Chocolate "Crazy" Cake

A moment of celebration is needed. I've hit 3K page views :) It's only taken me 3.5 years to do so, but hey, such is life. I still haven't met the requirements to complete my original challenge, though: 100 recipes, with at least 25 each of dairy, meat, and pareve--I'm only at 23 meat recipes, even though I have 125+ recipes on the site right now. Clearly, that needs to be an area of focus for me. This is mostly because it's a whole lot easier to convert a recipe that contains both meat and dairy to a vegetarian recipe than it is to eliminate the dairy.

Enough of my rambling--on to your regularly scheduled post.



So the other night, I was asked to bring dessert to a friend's house in exchange for dinner and good company (or something like that). I was originally going to make cookies, because they're simple and why not, but then realized that I didn't have enough butter on hand. So I went through my pinterest board to see if there was something I could make without butter, or milk. I found this recipe I pinned forever ago, and figured why not. I already had all the ingredients on hand. I'm also fairly certain I've made this before, but I couldn't find record of it, so whatever. The blog below also has recipes for a vanilla, spice, and lemon crazy cake as well if you're interested in something besides chocolate. Apparently it works great with gluten-free flour as well.

Chocolate Crazy Cake
Originally found at Sweet Little Bluebird

1 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. You can mix the ingredients directly in an 8" square baking pan, or you can do it in a bowl first. Mix the dry ingredients together until well blended. Make 3 depressions in the dry ingredients--two small, and one larger. Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in another, and vegetable oil in the largest. Pour water over all. Mix well until smooth. Pour into prepared pan if mixing in a bowel.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar, or your favorite icing.

My Notes:
Very yummy. Super moist, but still light and airy. This may become my go-to cake recipe, especially since it's so incredibly easy to make. And it's pareve!

Southwest Sauce

Remember a few weeks ago when I made that Sweet Potato Gnocchi, but said that the sauce wasn't flavorful enough? Well, I came up with a solution to that. Even though the gnocchi itself is based on the sweet side of the sweet potato, I really wanted a nice and savory sauce to go with it. So I did some searching for other recipes with sweet potatoes, just to see how people used them.

Apparently one way that is very popular is to do a southwest stuffed sweet potato. Considering a big part of my blog is based in the southwest, I figured it would be a nice addition to the group. It took me a bit to figure out exactly how I wanted to adapt the recipe, but I think this one's a winner.

Southwest Sauce Adapted from Elly Says Opa!

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup vegetable broth
1 Tbsp chipotles en adobo (blended)
2 oz cream cheese
1 recipe Sweet Potato Gnocchi

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add spices, then add corn, tossing to coat the corn with the spices. Cook until corn is slightly browned, about 7 minutes. Set aside.

Deglaze the pan with the vegetable broth, add in the chipotles en adobo, then slowly stir in the cream cheese until completely incorporated. Stir in gnocchi, then corn and beans. Heat through and serve hot.

My Notes:
So, I actually had about half my gnocchi recipe left over in the freezer, and used that for the basis of the recipe. As a result, I only used about half of the corn and beans, because more would have overwhelmed the gnocchi. Also, because my gnocchi were frozen and I had to let them thaw in the sauce, I used significantly more liquid than I called for in the recipe, because it reduced quite nicely.

All in all, this is definitely a winning recipe. There is a lot of flavor going on, and it works well with the texture of the gnocchi.

Now I just have to use up those other two sweet potatoes sitting in my cupboard.

S'mores Krispies

I'm still not entirely sure what to call these things. They're like a Rice Krispie treat, only with graham cracker stuffs instead of rice krispies. And they're so much better and not bland. Seriously, you should make them now.

S'mores Krispies
Originally found at Country Cleaver

6 Tbsp butter
1 package marshmallows (10 oz)
5 cups Golden Grahams cereal
3/4 cup chocolate chips, divided

Liberally grease a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in marshmallows and heat until consistency is even. Turn off heat, and add in the cereal, mixing until well covered with marshmallow mixture. Add in 1/2 cup chocolate chips, mix lightly, then pour into the baking dish. Press lightly into pan and top with remaining chocolate chips. Allow to cool and serve. Store in a covered container.

My Notes:
I've seen a lot of people complain that when they initially add the chocolate chips and stir them in that the chocolate chips melt and they just end up with chocolate marshmallow goop covering the Golden Grahams. The key to getting them to remain mostly solid is to only stir enough to spread them out throughout the mixture, then dump it into the pan. They'll still melt a little, because you are dumping them into essentially boiling marshmallow goo, but you should still get chunks.

I brought this to a potluck the other day, and everyone fell in love with it and told me the recipe was a keeper. Even the woman who makes the most amazing brownies in the world. High praise indeed.

Cinnamon Apple Challah

This past week was Rosh Hashanah. For those of you who aren't Jewish, or familiar with Jewish customs, that is the start of the Hebrew calendar. Traditionally, sweet things are eaten on Rosh Hashanah to celebrate and to hope for a 'sweet' new year. Apples and honey is a favorite combination. I ran across this recipe for cinnamon apple challah on Pinterest not too long ago, and it seemed oddly fitting, especially since Rosh Hashanah ran into Shabbat this year.

Cinnamon Apple Challah
Modified from ReformJudaism.org

2 1/2 tsp instant yeast (1 envelope)
1/2 cup warm water (100 degrees)
1/4 cup sugar, plus 1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 - 3 cups bread flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon, divided
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 small apples, or 1 medium-large apple

In a large bowl, mix yeast, water, and 1/4 cup sugar. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, until frothy. Mix in 2 eggs, oil, vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, and salt. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until it forms a soft ball. It should be firm enough to handle without being sticky, but still soft and pliable. Knead dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, adding more water if dough is tough or flour if it is sticky. Place the dough in a clean, warm bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour until about double in size.

Meanwhile, core and chop apples into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle on 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp sugar.

Once dough has risen, divide into three sections and roll each into a long, wide strip. Sprinkle some apples along the long edge and roll up, taking care to avoid air bubbles. Avoid placing the apple-cinnamon liquid into the dough, as this will make it much more difficult to handle. Repeat with remaining two sections of dough. Braid strands together, tucking ends under. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until triple in size, about an hour and a half.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the remaining egg with a small amount of water to create an egg wash, and brush the challah with the egg. Bake 25-35 minutes, until golden brown. The bread should sound hollow when tapped. Serve with honey!

My Notes:
So, I had too many apples. It didn't work so well. One of my rolls ended up falling apart, so I skipped the step to braid and just did tree spiral rounds. The original recipe called to bake for 35 minutes, but I was skeptical, so I set my timer for 30, and ended up taking the bread out with about 8 minutes left. Likely this was because it wasn't braided.

It's not a bad recipe. I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of the chunks of apples--I was expecting them to be a bit softer and melt into the batter a little more, but they kept their form and crunch fairly well. Still, it's got a nice flavor.