Foodalution

Strawberry Blonde Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

2012-02-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

Strawberry Lemonade Cake

I love my mother, I love my niece. One blonde, one strawberry blonde. Together, they are an amazing combination of laughs, beauty and bliss! Too blown out on chocolate from the Valentines chocolate-a-thon, I opted for making the birthday gals something lighter, more tart and summery. I was hoping to channel warmer weather and sun. Did it work....no. Did the cake taste summery, yes. Does the mascarpone frosting taste just like homemade strawberry ice cream, yes. If you leave this page with anything, take the frosting recipe with you.

Strawberry puree and lemon curd make a delicious pink filling.

Strawberry blond lemonade cake with strawberry mascarpone frosting. A great cake for the three year old and the 63 year old. Aha ~ The all ages cake! We are lucky enough to have a dairy farm close by that produces some the the sweetest, creamiest, most delicious mascarpone cheese that you will ever set your taste buds on. Crave Brothers mascarpone cheese is decadent beyond belief and pairing it with sugar, more heavy cream plus homemade strawberry puree is simply a stellar combination. If interested in trying out some of their delicious mascarpone cheese, you can purchase it here -online.

strawberry lemonade cake with lemon curd, strawberry puree and fresh strawberries

As it turned out, the 3 year wanted nothing to do with the actual cake, just the frosting. I would too if I looked like this and my parents let me hop myself up on sweets......We piped six more rosettes onto her plate and she scooped them up like ice cream. The sixty-three year old birthday grandmother, ate the cake, frosting and then more cake!

Boo! I'm 3 and cute and love frosting!

The cake.

Strawberry Lemonade Cake with Strawberry Mascarpone Frosting - aka. the Strawberry Blonde

Strawberry Puree:

1, 12 oz bag of frozen strawberries

1/3 cup sugar, plus 2 heaping TBS

Place strawberries in small sauce pan with the sugar. Let the strawberries and sugar cook for about 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken a bit.

Place mixture in blender. Puree the berries. Scrape out into bowl, let cool in the refrigerator. You should have around 1 cup of puree or a touch less. If mixture is too runny, reheat until thick.

Lemon Cake: Your cake choice is up to you, I chose a buttermilk lemon cake that I found off of epicurious. I found it a bit heavy and next time would go for a lighter cake. The cake was better after it had a day to sit and soak up the strawberry puree and lemon curd. You may even want to do a really light cake made with loads of egg whites. This would give you a nice sponge for soaking up the puree and lemon curd.

Lemon Buttermilk Cake - from Epicurious

1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
3 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Grease and flour 2, 9" cake pans. Line with parchment and grease and flour again. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Beat sugar, butter and lemon peel in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon juice. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to racks and cool 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely.

Or.... for a lighter cake - Check out another post of mine and use this cake recipe.

Lemon Curd: I use Tiptree Lemoncurd - it is delicious, natural and saves you the hassle of making your own.

Stawberries: 1 quart organic strawberries - washed, dried and cut into nice slices as shown above.

Strawberry Mascarpone Frosting:

2 cups organic heavy whipping cream - Organic Valley Preferred

3/4 cup organic sugar

2, 8oz tubs of Crave Brothers Mascarpone Cheese

Leftover Strawberry puree (you will have leftover puree from brushing it onto the layers)

Whip sugar and heavy cream until you have nice firm peaks. Do not over-beat, you do not want to end up with butter. However, you want your cream to hold up to the cheese that you will be adding. Add in the mascarpone cheese to the heavy cream, whip more until the cream is fully incorporated. Scrape out the frosting and put into a medium sized bowl. With a wire whisk, add in the leftover strawberry puree and whisk into the frosting until fully combined.

Putting the cake together: This is my favorite part. After you work so hard on making the cake just so, and you have all of your other ingredients at the ready, you become the artist and put this beautiful cake together.

1) Slice your cake layers in half. With a pastry brush, brush strawberry puree over the first cake layer, keeping a 1 cm. edge free from the puree. Let puree soak in a bit and brush more on.
2) Spread lemon curd on top of puree. About 1/4 cup each layer.
3) Layer cut strawberries on top of lemon curd. Careful not to place too close to edge of cake.
4) Top with next cake layer. Repeat process.
5) Place dowels in cake so the layers do not slide around. I use three. You can cut them to size or use longer ones and then take out before presenting the cake and refrost over the area. This is an important step as nobody wants their cake layers to slide around... possibly off the plate and onto the floor.
6) Frost your cake with your delicious strawberry mascarpone frosting. Refrigerate until serving.

Strawberry mascarpone frosting

Getting ready for the big birthday song and dance!

and yum...

Enjoy! Love and kisses and strawberry blonde cake.....megan

P.S... What's new?
1) Valentine's Chocolates were amazing. Crazy busy, but amazing. Thank you to those who purchased and enjoyed the chocolates! Makes me so happy to know that people are enjoying them! Chocolates shipped out to west coast and east coast! I can now make in 3 days what it used to take me over a week to make. Practice, practice, practice.
2) Ecuador chocolate internship is shaping up and closer every day. Slowly collecting the gear I will need.
3) Working on a new kitchen space and business plan. (yeah)
4) Went back to my favorite 26 poses in yoga! The return of hot-yoga to my life. Yes... sizzle sizzle!!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rocky Road Candy Bars

2012-01-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

Celebrating life by watching a symphony with your mother and sister is a joy. So is eating one of these little gems. Listening to the cymbals crash and then slowly become muted on the black woolen suit coat lapels of the man playing them is quite sensual. So is eating one of these. You are caught, simply transfixed. You wait for him to hit the next note, just so you can see him hold the brass cymbals close to his chest and muffle the vibrations yet again. The audience holds their noisy a-hems and coughs for the musical breaks while the conductor takes a moment of rest. Such a good silence too as you wait for the oboe to play, by itself, while the violins whisper softly underneath. Smiling at all the beautiful people, and at the one who catches your eye, more than once. High heels, polished faces, coiffed hair, loafers and the color of conservative navy floats through the audience. Not me, I am black silk knit dress with gold speckled nylons, hem stitched leather pumps and an ebony sequined fitted jacket. Not so quiet I am, giggling with my sister at the little things, nauseated by the heady cologne the gentleman next to me is wearing. Worried I will be thrown out because of my silent and shaky fits of hysteria. We snicker, I smile and close my eyes, and wait for the silence in between the notes. It is music. Alive. Breathing. Fast, furious, gentle, cloudy, moody, genuine.

Below is a tangled hot mess of chocolate, cocoa butter, peanut butter, salt, peanuts and marshmallows. yum. enjoy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rocky Road Candy Bars - Andrew Garrison Shotts

Peanut Butter Ganache:

9.5 ounces or 1 cup plus 2 tablesppons creamy salted peanut butter

4 and 3/4 ounces, 38% milk chocolate - melted and cooled to 88 degrees F.

1 and 3/4 ounces cocoa butter (melted and cooled to 88 degrees along with the milk chocolate)

Pinch of Kosher Salt

Graham cracker layer:

1 and 1/4 ounce or 1/3 cup peanut butter ganache

1 and 1/4 ounces or 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

Peanut butter-marshmallow layer:

7 oz or 4 and 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

5 oz Spanish Peanuts, toasted/roasted

For the foot:

5 and 1/4 ounce, 64% bittersweet chocolate, melted and tempered

1) Line an 8"x8" pan with tinfoil.

2) To make the ganache: Combine the peanut butter and the melted milk chocolate and melted cocoa butter and salt in a small bowl.

3) To make the graham cracker layer: Measure out 1 and 1/4 ounces or 1/3 cup of peanut butter ganache and mix with the graham cracker crumbs. Stir well. Pour into prepared pan. Spread evenly into the pan, you can use an offset spatula or your fingers if needed. Set aside while you prepare the next layer.

4) To make the peanut butter-marshmallow layer: Combine the remaining peanut butter ganache, marshmallows and the peanuts. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated. Pour on the graham cracker layer. Smooth out, pushing lightly with a spatula to remove any trapped air bubbles. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set. Remove from refrigerator and flip the candy slab out onto some parchment paper and peel off the tinfoil.The graham cracker layer should is now bottom side up.

5) Take your melted and tempered chocolate for the foot, spread it over the graham cracker layer using a small offset spatula. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

6) To cut into pieces: Remove candy bar from freezer and gently flip onto parchment paper-lined cutting board. Let candy bar sit at room temp. for 30 minutes before cutting using a sharp, non-serrated knife. Trim up the sides. Cut down the middle. Separate the two halves and cut each into 1" x 3/4 inch long bars. Drizzle with more tempered chocolate if desired.

dreaming of cymbals, the symphony and this hot mess of peanut butter chocolate rocky road bliss...

