very first time making them, but they turned out really well!!!! And the fact that I enjoyed eating them too was awesome...because they were fried; something that just a short while ago would have kept me from eating them! Anyway, I did get a pic, not a great one, but at least I'm remembering to take the pictures now! hahaha Here's the recipe:

Homemade Spring Rolls

Wrappers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 2-4 tablespoons of water (start with 2 and add more 1 at a time if necessary...I needed 3)

Filling

Ingredients:

• About 2 cups assorted chopped or diced veggies (I used a mixture of onion, bell pepper and carrot because that's what we had)
• 2 tsp oil
• soy sauce to taste
• pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, egg and 2 tablespoons of the water. The dough should not be too sticky, but should hold together when pressed, almost like a pasta dough. If it is too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency. 
2. Split the dough into fourths. Roll out one of the fourths into a rectangle about 10 in long and 6 wide on a surface heavily dusted with cornstarch (don't use flour because it will get worked into the dough and make it thicker and tougher). The dough should be very thin. Cut the dough into 4 strips. Set aside onto a plate dusted with cornstarch and repeat with the remaining sections of dough. You will have 16 wrappers. 
3. Make the filling by combining all of the ingredients in a small skillet and cooking over medium-low heat until softened. 
4. Spoon a couple of teaspoons of the filling into each wrapper, topping with a thin slice of cheese if desired. Fold the long edges of the wrappers in to cover the filling and roll from the short end. To seal, brush a small amount of water on the end of the wrapper and finish rolling it. 
5. Heat about 2 inches of oil in a pot or wok until the spring rolls sizzle as soon as they go in. Cook up to three at a time for about 2 minutes on each side or until they are golden. 

So there ya have it....homemade spring rolls!! I don't know how great my instructions are about the whole rolling process, so if you have any questions, just let me know! :D

Anyway, something else I've got going on is the SAT this Saturday. There's an American school here in Recife, and Saturday morning I'm going there to take the SAT again. I took it as a sophomore a couple of years ago when we were in the States, but I'm retaking it to see if I can do better than I did last time...especially on the math part. As a sophomore, there were a lot of math principles and formulas that I didn't know yet. So I'm curious as to how I'll do on the test.

Well, other than that, not too much going on around here....

Hope everyone has a nice day!

Aaand the winner is...

Congrats, Jordan!!!!!

Please email me your address so I can get you your peanut butter! :D

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

This is so exciting! (Giveaway)

Heeey everyone!!! I know I just posted yesterday, but I have an announcement to make:

Musings of a Healthy Chocoholic is hosting a giveaway (for the second time!)!!!

A couple of weeks ago I learned about PB Crave through another blog, Bess Be Fit and was immediately interested in trying out all of their fun peanut butters. So I contacted them about maybe hosting a giveaway on here and the very next day, got an email back with all the info I needed about hosting a PB Crave giveaway. My samples won't get here for a while....waiting on a group to come visit later on this year, but I will review the pb once I do get it, and one reader is going to get the CoCo Banana Variety pack:

CoCo Bananas: "A tropical blend of yummy bananas, cocoa and wild honey, this peanut butter adds a taste of island paradise to any kitchen."

Cookie Nookie: "A mouth-watering mix of chocolate chips, cookie dough flavor, wild honey and premium peanut butter-it's two classics together as one." (I happen to be super excited about trying this one out.....I'm thinking maybe it tastes like a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie!)

 Razzle Dazzle: "A twisted blend of red raspberry, wild honey, cool white chocolate and rich dreamy darkness-this peanut butter offers a magical mix of deliciousness."

Those are the flavors that one of you will get to try out!!!! 

PB Crave is a very interesting company. Not only are their peanut butters all natural and made without artificial preservatives or hydrogenated oils, they also donate a percentage of all sales to Project Peanut Butter; an nonprofit organization that works to feed undernourished children around the world. Cool, huh? :D

So, to enter you must:

1) Like PB Crave on Facebook  and leave a comment telling me that you did

You will get extra entries for doing each of the following and leaving separate comments telling me that you did:

2) Following PB Crave on Twitter

3) Follow or repin PB Crave on Pinterest

4) Tell me what flavor of PB Crave you want to try the most.

5) Follow Musings of a Healthy Chocoholic on Facebook.

6) Retweet this giveaway: "I want to win PB Crave from @GenniferDeLille!" 

I'll announce the winner on Saturday! :D