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Brownie Cake with Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting

August 21, 2012 by 18 Comments

Salty sweet. Salty sweet. Salty sweet. Salty sweet. Salty sweet.

Despite the prevalence of desserts here on Foodie With Family, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I think that is why I’m so picky about my desserts. When I DO want a sweet, I don’t want just any sweet. I want the best.

Oh, hi. I’m high maintenance on desserts. There are certain things that are almost guaranteed to make me happy: dark chocolate, Nutella, and peanut butter or any combination thereof.

During a rare attack of my sweet tooth last week, I turned to one of the fastest ways to satisfy; I made brownies. They weren’t just any brownies, though, oh no. They were THE brownies. The fail-safe, fool-proof, can’t-mess-’em-up brownies I’ve been making for years. I’ll tell you know, they’re cakey. I kind of think of them as brownie cake rather than br-ow-nies. Brownies are, to me, just this side of fudge. And I don’t know what possessed me, but this brownie cake that I’ve made so many times and left plain? I had to go and frost it. Simply had to do it. I was compelled.

Into the stand mixer went butter, Nutella and peanut butter. Because, well, I don’t know. Because I could? Whatever the reason was, I’m awfully glad I did it because I ended up with the fluffiest, Nutella-y-est, peanut buttery-est frosting ever to get licked from the bowl. I grabbed ye olde offset spatula and put an entire batch of the frosting on the big brownie.

Then thought to myself, “EGADS. That is going to be sweet. SALT! I’m going to put salt on it.” A little shower of Maldon sea salt flakes later, I sat down in front of the cutting board and cut off a corner of the now frosted and salted brownie cake to take a bite.

Have you ever had salt with your chocolate? Do you know what it does to you? There is a scientific reason behind why it is do dadburned good. Salt makes your taste buds wake up and take notice of what it rides in on. When you put salt on chocolate, the chocolate tastes more chocolatey. You know that’s a good thing.

I do have one little bit of warning, though. Don’t make this when you’re going to be home alone. Just don’t. Not that I ate too much of this by myself… But hey, if you’re in the neighborhood, maybe you could roll me out to my pilates mat?

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Brownie Cake with Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting

Brownie Cake with Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting

This fool-proof, fail-safe, crowd-pleasing, deep-chocolate brownie cake is topped with fluffy Nutella and peanut butter frosting and then sprinkled with Maldon Sea Salt flakes.

Ingredients

    For the Brownie Cake:
  • 4 ounces (4, 1oz squares) unsweetened baker's chocolate, chopped
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces or 16 tablespoons) butter
  • 2 cups raw sugar (can substitute granulated white sugar if necessary)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • For the Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting:
  • 1 stick (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/3 cup Nutella
  • 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
  • 1 pound (4 cups) powdered sugar
  • 2-4 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • For Serving:
  • Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

Instructions

To Make the Brownie Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with foil and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Unwrap and add the 2 sticks of butter and the chopped chocolate to a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place the pan over very low heat and stir until the butter is melted and the chocolate is almost completely melted. Remove from the heat and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a batter blade (or a mixing bowl in which you can use an electric hand mixer.) Add the sugar and mix on medium until combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, quickly whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add it to the mixer all at once and mix on low just until combined and there are no more dry pockets. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan on the counter two or three times to even it out.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or just until the center is set. Do not overbake! Remove the pan from the oven and let the brownies cool completely in the pan.

Use the foil to help you transfer the brownie cake from the pan to a cutting board. Carefully pull the foil from under the brownie cake.

To Make the Nutella Peanut Butter Frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, blend the softened butter, Nutella, and peanut butter on high until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and start and stop the blender a couple of times to prevent a POOF of powdered sugar from flying into the air. Once you're sure you're in the clear, turn the mixer to high and blend until it is even. Pour 2 of the tablespoons of milk or cream and the vanilla extract while the mixer is running. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix on high again until smooth and fluffy, adding some of the additional milk if necessary.

Frost the cooled brownie cake. Cut into squares and sprinkle with Maldon Sea Salt Flakes -grinding them between your fingers over the frosting- just before serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/21/brownie-cake-with-nutella-peanut-butter-frosting/

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Cakes, Chocolate, Comfort Food, Desserts, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Peanut Butter Cup No Bake Mini Cheesecakes

April 6, 2011 by 13 Comments

I’d like to observe a moment of silence for my waistline.