P.S. It's official, I am heading to Ecuador in June for a month long chocolate internship with

Mindo Chocolates.

Chocolate Raspberry Cardamom Truffles

2012-01-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

A very fine chocolate indeed.

I can't give away the secret recipe.... then it wouldn't be a secret anymore.

The red juicy raspberries, the dark velvety chocolate, and the earthy cardamom make for a very seductive chocolate.

Trial run was a great success. More chocolates coming soon......

xoxo chocolate and bliss... megan

Wordless Wednesday - Smile

2012-01-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Caramel Cake with Hickory Nut Pralines

2011-12-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

1) M.I.A.... Yes, I have been gone since November. You haven't seen me. I haven't seen you either. I have been in the throws of chocolate making. I have had nightmares about filling chocolate orders and midnight panics that my chocolate was over-seeded and not coating my fillings properly.

2) November really depressed me. It was hard to be inspired about making delicious food when you feel -meh- about everything. Sometimes when you are feeling really down, you want to give up on everything. I had a few days there where I even wanted to give up on chocolate making.

3) I moved out into some sunshine for some needed Vitamin D and just poured myself into chocolate my making. Loads of good music and beautiful friends can work magic on the sad soul. Everything somehow turned around. Perspective is everything.

4) The holidays arrived. We celebrated Christmas with my mother and enjoyed a beautiful day filled with wickedly delicious food, the above cake, and wine and rum and more wine.

5) My husband really surprised me this Christmas with a plane ticket to Ecuador. I am one giant step closer to my chocolate internship in Ecuador. Yeah!

6) Family and friends are what help bring sanity to the craziness of the holidays. Bless you all. Seriously, thank you for keeping me grounded with your warm tea, delicious cookies, fresh bread and most of all your hugs and laughter. Muah!

Now for this hot damn, highly caloric cake. You don't need the holidays to make something like this. But it may help. I hear many of you giving yourself the excuse the indulge because you are in the midst of holiday season. Well.... this cake will allow you to indulge and then put you an extra 600 calories over the limit of the limit that you already exceeded earlier.

Chocolate Caramel Cake with Hickory Nut Pralines

The cake. The recipe for this cake was first sourced off of the Bon Appetite Magazine/Epicurious Web Site. I kept the cake recipe the same yet I changed the frosting a bit and added on the hickory nut pralines. The cake was just over the top. My god, with practically 2 lbs of high quality chocolate and ungodly amounts of sugar, butter and heavy cream, the cake really wowed our mouths and bellies. (I just finished another piece off for my lunch)

The pralines I will include in my next blog post as there is too much here already with just the cake and the frosting. I actually think the word "frosting" sounds cheap when talking about the amazing chocolate caramel mixture that covers the cake. It is more like a candy filling, velvety, sweet and chocolatey delicious.

For The Chocolate Cake: - Straight from Epicurious.com

2 cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 cup lukewarm water (I added lukewarm coffee)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1) Oven to 350 degrees. Butter two, 9" cake pans. Line with parchment paper and butter and flour again.

2) Combine first five ingredients in a medium bowl and then whisk together. In mixer with the paddle attachment, blend butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time. Mix after each addition. Add in vanilla.

3) Alternate between adding the dry mixture with the buttermilk until you added in all the buttermilk and dry ingredients. Add in lukewarm water or even better (lukewarm coffee). Mix until just blended. Hand stir in the chocolate chips.

4) Pour and divide ingredients in between the two pans. Place into hot oven. Test at 25 minutes. If not quite done, give it another 4 minutes. Do not over bake.

5) Let cake cool for ten minutes, then invert onto cooling racks and peel off the parchment paper. Let the cakes cool completely before slicing into layers.

Caramel Chocolate Frosting: -you can choose to use just milk chocolate for a sweeter more caramel flavor or go with what I chose for a delicious deep chocolate caramel flavor.

17 ounces high quality semi-sweet chocolate. 55% cocoa content. chopped finely.
10 ounces hight quality milk chocolate. chopped finely.
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2 1/4 cups whipping cream

Place chopped chocolate in a large stainless steel bowl. Heat cream just until boiling. Turn off immediately and cover. In a heavy bottomed large sauce pan, stir sugar and water until all the sugar is moistened. Turn on medium high heat and heat until the sugar caramelizes and turns a nice amber brown. Heat to about 350 degrees. I heat mine to 370 for a deeper caramel flavor. Pour the hot cream into the hot caramel, CAREFULLY as this is super hot! Mixture will bubble up. Keep stirring with a long handled whisk until all the hard caramel dissapears and you have a lovely hot and delicious caramel. Pour over the chocolate. Let the chocolate sit for one minute. Stir chocolate until all of the chocolate has melted. Chill for two hours. Let rest out of fridge at least one hour at room temp. before going onto the next step.

Scrape the caramel chocolate mixture into the mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment. Whisk the mixture until it becomes creamy and changes color. You will see it change color. It will look lighter brown. Do not overmix. If your mixture becomes grainy. Heat the entire mixture over a bain marie until it reaches your desired consistency. It should be like mayonnaise.

You are now ready to spread the mixture over the cake layers. Assemble and decorate with the candied hickory nut pralines. Amazing.

Miss you all - bliss out and eat chocolate. xoxo megan

Czech Kolaches with Poppy Seed and Apricot Filling

2011-11-13T13:25:00.001-08:00

My grandfathers parents, were both from Czechoslovakia, the now Czech Republic. They brought with them a love a theater, activism, music, good food and drink... a true Bohemian as my grandfather liked to call himself. My grandfather loved a good sweet, especially Vanocka, which is a Christmas bread with almonds and raisins and kolaches or kolaces as they are also known. My favorite was the Kolache. My grandfather would buy them every almost every Sunday from the bakery in our town. I would always eat as many as I could or until my mother would scold me.

For me, the best part of eating a kolache was getting to the filling. The dough is a mere basket for the delicious fillings. I made both apricot and poppy seed filling and was so pleased with the results of both. The fillings stand up on their own, to spread on fresh bread, a croissant or as a layer for a cake.

I have a cookbook from 1952, titled, Czechoslovak Pastries which was put out by the Charlotte Masaryk Society. It contains various Czech recipes that were "shortened" to take place of the long and tedious working methods. I find this little book a gem as it has my grandmothers handwriting all over it, including dates of when she last made it and changes to the recipes. How good does it feel to use the same cookbook my grandmother used back in the seventies!

I followed the recipe exactly, as I was working with a yeasted dough that I had never made before. Working with a yeast dough is still a foreign area for me so I tip-toed through this recipe with trepidation. At one point it just asks you to press your dough into squares....no rolling here. I mean, come on, I was dying to bust out the rolling pin, but I didn't. I believe the cooking times were off by about 10-15 minutes. I adjusted the timing for the recipe and the oven temp.... just a touch. As the first too batches were too brown and over-cooked. When they came out of the oven, I did the same thing as I did when I was little, I tore off the dough from around the edges just to get to the filling. Yum! These are not very sweet, I am sure you could make a sweeter dough, but serving them warm with powdered sugar and butter does the trick.

Kolache Recipe

4 cups flour

1/2 cup sweet butter

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1.5 teaspoon vanilla or lemon rind

1 package dry yeast, raised - you can do this by following the instructions on the package. 1/4 water about 112 degrees and dissolve the packet. When foam has doubled in size, you can add it to your dough.

Apricot Filling

Bring milk to a boil, add butter, sugar, salt. Mix and let cool for 5 minutes. Temper your eggs, stir in eggs, raised yeast and vanilla. Make sure your dough mixture is not too hot, you do not want to kill the yeast. Sift your flour on a board, adding the wet mixture, a little at a time. Knead into a smooth dough that does not stick to the board. Let rise in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp towel, until double in size. Tear off even, egg sized pieces. Press each piece into a square 3x3. Place on parchment lined oven trays. Take about 1 TBS of your filling of choice and place in the middle. Draw the corners up firmly together over the filling. It is a bit like dumpling pinching. Let rise again. Oven to 350 degrees. Brush with beaten egg and 1 TBS milk before going into oven. There is an optional crumb mixture which I did not make, but I will include here for those of you who wish to add this on to the kolaches before they go into the oven. Bake for around 15-20 minutes, until just brown. (I admit, mine were too brown as the original recipe called for thirty minutes at 400)

Crumb Mixture - 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 sugar, 2 TBS butter, 1/2 teaspoon mace. Chopped nuts if desired. Sprinkle on the kolaches before they go into the oven.

