Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus

Written on January 11, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

If you’re a longtime reader, then this recipe will look familiar. This single-handedly changed how I thought of hummus in general when I first made it over the Summer. After listing it on my Top 10 of 2010 list, I knew I wanted to make it again. So now I’m reposting the recipe with new step-by-step pictures, because I have nothing better to do now most days than cook and take pictures of my food(I know, it’s a rough vacation). Enjoy! And do try this because it never disappoints; it makes even the biggest skeptics believe that hummus has a place in dessert.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 3 cups):

2 cups chickpeas
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Drain, measure, wash, and peel your chickpeas. Peeling them isn’t absolutely necessary but it makes for the creamiest hummus and really is worth the effort.
In a food processor, add the first 4 ingredients and process until the hummus is smooth and emulsified(the one thing no one wants for dessert is chunky chickpea pieces in their dessert).
Remove the blade and fold in the chocolate chips. Move into a deep serving bowl and serve with graham crackers or baby carrots.

“How can that possibly be good?” you may be wondering. The maple syrup makes this deliciously sweet; and the chickpeas, peanuts, and syrup all have a same earthiness that pairs with one another really well. The result is a creamy dip reminiscent of cookie dough only with healthy fats and fiber.

Who’s ready to dig in?

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Homemade Bacon Salt®

Written on January 10, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

Let me tell you about a little seasoning called Bacon Salt®. What is it? Well, it’s name pretty much says it all: It’s salt infused with bacon that adds a smoky brininess to dishes. When I saw a recipe for Bacon Salt® in the new issue of Food Network Magazine, I about jumped off the couch to make it. I know the holidays are over, but if you made this for your friends they would be delighted, and only slightly question your sanity.

Homemade Bacon Salt®

Ingredients:

6 slices of bacon
1/2 cup coarse sea salt
<3/4 teaspoon ground peppercorn

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Lay your bacon out in single strips over a cookie rack and put that in a baking tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bacon is crisp and starting to blacken(It should look overcooked rather than how you’d normally eat bacon).

Once the bacon has cooled, use a paper towel to press out any excess oil.

Transfer the bacon to a food processor and process until there are only small chunks and a paste begins to form. Add in the sea salt and ground pepper(note: whole peppercorns will not break up in the food processor) and continue to process until the salt breaks up into smaller pieces and mixes with the bacon. Transfer to an airtight jar and keep in the refrigerator when not using.

Understandably, this isn’t for everyone. It’s not for vegetarians and it’s not kosher. But if you’re a carnivore, this is for you. Add it to baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, seared steak—anything savory that needs a kiss of salt. Bacon truly does make it better.

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Sunday Confessional 4

Written on January 9, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Sunday Confessional

A week after I made a chocolate flourless cake, our guests brought over Godiva’s chocolate flourless cake. It was better than mine, and now I’m determined to bake a better one even if I clog all my arteries doing it.

I’ve never seen any of the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies. I don’t think this is a big deal but when I told my friends you’d have thought I told them I eat babies.

I did not realize peppermint patties were my mother’s favorite candies when I made them. To be fair, I’m pretty sure she’s said the same about peanut M&M’s, Reeses, Whoppers, and Junior Mints. And I have, too.

I’ve started running again. I’m convinced I look excellent in my runner’s tights and want to wear them around even when I’m not running.

I burnt this pan during my 2 hours of cooking these dumplings. But wait, I burnt it boiling water. I even own the cookbook How To Boil Water. Apparently, I need to go back and reread it.

I really wish my high school friends would join Twitter because Facebook stalking is so 2010.

Past Sunday Confessionals:

Sunday Confessional 1

Sunday Confessional 2

Sunday Confessional 3

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Goji Gourmet Giveaway

Written on January 8, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Giveaway

Last year, I sampled a small company’s superfood-packed cookies and fell in love with their taste and texture. At the time, they were only available in certain parts of New York and online, but now Goji Gourmet is sold across the country and still growing strong. They sell bite-sized cookies filled with whole grains, real ingredients, and—of course—their trademark goji berries.

Even though these cookies are “healthy”, they are filled with flavor. This past week, I tried making a copycat recipe which I have to say is really good, but not quite as soft as the original(I’ll post the recipe soon). Now I have the chance to share these amazing cookies with you.

Giveaway

All 5 Flavors Pack One commenter will win an 5-flavor pack from Goji Gourmet. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. I’ll randomly pick a winner on Friday, the 14th. There are 3 ways to enter.

1. Comment on which flavor of Goji Gourmet cookies sounds most appealing to you.

2. “Like” Goji Gourmet on Facebook

3. Follow Goji Gourmet on Twitter

If you’re on Facebook or twitter, you can like or follow me, too, for kicks and giggles(I’m good for giggles). Good luck!

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Mediterranean Chicken Marinade

Written on January 7, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

One of my favorite trips for eating I’ve ever been on was to France, particularly Provence. Everything just tasted better there. The market was full of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and sausages. They used herbs and oils pretty liberally and the flavor shined through. One of the souvenirs I brought back was a bag of herbes de Provence. Little did I realize you can get this at most grocery stores in America. This marinade uses the oils, vinegar, and herbs for a flavorful outcome. A hint of nutmeg in the marinade brings out the earthiness of the chicken(Rachael Ray taught me that one).

