Beachy Delicious

Are you intrigued by this burning donut of a plate?  

I could say something profound right now about how behind every spectacular dessert, there are spectacular burns and spectacular damage, but it wouldn't be true.  

The truth is simply this:  fire + girls + yummy things to cook on fire + things to destroy = severe banana induced burns.  

Shortly after this picture was taken, we poured coke over a towel to save it from burning.  We're smart girls.  =)  And shortly after that, we ate theeessseee burning babies of yum:

They're bananas that we stuffed with chocolate and marshmallow, wrapped in tin foil, and let sit in the embers of our campfire.  Kind of like banana s'mores, only not really.  

Seriously, these were sooo good, and I don't even like bananas.  I think this must be a really common camping dessert, because I remember that we always used to make these on our girl scout camping trips when I was a little girl.  I think they're so much fun to make, just for the fun of wrapping up your dessert, sticking it in a nice fire, and then getting to unwrap it and see what it's become!  And sooo delicious!  I did put a little bit of cinnamon on mine, though... shhh don't tell!

And speaking of cinnamon, allow me to introduce you to my all-time favorite campfire dessert:

It may not look like much, but after one bite, you'll be hooked like a yummy salmon fish.  

Of course, this is another treat from my childhood camping times.  I used to go to summer camp, and at camp we called these Dough Boys and ate them all the time.

It's very simple to make.  You get some pre-made biscuit dough and mold it around the end of a roasting stick so that it won't fall off.  Then you roast it until the outside is mostly crispy and golden-brown.  Think that sounds good?  Here comes the real good part...

Once they come off the fire, you roll them around in butter!!!!

And then you roll them around some more in cinnamon sugar!!!!!!!!!!

And after that you die, because once you have 1, you'll have to have 6, I swear.  

And that is what I did this past Sunday.  The day before our first day of classes was a day at the beach.  I got my first sunburn in ages and I made myself sick on doughboys.  What a perfect start to a semester.  =)

Spicy Sorbet and Goodbye for Now!

I have some really good news, some mildly bad news, and some ridiculously delicious sorbet to share with you today...

Let's start with the good news - in two days, I'll be going to Tokyo where I'll be living for two months to intern at a TV station! Wooohooo!! I'm going to eat so much sushi that I may actually turn into a fish! A cute fish. A salmon, probably. But not for eating.

The mildly bad news is that I won't have a kitchen to bake in while I'm in Japan! Sadface... This means that while I'll probably do a few blog updates about the amazing food in Japan, this blog won't see any of my own baking projects until August.

Sorry to all the people who love desserts... but I promise I will make up for it by sharing some of the amazing Japanese foodage I encounter! And I'll still post my May Daring Baker's challenge on the post date - I've already baked my challenge and set blogger to post it at the appropriate time. Go me!

And now for some deliciousness!!!

It started because I wanted to make something delicious for my mom for mother's day. I ran through a lot of options... and shot down all of them because not only is my mom pretty picky about desserts, she's also lactose intolerant and a health freak. Then I remembered having seen the same thing on multiple blogs a while back - a few people all raving about dark chocolate sorbet. And when I say raving, I mean raving - Joy the Baker even said she wanted to bathe in hers! And then I thought about the sweet things that I know my mom really loves, and realized that two of her favorite things ever are any kind of fresh fruit and good dark chocolate.

So I went and bought a ton of fresh fruit, and then raided our chocolate stash to find that my mom hadn't touched the bar of spicy chili and cinnamon dark chocolate that I had bought last time I was in town. She proceeded to tell me that I should use it in the sorbet... so I said, "OK!" and the result was magic. I used regular dark chocolate for 3/4 of the chocolate called for in the recipe, and replaced the other 1/4 with the spicy stuff. I ended up with a sorbet that didn't taste spicy, or hot, but that was pleasantly warm. If warm isn't a term that makes sense to you when talking about sorbet... then just trust me that it was perfection. Everything I thought it would be and more. My mom even went so far as to say, "there's nothing better than this!" as she was licking the removable part of the ice cream maker! She especially loved the complexity I got from mixing two different chocolates, and I loved it too!