Poppy Seed Filling

1 cup poppy seeds GROUND - I found that 1 cup gives me about 1.5 ground.

3/4 cup milk

3 TBS sugar

3 TBS honey

1 tsp. allspice

Cook poppy seeds with milk and sugar on low and slow for five minutes. Stirring constantly until thick. Add honey and allspice. Take off heat.

Apricot Filling

1 lb. dried apricots

1 cup of water

1/2 cup sugar, or more.... depending on your sweet tooth

Cook apricots, liquid and sugar, low and slow until the fruit has broken down and you have a relatively, smooth and thick mixture. Add more liquid and sugar if necessary.

kolache kisses....have a beautiful week and celebrate the little things! xoxo - megan

Orange Polenta Tea Biscuits with Orange Candy Glaze

2011-11-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

orange polenta tea cookies. best served same day, no waiting around. serve with tea, and if you've got it, some mascarpone cheese.

not a sweet cookie, a bit of crunch from the polenta, hence the biscuit name.

not a stand out biscuit, just simple, somewhat courageous.

breakfast with the ladies? serve these. (with mascarpone cheese on the side please)

they would even be good, really good, alongside a big bowl of spicy chili.

miss my husband, he is off in Peru. he would eat these, possibly all of them, if he was around.

today we set our clocks back, in hopes of raising our spirits and shedding a bit more sun into our daylight hours. i miss the warm sun, hence these little shiny cookies. everything was yellow, bright and cheery. little orange and yellow disks of deliciousness.

if and when I make these again, I will use a finer ground corn meal, eat them with mascarpone cheese or a bowl full of chili, or maybe both.

i thought I was making a stand alone little cookie. but.... these do need something to pair with them. i tasted them hot out of the oven and was a bit sad as i had imagined something else. polenta had too much crunch, finer ground corn meal will suit your teeth better. the large grain almost ruins the biscuit.

rule #1. have no expectations about your own cooking and then you will never be let down.

the glaze came out of necessity, something to brighten up the flavor of the cookie. it worked.

whoops... I wasn' t paying any attention. I was busy skyping my husband on the other side of the world, and then I smelled something burning!

Orange Polenta Tea Biscuits with Candy Orange Glaze - adapted from a 2110 Food and Wine Recipe

1 and 1/2 cups corn meal, grind your polenta down if you are lucky enough to have a VitaMix or other powerful blender. Too coarse of a meal, will be hard to chew.

1 and 1/2 sticks of unsalted organic butter

2/3 cups flour

3/4 cup organic unbleached sugar

2 TBS orange zest

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

For Glaze

Juice of 1 large orange

2/3 cup sugar

1) Place ground polenta/ corn meal, butter, sugar, flour, orange zest and salt in a food processor. Process until you have a nice crumbly meal. Add eggs and pulse until your dough just comes together. Scrape out dough and put into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

2) Oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place teaspoonful sized balls of dough onto sheet leaving 2 inches between. Place into oven for about 10 minutes, check at 9. These can burn quite quickly. Remove when edges are golden brown.

3) Juice one orange, if it is a small orange, juice two. Place sugar into heavy bottomed pan, and strain the orange juice into it. Cook sugar and juice until sugar reaches about 235 degrees. This will give you a thicker glaze that has not quite moved into soft crack of the candy stage.

4) Glaze your cookies using a silicon pastry brush. Hopefully you have one that you dedicate to just savory so that your glaze won't end up tasting like garlic!

5) Let cookies sit with the glaze on for several hours. You can not stack or store these with the glaze. Cookies could be made a week ahead of time as long as they were stored in an airtight package. (Tupperware, etc.)

5) Save any leftover glaze and use it as a sweetener to your tea. It is quite delicious.

orange candy kisses, an extra hour of sleep, and a hot cup of tea! xoxo megan

Wordless Wednesday - Laughing Jack

2011-11-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Vanilla Bean Caramel Apples

2011-10-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I contemplate writing just about apples, or just about caramel and leaving behind all my heart to just make a good looking 'professional' post. Nope, can't do it. I'm the kind of girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. I am the gal who feels a twinge of heartache for the last apple left on the tree.

Such is life. Breathe in, breathe out, smile. We win some, we lose some. We are given what we need, when we need it. I slow down every day and feel the magic of something... wether it is the milkweed seeds blowing in the wind or just celebrating the ability to move by throwing the football with my son. Celebrating life feels good....even on a bad day.

Sometimes it takes a fiery argument and a long walk for me to come to my senses. Even that can be a celebration. Little victories, small gains, remembering that sometimes it is okay to be wrong, even though we don't like to admit it. We are wild creatures, aren't we? Big hearts, lovers with tempers, friends who drift away, mothers and fathers, friends who are close, irate neighbors, bad drivers, gentle teachers, big hearts, timid, speak too loud, hear my voice, unkind, jealous, anxious, kind, cooperative, crazy full of love people.

The caramel apple was on my "confectionary to-do list" (yes... I do have one). I was tired of biting into apples that are bland, dry, and covered with a caramel so hard, it will pull your teeth out and send you to the dentist. My husband hates the caramel apples that taste like plastic. Plastic covered apples... hmmmm maybe he's on to something. I digress. I/we hate bad apples and plastic-like caramel apples. They are no fun for anyone. You end up throwing them into the compost pile. Even the racoons rejects them. This is my attempt to right the wrong of bad caramel apples.

Vanilla Bean Caramel Apples

1 cup organic non salted butter

1 cup organic dark brown sugar

1 cup organic light brown sugar

1 can 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

1 cup light corn syrup

3" of vanilla bean, scored down the middle

20 - medium sized GOOD apples... I used honey-crisp

sticks for apples

Place parchment paper on large baking sheet. Butter parchment paper. Place sticks into majority of apples.** In large sauce pan (heavy bottomed) put all your ingredients....everything, and turn on medium. Let this come to a boil and stir frequently. Let caramel reach 243 degrees. Pull off burner and let cool slightly. Begin dipping apples. Rotate/twirl caramel around the apple a bit, you will have some wrist action here. Place on parchment paper. Let cool completely. Share with neighborhood children, and adults alike.

**notes

*Bubbles will form in the caramel, do not fret, they will disappear.

*Caramel will probably sit at 228 degrees or so, until the water is finally out of the mixture, then start watching your thermometer. You don't want your caramel to burn.

*Parchment works better than wax paper.

*Apples are best eaten the day of.

*Apple size will vary, possibly varying how many caramel apples are made. Leave a few apples without sticks, you don't want to ruin a perfectly good apple with a stick when you find out there is no caramel left.

*Save yourself some heartache, use a tasty apple. There is life beyond a granny-smith. Not sure she feels the same.

*Kids enjoy making this, watch out that caramel smarts! Ouch, sugar burns are no fun.

*If you have four year old kids in your neighborhood, they will come knocking at your door asking for seconds! Indulge them!

Loads of caramel apple kisses, and yes, sometimes I am wrong - hoping that if I keep saying it, it will get easier? xoxo - megan

Sugar Skulls, Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead

2011-10-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have been making sugar skulls since 2003. Every year I pull out all of my supplies, get out all the goodies and pounds of sugar, and spend a manic couple of days creating these calaveras de azúcar. I finished with Gallery Night on Friday where I was at Chiripa demonstrating how to make these sugar laden tributes to the Day of the Dead. We had an amazing turn out. There were kids, college students, teachers and of course many of my dear friends and family in attendance. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to share some of my creativity with others. I have photos of gallery night posted here.

Sometimes, I feel so locked in my own kitchen just bursting at the seams, wishing I had more opportunities like this one. How great to be able to pass on knowledge to others who are just as excited as you are about something!

If you are interested in the "how to" of creating these. Please visit my sugar skull blog post of last year. There are several photos which show you how to mold, and un-mold the skulls. MexicanSugarSkull.com has all the goods you need if you wish to purchase the molds or some of the other items you would need for this project.

For now, these skulls are heading back over to Chiripa where they will be on sale. I am currently taking orders for skulls, if you are interested please drop me an email. Megan @ foodalution.com I will also be offering sugar skull parties where people can be merry, and spend an evening learning about the Day of the Dead while making a skull for themselves.

