Oliver's Cooking Show: Chocolate Strawberry Pops

Oliver's back with his fourth cooking episode! We recorded the footage for this episode last month but didn't get to the editing until this past weekend.

In this episode, Oliver is going to show you how to dip strawberries into melted chocolate. Check out my passionate chef on "Oliver's Cooking Show" here:

                       

You can find his previous shows at the links below:

Episode 1: Peanut Butter

Episode 2: Chocolate Brownies

Episode 3: Fruit Smoothies

Oliver's Cooking Show: Chocolate Brownies

We've completed the second episode of Oliver's Cooking Show! Today, he is going to teach you how to make brownies. Yum!

                       

In case you missed the last one, here's the link to Oliver's first cooking show.

Buckeyes

Andrew's putting in a few extra hours over the next few work days as his company sets up a new office in the Springs. As a thank you to him for all his hard work, I made him one of his favorite treats: buckeyes.

It was my first time using that recipe, and these are the best buckeyes I've ever made. The recipe is a keeper! I sent him an email with this photo, telling him some peanut buttery goodness awaits him for when he gets home tonight:

Pinterest Challenge Day 27: No-Bake Energy Bites

When I read the word "energy" on a food product, I immediately translate it to "calories" because, well, that's what calories are. But let's be honest with ourselves: regular baked goods are high in calories and aren't very nutrient dense. These "energy bites" might be high in calories at about 150 per bite, but they're made with simple ingredients and have a lot of nutrients in them. It's probably better to eat two of these than two "standard" cookies.

So, I decided to give these a whirl:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066129750/

They came out very greasy. They were so greasy that the chocolate chips were too oily to really stick in the balls. Also, they left grease marks on the wax paper I set them on.

Here are all the leftoverchips that were too oily to stick:

The only "oil" used was in the peanut butter, so maybe I used the wrong kind--I used Jif Natural. I like getting protein from the peanut butter, though, so I'm wondering if I reduced the honey (the only other liquid besides the touch of vanilla), maybe the dry ingredients would be able to absorb the oils from the peanut butter better. I think I'll try these again one day (soon, since now I have leftover ground flax and shredded coconut) and cut back on the honey to see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn't, then I'll have to try decreasing the peanut butter or increasing the flax.

Here were the bites I made. I actually got 20, but Oliver sampled 2 as I rolled them out:

Up close, you can see how shiny these bites are from the oil. Check out the glistening chocolate chips:

These tasted good, and they were filling, which I like. On the other hand, they were so greasy that my son left miniature chocolate chips all over the house from where they fell off the energy bites.

Pinterest Challenge Day 19: Grain-Free Mudslide Fudge Cookies

I procrastinated today. At 5pm, which is getting late in our house, I asked my husband to "quick, find me a pin I can whip up tonight!" He chose these five-ingredient, grain-free, mudslide fudge cookies that I'd pinned because we had everything on hand:

http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066214118/

I used raw honey and dark chocolate cocoa powder because that's what was in the house. They were so fast to make. From start to finish, they were done in 10 minutes. I pulled them out of the oven, and they looked beautifully dark:


Oooh, you can just tell how they taste by looking at them, can't you? Dark chocolate lovers, indulge! These came out tasting dark and oh-so-good. My husband commented that they tasted unlike anything he's ever had before and described them as "meringue meets cake."

This is the kind of recipe I'll keep on hand to quick whip up at night to fill a chocolate fix. Plus, they're not so bad for you, right?

Pinterest Challenge Day 15: Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

For Valentine's Day, I decided to make my husband some chocolate-dipped strawberries and put them in the heart-shaped box that I made last week.

I had pinned the strawberries here:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066131976/

But I only followed the recipe loosely because I'd made chocolate-dipped strawberries before. Rather than put the chocolate in a bowl in the saucepan, I just put the chocolate directly in the pan and cooked it over very low heat. Oliver took on the important task of stirring:

Then, we dipped the berries and set them on wax paper:

Later that night, after Oliver went to bed, I zapped a little bit of white chocolate in the microwave to drizzle over the top. Then, I set them in the box like so:

That's it! The next morning, I gave them to Andrew as his Valentine's gift.