*Silence punctuated by the sound of chewing. Munch, munch, mmmmmmm…

It’s moments like these that I wonder what I’m doing to you folks: you kind, sweet people who come read my recipes, laugh with me, send me wonderful notes and leave flattering and/or hilarious comments. Then I stop, take another bite of that cheesecake up there, realize that this is so good it needs to be shared with everyone in. the. whole. world and finish this post on a Peanut Butter Cup Mini Cheesecake fueled writing bender.

Very Important Aside: Who was the first person to combine peanut butter and chocolate? They had to be divinely inspired.

 

In a (pea)nutshell, this is one of the best desserts I’ve ever made. Creamy, fluffy, rich, peanut butter filling sandwiched between a chocolate cookie crumb crust and pure, silky chocolate ganache. When you drop the edge of a fork down through the cheesecake, you don’t meet resistance until you reach the crumbly chocolate cookie crust. It’s elegant enough to grace even your most chi-chi dinner party but it’s delicious enough to eat straight out of the pan with a fork, spoon, or crooked fingers. Hubba hubba.

In case you need convincing, these mini-cheesecakes (which can also be made as one large cheesecake if’n you don’t have the same compulsion to buy cute little pans* that I do) freeze beautifully for up to a month. You can eat them straight from the deep-freeze for an ice cream like treat (frozen cheesecake is divi-i-ine), or leave out for thirty minutes prior to serving for a cold, but soft and creamy, dreamy dessert. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the advantages of having a stash of  just such a dessert… Last minute dinner guests? Midnight cravings? Dessert club? Really lousy day? No problem. You have these little servings of heaven in the freezer.

*These pans are mini-tart pans with removable bottoms. That makes extrication of the cheesecakes blessedly simple. Any removable bottom or spring-form pan (either miniature or standard size) will work admirably here. If you don’t have spring form or removable bottom pans, a deep dish pie plate will substitute nicely. All that being said, I like these little tart pans because the fluted edges remind me of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. And I am total sucker for Reese’s.

Glory hallelujah and pass the forks, please.

 

5.0 from 2 reviews

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Peanut Butter Cup No Bake Mini Cheesecakes
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert, Freezer Pleaser
Prep time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 12-24
 

These heavenly, dreamy, mini no-bake cheesecakes come in the classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Easy to make and freeze ahead of time, they can be eaten chilled or frozen.
Ingredients
  • 20 cream filled chocolate wafer cookies (Think Oreos or Newman’s Own)
  • 4 ounces by weight (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 2 (8 ounce) packages Neufchatel Cream Cheese (Commonly labeled ⅓ less fat.), softened to room temperature
  • ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup sugar (use ¾ of a cup if using natural peanut butter)
  • 2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream), divided
  • 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
  • Optional: chopped peanut butter cups and shaved dark chocolate for garnish

Instructions
  1. In a food processor fitted with a blade, pulse the chocolate cookies until they are pulverized to fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until evenly combined. (If you do not have a food processor, put the cookies in a zip-top bag and beat the tar out of them with a rubber mallet, heavy pan or rolling pin, then empty into a bowl and toss the butter in with a fork.)
  2. Arrange 12 removable bottom tart pans or mini springform pans on a platter or pan with an edge and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add 2 packed tablespoons of the cookie crumb mixture to each pan and use your fingers to distribute the crumbs and pack them firmly and evenly against the bottom of the pan. (If using one large pie pan, add enough to cover the bottom of the pan and pack down firmly.) Put the crusts in the refrigerator to firm up while you work on the filling.
  3. Use an electric or stand-mixer to blend the cream cheese on HIGH until smooth and creamy. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the peanut butter and mix again, on HIGH, until even and smooth.
  4. Add 1 cup of the heavy cream, blending on HIGH until slightly thickened.
  5. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides, add the sugar and mix on HIGH until quite thick.
  6. Divide the filling evenly between the pans and smooth the tops. Put the platter or pan into the refrigerator for 20 minutes while you work on the ganache topping.
  7. Put the chopped chocolate into a microwave safe bowl with the remaining cup of cream and microwave on HIGH for one minute and thirty seconds, watching to make sure the cream does not boil over.
  8. After heating, allow the bowl to rest in the microwave, keeping the door closed, for 5 minutes.
  9. When the 5 minutes are up, remove the bowl and whisk slowly in one direction until even, smooth, and glossy. You’re going to think at first that I’ve lied to you. It’ll look splotchy and gross and curdled. Stick with it, though, it’ll get there.
  10. Let the ganache rest on the counter for 5 minutes then spoon over the chilled cheesecakes. Smooth the tops and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
  11. You can either serve them or freeze them once chilled.

