please add Jamie Anderson to the blog

I'd like to post and see the recipes for the parties.  I was sorry to miss the last event.

 

Thanks Jamie Anderson, dmsjamie@aol.com

GF Chocolate Chip Blondies

•  1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1-2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Blend all ingredients (except choc chips) until very smooth.  Mix in chips and scoop into a greased  8x8 pan.  Bake for 38-40 minutes.  You want the blondies to look a little undercooked when you take them out, because they'll firm up as they cool and you don't want them to get hard.

Recipe from: ChocolateCoveredKate.com

Feb Recipe

Dark Chocolate Caramels

2 1/2 C sugar

2 C heavy cream

1 C butter

2 C light corn syrup

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla or anise

Ghirardelli 60% Dark Chocolate chips            Melt chips in 30 second intervals in microwave until it stirs smooth. They carry residual heat, so 1-1/2 minutes is probably

1 T shortening per C of chips                           enough. Then add shortening, and melt 30 seconds more. As you dip, it will start to cool and not look smooth.

Sea salt to sprinkle on top                                Keep reheating for 15-20 seconds when it doesn't cover well. I use chopsticks to dip and place on waxed paper. Let the excess

pecan halves to make turtles                            drip off. If it pools way out from the caramel, let it set and cut off the excess with a knife, and no one will be the wiser!

                                                                         The Ghirardelli bag also mentions NOT to thin with water, milk, butter, or margarine. If you heat it, it thins.

Mix sugar, butter, syrup and 1 C of cream in 4 qt pan. While boiling, add remaining cream. It will start at the very top of the pan, and then gradually go down, so watch for boil over. I used the simmer setting on my commercial cooktop, which is the lowest it would go. On a regular burner, probably medium heat is good. Stirring constantly, boil to 245 degrees. This can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes. You can also stop at 240, but it is paler, and softer. I like it to hold it's shape after cutting, and have some chew to it.

Remove from heat and add vanilla or anise. For the turtles, I spooned the plain caramel over pecans, 16 of them, and then added anise to the rest of the pan before pouring into a buttered 11x16 sheet pan. This made it 3/8" thick. If you want it thicker, use a smaller pan. If you don't make turtles, the whole pan will fill a regular 12x18 sheet pan to the same thickness. Let cool overnight. You can loosen the edges and pry the whole sheet out to cut on a board, (it's still bendable) or cut a couple of rows out of the pan and then it will easily come out. I don't like to cut in my metal pans, and you get nicer squares if you can get your knife over the whole row and press down evenly.

To make the turtles:

On parchment, lay 4 pecan halves in a plus sign, spoon caramel over the centers, leaving the tips exposed. As the caramel cools, you will want to pull the parts between the pecans back to the center, or they will look funny. You'll know when you see it ooze too far. Since it doesn't stick to the parchment, it easily moves back to make a thicker center. Next day, spoon chocolate over the back side, covering the caramel. Let set up, then flip over and do the same on the top side, leaving the pecan tips exposed. Sprinkle with sea salt before they are set on top.

To make the dipped caramels:

See above directions for melting the chocolate with shortening. Sprinkle with sea salt before they set up. The anise is very mild, and different, so I always make anise flavored caramels. Vanilla would be good too. You can wrap the undipped caramels in squares of waxed paper. I cut sheets about 4" wide, then cut those in 1/3. Wrap diagonally, twist the ends. Super Christmas gift plate filler. This recipe makes about 240 small pieces in a 12x18 pan. It always turns out.

 

Laurie Redfearn

Flourless Fudge Cookies~ from King Arthur Flour

 

makes approx. 16 cookies

 

2 1/4 c powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp espresso powder (I used decaf instant coffee)

1 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed recommended (I used Hersey's Special Dark and Ghirardelli 60% unsweetened)

3 large egg whites

2 tsp gluten free vanilla extract (Pampered Chef confirmed our's is)

 

Preheat oven to 350*.  Lightly grease two baking sheets or line with parchment and grease the parchment

Stir together all of the ingredients until smooth. (It took a bit, but it comes together and is thick)  Scrape bottom and sides of bowl and stir again until smooth.
Drop batter onto sheets in 1 1/2" circles, I use the medium scoop for the larger cookies and the small scoop for the smaller cookies.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cookies look shiny and start to get slight cracks on the tops.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on the pan, I slid the parchment from the stones and allowed to cool on the cooling racks so they didn't get soggy on the bottoms.

 

 

 

 

Double Dark Chocolate Merolt Cookies

 

makes approx. 30 cookies

 

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 c Special Dark cocoa powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

3/4 c granulated sugar

3/4 c packed dark brown sugar (I didn't have dark and they turned out fine)

1 large egg

3/4 c pure vanilla extract

1/2 c merlot

10 oz bag of Ghirardelli 60% cocao bittersweet chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 375*

Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda in bowl; stir and set aside.

In mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add egg, vanilla and merlot, it looks curdled.  Once combined, gradually add in dry ingredients, mixing well after each addition.  Fold in chocolate chips.

I scooped them with the small scoop and placed about 1-2" apart to allow for spreading.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, allow to cool some on the pan before transferring to the cooling rack, they are moist and will break if you do it too soon.

 

***probably best to make this a parent treat, I think the wine cooks out, but I am not sure.  So yummy, I just don't care! :)