chocolate Archives - Page 3 of 5

Chocolate Doughnuts with Cherry Cheesecake Glaze

April 24, 2015 By Becky 4 Comments

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Chocolate Doughnuts with Cherry Cheesecake Glaze (Gluten free, Grain free)

These chocolate doughnuts with cherry cheesecake glaze are gluten free, grain free, and baked instead of fried, but you won’t feel like you’re missing out! They’re the perfect treat for any occasion.

It’s Friday! Paleo chocolate doughnuts with cherry cheesecake glaze, anyone?

I, for one, am super pumped about the color of this all-natural magenta glaze. It’s all about eating the rainbow, and aside from red cabbage, those purple hues can be kind of hard to find!

You may be surprised that this vibrant shade is all thanks to a mere handful of SIX frozen cherries (and, full disclosure, a tiiiiny bit of post-processing in Lightroom).

When I came up with the idea of a cherry cheesecake glaze for doughnuts, I was excited for it be pink. I was really surprised, though, when I ended up with this lovely shade of fuschia! The color may depend on the kind of cherries you use–I always buy frozen dark sweet cherries at Whole Foods (even though they’re called sweet cherries, there’s no sugar added) because I love to put them in smoothies, but my new favorite use for them is this delicious glaze.

Matcha Mug Cake

March 17, 2015 By Becky 17 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Matcha Mug Cake (Paleo, Gluten-free) | acalculatedwhisk.com

You’re less than ten minutes away from a scrumptious, grain-free matcha mug cake! It’s paleo friendly, dairy free, and sweetened with honey or maple syrup.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I made you a matcha mug cake. It’s not at all Irish, but at least it’s green!

I was excited to make something green for St. Patty’s Day, but I don’t like to use artificial coloring in my food. Since I had my heart set on making a dessert, using spinach or kale as coloring agents didn’t seem very appealing. Matcha was the perfect solution.

Ingredients for Matcha Mug Cake (Paleo, Gluten-free) | acalculatedwhisk.com

If you haven’t discovered matcha yet, I highly recommend it! It’s just very finely ground green tea leaves, so it has a bit of caffeine and all the great antioxidants contained in green tea. The flavor is hard to describe, but it’s exotic and a bit earthy. Matcha is delicious on its own in desserts, but also pairs well with chocolate. I’ve made this matcha mug cake with and without chocolate chips and still can’t decide which one I prefer.

Mexican Almond Pulp Brownies

February 20, 2015 By Becky 12 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Mexican Almond Pulp Brownies | acalculatedwhisk.com

These grain-free, paleo-friendly Mexican almond pulp brownies are a delicious way to use up almond pulp and satisfy chocolate cravings at the same time.

Have you tried making your own almond milk? It’s really good, and nothing like the store-bought kind. I like to put it in my coffee, add it to smoothies, or just drink it plain, alongside a delicious paleo baked good. (If you’re not a fan of almonds, you can follow the same steps to make milk using pecans instead! If I had to choose my favorite between almond milk and pecan milk, I would have a hard time).

So, if you have made your own nut milk, then you know about the pulp problem. After squeezing the last vestiges of creamy milk out of the cheesecloth or nut milk bag, you’re left with a bunch of pulp.

It’s sad to just throw it away. Especially when you could use it to make brownies instead!

These Mexican almond pulp brownies are adapted from a brilliant recipe by Alanna of The Bojon Gourmet. (Alanna takes some of the most gorgeous food photos out there, so if you haven’t visited her site, be prepared to want to make every single thing.) My version gets its unique flavor from a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper. The result is like a Mexican hot chocolate in brownie form.

Salted Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies

February 3, 2015 By Becky 16 Comments

I’ve had four snow days in the past two weeks. Luckily, I’ve spent my extra time off pursuing an admirable goal: baking the ultimate grain-free chocolate chip cookie.

My quest began when I saw these soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies on Alexandra’s Kitchen. Alexandra’s blog is one of my favorites. Everything she makes is mouthwatering, and I love her detailed tips and stunning, perfectly lit photographs. Basically, I’m a huge fan.

I had to have those cookies.

