We made Halloween themed chocolate sugar cookies this evening. Damian got to use the new cookie cutters (the silhouette cat and pumpkin) that he got from Grandma Lorie this week. Mostly he ran off with them (he doesn’t quite understand the concept of the cookie cutter) but he was fascinated with the process.

He was also pretty interested in the cup I filled with flour to dust the table before I rolled out the dough. Michael noticed the theft.

An adult would not be nearly as cute getting this messy.

Pumpkins and cats and spiders oh my!

Do you make any special treats this time of year?

My father-in-law came over for dinner last night and I made jambalaya, cornbread and these brownies. Someone asked me for the recipe recently so I thought I would share it with everyone. These are what the pages in my personal recipe binder look like. Michael was amazed that they did not include any orange.

I am working on making it a pdf so you can print it – might have to wait for Michael to walk me through that. Download pdf.

The notes box is to add the things I forget or might later realize about the recipe. The note box on this one says that when the brownies sit overnight the whole wheat bran has a chance to relax and expand, which enhances the flavor even more.

I might start posting more of these if there is an interest.

I am most certainly a chocoholic, it is simply a fact that cannot be denied. There are few things in the food world that I like more then a smooth, silky piece of dark chocolate, though I have no qualms eating a piece of milk chocolate if offered. I am not to keen on nuts in my chocolate, unless we are talking granola bars but that rarely stops be either.

A couple years ago one of my friends found out she had a lactose and casein allergy. Much to her dismay, she could no longer indulge in one of her food loves, chocolate fudge. Being not only a chocoholic but also a fudgaholic I completely felt her pain and strove to find a cure. This is the cure.

Vegan Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/2 cup soy margarine
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
A lot of people say fudge is a really exacting science, with most fudges I agree, but I do not use a candy thermometer with this one, it is not a boiled fudge. I’ve never had any complaints regarding it though.

1. Start by pureeing your avocado. If you have one, use a food processor. I just squish the avocado through a metal sieve using the back of a large spoon (I have a food processor I just hate cleaning it for a task as small as this.) You don’t want any chunks at all in your avocado puree, it should be smooth and creamy.

2. Get the rest of your ingredients together now as well. You don’t want your fudge to scorch while you are digging out more powdered sugar. Sift the cocoa powder and powdered sugar into a large bowl. Only use a wooden spoons to stir fudge, candy cooks at a higher temperatures that can melt cheap plastic. The plastic can also impart a weird flavor on the fudge too. Line a loaf pan with wax paper or tin foil and set aside.

3. In a medium sized heavy saucepan, completely melt margarine over low heat. Don’t let it brown brown. Stir in the avocado.

4. Add cocoa/sugar mixture half a cup at a time. Stir well, until it looks uniformly “wet”. Sometimes I turn the heat up a bit to make this process go faster, keep a really close eye on it if you do this. Once all the cocoa/sugar mixture is added it will be quite thick and it does take some arm strength to get it well stirred.

5. Remove fudge from heat and stir in vanilla extract, let cool until warm and soft to touch. Stir until it starts to loose it’s glossy sheen (but don’t stir past this point of the fudge will be really grainy.) Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and cool complete (a couple hours.)

6. Once firm, slice fudge up and enjoy!

I suppose I am posting this for the benefit of lactose/casein intolerant chocoholics or vegans, or anyone who likes taking weird things to potlucks (like me.) This is one of my favorite fudges, it is a really smooth with lots of rich chocolate flavor (quality cocoa powder is important.) I use real butter when I make it for myself (as I am not lactose intolerant) I still like the avocado in it better then milk. (Maybe because I can convince myself it is healthier this way, omega 3 fatty acids or something.)

Oh, since someone always asks, the cocoa powder completely hides the green avocado, no one would know unless you told them Of course it is generally advisable to make sure the person you are feeding it to is not allergic to avocados…

If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

I adore hot cocoa, any kind will really do but I really adore is homemade cocoa. I have my own recipe but I admit today I just heated up some milk in the microwave and stir in some chocolate syrup. I just finished cleaning the kitchen, I am not quite ready to dirty it up again.

Well it is almost clean…

Do you have that one area in your home (maybe even a couple areas) that you just do not like to clean? It is normally tucked away and easily ignorable until one day you realize it may indeed be a health hazard? You know, like the upstairs toilet that has more rings than you? Not that we talk about that…

I have such a place and I won’t be telling you how long it has been since it was last cleaned, as that is quite incriminating. Nor will I be showing photos, once again, quite incriminating, but that place for me is the microwave. Oh, I keep it looking nice on the outside, but inside, well, those who develop weapons of mass destruction might indeed be impressed.

We do not own one of those microwave cover things and we are bad at covering stuff that we nuke so the splatter has built up. I rarely use the microwave (I use the toaster oven more and I keep that as it has a clear glass front…) so it is easy for me to ignore, that is, until I heated up my milk for cocoa today. I covered my mug, not because of I afraid of overflow, but rather I was afraid of what might get in it. Which is pretty darn gross when you think about it.

Thus the microwave must now be faced, that or I should start eating raw food.

The problem is a lot of the food is pretty stuck on and doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere so, does anyone have any tricks for getting stuck off food out of the inside of the microwave? Preferably a method that does not involve any harsh chemicals?

I fear if I do not clean the microwave soon it may develop sentience and murder me in my sleep. Kind of like Michael’s fridge did when I first moved in with him. (I barely survived that battle…)