Cinnamon&Chocolate Date Swirl Loaf

I baked this loaf for a friend who has a fiendish addiction to Ezekeil raisin bread.  I thought that making him something from scratch would be special, but I ended up digging in first (hence the nibbled loaf). Needless to say, he never saw this bread and the rest is history!

* If you choose to use only whole wheat flour this loaf will not rise to the fullest and will be a bit dense and heavy.  If you use only White flour, it will puff up just fine, but may be missing some of the Earthy texture.  This is why I put both flours in the recipe.  If you only have one kind, just go ahead and use what you have.

Ingredients:

2 ¼ tsp. active dry yeast

1 c. warm water (110)

1/2 c. evaporated cane juice

½ c. agave

¼ c. oil

1/3 c. milk

2 ½ c. whole wheat flour

1 c. Pastry flour

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 ½ Tbl. Cinnamon

* 1 egg yolk for brushing

*milk should be at room temp as not to shock the activated yeast.

Take ½ cup of warm water and put it into a medium sized mixing bowl.  Add the sugar and let dissolve.  Add yeast and a quarter cup of flour.  Whisk this mixture until the little yeast particles look dissolved.  Let this yeast mixture set until foamy and bubbly looking.  If nothing happens after 10minutes then your yeast is not activated or your yeast is too old.  To activate the yeast, simply take the other ½ cup of water and split it between a ¼ c. of boiling water and ¼ c. lukewarm water.  The heat should activate the yeast if it is not too old.  If you use all boiling water, you will kill the yeast and have to start all over.  The yeast just needs a little extra heat to activate it.

When the mixture is looking all foamy and activated, add the remaining water if you have not done so, and add the agave, oil, milk.  Whisk all of this together before you add the flour,cinnamon, and salt.

Once the mixture comes together, it may seem a bit tacky or too loose.  If this is the case, add more flour until you can comfortably transfer the dough onto a floured surface without too much sticky stuff coming off on your fingers.  Knead the dough for 7-10mins.  From my experience, longer is better!

Put kneaded dough into a oiled mixing bowl and let rise for one hour in a warm place.  Cover the bowl with Cling wrap or a damp towel.

After the dough has doubled in size, punch down and transfer to a floured loaf pan. Cover and let rise for one hour. 

 After fully rising in loaf pan, take one egg yolk and 1/4 tsp. of water and whisk in a bowl.  Use a pastry brush and lightly coat the top of the dough with the egg mixture to give a shiny gold finish.

Once the second rising has taken place.  Bake the loaf for 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until the top is deep golden brown.

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Fig Blackberry and Cacoa nib Pavlova

So, according to wikipedia, Pavlova is a desert that was either invented in New Zealand or Australia for some Russian princess, ballerina, or ice skater who came to visit in the last century.  Traditionally it is a meringue baked until golden with a fluffy, chewy, inside topped with whipped cream and some fresh seasonal berries.  The first time I tried this develish desert I was immedietly sent to some special place where feeling dirty is actually a good thing and spooning up whipped cream by the soup-spoon full is expected.

I made this Pav for my man's birthday.  Because it was a special occasion I decided to get all crazy and make a pastry cream to go along with the already too-rich whipped cream topping.  I hate wasting the yolks when I make merignues so this seemed perfectly reasonable.  What's wrong with a little double trouble, right?

Pavlova: preheat oven to 300

3 egg whites

1 c. sugar

1 Tbl. Cornstarch

1pinch salt

 1 ¼ c heavy cream

1 pint fresh berries

*Cocoa nibs to sprinkle

Pastry cream

1 1/4 c. milk

3 egg yolk

1/4 c. sugar

2 Tbl flour

2 Tbl cornstarch

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Whip egg whites until frothy.  Add sugar slowly while whipping to soft peaks.  Add cornstarch and whip until stiff peaks form.  When egg whites have become thick clouds spread with a spatula on prepared baking sheet in a circle shape.  I like to leave lots of ridges and texture instead of spreading the meringue smooth.  Place meringue in the oven for 1 hour or until the peaks and ridges become golden or dark brown.