With a caveat, of course: I wanted them to be paleo-friendly and grain-free.

I’ve made paleo cookies before and thoroughly enjoyed them, but they weren’t the kind of cookies that could blow regular, gluten-containing cookies out of the water. They didn’t have the holy grail: the perfect combination of crunch and chewiness.

I set out to find some grain-free cookies that fit the bill–cookies that were crisp around the edges, but chewy and a tiny bit underbaked in the center.

Nutella Coffee Cake + Paleo Nutella

September 2, 2014 By Becky 2 Comments

I’m sharing a recipe for nutella coffee cake with homemade paleo nutella over on the Healthy Aperture blog this week!

I had to turn in the post a while ago, so it’s been over a month since I actually ate the cake, and now I REALLY want some. I can barely focus enough to write this little blurb because I am desperate to get up, go to the kitchen, and make it again. The sweet, vanilla-scented cake has huge swirls of dark, rich nutella, and the combination is totally addictive.

Here are five reasons you should be making nutella coffee cake right now:

Mocha Pistachio Ice Cream (Dairy Free, Coconut Free)

July 9, 2014 By Becky 4 Comments

Sadly, it turns out that I’m allergic to coconut.

This is especially devastating because coconut is the miracle food source of the paleo world. Coconut milk, sugar, flour, oil, and butter are all delicious, and do an impressive job of standing in for their non-paleo counterparts.

I can’t help but wonder if my sudden increase in coconut intake during my January Whole30 was what caused my allergy to surface. But, no matter the cause, I won’t be partaking in any coconut anytime soon. Eating raw coconut makes me feel awful, and my doctor told me not to eat cooked coconut either unless I first sit through a challenge test in his office. The test would consist of me bringing in some food with cooked coconut in it, eating it one bite at a time, and seeing if I go into anaphylactic shock or anything. I told him no thanks for now.

Choco-Ginger Truffles

June 27, 2014 By Becky 10 Comments

The chocolates pictured here are survivors of a kitchen disaster.

Truffles are easy and fun to make, and I find the process comforting. To make these ones, I peeled a chunk of ginger with a spoon (like this), grated it with a microplane, and dropped it into a saucepan with almond milk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Once the mixture had come to a robust simmer, I poured it over a bowl of chocolate chips. I whisked the mixture into shiny perfection: truffle batter.

So far, so good. I let the batter chill in the freezer, compartment of choice for impatient truffle-makers. When it was firm, I formed the truffles with a melon baller, a method I learned from watching Ina Garten. If you don’t have a melon baller, you can approximate one with a teaspoon measure; just make sure you dip the utensil in hot water in between truffles, and don’t be afraid to scoop forcefully.

After a quick roll in some cocoa powder, the truffles were almost ready. I ate one, consumed the equivalent of another by scraping the bowl with a spoon so that no gingery chocolate would go to waste, and stashed the tray with the twenty remaining truffles in the fridge to chill.

Fried Banana Brownie Cake with Honey Whipped Cream

May 26, 2014 By Becky 50 Comments

It was my birthday on Saturday, and I had an amazing day. I started the morning by opening the present Ben got for me, which was a Kitchen Aid stand mixer! I’ve wanted one for years, and finally feel like I count as a real food blogger now that I own one. I haven’t used it yet because I have need to clear a special spot for it in the kitchen, but I’ve been peering into the box every few hours and just kind of smiling at it. After opening my mixer, I met up with a friend to go for a run, and then went home and moved a bunch of furniture and hung pictures with Ben. (Our landlords have been renovating our apartment, so we have a lot of rearranging to do. One secret about me is that I love organizing things around the house, even though I put it off like crazy and almost never do it. I am not at all sure why I dread it so much, because once I get started I really enjoy it. So, oddly enough, moving furniture and hanging pictures was one of my favorite parts of the day.)

My mom, Ben, and I went to dbar for dinner, which is within walking distance of our apartment and is one of my favorite restaurants ever. Pro tip: it starts gradually turning into a nightclub around 10 pm on Friday and Saturday. I’ve never been able to convince anyone to stay with me for that phase, but we got to witness the beginning of the transformation last night: one of the waiters walked by, casually pushed a button on his bracelet, and made a screen drop from the ceiling. No big deal.