Each skulls comes with it's own heart ♥ - a reminder of the love that we have for those in our lives who have passed on. ♥

Calavera Kisses - xoxoxo megan

How to Stencil Numbers onto your Cake

2011-10-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

A few days ago when I posted the recipe for the above cake and chocolate frosting, several of you were interested in the "how-to" of getting the numbers onto the cake. Below are photos of how I did it. Enjoy!

Easy does it! Happy Decorating! xoxo megan

Wordless Wednesday - A heart-full of squash.

2011-10-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Frosting Confetti Cake

2011-10-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

Happiness is a chocolate cake ~ (or just loads of good frosting)

Getting Dreamy for my son's birthday. Hitting the double digits and never looking back. Happy day to my one and only boy! 10 years old and loving it!

Most of the time my cakes are made so the person receiving the cake can eat it on their special day. That's what a birthday cake is... right? Not so with this cake. I have not been feeling well for the past week, hence no posts. I have been resting and taking it easy. I finally felt well enough to make my son's cake, albeit five days late. As the saying goes, better late than never!

This cake made me happy, made him happy, it made all of us happy. Who wouldn't be overjoyed to see a large chocolate cake decorated with thousands of brightly colored nonpareils? Sometimes, simple is better.

But this post is really about my son and chocolate frosting. I could care less about what hides underneath the chocolate deliciousness. It was the frosting that made us all happy. (And the little colored crunches.) Kind of makes you feel like you are eating confetti in candy form.

My son:

1) Is hilarious.

2) Has a BIG heart!

3) Loves his family.

4) Is kind to others, especially little ones.

5) Eats most anything I cook.... and raves about it.

The photo on the left sums it all up! Toothy ten year old grin, full of life, and happy that his mother finally made him a cake. I spent all morning long making it and he didn't even notice the finished cake until 1:00. He finally slowed down enough to see the giant number "10" staring back at him from the chocolate frosting."For me?" he asked. Yes, "For you."

My son was a chocolate lover from the very beginning. He was past his due date, I was getting quite large and uncomfortable, yet the midwife asked me to hold on. 'He will come when he is ready' was her mantra. One day, after a long labor inducing type walk, I made myself a treat that I had read could help bring on labor. I brought out my molinillo and made myself a bitter sweet chocolate brew made with fresh chilies, cocoa poweder, water and a bit of sugar. Wa! Did I ever go into labor~ That night, (or early morning) of October 4th, 2001, Deva Sun, was born. Happiness is a new baby boy! Thank you Deva for choosing me as your mama!

little man with his big sis.

Best Chocolate Frosting - for your favorite cake ~ adapted from America's Test Kitchen

enough for a two layer cake.

20 TBS unsalted organic butter, softened, room temp.

1 cup confectioners sugar

3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa - Valrhona preferred

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz. milk chocolate, melted and cooled to around 85 degrees. - important step, do not add the hot melted chocolate to your frosting, you will ruin it.

In a food processor with the blade attachment process the butter, sugar, cocoa until nice and smooth. Add corn syrup and vanilla and process again. Scrape the sides as needed. Pulse until you have a smooth, delicious and creamy frosting. Taste along the way. Use immediately for best results. I have never stored this, even though you probably can. Just pull out of the refrigerator a good hour before you will be using it.

This is one of my favorite chocolate frostings. It is more smooth than a ganache, has more curb appeal than chocolate cream cheese frosting and just feels good in your mouth. Creamy, chocolatey deliciousness.

Confetti Kisses and Chocolate Hugs! xoxo megan

Wordless Wednesday - a hike of space and time.

2011-10-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

7 hr pork shoulder, super salsa, minimal waste, and a (homemade) video

2011-09-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

How to host a party with minimal waste?

#1 - Start by inviting several of your dearest friends and family. ✓
# 2- If planning a BIG event, have your guests bring their own reusable dinnerware and cups. ✓
#2 - Plan your menu around the goal. You want a menu that will be delicious and one where you can source your ingredients locally. ✓
#3 - Set out shopping. Head to the local farmers market. Bring your own bags to minimize waste in the end. Look at 'food miles'. See how far something had to travel to make it to your table? Can you purchase from the farmer who is 5 miles from town? ✓
#4 - Cook a damn good meal. ✓
#5 - Compost everything that you possible can. Encourage your friends and family to compost. Have them observe you in your element! ✓
#6 - Recycle everything else! ✓
#7 - Smile pretty... you just had a party with minimal waste, you produced a minimal amount of waste, less than a bag... produced more compost than actual garbage! ✓

This post will wrap up my four post series for Glad and Tastemakers from Foodbuzz. I have had fun encouraging others to try to "think outside the can". Repeat, garbage cans aren't going anywhere, it is what you put in them that counts. Throughout the past month I have had the chance to reflect on my families garbage "output". We still produce too much garbage. I have had twinges of guilt rise up when I have been at stores this month and I do not have my canvas bags with me. I don't want to just be complacent with the paper bag attitude. As a culture, we are so far removed from the reality of where things come from and where they end up. Hence my push this month on composting. It means a lot to me to see my produce waste move just 50 feet to our back yard compost pile and I watch it turn into finished compost. It feels good to recycle my containers, glass and paper. I want to know that somehow in this crazy world of ours, my impact is minimal.

I hosted a "party" at my house with close friends and family. We enjoyed a delicious meal together, ate a TON of food and I was left with practically any waste at all. We had a plastic bag for the meat, a can from the olives, and the wine bottles of course, some pork fat that we couldn't compost and a bit of other miscellaneous waste. I have hosted parties where my garbage can is overflowing. Take the time to bring and use reusable plates and real silverware. It makes a difference. Take the time to purchase locally. You will buy fresh, you can use your own bags and miss out on all the garbage bag waste.

Super Salsa - shop local - now is the time to take advantage of the tomato harvests!

5 large delicious tomatoes - heirloom and ripe if you can

1/2 clove garlic crushed

1/2 of a medium onion - chopped small and rinsed in cold water

2 cubanella peppers - chopped very fine -

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

3/4 ripe red jalapeño - you want it wrinkly and crinkly on the outside.

juice of 1 small lime

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy on your fresh pork tacos. Taste along the way and adjust ingredients, such and the salt, pepper and lime.

7 Hour Pork Shoulder- for pork tacos

4 lb pork shoulder, locally and sustainably raised

4 Italian Fryer peppers, cubanellas or other sweeter pepper chopped roughly

4 heirloom tomatoes chopped roughly

1 medium onion chopped roughly

1 Jar of Frontera Grill Salsa - your choice, I used roasted tomato and garlic

1 large clove of garlic, crushed

for some kick - throw in 1/2 a habanero

Oven to 300F. Cut off excess fat off the pork shoulder and brown nicely in a deep ditch oven. Brown on all sides. Add salsa, add all the tomatoes and peppers and garlic. Let start to simmer, cover and place in the oven. Check every two hours, stir juices and flip meat over half way through. Cook for seven hours for delicious, tender, flavorful meat.

Guests enjoying the good food......especially the kids.

A truly homemade video on composting. Disclaimer: My sweet daughter was working the camera. My head is missing from 1/4 of the video, however for her impromptu role as camera woman, she did great! This is laughable... my whole family begged me not to post. HA! Please don't grade me on this video... I promise to do better next time. Pinky swear!

loads of foodie love and kisses - megan

Caramel Apple Shortbread Bars - Dear Carolyn

2011-09-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Oh Carolyn.... my dear. What have you done?

Dear Carolyn, for over a year now, we have followed eachother, blog to blog, championing eachothers successes and drooling over each others baked goods. For some reason you and I seem to always fall back to the sweet side of life. I don't mind a bit, beacause I enjoy the part of my day where I eat one of my chocolate caramels, or sink my teeth into one of your delicious recipes.

I have gone batty, wonky....mad for your caramelita bars. I keep trying to photograph them but they are always gone before I have the chance. I stay up late, past my bed time waiting to pull them out of the oven and cut them into squares. I have made new friends at work because of these bars and am able bribe my husband and children with these treats for house cleaning favors.

Caroyln.... you have converted me over to these delicious bars! Sometimes....in baking... there are hits... and misses. These bars are nothing short of a hit. For those of you who want something so good you will eat at least a row yourself... read on. Turn back now if you have no will power.

Carolyn.... your original recipe with chocolate and pecans is exquisite. I tweaked it a bit the first time by making it gluten-free. The second time around my son asked for the same recipe yet with apples. I caved and last night, I quickly adapted the recipe once again to make these caramel apple bars.

Carolyn....dreaming about food again? I am!

The original recipe is found on Carolyn's website, All day I dream about food. Caramelitas.

