Recipes
Chinese Five Spice Fudge Pops
Make these fun and flavorful fudge-pops for any occasion, they are a festive treat! Chinese Five Spice is sweet with fennel and star anise and sassy with cloves and Sichuan pepper. Cinnamon is the fifth ingredient and when you bring it all together with dark chocolate it's a match made in heaven. The base comes together easily on the stovetop and we used small paper cups for the molds. You can decorate with toasted sesame seeds and gold luster dust like we did, but there are so many options! Try chopped peanuts, sprinkles or toasted coconut. Tiny but mighty in flavor, these creamy pops will satisfy your sweet tooth and are fun to make.
Learn more
Baharat Chocolate "Kielbasa"
This recipe was inspired by the chocolate kielbasa in Kachka, a cookbook from the Portland, Oregon restaurant of the same name. We first tried it at a Tom Douglas Cookbook Social and were instantly taken with the unique recipe. Don't be turned off by the unusual name! Think of it as the best fudge you never knew you needed in your life.Of course, we couldn't resist the opportunity to play with the recipe, adding some spices and dried fruit for a bit more texture and flavor. Baharat is one of our most underused blends. It's great as a rub or in stews and tagines, but absolutely sublime in sweet applications pairing especially well with anything chocolate. This is a great recipe to make for holiday giving or for parties. It's easy to make, and you can finish it the day before you need it.
Learn more
Baharat Chewy Molasses Cookies
Molasses cookies are such a treat. Delightfully moist and chewy, there's no other cookie quite like them. You'll find a wide range of recipes for these sweet and spicy snacks, containing ingredients ranging from cocoa powder to orange zest, and all sorts of spices in between!Our humble contribution to the molasses cookie canon features the addition of Baharat. This Middle Eastern blend is traditionally used in savory dishes, but with its warm and sweet spices such as allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom, we wondered how it would be in a cookie. It's wonderful, as it turns out!Alongside its signature seasoning, this recipe adds a bit of Valrhona cocoa powder to deepen the flavor of the cookie. It's definitely a keeper, and too good not to share. Just be sure to make enough, because they'll disappear pretty fast. You can share the recipe, too, since you can really never have too many recipes for a good cookie.
Learn more
Olive Oil and Juniper Brownies
Juniper is a lovely spice, and capable of so much more than it is often given credit for. These aromatic berries are layered with flavor: piney at first, but then giving way to a sweet citrus taste that lingers. It deserves to love in something besides gin. With this in mind, we set out to make a desert that placed this underappreciated spice in center stage.Dark chocolate is a perfect vehicle to showcase juniper's unique flavor profile, and so we decided to feature them in rich, moist brownies. Through trial and error, however, we learned juniper gets much stronger as it cooks. Another addition was needed to balance the spice. We found our answer in olive oil. It's rich and earthy, and will heighten the bitterness of the dark chocolate. The resulting brownies are fabulously out of the ordinary, yet still deeply satisfying.
Learn more
Chocolate Conchas
Conchas hold a special place in my heart. Growing up blocks away from a Mexican bakery, I always looked forward to heading over and picking out a rainbow of sweet breads every Sunday. Conchas get their name, which translates to seashell, from the patterns stamped on the sugary crust. The sugar topping is can be flavored in many different ways, and is often dyed in vibrant colors. These pastries are a labor of love, but are totally worth making fresh. The possibilities for conchas are infinite! In this recipe, we made chocolate conchas, my childhood favorite, using rich and smooth Valrhona cocoa powder. These delicious little pastries are typically dunked in milk, coffee or hot chocolate. For a breakfast treat, try spreading them with sour cream, or use day-old conchas to make great French toast and bread pudding.
Learn more
Chocolate Chili Chess Pie with Liquored Pie Dough
When Heather Earnhardt opened her cafe, The Wandering Goose, in Seattle, she added a little bit of Southern charm and comfort to the city. From her childhood in the South with her close-knit family comes this collection of traditional Southern favorites that makes use of all of the delicious food ingredients available here in the Pacific Northwest. Her specialty is her biscuits - both sweet and savory - as well as traditional Southern fare such as pickles, fried chicken, grits, cakes and this luscious Chocolate Chili Chess Pie with Liquored Pie Dough. This delicious recipe comes from Heather L. Earnhardt's Big Food Big Love: Down Home Southern Cooking Full of Heart of Seattle's Wandering Goose. From the Author: "Chocolate Pecan Pie is one of my favorites, but I wanted a spicy version without nuts. I love the balance of sweet and spicy heat. After your first bite, the chili spice lingers a few moments but is not too overpowering, and the hint of cinnamon adds a nice warmth. Serve this with a big dollop of Whipped Cream. This pie dough will most likely make more than you need, but keep it in the freezer so you can pop it out to defrost and within a few minutes have a homemade crust ready for a sweet or savory pie. You can use a food processor or a stand mixer. If using a stand mixer, just be sure not to over-mix the dough once you add the water or vodka. Use ice water if you don't have vodka, or half vodka and half water if you don't have a lot of vodka."
Learn more
French Macarons
Food is considered by the French to be one of life's greatest pleasures. Béatrice Peltre celebrates that with her beautiful blog and cookbooks. Her latest cookbook, My French Family Table, focuses on everyday foods that you can share with family and friends. She features healthy and creative meals that use whole grains, spices and vibrantly colorful fruits and vegetables. Bonus? They all happen to be gluten-free, too. These French macarons are no exception. Perfect for a gathering or special occasion...or just because you're craving something chocolate, you'll want to make these again and again.From the Author: "While these macarons are not complicated, they do take some time to prepare. You will feel a deep sense of accomplishment when you master them."
Learn more
Frank's Chocolate Cinnamon Cake
Need a chocolate fix? If you can't decide between brownies, cake or fudge, make Frank's Chocolate Cinnamon Cake and enjoy all three. The cake is dense and moist like a brownie, the frosting is like fudge, and the two combine to create the ultimate chocolate cake. Thanks, Frank!
Learn more
Easy DIY: Spiced Hot Fudge Sauce
Want an easy DIY project that you can take from start to finish in under an hour? This is your post. But beware! Once you start gifting this hot fudge sauce you won't be able to stop... my sister has been asking for it every holiday since 2004. Our favorite formulation combines bittersweet chocolate with Kashmiri Garam Masala and uses maple syrup as the sweetener, but you can switch up the spice and sweetener in all kinds of creative combinations. Chinese Five Spice with agave nectar is another one of our favorites. A decadent dose of sweet and spice will make your holiday extra nice. This recipe makes 2 cups, but double up if you want to make more for gifts
Learn more