Notes
These little lovelies are rich! One mini cheesecake can easily be split in half for those who prefer a lighter dessert. They can be served chilled or directly from frozen for a more ice-cream like dessert. Either way is delicious. If you’d prefer them thawed, just set out on the counter-top for 10-30 minutes before serving.

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Filed Under: Chocolate, Desserts, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Nana’s Spanish Style Hot Chocolate (Hot Chocolate Pudding)

January 28, 2011 by 23 Comments

My Mom -known around these parts as Nana- does a lot of things very well.  She remembers the name of just about everyone she’s ever met, plays a mean piano and a killer game of chess, makes stupendous lumpia, and always delivers a hug right when you need one (even if you don’t know you need one…)

And Nana isn’t your average, ordinary Nana… To hear her grandkids tell it, she’s a bit magical.  She talks to her garden, creek stomps, climbs trees, fixes boo-boos, spins fantastic tales, rides her bike down dirt roads at warp speed wearing a long skirt, engineers popcorn explosions, walks barefooted in the snow, drinks full-caffeine espresso as a nightcap, wrestles like a pro and cuddles better than a dog*.

*That last one comes from my fourth born.  Believe you me, from my boy that is a monstrously huge compliment.

Nana also makes the world’s best hot chocolate. Oh, her hot chocolate. Oh, yeah. After a hard day of hopping through snowy fields like rabbits and swinging from icy branches there is nothing quite like Nana’s Spanish Style Hot Chocolate to warm you down to your toes.  Nana’s hot chocolate is like warm velvet; It’s thick, rich, smooth, and sticks to your lips like pudding.  It’s not too sweet.  It’s the bees-knees*.

*Incidentally, even the bees are happy at Nana’s house.  When they wander in, she gets a clean mason jar and gently returns them to their native habitat.

Nana makes hers thick, but drinkable, very much like the hot chocolate served with churros in Spain or in Italy or France.  Sometimes, though, when the muse strikes, I thicken it up to the point where it’s strictly spoon-fare.  When I go that far, I almost always gild the lily, as I am wont to do, and top with chocolate shavings or ground cinnamon.

Hot chocolate pudding.  Can you imagine something more decadent? (Well, if you accidentally splashed a thimbleful of dark rum or brandy over the top, that might be more indulgent.) Once you have this under your belt, you never have to worry about what you’ll make for dessert. I regularly bust this out after dinner with friends, sledding parties, and necessary moments*.

*I have my necessary moments; Everyone does.  I mean the moments when only chocolate stands between you and googly eyes and head-spinning and pea soup spewing.

When Nana wrote down the recipe for her hot chocolate for her grandboys, she included this instruction, “Think of Nana and warm hugs (and the icy creek!)” … And look out, ’cause Nana’s coming at you with a big, warm hug and she just might ask you to climb a tree.

Nana’s Spanish Style Hot Chocolate (Hot Chocolate Pudding)

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2-4 tablespoons sugar, or more, depending on sweet you like it (I prefer raw sugar for the caramel-like flavor it imparts here.)
  • 4 tablespoons good quality Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 2-4 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch (use less for a more drinkable product and more for a thick, pudding-like finish.)

Optional, for garnish:

  • Whipped Cream
  • Shaved Chocolate
  • Cinnamon Sugar
  • Graham Crackers, Waffles, or Pretzels for dipping

Whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder and arrowroot powder or cornstarch in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan.  Take care to smash any lumps.  Whisk the milk into the powder.  The powder will not dissolve in the milk, so don’t worry.  The goal is to simply to mix it at this point. Place the pan over a medium flame or heat and whisk constantly. Watch for the following changes.  First, the powder will dissolve and it will begin to look like chocolate milk.  Next, the mixture will darken and begin to thicken slightly; Take care to scrape the whisk across the bottom and sides at this point to prevent scorching. Finally, the mixture will become very bubbly and thick. When it reaches this point, remove the pot from the burner immediately.

Spoon or ladle immediately into serving dishes.  Garnish as desired.

