As you will recall, yesterday I told you about lovely Karen’s lovely chocolate cookie peppermint bark. Today, I thought I would share this chocolate bark recipe from the December issue of Real Simple magazine*.
Chocolate Nut Bark
Makes: Two gifts (22 ounces in all)
Total Time: 45 minutes
What You Need:
- 12 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate
- 2 1/2 cups mixed nuts
What To Do:
- Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl set over (but not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally.
- Spread the chocolate evenly on a parchment-lined 9-by-13-inch baking pan and sprinkle with the nuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Break the bark into pieces. Keep at room temperature for up to one week.
There you have it. A recipe for those who like peppermint, and a recipe for those who prefer nuts. Have you ever tried to combine the two? What interesting inclusions have you used to make bark candy?
*Karen, creator of yesterday’s famed chocolate cookie peppermint bark recipe, suggests that a gingersnap crumb base would work very well with this chocolate nut bark. I agree. And I hope she will try it out and bring us samples.
It’s the baking time of year, as we all know, so here is yet another way to enjoy baking with chocolate. Thank you, Maillard browning, and to Candy Science Laura, who introduced me to this concept!
This recipe and more are online on the CandyUSA Web site. Go check it out!
You will need:
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
Additional Sugar
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheet.
In large bowl, beat butter and sugar until well blended. Add egg and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add alternately with buttermilk to butter mixture.
Using ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop dough about 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until cookie springs back when touched lightly in center.
While cookies are on cookie sheet, sprinkle lightly with additional sugar. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 1 dozen cookies.
*To sour milk: Use 1 teaspoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1/3 cup.
Chocolate Sugar Cookies by jamieanne.
There is nothing cozier in the winter months than the aroma of baking treats while your oven kicks out enough heat to remind you of the warmth of summer. My personal favorite smell is my mother’s chocolate chip cookies. Cocoa and chocolate are essential ingredients in any baker’s kitchen. Chocolate baked good are loved for their rich delicious flavor, but these ingredients may provide benefits beyond pure enjoyment.
Cocoa and chocolate consumption have been associated with decreased risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease, reduced blood pressure, improved immune function and better cognition and memory. The class of antioxidant chemicals that is most likely responsible for these favorable health effects are flavanols. Flavanols have extremely potent antioxidant activity and are present in the non-fat solid portion of the cocoa bean. Initial concentrations vary based on the species of bean. Normal processing into cocoa powder and chocolate typically causes degradation of a portion of these disease-fighting little molecules. Nonetheless, the final products usually still contain a healthy amount of antioxidant activity.
Recently, a study by several Hershey scientists investigated the effects of baking on cocoa’s antioxidant activity. These chocolate researchers baked a bunch of different cookies and cakes and made frosting and hot cocoa. They then measured the final amount of health-promoting activity in each baked good product and ranked them from best retention of antioxidant activity to least. Chocolate frosting won the contest, closely followed by hot cocoa. Cakes and cookies, however, displayed interesting results. Some recipes lost essentially all of their favanol activity while others retained almost all of it.
So what about these various recipes influenced the differing final antioxidant activities? The variability was attributed to the pH, which was most severely impacted by the type of leavening agent (i.e. baking powder vs. baking soda) used. Flavanols can’t survive well in high pH environments. Recipes using baking soda result in a much higher pH and greater loss of favanols, while baking powder, being more acidic, helps retain flavanol concentration. So as you select tasty-looking recipes to bake during the holidays, keep in mind those best suited to retain antioxidant activity.
Chocolate Chip Cookies by elana’s pantry.
Several weeks ago I mentioned to my co-worker, Ali, that we were planning a baking with chocolate week on the blog. A few days later I received an e-mail from her with the subject line “Simply the best cake ever!”
That’s a bold statement, no?
According to Alison, the cake below is “awesome”. She described it as “rich and chocolatey with glorious cream cheese frosting.” Her mother, Gale, found the recipe in the Joy of Gardening Cookbook, by Janet Ballantyne. I love that the recipe calls for zucchini which I happen to think pairs wonderfully with chocolate.
