So I thought this was my first "raw" recipe (not including salads and raw vegetables, of course), but then I remembered my raw chocolate mousse made from avocado, cocoa powder, lemon juice, agave nectar, sea salt, and shoya shoju (I think it's called)...but I did cheat and use … [Read more...] about My Second “Raw” Dessert Recipe (Sort Of): Orange Chocolate Cheesecake
Desserts
High On Life and Baklava
Ages ago I bought phyllo pastry. Seems like a crazy thing to randomly buy, but you have to understand, when you're lactose-intolerant and you find a product that has no dairy in it that's traditionally supposed to be made with a lot of dairy, you buy it on sight. Well, only if … [Read more...] about High On Life and Baklava
Banana Flambé With Watermelon and Dates
Okay, so this is kind of far out there, but it was one of the best things I've ever accidentally made. It didn't actually look like the picture above, but fire is a hard thing to catch in a photo. I took a banana flambé recipe that called for rum, brown sugar and pineapple … [Read more...] about Banana Flambé With Watermelon and Dates
3 Newfoundlanders Walk Into A Bar (Hasty Pudding vs. Brownie Pudding)
Hasty pudding is essentially the same recipe as brownie pudding except for two key ingredients. It calls for chopped dates (which is hilarious because they're the most time consuming part of the otherwise 'hasty' recipe) while brownie pudding calls for cocoa in its fudge sauce. … [Read more...] about 3 Newfoundlanders Walk Into A Bar (Hasty Pudding vs. Brownie Pudding)
My Yoga Teacher Thinks I’m Suicidal (Maple-Walnut Granola with Dried Cranberries)
Okay, a PG13 version of masochistic at best. So granola's tricky. Maybe everyone has a different ideal for granola, but I believe it should be clusters of sweet oats and dried fruit. If it's crumbly, it's not granola. If it's soft, it's not granola. If it burns, well, it may … [Read more...] about My Yoga Teacher Thinks I’m Suicidal (Maple-Walnut Granola with Dried Cranberries)
Mango Date Squares
Mango Date Squares is a variation on Bonnie Stern's more traditional date square recipe from HeartSmart: The Best of HeartSmart Cooking. I've made it a few times and it's always good, but I like my version a bit better. You know the cough syrupy sweetness of dates? Sometimes … [Read more...] about Mango Date Squares
Disaronno-soaked Dried Apricot Yam Loaf
Alice Medrich doesn't have a whole lot of non-chocolate recipes in her cookbook Chocolate and the Art of Low-fat Desserts but what she does include is unfalteringly good. When I first saw the recipe for Apricot Yam Loaf I quickly turned the page...compared to mousse, it's boring. … [Read more...] about Disaronno-soaked Dried Apricot Yam Loaf
Building A Lemon Mousse Cake: Gravity hurts us all in the end, I suppose…
This is the horrible picture of what was left of the mousse after 30 minutes: So my lemon mousse cake was a bit messier than the picture in the book...but every bit as delicious. It was a little better than lemon pudding, but not quite as spectacular as my first lemon mousse … [Read more...] about Building A Lemon Mousse Cake: Gravity hurts us all in the end, I suppose…
So many mousses…
1 day before great Christmas Party 2009, I had 3 meringues to make as part of: 1. A double batch of Bittersweet Frozen Chocolate Truffle Mousse Cookies 2. A lemon mousse cake 3. The outer layer of the baked frozen Buche de Noel. I was a little nervous. First the Bittersweet … [Read more...] about So many mousses…
Party Prep: Pastry, Peppers and Imperfect Polenta
With all the preparations for the 2nd annual family house party in full swing, I tackled the ''P's". Fresh off my mousse mistakes, I decided to separate the great Mocha Buche de Noel into sections. This is first of all necessary, as the mousse needs to be frozen, the soufflé … [Read more...] about Party Prep: Pastry, Peppers and Imperfect Polenta