4.0 from 1 reviews

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Nana’s Spanish Style Hot Chocolate (Hot Chocolate Pudding)
Author: 
Recipe type: dessert, breakfast, snack
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 2
 

Thick, creamy, spoonable hot chocolate like that served with churros in Spain. It’s very like a hot chocolate pudding. Whatever you call it it is delicious.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2-4 tablespoons sugar, or more, depending on sweet you like it (I prefer raw sugar for the caramel-like flavor it imparts here.)
  • 4 tablespoons good quality Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 2-4 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch (use less for a more drinkable product and more for a thick, pudding-like finish.)
  • Optional, for garnish:
  • Whipped Cream
  • Shaved Chocolate
  • Cinnamon Sugar
  • Graham Crackers or Pretzels for dipping

Instructions
  1. Whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder and arrowroot powder or cornstarch in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan. Take care to smash any lumps. Whisk the milk into the powder. The powder will not dissolve in the milk, so don’t worry. The goal is to simply to mix it at this point. Place the pan over a medium flame or heat and whisk constantly. Watch for the following changes. First, the powder will dissolve and it will begin to look like chocolate milk. Next, the mixture will darken and begin to thicken slightly; Take care to scrape the whisk across the bottom and sides at this point to prevent scorching. Finally, the mixture will become very bubbly and thick. When it reaches this point, remove the pot from the burner immediately.
  2. Spoon or ladle immediately into serving dishes. Garnish as desired.

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Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Chocolate, Desserts, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers and S’Mores Bars

June 16, 2010 by 7 Comments

Oftentimes, the ordinary things are the ones that bring the most pleasure; a cool breeze on a hot day, sitting quietly next to your kids on the couch, studying puffy white clouds in a cerulean sky, eating the first sun-warmed berry of the season or curling up to sleep at night between cool, clean sheets. And there are the blissful moments when simply ordinary is elevated just a bit; not so far that it’s ostentatious- only enough to gently nudge it into the realm of extraordinary.  Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers are one of those.

Most of us were raised with graham crackers as a staple of the snack table.  Brown, sweet and homey, graham crackers are an ordinary pleasure.  But dipped in chocolate, graham crackers glide into sublime territory. The transformation from plain Jane graham cracker to velvety chocolate-enrobed cookie is nothing less than magical. It goes from nursery food to party food.  If you lay a plate full of these out at the dessert table at a party I guarantee an empty, crumb-free plate within nanoseconds.

There are two real and present dangers with Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers.

  1. The danger of total paralysis in trying to decide just how much of that blasted cracker to cover with chocolate.  Do you carefully coat one side?  Dunk one end and leave a ‘chocolate-free zone’ for grasping with the thumb and forefinger? Drizzle melted chocolate artfully over the top?  Dip marshmallows in chocolate and stick to the graham crackers a la s’mores? Go all the way and submerge the entire cracker in chocolate?  It’s worse than deciding what to wear the first day of school!
  2. The danger of dunking an entire box of graham crackers in chocolate and eating it alone in the closet.

I combat the first threat this way.

In the name of all that is good and true, why would you only do it one way?  Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, it has been said. Go wild.

And I combat the second temptation by succumbing to it.  Minus the closet.  Now don’t worry;  I share with the kids.  But they’re smaller than I am and I eat faster than they do.  Score.  They’re little, though, so I’m sure they’re low in calories.  Besides, real graham crackers are made with whole grains.  That makes this healthy*.

*Shhhhhh.  I know most graham crackers are not made with whole grains today.  Don’t intrude on my delusions.

I know I could’ve simply melted chocolate and dunked the crackers, but I went one step further; I added coconut oil to my chocolate when I melted it.  I had a couple reasons for this seemingly heretical act.  I wanted to make the chocolate a little easier to bite into after it set up and I wanted the chocolate to melt on my fingers so I could lick it off.  It’s the little things in life…* 

*Feel free to omit the coconut oil from the recipe when making this.

Oh!  And lest I forget, do come back tomorrow.  You might want to try what I did with these later.  I’ll give you a hint.

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers and S’mores Bars

Ingredients:

  • 2 sleeves of graham crackers, broken into quarters along the scored lines
  • 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate,  chips or (finely chopped) bars
  • 2 Tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil or unsalted butter
  • Optional: For s’mores bars, one large marshmallow per graham cracker piece

Place chocolate and coconut oil or butter into a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high heat for 1 minute.  Remove bowl and stir with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon.  Microwave in additional 10 second increments, stirring well after each time, until the chocolate and oil are completely melted, combined and smooth.

Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside.  Here’s how you gild those lilies.

For half-covered crackers:

  • Use the thumb and forefinger to grab the end of a graham cracker piece.  Dunk the free end into the chocolate and use a spoon to bathe chocolate as far up the cookie as you would like to go.  Let the excess chocolate drip away and place on the parchment lined pan.

For drizzled crackers:

  • Carefully drop a cracker flat onto the surface of the melted chocolate.  Use two forks to lift the cracker from the chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip away.  Transfer to the parchment lined pan.  Use a spoon to drizzle more melted chocolate in patterns over the uncovered surface of the cracker.

For fully covered crackers:

  • Drop a cracker piece into the melted chocolate.  Use two forks to turn the cracker in the chocolate, making sure all surfaces are covered.  Use the forks to lift the cracker from the chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip away.  Transfer to the parchment lined pan.

For s’more bars:

  • Carefully drop a cracker flat onto the surface of the melted chocolate.  Use two forks to lift the cracker from the chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip away.  Transfer to the parchment lined pan.  Cut each marshmallow in half.  Kitchen shears are the quickest way to do this job.  Dunk the cut sides of the marshmallow into the chocolate, lift and let excess chocolate drip away.  Position the marshmallow halves chocolate side down on the cracker pieces.  Leave as is, or use a spoon to drizzle chocolate over the marshmallows and crackers.

Important!: Place pan in the freezer to set up the chocolate. Eat with child-like abandon!

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Cookies, Desserts, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Deep, Dark Chocolate Truffle Brownie Bites: Foodie Gift #10

December 11, 2008 by 1 Comment

It is only fair to warn you that if you give these as gifts or take these to cookie exchanges that you will most likely be expected to repeat the performance every year thereafter.  I’ve been making these for a couple years now.  I have a friend, who shall remain unnamed, who hosted a cookie swap last year.  While dividing all the goodies up among plates for the friends and neighbors in attendance she slipped a few from other people’s plates onto her own accidentally-on-purpose.  She suggested that I tempted her into the behavior by bringing these.  Hmm.  Maybe you shouldn’t make these for people.  It turns them into animals.

 

If you do decide to take your friends morality and trustworthiness into your own hands, you’ll please all your serious chocolate lovers with the Deep, Dark Chocolate Truffle Brownie Bites.  You can make the truffle filling as decadent as you wish.  For the batch in these photos, I used 60% Cacao dark chocolate.  If your tastes range more toward the semi-sweet variety, feel free to use that!  Since we all know that one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations is orange and chocolate, I garnished my little beauties with fresh orange zest.  Of course, the possibilities for garnish are nearly endless; fresh raspberries, maraschino cherries, a whole toasted hazelnut, slivered almonds, etc…  Go wild.  Go crazy.  Have fun.  And when you’ve locked yourself in the bathroom to sneak-eat the last one without the kids noticing I promise I won’t judge.

Deep, Dark Chocolate Truffle Brownie Bites:  Foodie Gift #10

 

Truffle Brownie Bites

(Recipe was received years ago at a Pampered Chef party)

Ingredients:

  • Nonstick cooking spray with flour
  • 1 2/3 cups semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, divided
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup heavy (whipipng cream)

Garnish (orange zest, maraschino cherries, chopped toasted nuts, etc…)

Preheat oven to 325° F. Spray mini-muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray.

Place 2/3 of a cup of chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe mixing bowl. Microwave on high for 60 seconds. Stir and microwave again for 15 second intervals, stirring after each, until chocolate is smooth. Add sugar and egg and mix well.

Add flour to chocolate mixture and stir just until blended.

Use two teaspoons (or a small cookie scoop) to divide the batter evenly between 24 mini muffin wells. Gently press batter down until level. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set up. Take care not to overbake.

While brownies are baking, pour cream into another clean microwave safe container and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes or until cream is hot. Put remaining chocolate chips in a medium size mixing bowl. Pour hot cream over chocolate chips and whisk until smooth. Place bowl in the freezer for 10-12 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until ganache starts to thicken. Spoon ganache into a zipper plastic bag.

Remove brownie pan from oven. Cool for 2 minutes. Press tops of brownies down (with a tart shaper if available, or the back of a spoon if necessary) Cool in pan 3 more minutes. Carefully remove the brownies to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely to room temperature.

