Elegance on an Electric Burner

I have a tendency of forgetting the usuals-- things like names, birthdays and anniversaries. Things everybody forgets from time to time. But it's become a real issue since I've been pregnant and my poor husband gets the worst of it. It's now as bad as forgetting my next sentence, what I did last weekend or having the gas turned on in our new apartment.

We managed to endure an entire month in this place without cooking gas, which, at least for my chef-in-training husband, was no easy feat. Personally, I was delighted with the challenge of preparing all my meals without the convenience of heat. But you can only eat so many raw vegetables before you get the urge to kill someone with a carrot. So after about a week, I resorted to a tiny electric burner.

Now we were living luxuriously on pastas, boiled potatoes and soups. Chad still wasn't pleased. He had just started his baking class and reminded me every day just how helpful it would be if he could use the oven. After a few more weeks of blatant reminders and bland foods, I made amends. First, I hassled the folks at the gas company until they finally approved me for gas (I still don't understand why this is such a grueling process-- seriously people, it's cooking gas!) and then I whipped up a batch of no-bake cookies on that itty bitty electric burner for my patient hubby.

Now I realize that we're still technically newlyweds, but not once have I impressed my husband in the kitchen. Like I've said before, I'm barely even allowed in that room when he's home. And when I mentioned the term "no-bake" cookies, he looked utterly confused and severely skeptical. But after one bite (OK, maybe it was more like three), he was a believer-- not in my cooking abilities, mind you, but in this seemingly ridiculous dessert recipe. Oh, and he never brought up the gas issue again.

No-bake cookie recipe
Courtesy of allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups white sugar
* 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup margarine
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 pinch salt
* 3 cups quick cooking oats
* 1/2 cup peanut butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan bring sugar, cocoa, margarine, milk, and salt to a rapid boil for 1 minute.
2. Add quick cooking oats, peanut butter, and vanilla; mix well.
3. Working quickly, drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper, and let cool.

***Note: I recommend using a candy thermometer until it reaches 210/120, as the boil time on these cookies means everything. Too long and you've got dry crumbles, not long enough and you end up with a big pile of chocolate goop.


This article was first published on Examiner.com.
Photo: flickr / fatalysis

Carnivale's complete holiday dessert menu

If it were ever appropriate to describe a place as “sexy,” Carnivale could be compared to the likes of the glamorous Angelina Jolie or perhaps a modern day Marylin Monroe. Yes, if Carnivale were a woman, she would surely be a Hollywood It Girl. And recently, she’s gotten a sweet makeover with a brand new holiday dessert menu, crafted by Executive Chef Mark Mendez.

Carnivale’s complete holiday dessert menu:
Tres leches: Blueberry tres leches cake, blueberry jam, blueberry syrup, basil cream, $7

Flan: Cuban coffee flan, white chocolate cream with Partida reposado tequila, caramel corn, $5

Carnivale ice cream cake: Mango, guava and pistachio ice cream, chocolate ganache, pineapple, raspberry and mint sauces, $8

Brownie: Chocolate brownie, dulce de leche ice cream, $6

Pineapple split: Coconut, chocolate and pineapple ice cream, hot fudge, buñuelos, maraschino cherries, $7

Churros: Spanish fried doughnuts, chocolate and dulce de leche sauces, $6

This article was first published on Examiner.com

One of everything, please: Miniature desserts at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba

I like tapas for a reason. And it's not the eclectic range of Spanish-inspired fare that reels me. Nor is it the span of spices, meats and artisan cheeses that I know I can always count on at a decent tapas joint.

What pulls me to these sharing-friendly spots is the scaled-down portions; when I eat tapas, I know that I can single-handedly down two or three platefuls of food and not have to undo the top button. The small serving size allows me to revel in a little bit of everything, which is especially great given my indecisive nature. There's just no room for entree envy when everything is made for sharing.

My tapas-love grew tenfold after dessert at Lincoln Park's Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. The restaurant's menu ranges in fruity choices like blueberry goat cheese flan, cherry bread pudding and mango sorbet, to more decadent selections like truffle chocolate cake, butterscotch custard cream and a caramel marcona almond tart, $2.75 each.

Never has it been an easy feat choosing from a trailing list of sugar-shackled treats. Typically I'm that girl standing in front of the pastry case with her mouth all agape and brows scrunched in utter disappointment that she can't order one of everything. But at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, I can pick as many bite-sized sweets as I like (the list tops out at 9) without a wince of sweet-tooth shame.

This article was first published on Examiner.com. 

Photo courtesy of brady frequent traveler and eater. 

