Tahini Brownies

Do you ever have dreams of chocolate halvah but fluffy? I do.


Here it is. From here.

They'll be going like ...




The end.

-Amanda

A Brownie Comparison

I tried making brownies once. I failed miserably, but that's all right.

The image above is not a picture of my failure, but it is a funny picture. It's of the second type of brownie being compared here today.

So I met this girl, and she's not on good terms with gluten. That was all the impetus I needed for the first brownie.


Gluten-free Almond Chocolate Brownies!

Thoughts: Very VERY moist. Soggy. If you like fudgier brownies, it'll work out well for your mouth. I liked the taste a lot. I could only eat teeny tiny bits though--pretty sweet and filling.

link to recipe

I tried sub'ing agar flakes for xanthan gum (i read it online somewhere, but i think it was a silly attempt.) My friend at trader joe's led me to the gum section near the registers when I asked for xanthan. Maybe next time!

I didn't have--or want to buy--rice flour, so I made some almond meal and used that instead. So much almond! I also used all of the zest of my orange, so it was just jam-packed with flavor.



This second kind has its fair share of flour.

link to recipe I think I used

I remember so little about this. I was in a frenzied state, cramming carboxylic acids and their derivatives into the corners of my brain for the text the following day. Brownies needed to happen. I'm glad they did--they served me well that week. I'm realizing more and more how important it is for me to have something to tea with regularly.



-Anna

I like Molasses!

But these aren't my favorite brans. See "muffin in the rough," ça c'est très bien. Cette recette a été au dessous de mes attentes.



Cependant, c'est bon.

I got it from this book from the seventies (like everything else in my parent's kitchen) called Laurel's Kitchen.

Her recipe is for apple bran muffins, but we didn't have apples, so I used strawberries and blueberries instead.

She recommends eating these muffins with cheddar.
I say no.


Recipe: Bran Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 TBS grated orange rind
1 cup apple ( I subbed blueberries and strawberries)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts/seeds ( I left out.)
juice of one orange
scant 2 cups clabbered milk!
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 TBS oil

1. Preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix flour, bran, salt, soda, and nutmeg together. Stir in rind, fruit, and nuts if using.
2. Pour juice of orange into a 2 cup measure, fill the rest up with the clabbered milk. Add to egg, molasses, and oil and stir it all together a lot.
3. Combine, but not too much.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Should make about 2 dozen small muffins

This is what I do.

-Amanda

Deadly Decadence

I made this for father's day. I didn't let it bake long enough/cool long enough or both so it was like lava when we cut into it.

So be careful. I didn't make the compote since it's not blood orange season and it seemed silly. Grand marnier though takes the cake. I mean it.


Oh and I used nonfat greek yogurt for the sour cream.
La recette, ça c'est ici. J'ai besoin de pratiquer mon français avant que je partie. Je ne sais pas si j'ai oublié toute ma grammaire.

Bien. Ecoutez.
-Amanda

Cheesecake for the Boys

Oh those Italians!

Letting me make a plump and juicy cheesecake, crustless, ricotta-full.

They do know the way to so many hearts.

So this was my first cheesecake! It didn't fall, which I was not happy about, but apparently this isn't a huge issue for most people who consume your cheesecake, so no need to fret.

I don't think I've ever zested so much in my life. But I loved every minute of it. 3 whole lemons. 2 big ole oranges.



Here's the recipe.

I used less sugar, and it was definitely still very sweet on the tooth.

So rich yet fresh. Mmm. Oh!! And I used low fat ricotta. Still rich enough to only be able to take a forkful, wait a while, take another, share some with your host's roommates, bring some home, have him bring some home, have him drop it on the way home, have him cut off the part that touched the floor and eat the rest, too many commas, not enough grammar.

Cheesecake! Blueberries next time. And chocolate chips. Mmmmm!

-Anna

I Thought I Didn't Take Pictures, But I Did

These are Nigella's blueberry muffins. They're from How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I'm too lazy to write the recipe, but basically they're her blueberry muffins except I added grated orange and ground cardamom.

There's melted butter too.


And there we go. Heehee.

I'm clever.

-Amanda

Double the Surface Area

We never blogged these. I don't know why. They were good. Our clabbering was superb, even though Anna said they smelled like apple cider vinegar even after they were baked. My favorite part was the chocolate topping. Usually I just ate the top and threw out the bottom, since the bread part went stale after the day we made them.



So my genius idea was to use the remainders that I hadn't consumed the chocolate topping off of to make conchita bread pudding, conchita chocolate orange bread pudding to be specific.

Mmm, we used this recipe to make the conchitas and I pretty much winged it with the bread pudding. I used an 8 x 8 pan, maybe 10 or so of the conchitas, 2 eggs, some sweetened cocoa powder, some orange zest, a quarter cup melted margarine, 2 cups skim milk, and some raw sugar sprinkled on top.

Bread puddings are pretty flexible, so you never really need a recipe, just stale yeast bread, eggs, and some sort of milk/cream/etc.

The pudding pictures are ugly, so if you make it close your eyes as you eat it.
Rhyme?

Also these are sweet, so here you go.
-Amanda