Mediterranean Chicken Marinade

Ingredients:

1lb boneless, skinless chicken
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons herbes de Provence(or any Italian herb blend)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, or 1 1/2 Tablespoon whole cloves

Mix together all of the ingredients except the chicken to make the marinade. Pour it into a Ziploc bag and add the chicken. Leave the chicken in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight to marinate.

Once ready, preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Bake the chicken in its sauce for 45 minutes or until done if you’re using a thick cut like the breast. Remove the bay leaf and any whole cloves of nutmeg before serving. Pour some of the excess sauce at the end on top for added flavor.

The olive oil and herbs make this taste fresh and flavorful straight from the oven. It’s excellent with some light vegetables with the extra liquid poured over them to join the flavors. This is one of my new favorite recipes to throw together in the morning and cook at night.

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Gluten-Free Dumplings With Dipping Sauce

Written on January 6, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

It’s rare that I’ll put more than 30 minutes of actual laboring into cooking a meal. But some things are worth the effort. As a kid, my favorite food to order from a Chinese restaurant was always their dumplings; I love the soft, doughy exterior with the savory filling dipped in a sweet sauce. I never even thought to make these gluten-free until I saw them on another blog and wanted to give them a shot. Unfortunately, that recipe didn’t work out for me at all. A few kitchen sidesteps and 2 hours later I had 30 cooked dumplings and 1 burnt pan(but that’s a story for another day).

I’m not going to pretend these are a nice simple recipe for a weeknight; they aren’t. But what they are is incredibly impressive to make and very flavorful. Make a batch over the weekend and you can enjoy them through the week.

Gluten-Free Chinese Dumplings

Ingredients(Makes 30-36 dumplings):

4 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour(such as Bob’s Red Mill)
3/4 cup cold water
4 eggs, divided
1lb ground pork or chicken
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons green onions, chopped
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
3 Tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
2 Tablespoons sesame oil

To make the dough, mix together the flour, water, and 3 eggs. Work the mixture until it forms a tough dough and roll it into a ball.

To make the filling, mix together 1 egg, the meat, ginger, onion, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Knead the mixture together until the ingredients are emulsified.

Roll the dough into balls and pound them into disks about 1/4-inch thick and 2 1/2 inches wide. Be sure not to pound them too thin or else they’ll tear.

Scoop a tablespoon of filling onto each disk biased onto one side.

With dry fingers, lift up the other side and bring it over to make a pouch. Pinch down to seal the edges. If any part shows sign of tearing, take a little extra dough and make it into a patch, pressing down lightly on the thinning area.

To steam these, boil a pot of water with a fitted steamer on top. Add as many dumplings will fit without layering them on top of one another. Steam for 10-15 minutes until the outside starts turning a deep yellow and the filling is cooked through.

To pan-fry these, heat a large skillet with a few tablespoons of oil in the pan. Once hot, add the dumplings and cook 5-7 minutes on each side until the breading is crunchy and cooked.

Gluten-Free Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil(preferably toasted)
1 tablespoon chopped green onion

To make the dipping sauce, mix the sesame oil and soy sauce well. Add the chopped onion on top as garnish right before serving. Be sure to mix the sauce again any time you serve it as the oil will separate.

These were a pain to make. But it all became worth it with the first bite of doughy, savory goodness. I think I preferred the pan-fried ones both on flavor and ease of cooking. The sauce is a perfect balance of brininess and depth to match the filling. These are undeniably not take-out food.

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Homemade Peppermint Patties

Written on January 5, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

I love peppermint patties. What’s not to love? Their chocolaty and sweet and it feels like you’ve just brushed your teeth after you eat one. My grandparents always kept the miniature knock-off versions from CVS called “thin mints” at their apartment and I could eat a sleeve a day. There’s nothing more satisfying than a big, whole peppermint patty, except maybe one that you’ve made yourself.

I’ve had these on my to-make list ever since seeing this post on Megan’s blog. I kept putting them off not knowing how utterly easy these are to make. I made them New Year’s Eve morning and they were gone before the clock struck midnight. They’re naturally vegan and gluten-free, so if you’re cooking for allergies and want to avoid any specialty ingredients, go with these for an easy crowd pleaser.

Homemade Peppermint Patties

Ingredients(Makes 24 patties):

2 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 Tablespoons agave nectar(or any liquid sweetener)
1 1/2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon coconut oil, softened or melted
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 bag(12oz) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix the powdered sugar, agave nectar, coconut oil, peppermint extract, and water. Continue mixing with your hands even if it doesn’t look like there’s enough moisture there; eventually it will all come together and form a dough ball.

Take off chunks of filling from the dough ball and roll them into 3/4-inch balls. Press the balls down in between your hands and form patties. Lay these out on a baking tray and refrigerate or freeze for 30 minutes until firm

When the patties are ready, melt down the chocolate in a microwave or over a double-boiler. Line a baking tray with parchment paper to set the peppermint patties to dry once coated.