Snip the tip of a corner of the bag full of ganache. Squeeze the bag to pipe the ganache into the wells of the brownies and garnish as desired.

Filed Under: Desserts, Gifts, Instructional, Rebecca, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , ,

Roasted Crickets

June 17, 2008 by 2 Comments

…That is what my kids told me yesterday when asking whether I could help them roast crickets and then dip them in chocolate.  That is what I get for allowing them to read books about survival skills. 

 

I have 9 crickets chilling, literally, in my fridge in preparation to roast them.  Mmm hmm.  I said I’m going to roast crickets.  If you read yesterday’s post (and she smacks her forehead!) you will see how this all came about.  I’m a little too disgusted with myself to go into the whole thing again.  So the big debate is whether the boys should have them salty or, as Ty- the originator of the idea- suggests, dipped in dark chocolate.  I don’t care. 

 

I tried talking to my sister for moral support.  She was no help.  She was excited.  I think she has latent hostility toward me for all those times I stuck my pointy elbow in her ribs.

 

Me (whining):  “I can’t believe I promised Ty I would help him roast crickets.”

 

Jessie:  “That’s awesome!  I think I saw a children’s book about cooking with insects.  Maybe you could get it from the library to reinforce the lesson.”

 

Me:  “What lesson?  The lesson that I shouldn’t ‘promise’ to roast crickets?  I got that one down already.”

 

Jessie: “No.  I mean it’s really neat!  There are people all over the world who eat insects.  This is a great lesson.”

 

Me:  “Well then, why don’t you come over and help them and then you can eat some?”

 

Jessie: “I’m a vegetarian.”

 

Me:  “Lame excuse.”

 

Not shockingly, none of my cookbooks had advice on how to do this.  Survivorman skewered the live buggies and roasted them over an open flame.  I’m not skewering live crickets.  After googling, “How to roast crickets”, unsurprisingly the choices were few.  Here’s the “recipe” I found. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gross out foods, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

(And she smacks her forehead!)

June 16, 2008 by 1 Comment

Aidan, age 8, and Ty, age 6,  came flying through the door while I was preparing tonight’s deja food masterpiece.  Aidan, tightly grasping two cups with the open ends pushed together yelled, “Ty just had the BEST idea for dessert tonight, Mom.  Tell her Ty!”

 

At this point I expected them to show me some wild strawberries from the driveway.

 

Ty exuberantly shouted, “Roast crickets dipped in dark chocolate.  I would’ve said milk chocolate, but I know you like dark chocolate better, Mom.”

 

Well, yes, but, ummmm… Where to go with this one?  

 

He opened up the cups and, sure enough, showed me 4 large crickets he had “chose ’cause they looked good and meaty.”

 

I feel the need to interrupt myself here to make clear that we don’t eat insects around these parts.  Food prices are high, but they’re not that high.

 

I tried to take the path of least resistance and explain that I wasn’t prepared to roast crickets tonight and I had dinner all ready to go.  We just wouldn’t have time.    It worked.  Ty was morose, but he took the crickets out the side door and released the things.  He came back in the house, washed his hands, took one look at my prepared dinner and promptly refused to eat.

 

Another interruption:  The kid who wanted roasted crickets with dark (or milk) chocolate refused a meal comprised of things he had loved the day before. 

 

I tried to strong-arm him.  “Eat your dinner!”   Nope.

 

I tried to coax him.  “Hey!  Your brothers are eating it and they seem to like it!”  Nothing doing.

 

I tried reasoning with him.  “You know, this food is all stuff you liked just yesterday.  Not only that, but it is chock-a-block with nutrients and vitamins that you need in order to get big enough to bully your brothers.  You do want that, don’t you?”  Negatory.

 

I cannot believe what came out of my mouth next.  I actually clamped my hand over my own mouth as soon as I heard myself say it. 

 

“If you eat it I’ll roast you some crickets tomorrow night.”

 

Argh!  What did I just do?  He picked up the bowl and shoveled the stuff into his mouth with a delighted look.   He ate his dinner in record time and proceeded to regale me with cricket nutritional information while I tried to choke back mine. 

 

“Crickets are full of protein, Mom.”

 

“I think they’re probably good with calcium, too, Mom. Not sure, though, but they ought to be crunchy!”

 

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

That’s what I get for trying to negotiate over the dinner table. 

 

Whimper.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Gross out foods, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca Tagged With: , , , , ,