Here is the recipe I used - its a David Lebovitz recipe and I found it on Chocolate & Zucchini.


Spicy Dark Chocolate Sorbet


1 cup plus 2 tbsp water
1/3 cup packed cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped*
3/4 oz chili and cinnamon spicy dark chocolate, finely chopped*
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
fresh fruit (I used blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and kiwis)
*you can change the ratio of chocolates for a sorbet that is more or less spicy, or you can just use 3 oz of the same chocolate. have fun!


Whisk together the water, cocoa powder, and sugar in a saucepan.
Heat the mixture while continuing to whisk.
Once it comes to a boil, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate.
Add the vanilla and salt.
Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Let cool, and then refrigerate until chilled.
Whisk the mixture once more right before using, and then churn using your ice cream maker.
Once the sorbet is ready, serve with the fresh fruit and enjoy!
=)




And with that, Allison's kitchen says "Bye for now, and I'll see you again in August!"


But don't worry, I'll still be around, even if my kitchen isn't. And don't forget to check back on May 28th for my Daring Baker's challenge!

Daring Bakers - Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

March brought me my second challenge as a Daring Baker... in the form of CAKE!

Ahahaha I heart cake. And we were allowed to make a ton of modifications with regards to flavor and such - fun times. The original recipe was a lemon flavored cake with lemon flavored buttercream and raspberry jam. Many of the Daring Bakers chose to make the recipe as it was written, and all of their cakes looked delicious, so I'm sure I'll try it that way sometime in the future.

But when I made the cake, I had a ton of blueberries lying around and no raspberry jam! I actually consume a pretty inhuman amount of raspberry jam daily, so naturally my jar was nearing empty on cake baking day... So, out came the blueberries. And because there were blueberries, I really just couldn't resist adding cinnamon.

Well, it doesn't look much like any of the refined, beautiful party cakes that the other Daring Bakers made... First, I didn't exactly have a 'party' to bake for, so I halved the recipe. Hence, 2 layers instead of 4. Also, I kind of ran out of buttercream (next time I'll make a double recipe) halfway through. But, when you have as much blueberry amazingness as I did, who needs frosting on top of a cake? Not me. I just poured and poured and poured with the blueberries. Yum.

Apart from not having enough buttercream, I was pretty impressed with this recipe - the cake was nice and fluffy and was good at soaking up blueberry juice (hehe), and the buttercream was divine (lemony and cinnamon-y oh my!). This turned out to be a nice breakfast cake, actually... yeah, I had some for breakfast 3 mornings in a row. So, next time I have an actual party to bake for, I'm excited to try the unadulterated recipe and see how it turns out! It was a wonderful challenge from a wonderful hostess, Morven! Check out her blog for the recipe!

Chocolate Cinnamon Flourless Cakes

Last night it was -32 C outside... that's really cold.  So cold that I stayed at home all night and was craving something hot and chocolatey.  I love these cakes because that's exactly what they are, except they're much more filling and satisfying than drinking hot chocolate.  They are flourless, so they're good for low-carb eaters (if you can ignore all the sugar), but that's not why I make them.  I like the flourless cakes because they seem, to me, somewhere in between brownies and custard.  I eat them when they are hot and they melt in my mouth like a soft custard would, but they are as dense and rich as a brownie or cake.  To make them even better, I add a ton of cinnamon to the mix - it deepens the flavor of the chocolate, and who doesn't love cinnamon?

So here is the recipe; I adapted it from this one for gluten free flourless chocolate cake.

8 oz chocolate (I used part semisweet chips and part 75% dark)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tbsp cocoa powder

4 eggs

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

3 tsp cinnamon + extra for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 F and butter 10 5 oz. ramekins.  

Chop up the chocolate into small pieces, and combine in a large mixing bowl with the sugars.  Add the boiling water, and whisk until all the chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Add the cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and 3 tsp cinnamon.  Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  

Pour the mixture into the ramekins, filling them up about halfway.  Place on a large baking sheet, making sure that none of the ramekins touch each other and that they are evenly spaced. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  The cakes will more than double in size when they are in the oven, but will deflate once you take them out.  

Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and serve them warm.  Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator,  and reheated in the microwave when ready to eat.