Tonight as half the pan of these delicious caramel apple bars is already missing.... I thank you for your constant inspiration and dreamy delicious baked goods! You are an incredible baker and blogger!

Caramel Apple Bars - Gluten Free - (fat and flavorfull) - inspired by Carolyn's Carmelitas!

Crust/topping
1.5 cups gluten-free flour mix
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
11 TBS butter, chilled - cut into tablespoon size pieces

Oven to 350F. In your food processor fitted with the blade attachment place all the ingredients for the crust. Turn on until you have a nice meal. This will take a little while for all the ingredients to combine and produce something that looks almost like a pie dough. It will be crumbly but not dry. In a 9"x9" well greased pan....pat 3/4 of your crust into the bottom. Pat evenly. Place in over for 13 minutes. Take out and let cool 10 minutes.

Quarter 4 small apples or 2 large apples and slice them into thin segments. Lay the segments in four rows on top of the crust. It should look something like this. -------->

Caramel Sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heave cream (organic)
1 TBS butter (unsalted)
1 tsp quality vanilla extract

In a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan, add the sugar and water. Turn heat on med-low. Let mixture come to a boil and let the sugars caramelize. You will want your sugars to start to turn a nice golden amber. You will begin to smell the sugars caramelizing. Pour in your heavy cream and butter. Turn the heat to low and stir until the mixture combines well and is syrupy. Add the vanilla, stir. Turn off heat and let cool one minute. Pour mixture SLOWLY over the apples. Caramel will be really hot. No burns needed, so take it easy. You want to keep your caramel within the parameters of the crust. Carefully crumble the leftover crust/stopping. Pop back into the oven for about 20 minutes, no more. Let cool completely before you attempt cutting. Cut along apple rows into four rows. Then into four again. Eat and prepare to make another pan tomorrow.

Apple Caramel Kisses - xoxoxoxo megs

Chocolate Cornflake Clusters

2011-09-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is a rip-off of one of Jacques Torres' recipes. Love that man... He is an amazing chocolatier who has done wonders for the chocolate industry. Besides being a fantastic chocolatier, his 'how to' videos are fantastic and always informative. I have learned a lot about him and from him via my chocolatier classes. When I get to New York for a visit.... his shop is the first place I will go.

I picked up about 25 Food and Wine magazines this summer from a garage sale and had a blast cutting out delicious recipes. However... my eyes popped out when I saw this great little interview with Jacques Torres and this sweet recipe that followed it. Chocolate Cornflake Crunchies. I have made this with cornflakes, puffed rice and also...my favorite, golden grahams and marshmallows. They are all equally delicious. Perfect for parties.

Chocolate Cornflake Clusters

1 lb. of good tempered dark chocolate chopped small- 60% percent up to 70% cocoa content

1/4 pound chocolate in large chunk form - do not chop

5 cups cornflakes - organic preferred - or other cereal of your choice

Directions

1) In large stainless bowl, measure your cornflakes/cereal and pour into bowl. Prepare 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2) Take your 1 lb. of chopped chocolate and place in your bain marie or double boiler. Take care not to have any water touch the chocolate or it will seize. Turn on your burner, low heat, and let the water melt the chocolate in your pan. Stir constantly as it is important to mix the cocoa butter into the cocoa solids. You want a nice digital thermometer to measure your chocolate temperature as you do not want your chocolate to burn. If using a nice, darker, semi-sweet chocolate, heat the chocolate to around 115-119 degrees, no higher. Take melted chocolate off the burner and add the large, quarter pound chunk of chocolate to the melted chocolate. Stir constantly, the large chunk will help cool down the chocolate and start adding in more crystals which will jumpstart the crystalization process. Keep stirring and taking temps on the chocolate. Let it cool down to about 84 degrees. Place pan back on your double boiler for about 10 seconds at a time.You want your chocolate to heat up to about 89.6 degrees (my favorite working temp). If you only put the pan on the warm double boiler for 10 seconds at a time and then stir, you will be guaranteed to not over heat the chocolate past 91 degrees. Important to keep chocolate moving and always check your temp.

3)When you have a nice pot of tempered chocolate at 89.6 degrees...or so, take out the piece of unmelted chocolate and set aside on parchment paper. Pour your tempered chocolate over the cereal and stir well. Take out tablespoonfuls of the chocolate mixture and place on parchment paper to set up. Store in air tight container. They won't last long!

chocolate kisses - xoxo megan

getting trashy ....

2011-09-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

I know... not what you expected. You probably thought I would be pictured in this post sloshing it up with the neighbors with some delightful cocktail in my hand. Not so my friend, I'm talking trash here. But for those of you who were looking for Miss Megan getting trashy...I will give you this....

yes.. that is me with pomegranates for breasts...

Now back to the topic at hand... Trash! Above, you see my old garbage can on the left and my new one on the right. Old trash can currently has garbage can envy while it stands next to the new and shiny garbage/recycle can with an automatic sensor to boot. Poor plastic can....crying out from inside his trashdom.

We were all quite surprised when UPS showed up with a huge box with my name on it. My husband thought I took the credit card and charged a new kitchen trash can to it. (first shoes... now trash cans...) Not so. I blame it all on Foodbuzz...love you! I have been participating in a Foodbuzz, Tastemakers program focusing on Glad products and ideas. I know, you think Glad... produce more trash so they can sell more bags. Not so my friends. Glad is working on being the creators of bags made with less plastic while at the same time educating their average consumer about trash, recycling and compost. It was Glad who sent me the new can with the recycle compartment. I love it... my kids love it, plus I have been able to try out some of their new products such as compostable compost bags and trash bags that contain 40% less plastic than their regular bags. I must admit I love not having to waltz across my kitchen to the recycle bin as the new can has dual compartments, one for trash and one for recycled goods. It is handy, easy to clean and sleek. Glad is working with regular people like me and looking for ways in which we can change our trashy habits.

We all create trash, but it is what we put into our trash that is important. This is just a small preachy post encouraging you to start thinking about what you put into your trash can. When you think about this....

L.A. River.... clean up after storm

or this.....

Plastics at the mouth of Mt. Everest

it makes you think twice about throwing everything away! Plastic this, and plastic that. Bags, juice boxes, yogurt containers, water bottles, soda bottles, you name it, plastic garbage is everywhere. It is one of the culprits that has littered our landscape and is here to stay. Plastic just doesn't decompose like organic products do, plastic thrown into the trash will end up in our landfills, or floating in the oceans.

How about this fact:

Plastic bags? The stuff from grocery stores? Yep. Each year, the world produces 60 billion tons of plastic, including nearly 5,000,000,000,000 (trillion) plastic bags. In the US, 100 billion are thrown away; only 0.6% are recycled. - from www.care2.com

Take 4 minutes and watch this fantastic and funny video which demonstrates the life of a plastic bag:

Yikes... unless you are creative and able to make art out of used plastics..... you should be concerned about what you throw into your garbage can. I consider myself lucky as I live in Madison where we are able to recycle so much of our garbage. We usually produce 1.5 bags of trash per week for a 4 person household. Our recycling container holds the most "trash" and it is filled almost every week. I know not everybody can recycle due to the limitations imposed by their community waste collection program, however, we can all avoid using plastic bags.

Use a canvas bag when shopping:

Recycle your paper, plastics, aluminum foil, and mail whenever possible. Bring your own bags, buy locally, and spread the word to your friends and neighbors. We are given the opportunity to live on this beautiful earth, the least we can do is take care of it.

Trashy love from the heartland.... xoxo megan

Big Sop Cornbread - Rustic and Easy -

2011-09-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

sop it up cornbread

Cornbread is always a delicious accompaniment to any meal. Sop up your soups, stews or black beans with this. It is always bright and cheery, ready to be smothered in butter and honey.. and if you are my kids, it is always eaten in it's entirety. This is the recipe from The Joy of Cooking. I usually make another recipe but the night I made this I was out of a few ingredients. So....I improvised. With no hot cast iron pan in the oven, I threw in one of my cookie sheets and let it heat up a good ten minutes. I just threw the whole batter onto the pan and I came out with what you see above. A great rustic cornbread with a wonderful golden brown crust. This is a drier cornbread, and not very sweet but ready to start sopping!

big sop cornbread

Big Sop Cornbread

Oven to 425 degrees. Place stainless baking pan/cookie sheet into the oven while preparing ingredients.