While the meringue is baking, combine egg yolks, flour, extract, and sugar in a small mixing bowl.  Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until the milk begins to simmer with tiny bubbles. Once this occurs, remove the saucepan from the heat and let sit for one minute.  After the minute is up take the milk and pour it slowly over the egg yolk mixture while stirring quickly.  If you do not stir it quick enough the heat of the milk will cook the eggs.  After you finish this step, add the whole mixture to the saucepan and heat slowly on low to medium heat.  At this point watch and stir the mixture constantly as it begins to thicken.  Once it reaches the consistency of gravy, remove from heat and whisk for an additional 30 seconds.  Your pastry cream should resemble vanilla pudding and will be warm.  Place the Pastry cream into the fridge until  you are ready to assemble the pavlova.

Whip the cream until soft peaks form.  Place finished whipped cream in fridge.  If the cream turns yellow or begins to seprate, you have over whipped and need to begin again!  This has happened to me several times…..

When the meringue is done and has cooled, spoon the pastry cream in an even pattern across the top. Then take the whipped cream and spread it over the pastry cream covering it completely.  The last and final fun step is to add the fresh berries and cacao nibs or nuts.  This is the creative aspect so have some fun and feel free to make whatever flavor and color combination that seems best to you.  The pavlova is now finished.

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Mini Raw Chocolate Torte

Mmmmm yum!  Upon asking a friend what was his favorite was, he said," Raw chocolate torte like the kind we made in South America."

Well, since it was going to be his birthday in the next couple of days and we are nowhere near South America, I thought to myself "Why the heck not?" I'll try it and see what happens.

What happened was creamy deliciousness that was almost entirely devoured by the end of the evening by a group of already-stuffed-full of Pavlova partiers.  Yay Me.

Here is the recipe for Mini Raw Chocolate Torte 

Crust

3/4 cup walnuts

¼ cup cocoa nibs

6-8 medjool dates

1 Tbl. Agave

1 Tbl. Coconut oil

1 Tbl. Ground ginger

1 tsp. Himalayan salt (pink)

Filling

1 c. cashews soaked overnight

2 Tbl. coconut oil

½. C. almond milk

½. C. agave

¾ c. ground raw cocoa nibs

2 tsp. vanilla

*pinch salt

I made the crust a day early but feel free to make everything on the same day.  First I ground half a pound of cacao nibs in the blender.  There are other ways to do this, but the blender worked just fine.  After I was through preparing the nibs for the rest of the recipe, I took the dates, walnuts, ginger and sea salt and 3/4 c. of nibs and ground in blender to a crumbly texture, but not powder.  Once it reached this texture I added the agave and coconut oil until it came together and was sticky but formed a ball like play dough.

When the crust is finished, use your hand to squish the mixture onto a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment.  Make the crust 1/8-1/4" thick.  Take a square cookie cutter and cut out about 4 or five squares then put the mini torte crusts into the fridge to chill. While the crust is chilling prepare the filling....

Take a blender, food processor, or vita-mix and grind the cocoa nibs to a fine powder.  Remove the cocoa powder and puree the soaked cashews into a pudding like texture.  When this happens, add the agave, almond milk, and coconut oil and blend smooth until the it looks mushy but not chunky.  Now is the time to add the cocoa and vanill and salt.  Once these are all incorporated and the mixutre is a light brown color (it will darken while setting) remove the mixture and set in fridge to cool.

After a couple of hours take the crust and filling from the fridge.  Spoon the filling carefully onto the crusts and smooth the sides until they look flat but not perfect.  Place the mini tortes back into the fridge to cool for 30 minutes.  After the second cooling has taken place, take a spoon and run it under hot water like you would do with an ice cream scoop.  Use the warmed back side of the spoon to even out the sides and edges of the torte to make a seemily smooth square shape.  After you have completed this step, your mini tortes are finished and ready to be garneshed however you choose.

* I garneshed my tortes with fresh basil and chili peppers because those were the only things that I could find in the fridge. Also, please excuse the embarassing photo! This was taken in a rush at a friend's in the evening under low lighting right before it was brought out to eat.

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My first day on Etsy! In da Hood

These are the first two things for sale that I posted on etsy.  I made the hood and scarf ages ago, but finally opened my shop.  Im looking forward to making more items too. Yay!

Flowin'

 

 

 

 Wearing a purple free people jumpsuit, jewels from India, nom de plume skirt, taupe ankle boots