Pinterest Challenge Day 8: Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Mousse

I have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to healthier versions of desserts. I love to bake and create with my son, but our house just doesn't need decadent treats around 24/7.

Today, I decided to try another one of the pins (I did one for the first day of this challenge). I chose "Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Mousse." My pin for it is here:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066167007/

I doubled the recipe to use my whole package of silken tofu (yes, using silken is a must!). I tossed the whole package of silken tofu in the food processor and combined it with a splash of soy milk, a teaspoon of vanilla, a teaspoon of cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, and a small scoop of sugar (Oliver did the scoop, and it was a little less than a tablespoon).

We melted a cup and a half of dark chocolate chips on the stove top and blended it in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. It turned out beautifully, and it had the texture of pudding:

Then came the taste test! I'd be lying if I said there was no soy taste to it, but it was surprisingly mild. For example, power bars have a strong metallic taste to them, right? This just had a minor, background flavor of soy that I actually stopped tasting after a few bites (I guess my taste buds adjusted). Overwhelmingly, what I tasted was chocolate, and it was good. Oliver agreed:

I am definitely making this again, no doubt in my mind. My favorite part was how filling it was. You know how you eat a cookie, and then you eat another and another, and you discover you could literally eat the whole package? Yeah, this mousse doesn't do that. I poured 5 servings, and I was full by the end of it. This dessert made me feel satiated, which is a huge plus in my book!

Pinterest Challenge Day 2: Groundhog's Day Dessert

Happy Groundhog's Day! Puxatawney Phil spotted his shadow this morning, which means we're in for six more weeks of winter. The forecast seems to support that, as we're expecting eight inches of snow tomorrow.

In honor of this little holiday, I decided to do this pin for day two of the Pinterest Challenge:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066066367/

Yesterday, Oliver really wanted to use the food processor, so I decided to get a jump on today's pin. We dumped a bunch of Oreos into the food processor and chopped them up. Then, we got busy making pudding (I used Jello-brand chocolate pudding). If you like instant pudding or pudding cups, you can use those, too. I don't like the aftertaste of either of those, so we made pudding on the stove. I let Oliver mix until it started to get hot, and then I took over. I spooned them into three separate bowls, sealed them with plastic wrap, and stuck them in the fridge to wait for today.

Then came the fun part: making the groundhogs. Oliver and I melted chocolate chips in the microwave, and, using toothpicks, we drew two eyes and a nose on each of three Nilla Wafer cookies. Actually, I say three, but that's a lie. Twice, Oliver swiped a face cookie and ate it. That's OK; it gave me more practice. Once I had three, uneated cookies with faces on them, I used the melted chocolate to attach sliced almonds to the top of the "head" to act as the ears. Tada! Instant groundhogs.

Just in case you're thinking my son is a child prodigy, I want to clarify that, no, he did not make actual faces. He enjoyed drawing chocolate lines and dots on the cookies. These groundhog faces were my doing:

I sealed the groundhog Nilla Wafers in plastic wrap. I stuck the chopped up Oreos in a plastic baggie. The pudding was chilling in the fridge. Everything was ready and waiting for today, which made today the easiest "pin day" ever. After dinner, all I had to do was sprinkle Oreo crumbs on the bowls of pudding to look like dirt and stick a groundhog cookie in it to peek up out of the delicious earth.

Here's our final product:

Verdict? Delicious! But, of course, we knew it would be. I'm glad I'm blogging about this pin because it will remind me to do it for years to come. Who knows? Maybe next year, Oliver will be making actual faces on the groundhogs!

Aunt Doris's Chocolate Sheet Cake

My Great Aunt Doris's chocolate sheet cake is famous within our family. Aunt Doris is my dad's mother's sister. I guess that would make her Oliver's great-great aunt. Holy cow!

