Toffee Studded Brownies

My sister's brother in law was mistakenly diagnosed with Celiac recently, and upon discovering that he was mis-diagnosed, they decided to send me all of the special food they bought. I am super grateful, but I'm not sure why they didn't just keep it and eat it. It's not like gluten free specialty food is cheap. And it sure doesn't taste bad. They didn't even make me pay for it, either!

Either way, I was happy to take it and see what I could do with it all. They sent me a Whole Foods Brownie Mix that I wanted to mess around with, and I remembered seeing a Paula Deen Recipe for Symphony Brownies that looked so good! I decided that I would make my own toffee, complete with toasted almond slices to layer in the brownies. What a grand treat!



Toffee Studded Brownies:


So rich and delicious, it's quite obvious why we could only eat one at a time! Scoop some ice cream on top for a nice summertime treat.




Toasted Almond Toffee


1/3 C Water
1 1/4 C Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter (preferably unsalted)
A couple of handfuls of Toasted Sliced Almonds

On medium heat, combine the sugar and water then bring it to a boil. Wash the sides of the pan down with a pastry brush dipped in water to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. Cook until you have reached your desired caramel color. Add in the butter and stir quickly to combine. Please remember that this mixture will be upwards of 300* and will burn you if you are not careful. Mix in the almonds quickly and pour onto a Silpat lined sheet tray. Once cooled, break the toffee into pieces.


Brownies


Follow the directions on the back of the box, or make your favorite homemade brownie recipe. Once the batter is made, grease up a square pyrex dish and line it with parchment paper. This is super important-do not skip the parchment paper!! Pour in half of the batter and smooth it out. Lay the toffee pieces over the batter in an even layer. Make sure to fill all of the empty spots with little toffee bits. Pour the 2nd half of the batter over the toffee and smooth it out. Bake according to the package directions. My brownies needed a little bit longer in the oven to bake through.


Once finished baking, let the brownies cool for a bit. Run a knife around the edges and flip out onto a cooling rack. Pull off the parchment and eat 'em up!


*Make sure when cutting to use a sharp knife to get through the toffee easily.

Not-So-Red Velvet Meringue Cupcakes

The other day was my husband Mark's birthday. One of his favorite cakes is a red velvet cake, so being the loving wife that I am, I decided to make it for him. I decided that it would be nice to make cupcakes instead because, well, I think they are cooler :) Cupcakes are better than full cakes. They are the perfect portion, and you cant argue with that. Cupcakes rock. I pulled all of my mis en place together and made sure to check the ingredients lists for anything questionable. The only item that I was unsure about was the red food coloring. I'm just not down with the Modified Food Starch, so I kicked it out of the recipe...hence the name "Not-So-Red".
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I wanted to make them special and a little bit different; something that he has never had before, so I thought it would be cool to incorporate a meringue disk inside the cupcakes. It's something that I learned in culinary school back in the day, and it is classic in a lot of European tortes to include meringue disks as a layer. Thinking about it a bit more, I decided that instead of splitting each cupcake to add a disk inside, I would use the meringue in place of the cream cheese frosting. I would make meringue "kisses" if you will. It was very simple, I measured the top of the muffin rounds with a corresponding round pastry cutter to find the right size. I then placed the cutter onto my silpat lined baking sheet and spooned the whipped egg whites into the cutter. I pulled the cutter off and used the back of a spoon to kind of mound a 'dollop' shape, or a 'kiss'. I then baked them off in a 200* oven until they dried out.



Once the cupcakes were baked and cooled, I cut the tops off to make a flat surface. I then spread just a bit of raspberry ganache on them, sort of as a glue if you will, and then I placed the meringues on the top. Voila! They turned out beautifully, and so delicious! It made for quite a nice dessert with different textures. Paired up with some ice cream and a few raspberries, it lightens it up quite nicely.

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Not-So-Red Velvet Meringue Cupcakes


CAKE:
2 whole Eggs, room temp
1/2 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 1/4 C Sylvan Border Farms GF All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 C Butter
1 1/2 C Sugar (or Agave/sugar substitute)
1 tsp Vanilla
1 C Buttermilk (or soured milk)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp white Vinegar
1/2 tsp Salt


Preheat the oven to 350*. Sift together the flour, xanthan gum and salt. To make sure there is no lumps, it is very important that you don't skip the sifting part. Cream the butter and sugar together in a separate mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and then each egg, one at a time, until each is incorporated. Turning your mixer on low, add in the cocoa powder. Alternately add in the milk and flour, making sure to end on flour. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar, then add it into the batter. Mix thoroughly.


You will have enough batter to make 24 big cupcakes or 2- 9" cakes. You could also make 12 cupcakes and 1- 9" cake. Whatever combo you want :) The batter will be turbo thick...the vinegar has an effect on the eggs, and it begins to coagulate them fairly quickly, so be patient and work quickly while spooning them into your pans. Bake them for about 30 minutes or so. Depending on your altitude, it could take less or more time. I would check it after 20 or 25 minutes, and watch it after that.

*Cooks Note- If you have red food coloring that you would like to use, just mix a couple Tbsp in with the cocoa powder to make a paste and incorporate it into the batter as directed.



