Pancake Challenge: Day 8

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I have been informed under no uncertain terms:
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancakes
are best enjoyed with a glass of milk.
Apparently powdered sugar is optional - not necessary

Needed to come back strong.

2 Tips:


You can make anything
chocolatey by replacing
1/4 to 1/8 of the flour
with cocoa powder

But - under no circumstances
can you forget the sugar
(or some sweetener) and
the vanilla - or it'll just taste
oddly dirty (dare I say...
earthy?)





Other cooking with chocolate trivial note.  Cocoa powder/chocolate can work without the sugar+vanilla boost in savory applications - but usually some sweet(ish) element is essential for the success - from a vegetable, fatty or fruit source, and some other aromatic flavor(s) that highlights a different aspect of chocolate needs to be there if you are going to go to the trouble of putting it in.

Christmas Cookies 2012

The kitchen was taken over!

Cheese Crispies & Chocolate Ginger Snaps cooling

Plates of cookies ...
before they get baked

bags and bins

Packed and ready to go!

Last year I had an idea for a cookie.  It was Chocolate Ginger Snap Sandwiches with Nutella Filling.  It turned out...  AMAZING!  And I realized I didn't make enough.

This year - those went down like this:

Almost 900 of the little guys!  Sandwiches require the MOST cookies.

This year the cookie that took hold of my brain was:

Sriracha Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies.



I was thinking saté sauce for dessert.  But when the cookies aged for a few days, the spice took over the cookie.  It went from an interesting spice to TOO HOT!  Where's the cookie?  How is this dessert?

What - what to do?  So I poked around the internet.  After my Turkey Pot Pie Empanada adventure I was sure it had to be out there - some other ideas about Sriracha peanut butter cookies.  And there were.

Glut Life made an ice cream sandwich with Sriracha Peanut Butter cookies filled with Thai Basil ice cream rolled through toasted cocoanut.

And then I realized that I had definitely left the coconut out.  And the bitterness.  When you get saté, if it has been done right, it will have a char on it.  And the bitterness of those crispy burnt edges are balanced with the sweetness of the saté sauce.  The chili and the coconut and the saltiness - it all has to be there the make the magic.

The result?  Hundreds of cookies dipped in 60% bittersweet chocolate and rolled in sweetened coconut:

Bet you want the recipe!
Here: Sriracha Peanut-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
dipped in Bittersweet Chocolate and Sweetened Coconut  

The secret to my cookie success - the bulk bins at Central Market.  I was able to get a bit of different kinds of chocolate, different types of coconut and test them out.  And then go back and get a bunch of the right stuff.
The Russian Tea Cakes were back...  

The ground walnuts are still essential for the correct texture and sweet/bitter balance.  And this year I had a 1 Tbs disher that made scooping out perfect tea cake shapes a breeze.

Speed Cookie dishing this year.
This 1 Tbs size is too big for the bite size cookies...
next year I need a 1 or 1.5 tsp size one!
(The almost 2T size one is perfect for muffins and abelskivers!)

And Cheese Crispies.  I left out the rice crispies this year (the right decision) and left out the garlic powder (the wrong decision).  Look for my 3rd try next year!

Mexican Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Mexican Chocolate Zucchini Bread! (At last)

(This is for 2 - 9x4 loaves, or LOTS of muffins)

Grease your pans, muffin tins or break out the cupcake papers.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F

Ingredients:

3C grated zucchini that has had a trip through the salad spinner (especially if recovered from frozen.)

3.5 C all purpose flour

1/2C cocoa powder

1C granulated sugar

1/4C packed brown sugar

5 tsp baking powder

1 Tbs ground cinnamon

1/8 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (up to you - HOW spicy do you want the bread?)

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 C milk

1/4 C oil (nothing highly flavored)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs lightly beaten

(Optional: 1C semi-sweet chocolate chips or 1-2 disks Mexican Hot Chocolate chocolate hammered into little chunks)

In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, both sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, cayenne and salt. Stir gently to combine. Make sure there are no islands or lumps of any one thing.

In a smaller bowl, stir together milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Add zucchini and gently stir in.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use a spoon to fold the dry ingredients over and around the wet. Stir until just combined. Lastly, quickly fold in the optional chocolate pieces.

Pour or spoon into desired baking vessel (pan, muffin tin)

Place your bread on the center rack of the oven. Done means muffins spring back at a light finger poke. For bread, check the center with a toothpick. It should come out clean or a little crumby. Not Gooey. If you hit a chocolate chip, try another spot.

For tiny muffins, this means about 12 min

For regular sized muffins, about 22 min

For giant muffins, try 35 - 45 min

For the larger loaf pans, check at an hour, though 1 hour + 10 - 15 min is normal.

Let cool at least 5 min before taking out of the pan/tins. Then let cool the rest of the way on a rack.

If this weren't good enough on it's own, feel free to make a quick topping of softened cream cheese or mild goat cheese, orange zest, ginger and honey (maybe a little salt... depending). Use your own taste buds to find the most delicious combination.