Dry Ingredients

1 and 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal, stone ground. We love Bob's Red Mill

3/4 cup all purpose flour

2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-4 TBS sugar (I used 2)

3/4 teaspoon salt

Add the following to the dry ingredients:

2 large eggs beaten

3 TBS melted butter or bacon drippings

1 cup milk

Stir ingredients and quickly combine. Take hot pan out of oven, Quickly grease with a TBS of sunflower oil or butter. Pour batter directly onto hot pan. Place in oven and cook about 15-18 minutes or until the edges are nice and brown on the cornbread. Take long knife or metal spatula and scrape under cornbread and transfer to a cutting board or other serving plate. Serve with butter and honey.

And now for the FAVOR! I recently submitted my recipe - My Three Chile Chocolate Cake with Habanero Caramel to the Marx Foods Chile Recipe Contest.... now my recipe is in the running to win!!! Send me some love and vote for my cake! Click the chile below!

xoxoxo foodie love and cornbread kisses - megan

Composting Virgins - Click here for help!

2011-09-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

getting dirty in our compost

I have heard through the grape vine that there are plenty of you out there. Demure, apron wearing, spatula wielding foodies who love to cook in their kitchen yet do not compost! Composting virgins!?! What... your kitchen scraps end up in the garbage can! The secret is out, you can hide no longer. Composting is not hard, in fact it is EASY. So let loose, and join the revolution of millions of people across the world who recycle their food scraps and turn them into delicious compost. We are turning your food waste back into dirt, one rotten apple at a time. I am here to peer pressure you into doing something good for you and good for the earth.

Composting Virgin Secrets

1) Purchase yourself some type of composting bucket that you can put next to your sink. You can just use a simple tupperware or plastic tub, you really don't have to purchase anything. Just make sure your little bucket of choice has a lid (to keep out fruit flies and keep any odors in). Glad sells these little compostable liners for your kitchen compost bin. They are great because they will breakdown quite easily but are so difficult to open...I would much rather just rinse out my bin every day after emptying it.

cute little composting bucket that Glad sent me - to go with our green house of course

2) If you don't want to be running back and forth to your outdoor larger composting bin, use a 5 gallon bucket and set it at your back door. Empty your kitchen scraps into the large bucket once a day. Keep a lid on to ward off racoons or other little hungry creatures. What can I compost you ask? You can take any of your fruit and vegetable scraps, peelings, coffee grinds, tea bags, egg shells and any left over food that is NOT meat or covered in fats. You will not want to throw out bones, cake, pasta, your steak you did not finish last night, or the chicken carcass from the soup you just made. Keep it simple, if it grows up from the ground, you can compost it.

5 gallon bucket outside back door

the scraps that are waiting to be composted

3) Take out your larger bucket to the large composting bin which should be sitting in some corner of your yard. Empty the juicy scraps into the larger bin and cover with some brown matter such as dried leaves, grass clippings or a bit of hay if you have it around. Put the top on your large bin and walk away. How easy is that? Who knew your first time could be so carefree and effortless?

Backyard composting station. Where the dirty work really happens!

4) Once a week visit your backyard composting station. Give your compost a stir with a big stick. Just poke around in the compost and aerate as best as you can. The bugs and bacteria are really doing all the work for you, we just need to sitr things up a bit. If it is very dry, water it! I know it sounds odd, but in order for nature to do it's thing, water helps things quite a bit. Keep the layering cycle going. Kitchen scraps layered with dry leaves or a thin layer of grass clippings. By the end of summer, you will have nice, rich compost....or what most of us refer to as dirt.

5) Now that you have this rich, dark delicious finished compost.... what are you going to do with it? If you have some type of vegetable garden, or even a flower garden, topdress your plants with a 3-4 inch layer of the finished compost. Your plants will be happy and will love you back by producing healthy, vibrant fruits and flowers. You will also see a lot less garbage being tossed out on garbage day too. Lighten the load on mother earth, get composting!

happy garden plants loving you back with bright blooms....

Thanks again to Glad and Tastemakers for the opportunity to share this good info with my readers~! Now get out there and make some compost!

composting kisses! xoxo megan

Tres Chiles Chocolate Cake with Hibiscus Habanero Caramel

2011-09-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

The good folks at Marx Foods recently sent my some dried chilies. In exchange for the chiles, I was invited to come up with some sort of recipe, post it, and then my entry would be entered into their Chile Contest. Keeping my fingers crossed as the prizes offered are delicious! -eye on the prize-

The polls are open! How abouts a vote for Foodalution! Click the Contest Link Below!

I was dreaming for several weeks about my anticipated chile recipe. Of course, being a chocolatier, I went straight to chocolate. I ended up making a cake that honors the Americas. I included not only chiles, but chocolate, coffee, vanilla and finally hibiscus... of all things. I kept thinking of the equator, warm sultry days, volcanic soil, and the bright color of chiles, dotting the landscape. I labored away on Labor Day, making this over the top cake. I ignored my sweet husband for 8 hours and worked like a mad woman to get this cake to work. I unfortunatley lost my photos of the first half of the cake creation. I lost about 400 when uploading yesterday (my friends wedding included). Bummer... I know. But I did manage to salvage some great shots of the cake after I treated my husband to the first piece. (In honor of his ultimate test in patience of course)

If you haven't been over to Marx Foods, take a stop by. If you think you have seen the cat's meow of gourmet shops then you obviously haven't stopped there. Amazing selection of delicious treats. Drool worthy indeed.

Chiles and Chocolate... I do love that mix... but my mind kept creating yummy thoughts of ooey gooey hibiscus habanero caramel. All I could think about was that ruby color, swirling on my stovetop... steaming away until finally a thick and gorgeous pink hibiscus habanero caramel was born. And born it was. At a perfect 243 degrees, I took the hot caramel off the stove and let this glorious stained glass mixture come to testing temperature. We tasted and tested, and even though spicy with the heat of the habanero, my kids and I kept dipping our spoons into the mix. (for sure these will be a chocolate flavor for me this fall).

Three Chile Chocolate Cake with Hibiscus Habanero Caramel - some advice...create an entire 24 hour holiday for yourself to make this cake - see notes at bottom for possible alterations to recipe.

Hibiscus Caramel - with habanero

1 and 1/2 cups dried organic hibiscus flowers

2 cups sugar

4 water

1/2 of a dried habanero chile- deseeded

In a nice large pot, put the water and hibiscus flowers and habanero to boil for 15 minutes. Take off heat and pour liquid through a colander or fine sieve. Put liquid back on stove and add sugar. Boil liquid until the liquid comes to about 243 degrees. Take off stove and let cool completely. Liquid will become much more caramel like. When working with it later on in the recipe, warm over a pan of hot water. (double boiler or bain marie) Can be left at room temperature, just cover.

Three Chile Chocolate Cake with Mulato Chilies

2 dried Mulato Chilies

water for soaking chilies

8 oz unsalted organic butter

1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa

2 tsp. of Megdalia D.Oro Instant Espresso to 1 cup hot water

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Making the Cake

1) Soak the dried chilies in boiling water, about 1 and 1/2 cups worth of water for ten minutes. De-stem and toss chilies and about 1/2 cup of the soaking water into your blender. Blend until pureed. Strain. Take liquid and pour into measuring cup. Add enough bot water to make 1 cup of puree and liquid. Stir in 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder. Let the slurry sit. Stir with small whisk to make sure the powder is mixed well. Set aside.

2) Oven to 325. Butter and flour two 9" cake pans. Place parchment over the buttered surface. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

3) Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cocoa and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Take off the heat, whisk in the chile coffee mixture, buttermilk and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in eggs and vanilla and slowly add flour mixture.

4) Divide batter equally between pans and cook until a toothpick comes out clean. About 30-35 minutes. Cool cakes for 15 minutes in pan, slide knife around the edge and then flip onto the cooking racks and let cool for at least 1 hour. Slice both cakes in half and set aside for putting together the cake.

5) The texture of this cake is very moist and dense, almost like banana bread, so don't be surprised if it seems dense and heavy... it still will taste good.

Hibiscus Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick organic butter softened

2, 8 oz. packages of cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar -sifted

3/4 cup hibiscus caramel - at least

Cream butter and cream cheese until nice and fluffy... no lumps! Add in sugar and beat until creamy again. Add in the hibiscus caramel. It is a little difficult to work with at this stage, but don't be afraid. Just grab it up with a large spoon and take your finger to scrape it off. Do not warm it at this time otherwise you will sully the frosting. You don't want to do this... the butter will melt and then all will be a loss. Mix the hibiscus habanero caramel until your completely blended into your frosting and you have a lovely shade of light mauve frosting. Taste. Add more sugar or more caramel to your desire.