RASPBERRY GANACHE:
-recipe inspired by Ruth Lendrick, off of the Food Network site
1 1/2 # Milk chocolate
1 C Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 C Raspberry Jam

Place the chocolate into a large glass bowl. Bring the cream up to scalding on the stove, while mixing the jam into it. Once scalding, pour the cream/jam mixture over the chocolate. Let it sit there, without stirring for about 3-5 minutes. This is to allow the heat from the cream to melt the chocolate without incorporating air into it, and will create a more glossy and fine appearance to your ganache. Using a rubber scraper (spatula), gently and slowly stir the ganache together. Work in small circles, and do not incorporate air. Refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes,basically until your cupcakes are cooled.


MERINGUE:
4 Egg Whites
6 Tbsp Sugar


Using a mixer, beat the whites and sugar together until medium/stiff peaks are formed. Proceed by following the directions in description above.


*Cooks Note: Humidity will soften your meringues, so it is best to eat these the same day, unless you live in Nevada and it never rains. Then they will last for a few weeks! :)

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Colorado Chocolate Festival

Saturday morning my husband and I made the drive over to my family's house to celebrate Mother's Day. The plan was to make Lemon Lovers' Ricotta Pancakes and Blueberry Sauce for brunch. We hadn't really planned anything after that, and decided to figure it out as we went. I had read about a chocolate festival happening in north Denver that day and had secretly planned to somehow trick everyone into going. ;) It didn't end up being very difficult...everyone was super excited to go! Somehow, I don't think I was the persuasive one...the mention of free chocolate would convince even the most stubborn person!


So after finishing up the dishes for my lovely step mom Rose, we piled into the 'ol family minivan and headed out. In my mind, I was picturing opening the doors to the Denver Merchandise Mart where the festival was held and being overwhelmed with the luscious smell of high quality melted chocolate. For those who have had the experience of entering a high quality chocolate shop where they make their own in house, you know the smell I speak of. Unfortunately that was not the case in this instance. We entered in the double doors and were immediately given free Pop Rock filled candy bars along with our $8 tickets. Well, I wasn't so sure about the 'unspecified starch' contained in these long chocolate nuggets, so I handed it over to my husband who can eat as much unspecified starch as his heart desires. Not only was this conference room filled with chocolate vendors, but there were also other vendors that had nothing to do with chocolate whatsoever. I'm not sure why they were there. It bugged me in fact. I did have to chuckle when I found that Denise Nickerson, the original Violet Beauregard in the old Willy Wonka movie was there signing photos. (Apparently she lives in Denver?)

Now I don't want you, my lovely reader, to think that I was disappointed. Oh no, it was quite lovely! There were plenty of booths with all of the chocolate samples I could want. The only problem was, of course, which ones were GF? Well I fully intended to find out, because there was no way I was going to refrain from eating free chocolate! Below are my findings:

Divine Organics Sacred Cacao
Raw Cacao Brittles
"Divinely decadent healthy chocolate"

This chocolate, sold by Transition Nutrition rocks! I loved it. The lady at the booth presented me with a taste of the raw macadamia nut brittle. I wouldn't necessarily call it a brittle in the sense of the kind that you eat during the holidays: nuts surrounded in a thick, crunchy caramel bed; because they are actually nuts and fruit enrobed in a bar of chocolate. Oh my golly though...I could taste the natural fruitiness and flowery essence that comes naturally when you eat true, minimally processed chocolate. It was a high percentage of pure dark chocolate, and the macadamias added a fabulous flavor. This aint no Hershey's bar!

Next up: Oliver Kita.....

"Buddha would want you to bite the head off so he could laugh from inside your belly" -Cat Stevens









Oliver Kita Fine Confections
"Objects of Desire"

This man's chocolates are sooooooo good! Just one problem. I discovered that the chocolate peanut butter truffle is NOT GF. Nope. I discovered this after the chef, Oliver Kita, told me that they were. No doubt about it, he said. Absolutely. So I ate one. Oh baby. I had never tasted one so delicious. I even went as far as paying $8 for a bag of 6 truffles. They were that good. I am still feeling the effects of the gluten, and I am so disappointed. I took a bite in front of him and stopped mid chew-"what are the crunchies?" I asked. "Oh, that is organic crunchy peanut butter inside. The crunch is the peanuts". So I ate more. I ate another when I got home and thought to myself, "this is not a peanut kind of crunch. This has to have something more". So, I did what any detective would do. I shoved my pinkie in the filling and dug. I knew what I was looking for, and I found it. Pate Fuilletine. Little crunchy goodies that pastry chefs add to candy to add that special crunch without getting soggy. They are comparable to mini corn flakes. I was so mad! What a waste of money. So much for asking the chef.

Next up: Izzybelle Chocolate Sauces.....

Izzybelle Chocolate Sauces
"The taste makes the difference"

Based in Castle Rock CO, Izzybelle is the product of 30 years refinement. And it shows. The sauces come in Original Chocolate, Toffee, Raspberry, Orange, Peppermint and Peanut Butter flavors. I looked through all of their ingredients, and as far as I can tell, they are totally GF. They use natural, organic and local ingredients as much as they can. Truly a delight. Forget Nutella. This is the stuff right here. All natural ingredients, nothing strange on the labels, really, really good stuff.


Well, although of course I tried many, many more chocolates, those were the best. Oliver Kita does use GF chocolate, and if you buy his chocolate Buddha or any other figurines, I'm sure you will not be disappointed! He uses very high quality ingredients, so please don't be deterred from checking out his web site!