Bleeding Heart Bakery: DIY cupcakes

Last month I mentioned Bleeding Heart Bakery teacakes at Cafe Avanti and how ridiculously delicious they were. I still haven't had a chance to make it over to Bleeding Heart, but I did get to try one of its vegan cupcakes on Friday night when the punk minded pastry crew partnered up with GOOD Magazine for an event at Salvage One.

Housed within Salvage One's dimly lit, lofty space were plenty of local vendors selling samples of their decidedly green products. A number of them had great things to offer, like the cashew spread and caraway crackers from The Balanced Kitchen and organic juices from Crust. But none could compete with Bleeding Heart's DIY cupcake station. The bakery brought in over 200 of the things and charged guests $2 to decorate their own.

Toppings included vanilla or chocolate (both vegan safe) frosting, homemade marshmallows, carob chips, chocolate-chip cookie crumbs and sprinkles. I grabbed a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and gave it a few hearty spoonfuls of cookie crumbs and carob chips. It was easily one of the best cupcakes I've tried in a while, I even entertained the idea of giving up meat. Thankfully I came back to my senses once my plate was empty.

This article was first published on Examiner.com.

Save room for dessert

All right folks, it's clearly been a while since my last post. But before you get all accusatory, let me provide you with a sugar-fueled link to some of my latest sweet discoveries. These were all written for Examiner.com and there's plenty more to come.

If you're more into instant gratification (this is America, right?) you can get quick updates on my Examiner articles by subscribing (it's super easy, just click 'subscribe' below any of my Examiner posts). And I promise you won't get any nasty spam notifying you about the latest trends in Viagra or discounts on breast implants. Just a lovely little email each time I write something new.

In the meantime, go enjoy some of these local Chicago treats!

Golden Pacific Market

Laura needed fresh mint last night. The girl's been hooked on mojitos since long before her 21st birthday. At this point, it's more of an endearing quirk than it is a routine habit. We went to the Jewel in Andersonville, but they were all out-- this is almost always the case when I need something from Jewel.

Though, I'm probably not at liberty to complain too much, considering the only time I ever stop in is when I'm in desperate need of Greek yogurt and don't feel like making the trek to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. This always tends to happen on a Sunday, when everyone else in Chicago is also, strangely enough, on the hunt for Greek yogurt (the stuff is damn good). Much like my Sunday dairy scavenging, Laura and I left Jewel empty handed.

Before she even had a chance to slam the grocery tyrants, I remembered the little Asian market next door. Actually, Chicago's Golden Pacific Market isn't little at all-- it just looks that way stacked against the big guys. We stopped in and, sure enough, we found some fresh mint sprigs. Some of them were a bit brown at the ends, but hey, they were dirt cheap and still reeked of minty goodness.

While Laura was busy rifling for the freshest herbs, I creeped into the snack aisle and loaded up on a few pre-packaged Asian goodies: dried wasabi peas, chocolate-infused crackers and a milky white chocolate bar (admittedly from Germany, but I needed a fix). Laura grabbed some Kasugai apple flavored gummies, sweet mini crackers and a carbonated lychee beverage. Neither of us spent a dime over $8. Our favorites out of the bunch were the little chocolate nibs that tasted like pocky, but looked like Goldfish crackers, and the heart-shaped apple gummis. Oh, and the mint was good, too.

I Ate My Mail Today

It isn't too often that I'm excited to check the mail. Typically it's just a pile of crap from Comcast informing me of some 'limited time only' deal, coupons to joints that aren't even in reasonable driving distance and the occasional letter from a certain soldier. Nothing to gush over, really.

But for the past week I'd been checking the little steel box with all the enthusiasm of a toddler on Pop Rocks. I even searched the damn thing before and after U.S. Postal Service hours. Why, you ask, was I being such an irrational freak? Simple. Because I knew that at any moment that box would open to a pristine little package containing one of my favorite indulgences; chocolate.

Ah, yes. Chocolate. But not just any chocolate, mind you. This was not Hersheys, Mars, or Cadbury. And it certainly wasn't anything you'd find at the local Jewel, at least not yet. This one is a newcomer to the world of cocoa confections and it's appropriately called Chocolatea by Smile Chocolatiers. Back in March I mentioned my new love for the pistachio and green tea bar by the same company. One of Smile's employees happened to read the post and asked me if I'd like to try another white chocolate concoction, this time with rosemary tea (why, yes I would, thank you).