To coat, lay the patty down on top of the melted chocolate. Immediately flip it over with a fork and lift it out of the chocolate from the bottom. Wipe off any excess chocolate from the bottom and lay it on the lined baking tray.

Let the patties sit at room temperature for an hour or refrigerate for 10 minutes before removing them from the paper.

I’m a sucker for any popular “junk food” dessert made homemade. I think they’re SO impressive. I wouldn’t worry if your patties aren’t all the same size or the chocolate isn’t smooth; those kind difference make these distinctively homemade.

These are great to eat after dinner to freshen your breath, if you don’t just eat a handful for dinner that is.

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Balsamic Brussel Sprouts With Red Wine

Written on January 4, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Let me tell you the story of how this recipe came to be. One day, I was throwing together dinner in a rush. I reached down to where we keep the oils and vinegars and grabbed a large bottle with a cork top and tinted glass. I started to pour it over brussel sprouts thinking it was olive oil; I was shocked when it came out thin and red and with a sharp pungent odor. It was wine. I had accidentally made my brussel sprouts drunken.

I went on to cook them anyway and they were some of the best that I had ever eaten, so good in fact I made them the next day and into a formal recipe. These are simple to make and yet have an impressive flavor, perfect for a date night.

Balsamic Brussel Sprouts With Red Wine

Ingredients:

1lb brussel sprouts, trimmed and washed
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees. Toss the washed and dried brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar and wine so that all the skin gets wet.

Pour in the olive oil and lay the brussel sprouts out on a baking tray. Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper and bake for about 40-45 minutes until the edges are crispy. If the brussel sprouts in the center cook slower than at the edge, toss around the contents of the pan about halfway through.

December 28th 025

What does it say that I asked for a bottle of red and this is what I got? Let’s not read into that…

These are tart and tangy with a definite kick. The salt mellows out the flavor and makes it truly an enjoyable experience. Best of all, you don’t even need to think about what drink to pair with it.

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Cheesy Rosemary Flatbread

Written on January 3, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Everybody loves cheesy bread. That’s just a fact. Whether you can’t eat wheat bread or avoid dairy, this recipe still has something for you, too. The bread itself gets nice and crusty on the egg but soft and doughy in the middle. Everybody has a preference and I love the center. Be warned that if you eat too much you’ll have onion breath for a week, and you will eat too much because it’s too good to show restraint around.

Cheesy Rosemary Flatbread

Ingredients:

1 ball of prepared pizza dough*
1 yellow onion, julienned
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan, loosely packed**
2 tablespoons rosemary

*Make this recipe gluten-free by using a gluten-free dough such as Bob’s Red Mill.

**For a non-dairy alternative, use the same amount nutritional yeast with an added 1/2 teaspoon salt.

I started by making my pizza dough. I always add Italian herb seasoning even when the dough is a mix; it just adds such great flavor.

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees. To prepare the onions, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over low heat on a burner. Add in the julienned onions and cook for about 10 minutes until they’ve softened and soaked up the oil. Add in the other 2 tablespoons and continue cooking until they’re soft and translucent.

Roll out the dough on a pizza pan(a baking pan will work in a pinch). Flatten it out to about 1/4-inch thickness and poke holes in the top to let the air out when cooking. Add on the onions and any extra oil in the pan. Then sprinkle on the parmesan and rosemary and bake for 25-28 minutes until the edges crisp up.

Like I said, I love the center part that’s nice and doughy, onion breath be damned. I’ve made this for guests and they had no clue it was vegan and gluten-free; it’s just a plain good recipe with tons of flavor. I’m ready to slip into my food coma.

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Change Is Good

Written on January 2, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

$41.98

No, I didn’t hit the jackpot on the penny slots. This is the spare change I acquired over 3 1/2 months. Every day, after going to the store or to a coffee shop, I would throw the coins in my pocket in a bucket, knowing that overtime it’d grow.

After separating and counting it, I had $41.98 in change(and that’s not including about $10 in quarters I used for laundry from time to time). Now, on the one hand, that’s not enough to retire with. But that’s $41.98 that I never expected to have, and didn’t even know that I had until I counted it out.

Change, both the literal and metaphorical kind, is good. We all need change from time to time. Starting this blog 2 1/2 months ago felt like a huge change, and I want to keep continuing to change things for the better. If you stand still for too long, your feet will get stuck in the mud.

Your mission(Should you accept it): Make at least one change in 2011, starting with collecting your change for the entire year. Grab a bucket and each day toss your coins in it. Here are some ideas what to do with that money at the end of the year:

Use it for a date night
Put the money towards buying Christmas gifts
Donate it to your favorite charity
Buy a Starbucks gift card for yourself
Pre-order the new season of Doctor Who on iTunes because you know it’s going to be terrific(Just me? OK, nevermind)
Use it for gas money on a road trip
Buy that _____ you’ve had your eye on all year
Whatever else you can think of

Who’s ready for some change in 2011?

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