Chocolate for Breakfast: Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72%

April 7, 2014 By Becky 8 Comments

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and also my favorite. Today I’m sharing how to make Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72% chocolate part of a complete breakfast. Don’t tell me chocolate for breakfast is strange–I promise that if you love chocolate at night, you’ll love it even more in the morning.

Do you remember those cereal ads that used to run in the nineties during kids’ shows–the ones that always said the cereal being advertised was “part of this complete breakfast?” I never considered cereal a meal, even as a kid, and I always wondered: what ELSE is part of this complete breakfast?

Easy Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting {Secret Recipe Club}

March 31, 2014 By Becky 45 Comments

Easy Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (Gluten-free, Grain-free) | acalculatedwhisk.com

Sometimes you just need a cupcake. Or a few cupcakes. I feel that I need cupcakes often, but it’s rare that I actually need a dozen, full-size cupcakes. Unless I have a party to take them to, making a whole batch of cupcakes can often end in disaster, with me deciding that a cupcake with coffee is a great breakfast, a cupcake with a side of fruit is a perfect lunch, and dinner is best concluded by eating another two cupcakes, and so on for the next few days.

That’s why I love small-batch baking.

This delicious recipe for a small batch of easy vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting comes from Asiya at Chocolate and Chillies. I was assigned her blog for my first month participating in the Secret Recipe Club, and had so much fun perusing her recipe index and deciding what to cook (if you haven’t heard of the SRC, it’s basically a club where each month you’re assigned a blog to cook from, and someone else is assigned your blog, and it’s a fun surprise on the reveal day to see who had your blog and what they decided to make).

Chocolate-Covered Almonds

March 22, 2014 By Becky 2 Comments

Chocolate-covered almonds are my new favorite snack. With a little sea salt added to the mix, they are just phenomenal. Lately I’ve been seeing and buying them everywhere: Starbucks, Tedeschi, and Whole Foods each carry their own versions, all of which are irresistible to hungry grad students. I decided it was time to make my own.

These almonds are roasted, dipped in salted dark chocolate, and tossed with a bit of Dutch-processed cocoa powder. I can’t stop eating them. Although the chocolate coating is not as thick as the almonds I get at the store, which must be triple-dipped, this version still does a great job of satisfying my chocolate cravings. I actually prefer the chocolate-to-almond ratio of this recipe, which allows the nutty flavor of the roasted almonds to come through. If you don’t like your almonds roasted, you can also make this with raw almonds.

While I loved the way these almonds tasted, I wasn’t thrilled with how they looked. It turns out it’s really hard (at least for me) to get nice, smooth chocolate on something that has to be covered on all sides. Since I like everything I post here to be easy on the eyes as well as delicious, I was contemplating not posting this recipe at all; however, when I asked some of my friends on Facebook what they thought, everyone said I should go for it. So, here it is: a four-ingredient recipe for the most addictive snack on earth. I hope you like it!

Salted Nutella Cookies + Cuina Baking Mat Giveaway

March 13, 2014 By Becky 32 Comments

Disclosure: I received this product as part of an advertorial.

Ever since a friend of mine brought over some amazing nutella brownies a couple weeks ago, I’ve been dying to make a dessert of my own with the addictive chocolate hazelnut spread. With a little research, I discovered that you don’t have to add many things to nutella to make a delicious brownie batter or cookie dough. You can even make gluten-free nutella brownies with just three ingredients. However, I decided to make cookies–I was craving something that was both chewy and crunchy, and wanted another chance to use my Cuina silicone baking mat.

I was almost all set to make these cookies–I just needed a jar of nutella. So, in case you were wondering, here is how to spend most of your day on a desperate search for chocolate hazelnut spread:

1. Wake up and tell your boyfriend he can take the car to work, since it’s your spring break and all you really have to do all day is make cookies.

2. After he leaves, immediately regret your decision when you remember you need to go out and buy nutella for the cookies.

3. Eat some leftover bacon & sweet potato chili with a fried egg on top for breakfast, while wondering if there’s any way to get nutella delivered to your home. You decide there probably isn’t.