Upon my seventh visit to the mailbox today, it had finally arrived, all wrapped up in a lovely little package just like the candy of my dreams. Along with the rosemary tea confection was a smaller package containing four scaled-down versions of a few other chocolatea bars. These started with a white chocolate and gradually increased in cacao to 72%. Here's the line-up:

• pistachio green tea (37% cocoa butter)
• wild raspberry tea (37% cacao)
• coconut green tea (64% cacao)
• pomegranate white tea (72% cacao)

In all honesty, the rosemary tea just didn't do it for me. The bar itself was rather fetching, a solid block of pale pink cocoa butter flecked with bits of the flowery herb. I wanted nothing more than to dub this my new favorite treat, but the flavor and texture were off. There wasn't even a hint of white chocolate, and the signature infusion was so subtle that all I really tasted was a hunk of wax. Yes folks, it was kind of like chewing a candle. Perhaps my expectations were too high after the revelation I had after first trying Smile's pistachio green tea bar.

Regardless, the four tiny chocolates that I previously mentioned were nothing short of brilliant. I'm still trying to decide which is my favorite. I'd say it's a serious toss-up between the coconut green tea, which reminded me of a refined mounds bar (without the hard-to-chew middle) and the trendy pomegranate white tea with 72% cacao, because I just can't get enough of the dark stuff.

Eggless Chocolate Cake with Hops

Inspired by a recent NY Times article on the art of baking cakes, I decided to whip up one of my own. It's no secret that I spend most of my free time baking, but rarely do I tackle the ominous cake. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the decadent fluffy stuff-- I just normally prefer to indulge in the treat when I'm at a bakery and someone else has gone through the labor of creaming, sifting, mixing, baking, cooling and frosting the thing.

Cakes are no simple feat. They're temperamental little bastards-- open the oven too soon or tread the kitchen floor too forcefully and there it goes, falling in on itself like a testy soufflé. The fact that my downstairs neighbors crank the bass on their stereo system so high (that I feel like I'm caving in on myself at times) had me just a tad worried that my rigorous efforts to compose the perfect cake would still fall short. Nonetheless, I set my mind on something chocolatey.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my kitchen is not the most well stocked in foodstuffs. It is, however, loaded with all sorts of alcohol. And you can be sure there is always a stick or two of butter in my fridge. I had no sugar, but I did find a canister of flour and a box of unsweetened cocoa powder. Surely I could do something with these ingredients. I've never made anything cakey without eggs, but I knew there were countless recipes for such things. After using the gloriously convenient "ingredient search" on Allrecipes.com, I settled on the aptly titled Eggless Chocolate Cake.

The original recipe calls for a 12 ounce can of cola, something that I never have in my apartment because I can't stand the sickly-sweet beverage. This is where the alcohol comes in. I cracked open a can of Heineken (left over from my father's last visit) and dumped it into the clumpy batter. I've heard tales of successful chocolate stout cakes, but I had no idea how well the cocoa would blend with a pale lager. I was about to find out.

Forty-five minutes of bass-bumping and floor vibrations later, my beer-infused cake had risen! Too anxious to sit through the cooling process, I sliced a sliver from the end and plopped it in my mouth. The first thing I tasted was cocoa, which was suddenly overcome by notes of barley from the beer. The overall flavor was slightly bitter, but that's nothing a slathering of sugar-rich fudge frosting didn't fix. The texture was surprisingly airy, yet moist enough to nix the need for a milk chaser.

I have to say, I was quite impressed with the way it turned out considering the strange mix of ingredients. While it's probably best to stick with Guinness or a similarly dry stout, this pale lager cake is the perfect treat for anyone who loves hops.

Confections of a white chocolate fiend

My friend Phil is obsessed with white chocolate, in fact I think it's safe to say he's an even bigger fan than myself (and I've been known to have a few ravenous binges with the stuff). So whenever we meet up for coffee, we make it a point to scout out a new dessert incorporating this painstakingly sweet confection. Let me just say that Phil and I have met for coffee on an almost weekly basis since I moved to this city in August; together our sugar intake could keep the mills in business for years to come.

One thing I've noticed in our scavenges is that white chocolate has done some serious growing up over the years. These milky chunks, once a mere staple for Easter bunny molds and pretzel coating, are now the shining star in a whole mess of sugary concoctions. Some of our discoveries have left maddening cravings while others, overpowered by stronger flavors, barely made an impression.

Here are a few of our favorites:

• White chocolate peanut butter cheesecake at Panes Bread Cafe
• No further explanation needed.
  
• Raspberry white chocolate peanut butter by PB Loco at Southport Grocery
• This one is like death for me. I can't even keep a jar of plain peanut butter in my apartment-- throw white chocolate into the mix and I'm done for.
  
• Choclatea bar with pistachio and green tea by smile chocolatiers at The Coffee and Tea Exchange
• White chocolate takes the lead here-- disappointing for green tea fans, but that stuff's for drinking anyway.