Her chocolate cake is moist and fluffy, and the frosting is like fudge. She gave me the recipe a few years ago, but I hadn't made it because we never have buttermilk in the house. Yesterday, I went on a mission to the store for buttermilk. Everything went pretty well with the cake, and nothing was too tricky. I did substitute butter for margarine. When I went to heat the frosting, it separated a bit when it boiled, but it smoothed out when I blended it with the powdered sugar. I'm not sure if that's normal, or if it wouldn't have happened if I used margarine.

Keep this recipe on hand for the next time you have a chocolate craving and a lot of people. It makes a whole cookie sheet's worth of cake, so you can easily feed a group.

Aunt Doris's Chocolate Sheet Cake

2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick margarine

1/2 cup cooking oil

4 tbsp (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

Aunt Doris's Chocolate Sheet Cake Icing (recipe to follow)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 10" x 15.25" x 3/4" cookie sheet.

2. Mix together the sugar, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl (or your KitchenAid bowl, if you're using one). Set aside.

3. In a saucepan, bring margarine, oil, cocoa and water to a boil. Mix into the flour mixture and beat. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Beat well. Mix in the buttermilk and baking soda.

4. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes. After cooling, frost with Aunt Doris's chocolate sheet cake icing.

Aunt Doris's Chocolate Sheet Cake Icing

1 stick margarine

4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

1/3 cup milk

1 box (approximately 4 cups) confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

1 tsp vanilla

1. In a sauce pan, bring the margarine, cocoa and milk to a boil. Cool slightly and stir in the confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Beat.

2. Let your toddler lick the disconnected beater paddle.

Oliver Has a Belly!

Although not every day is a success, our Ollie Bear has started eating a lot more over these last two months, and he's finally starting to develop a little baby belly. We love it! Yesterday, he discovered three new favorite foods. They are egg salad, blueberries, and chocolate chips. He couldn't get enough!

As a snack before bed, I then made him toast with peanut butter and a few chocolate chips on top. He wasn't interested in any of it except for the chocolate. I thought it made a cute photo op!

Cupcakes!

Today, Aminta and I made cupcakes!

Our day started at Williams-Sonoma. We came to the store, excited to take their "waffle class." As it turns out, the so-called waffle class was a quick discussion about the new Cuisinart waffle maker, followed by a bite-sized waffle sample. Aminta commented to me later, "We didn't even get dirty!"

OK, so maybe the class was a disappointment. It didn't mean I wouldn't have fun making waffles at home! So I decided to browse their mixes. I've been in the store before when they've offered fun flavors, like pumpkin, but today's selection was a bit disappointing. I could get Belgian waffle mix, chocolate chip waffle mix, or blueberry waffle mix. None of them seemed worth $10. Le sigh.

Waffles were out. Then I saw the Sprinkles cupcake mix Erin (Andy's fiance) had in Des Moines. It suddenly clicked in my head that I'd seen a whole program on Sprinkles cupcakes. Was it on Oprah? Perhaps a show on Food Network? No idea. But I remember seeing an interview with the founder of Sprinkles cupcakes, and I remember seeing how big they were (most people split one!) and heard people rave about their flavor. At that same moment, I remembered telling Toby at work that I would bake a cake for Bruce's birthday on Monday. Surely cupcakes would do. So I bought two types of cupcake mix: red velvet and double chocolate. Yum! I also bought a cute cupcake travel tupperware thing from Macy's. With that, I was set!

Aminta and I spent almost 3 hours baking cupcakes. She's a trooper! In the end, it was definitely worth it. The red velvet (which I remember hearing was their number one seller) wasn't a big hit with me (I attribute that to the fact that I don't like cream cheese), but the chocolate was so, so devilishly good. I "sampled" the ones that broke coming out of the pan, and, let me tell you, it makes me want to break all of them. Delicious. Of course, Aminta and I saved some good ones for ourselves, too. Her mom will get to try a couple, and there'll be a few for Andrew.

So, here's to a good Saturday night, spent baking with a good friend.

Happy weekend, ya'all!