The recipe is below, with a few special notations from Gale in red (including the recipe for the previously mentioned cream cheese frosting).
CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 T. vanilla extract
2 Cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/3 cup buttermilk or sour cream
3 cups coarsely grated zucchini squash
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the chocolate and oil in a small saucepan over very low heat.
Cream the butter until light; add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Add the melted chocolate and mix well.
Sift together the dry ingredients and stir them into the batter with the buttermilk/sour cream. Mix the zucchini and nuts in the batter.
Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Divide batter between pans. Bake on middle shelf of oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake completely before frosting with whipped cream or your favorite topping.
My favorite topping for this cake:
Cream Cheese Frosting
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
Cream together the butter and cream cheese until the mixture is light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar until well-blended, using more sugar if necessary to get a spreading consistency.
(Even better after cake has been refrigerated or frozen!!!)
Thanks for sharing this recipe, Gale. Feel free to whip one up and send it to work with Alison the next time you’re in town.
Crazy Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting by Τϊζζ¥
Now that the madness and fun of Halloween is behind us, I am looking forward toward holiday baking season and am excited about getting my hands dirty in the kitchen, making some delicious treats. However, I feel a bit wistful and sad that summer has gone. The shadows are already long across the DC landscape and I didn’t really get much time away to just play this summer.
However, I can still recapture some of summer’s fun by making these s’mores cookie bars and pretending to be outside, camping or something. It’s not much, but what the heck – you have to do what you can as the days get short and the cold sets in.
From the Candy USA Web site:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate Bars
- 1 cup marshmallow creme
Instructions:
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
- Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.
- Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow creme. Scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 16 bars.
S’more by terren in Virginia.
*sigh*
Here in the Washington, DC area we have yet to have any snowfall of importance. Sure, it flurried one day about a month ago, but nothing stayed on the ground. To the north, our friends in New York and Boston have been hit hard and I’m sure they’d happily pass some of the wintery white stuff our way … but sadly that’s not possible.
Instead, I’m thinking it might be time to make some snowball cupcakes. If you’ve been missing snow this year, you can make some, too. Remember, when it comes to baking I am lazy so you know these will be easy.
First purchase your favorite brand of chocolate cake and follow the instructions for making cupcakes. I usually add some chopped up chocolate or chocolate chips to the batter. After they have cooled, frost with pre-made vanilla cake frosting and then dust with a very healthy dose of shaved coconut. To finish the cakes, apply just a few blue sugar crystals (found in the cake decorating section of the baking aisle). Be sure not to overdo that last step – a little goes a long way and we’re looking for just a touch of glitter – not Hollywood on Oscar night.
Finally, make a fire – or sit really close to your radiator / vent – and enjoy (with a mug of hot cocoa, of course).
coconut vanilla cupcake detail by Chris B in SEA
I love December. I love Christmas and all the holidays this month – especially my birthday (I’m sure that’s on your calendar, right?). I love decorating and hosting parties and giving gifts (and getting gifts). I love everything about this month. And, given how much I also love candy, you’d think I’d be all about gingerbread.
The truth is, though, that I’m too lazy – or too busy, or a little of both – to be bothere
d most years. That’s why I love the pre-made kits you can buy from Wilton and other specialty baking companies. The kits even come with candy, though in my experience supplementing is always necessary because you can never have enough variety of candy on your gingerbread house.
This year, I’ve also noticed a plethora of bake your own gingerbread kits - the step in between starting from scratch and buying a kit – and I’m thinking about giving it a whirl. I love the concept because it allows you to choose your end results more specifically and to select all your own candy without feeling wasteful. There’s an option available at Williams-Sonoma and I found another at my local Trader Joe’s.
Then again, maybe I’ll skip the whole gingerbread baking project and just make a graham cracker gingerbread house.