Chocolate Aji Ganache- enough to frost outside of cake

2 cups organic heavy whipping cream

12 oz. bittersweet chocolate. (around 65% cocoa content) - chopped into small pieces

2 TBS organic unsalted butter

1 aji chile de-seeded

Have chopped chocolate waiting in a stainless steel bowl. In a small sauce pan, melt butter slowly with the chile. Let the chile simmer in the butter for a while. Give the pepper a chance to release it's oils into the butter. Take care not to let the butter burn. Remove chile, add the cream and let come to a boil. Take off heat and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for a few minutes. Then begin to whisk the chocolate cream mixture until ganache forms. Put into the freezer for 5 minutes. Every 5 minutes, take ganache out and whisk until it has formed the correct consistency for spreading on your cake.

Putting it all together.... Now the fun starts!

Take first layer of cake and drizzle warmed hibiscus caramel over the cake layer. Top with the butter cream cheese frosting. Repeat until you reach the top layer. Place in refrigerator for 20 minutes to stabilize the cake. Take out and apply crumb coat of ganache to cake. Let chill for 15 minutes and then apply final coat of ganache. Voila... now you can decorate. If I lived in a climate that would produce hibiscus flowers out in my back garden... I would have happily deorated my cake with fresh flowers. I only had begonias.. which were lovely in their own way.

I had a ton of fun putting together this recipe. It was great to be focused around an ingredient I may not use normally in my baking. My husband adored the cake and said that he felt like driving the Indy 500 after just one piece. The coffee, chocolate, chile combo is quite stimulating. The cake itself had a wonderful earthy flavor, it really changed my basic cake recipe and turned it into something much more exotic. ***If the fruity flavor is too much, (which some of my tasters did say) set the hibiscus butter cream cheese aside and just drizzle each layer with hibiscus caramel and then layer up with ganache or even better, cappuccino ganache. Here is a link to make enough cappuccino ganache for your entire cake.This cake is powerhouse of flavors that needs to be tamed with small portion sizes and probably best not to be served to small children close to their bedtime.

Chocolate Chili Kisses and Hot Hibiscus Hugs! ~ Megan

♥ Coconut Cream Pie...♥ Consumerism Fever

2011-09-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

The stress of the new school year can come on as excitement for some, anxiety for others and just plain chaos for even more of us. The new school year starts with new boxes of crayons, rulers, freshly polished floors and of course... pencils. A long time ago, school supply lists were quite short. Now, with even more school budget cuts imposed upon public schools every year combined with our voracious need to consume "new" things....the lists have grown longer and longer and the financial burden put on families during the school year has become great. I almost fell over when I saw the gargantuan list of supplies that I would need to be purchasing for my kids! 10 notebooks and 72 pencils..... you've got to be kidding me! For many of us, myself included... I tend to step back and shy away from the "back to school" shopping craziness that seems to pop up in every store. Here a sale, there a sale, spend money here, spend money there. There is just not the $$$ in the bank. And let's be honest, do kids really need new clothes to start the year? I may purchase underwear and socks... but my kids get new clothes when they need them... not when they want them. If money grew on trees, sure there would be extra for this or that, yet that is a dream only few are acquainted with.

These are tough times for many families. I work in a school that has tremendous needs. When we offer free school supplies to families, they are usually gone within 20 minutes and there is a line stretching out the door. People work hard and often have little extra to spend on school supplies or new clothes. Food seems to be the most important thing to put on the table. Who needs those new jeans and cool folders when there is no milk or cereal for the morning breakfast? Within the pressures of our "new everything" reality, that in order to be part of this reality, one must purchase "new" things. This of course is fueled by our 24/7 media stream; buy this, buy that, cool new this and cool new that. Everybody wants to fit in, right? As they saying goes... you only have one chance to make a good first impression. In this culture dominated by visual distractions, I can see why some place such importance on the outward appearances. I know I love a new pair of boots or great fitting pair of jeans. Remember junior high and all you wanted was the new cool asymmetrical hair cut just so you could fit in? It's not bad to want new things, it can just become wasteful when items that we have purchased never end up being used, hang in a closet or sit on the shelf. How can we reduce our waste and still achieve our goals?

This post is #1 in a series of four. As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I was contacted by Glad, the plastic bag company to look at how we create waste and how we can possibly modify our decisions to create less waste. (Remember Tom Bosley's commercials?) The purpose of the these posts is to spend some time and take a look around us at the waste we make, whether it is in the classroom or kitchen. The focus is reduce, reuse and recycle. Garbage bags aren't going anywhere any too soon, it's what we fill them with that we need to consider. Our choice and the challenge? ~ let's be proactive about what we use, how we use it and how we can re-use it. How can we make changes in our lives that lessen our impact on mother earth? Can we compost more of our kitchen scraps? Can we choose to use compostable bags? Can we recycle all of our paper? Can we tame the consumerism fever? Important questions that don't require maximum brain power, just the ability to make some different choices.

How does this apply to school supplies you ask? As I see ream after ream of paper being printed and photocopied upon, only to be tossed out into the recycle bins, I cringe. The paper waste is HUGE within public schools. At the midway point in the year, it is safe to say that schools have printed at least 50,000 sheets of paper. And this is not even including the 8 notebooks the teachers ask for, or the reams of loose leaf paper and 10 pocket folders that families are now required to bring in. Students and families are asked to purchase heaps of supplies. If only schools and families could be more proactive in their re-using of school supplies. I have seen perfectly good notebooks and folders tossed and crayons thrown away because they weren't new. Glue sticks have been tossed into the trash because they have dried out before the end of the school year and they are brand new! I have also seen pencils thrown away just because the lead was broken! What ever happened to sharpening? How frustrating... my grandfather would be rolling over in his grave if he saw something like that. The age old adage.... money does not grow on trees is so true, and neither do pencils, or glue sticks.... or paper.

I encourage you to do two things:

1) Speak with your child's school and talk about reusing materials. Encourage the school and your child's teacher to take a hard look at what they really need as far as supplies. Help them take an inventory of what school supplies are asked for at the beginning of the year, which ones are wasted throughout the year, and what teachers always have leftover at the end of the school year. Can any of it be reused? Get creative!

2) If you can afford it, do it. Make donations to your school. I know this seems backwards as I am talking about reusing materials, instead of always going the way of new. However poverty is real, families do need help and supplies, even one bag full, could amount to more than a single trip to the grocery store. Teachers budgets are cut each year so there is some truth to the ever increasing supply list. Backpacks are always in high demand, winter coats, gloves, mittens and scarves are important too. Sponsor a coat drive of gently used coats for families who don't have the resources to purchase a new one. Consider giving a cash donation to your school. Donate your time. Donate snacks. Give what you can give.

Schools are communities. Communities are living, ever-changing organisms. We are all in this together, we just need to find a spot to do our share.

Coconut Cream Pie - my back to school treat for my kiddos -

Shortbread Crust

1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted cold butter, cut into 8 pieces - organic preferred
1 large egg yolk
(1 ts. grated lemon zest) - optional

Oven to 400 degrees. Butter your pie plate thoroughly. Pulse all ingredients, minus the egg yolk, in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture forms moist crumbs. Add egg yolk, pulse until it just comes together. Pat crust down into pan and up sides. Prick all over the bottom and up on the sides with a fork. Put into the refrigerator for thirty minutes. Take out and place into oven until the crust is a nice golden brown. This takes about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Organic Coconut Cream Filling Recipe:

3/4 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
3 cups organic half and half
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 TBS unsalted butter, organic and cut into small pieces
1 tsp vanilla
1 pint organic heavy cream
Extra coconut for toasting

Add sugar, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, coconut and organic half and half in pan. Stir constantly until mixture just comes to a boil. Turn off heat, add in the butter pieces and vanilla, stir until melted and mixed and pour into crust. Let cool overnight for best flavor. Top pie with whipped cream, 1 pint sweetened with a bit of sugar to your liking and toasted coconut. To toast coconut, place 1/2 cup sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut on a baking sheet at 300 degrees for around 7 minutes. Careful as it burns easily.

xoxoxo.... love by the truckload.....megan

I love you baby....

2011-08-30T04:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary... you are sweeter than all my cakes and chocolates combined....xoxoxo ~ megs

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake.. and a winner

2011-08-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake, a giveaway winner and.... banana trees in Wisconsin...

Congratulations Rachel from Tramplingrose! You are the lucky winner of the awesome organic dried fruit from Peeled Snacks and super tasty nut confections from Nutorious. Seven bags of delicious are heading your way. Thank you to all who entered. Not sure when the next giveaway will be, however I am thinking that it will be a box of my chocolates and turtles. Only time can tell. (smile)

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to make a cake for a dear friend. We have worked together for four years and have had the opportunity to grow together, cry together and support each other. Judy was to be bringing the dessert to a family party where the guest of honor was the new little grand baby.... a real charmer and flirt I might add! The little baby boy was to be introduced to his great grandparents who are 94 years of age. She first requested one of my caramel chocolate ganache cakes.... and then after having a longer conversation, we decided that the old fashioned chocolate cake was the best option. At ninety four years of age.... ice cream with the cake is still important. Some of my cakes are stand alone cakes, and I wouldn't think of adding ice cream, for it would just be too much sweet. But this wonderful cake is dreamy and perfect for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Four layers of dark chocolate cake, sandwiched in between delicious butter cream cheese chocolate frosting. Nothing could have made me happier to make a cake for such a joyful occasion. Family is so very important. Never take that for granted. Old fashioned chocolate cake, enjoy ~

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Valrohna preferred)

1 and 3/4 cup flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp baking soda

1 stick of melted butter

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup hot (not boiling) water with 1 TBS instant espresso powder dissolved. I prefer Megdalia D'oro Espresso Powder.

Butter two, 9" round pans. Cover with parchment, butter and flour again. Oven at 30 degrees. In large mixing bowl whisk together your dry ingredients except your cocoa powder. Sift your cocoa powder into the other ingredients and whisk again. Attach mixing bowl to mixer with paddle attachment. Add butter and eggs and mix slowly until moistened. Add buttermilk and mix for a minute. Add hot water and mix again for about 1.5 minutes. Measure the batter and pour, cup by cup into prepared 9" round pans. Measuring the batter will help keep the cakes even. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Test for doneness. Let cool. Slide knife around edge of pan after 10 minutes and tap out cake onto cooling rack. Let cool completely.

Chocolate Butter Cream Cheese Frosting-

enough frosting to frost a four 9" layer cake

4 packs 8 oz. cream cheese, room temp

2 sticks organic butter- no salt - room temp

2/3 cup Valrohna cocoa powder

hot milk - about 1/3 cup

powdered sugar -at least 2 cups..... more depending on your preferences.

Cream butter and cream cheese until fully creamed using mixer with paddle attachment. When this is nice and fluffy, add sifted cocoa powder to the mix. Please sift... I beg you. This will get all the lumps out. Mix until smooth. Add in sifted powdered sugar... I can't stress the importance of sifting. When adding in powdered sugar, do so in intervals and add a bit of hot milk to keep the sugars moving. Keep mixing and tasting along the way. You may want to play with sugar and or cocoa powder, depending on your fancy! Refrigerate if not using right away.

Assemble cake: Frosting should be mayonnaise consistency when applying to the cake. Cut layers in half. Scoop 1 cup of frosting onto first layer. Spread evenly onto layer. Top with next cake layer. Repeat with frosting and cake two times. Give your cake a nice crumb coat, refrigerate for thirty minutes. Take out and refrost again with final layer of frosting. Let chill under cake dome, until 40 minutes before you are ready to serve. Serve with vanilla ice cream... of course.

On a side note..... we have bananas on our banana trees in our front yard.... Bananas in Wisconsin.... yes we do! Here is a peek at our banana tree -I am hoping they ripen so I can make chocolate bourbon banana bread with chocolate bourbon sauce....

Kisses, hugs, chocolate cake and bananas...xoxo ~ megan

Vanilla Bourbon Peach Crisp - Lucky in Kentucky

2011-08-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

Bourbon does not grow on trees.... but the black angel's share does....especially when you are distilling the grains to make bourbon.

Earlier this summer we took a mini-vacation to Mammoth Cave Kentucky. They say you get lucky in Kentucky, I would say my stroke of luck was finally convincing my two tired kids, my husband and my father in-law that we MUST stop at the Jim Beam Distillery on our way home. I tried without success to stop on the way to Mammoth Cave.... I thought that having a bottle of bourbon would mix well with underground forays into the dark cracks in the earth and camping by the light of the moon. That's what you do in Kentucky right? Drink bourbon? After all, moonshine cures all ails...doesn't it?

angel's share. the black mold that grows on everything around the distillery.

Turns out, even tears didn't work on my family. No... they wouldn't have their food-blogging mama, hijack their trip and turn it into some kind of bourbon-fancy. I stayed true to our course, pushed back the tears and the curse words and headed down the road to the Cave City exit. If you have never been to Cave City, just know that the tiny little grocery store called "Houchens" pronounced "Halgens" is not the friendliest to outsiders, be prepared for stares. I was the fourth one in slow moving line. The cashier ~~seemed~~ did know everybody and their mother and father... and all of their names. She struck up conversations with them all, except me. Luckily the young bagger boy was amused with my northern foreignness and carried all of my groceries out to the car, loaded my car and even put the bag of ice into the cooler...I thanked him with a proper tip and drove back through the hills to our campsite at Mammoth Cave.

Wish I had that bourbon. Our mini-vacation was supposed to be relaxing, dreamy and full of wondrous hikes into the nether regions of Kentucky's dark hills. Somehow, Kentucky's luck ran out as I had a 4 day migraine that wouldn't budge with the help of Ibuprofen, coffee, or CocaCola. Wish I had that bourbon. Modern medicine killed the moonshine business. Moonshine was the medicine of the hills. Then along came aspirin, iboprofen and anbesol and soon it was cheaper to buy a bottle of aspirin that it was to purchase your weekly supply of moonshine. I really wished I had that bourbon. My headache was sticking to me like the angel's share sticks to everything around it.

the general store. i think this is the general.

I hung back on one of our last hikes into the caves, for the previous trip my heachace was so bad I had asked one of the sweet guides if he would take me back. After all, we were in the underground lunch room which happened to have an access elevator to the surface. Couldn't they just pack me in the elevator their with the food supplies. Beam me up.... anything, something....Please? The kind guide offered to walk me the mile back to the entrance of the cave. I declined as that would have held the entire group up at least forty minutes. Instead, I marched the next 3 miles, up and down underground valleys and hills with a headache that pounded with each footstep until we finally emerged to the surface. Can you blame me for finking out on the last hike?

Ahh... mama time. While the rest of the family were hiking with lanterns underground, I drove back into Cave City to see what life was like when you weren't at the grocery store. It was delicious. I spent an hour at the General Store which had more junk than you could shake a stick at. Some junk, some antiques, but the mix of it all was some how beautiful. I drove around and stopped here and there. I had a young blue jean wearing, brass belt buckle donning, white t-shirt, cigarettes in the back pocket Kentucky gentleman try to convince me to try out the ziplines through the hills. I gently declined. I purchased two handmade fairytale wooden birdhouses from a sweet little place on the side of the road and finally took a wrong turn and found myself on a gravel road face to face with a confederate flag and a tumbledown house. That was my cue to turn around....I finally watched Deliverance for the first time this year....and the memories of that were too fresh in my mind to investigate the hills any further!

salvaged bourbon barrels. pricey.

I finally did get my bourbon, just not in the bottle, but a can. Our stop to the Jim Beam Distillery was smack dab in the middle of my driving shift home. Hence no tasting, just the tour. They happened to sell all things bourbon at the gift shop and I walked away with Kentucky Bourbon Vanilla Sorghum. mmmmm. I have had it in my cupboard since the end of June. Everytime I opened my cupboard, I would see the little can, staring at me. Finally, I cracked open the sweet jar of sorghum as if it was a new can of paint. Instead of painting my walls, I painted my sweet peaches and tucked them into a warm peach crisp. Still waiting for my bottle of bourbon. Next time.

Lucky in Ketucky Bourbon Peach Crisp - Recipe

8 organic peaches blanched for 1 minute, peeled and cut into moons.
3 TBS Kentucky Bourbon Vanilla Sorghum
6 TBS butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
2 TBS flour
dash of salt

Oven to 350 degrees. 8x8 pan. Place cut peaches in pan. Drizzle 3 TBS of bourbon vanilla sorghum over peaches. (more if you enjoy a sweeter crisp) Place oats, cinnamon, flour, brown sugar, dash of salt and butter in food processor. Blend until you have a nice crumby topping. Place topping on peaches. Bake for 45 minutes - an hour. Make sure it is bubbly and brown before you take it out. Serve with organic cream.

lucky in Kentucky....xoxoxo Megan

Enter my giveaway for yummy treats. Nut confections and Organic Dried Fruits!