One of my twins Rani got in the mood to make some chocolate cupcakes a few weekends ago. But Rani is a picky one; she likes dark chocolate, even in her cupcakes. YES! I thought. I am going to be treated to an adult cupcake made with dark chocolate!
Now as you may know, there are countless chocolate cupcake recipes out there, hundreds of recipes actually. Yet somehow Rani was able to narrow down her search to this one recipe from Gimmesomeoven.com. She asked me to take a look at the recipe for 1: do we have the ingredients and 2: for approval – i.e. is this an easy recipe to follow. I gave her the thumbs up 👍. This is how Rani’s chocolate cupcakes turned out. Pretty cool!
I don’t recall how I came upon this book really, maybe I was browsing Amazon’s book selection, or maybe I saw it in a bookstore. The title got me interested. Flourless? Really? Earlier in the year I had been thinking about baking healthier desserts (if there is such a thing) and started looking around for dessert cook books with easy recipes that were relatively “healthy.” My criteria for the cookbook had to be these: the recipes had to be easy, the ingredients had to be wholesome, and the baking had to be forgiving. Given that I am not a big baker, I like my recipes to be simple. Flourless: Recipes for Naturally Gluten-free Desserts by Nicole Spiridakis seemed to have everything I was looking for. The reviews were very good too. So I decided to take a chance and bought it, and I have to say, this cookbook is awesome. Flourless has become one of my favorite dessert cookbooks! Continue reading Flourless. Recipes for Naturally Gluten-Free Desserts by Nicole Spiridakis→
Have you heard of FIKA? I hadn’t. Not until a few months ago that is, when I was catching up on my daily world news on BBC.com. I came across an article that read Why Are Swedish Workers So Happy?. This article was about FIKA, the Swedish workplace tradition of taking a coffee break with sweet treats and chatting. In many companies in Sweden this coffee break is not only encouraged but in some offices it is actually mandatory. Research has shown that taking a work-place coffee break leads to happier and more productive employees. Continue reading Scandinavian Baking by Trine Hahnemann→
My friend Rose made these outstanding dark chocolate brownies a while back, and they were perfect little bites of pure chocolate joy. These brownies were gooey, chocolaty, and moist with a hint of espresso and they were not teeth-tingling sweet. Why am I surprised these brownies were so good? Rose is an amazing baker – just amazing. Her baked goods can win awards. If only she would open a bakeshop, her goodies would sell out for sure. Rose shared her recipe for these gooey brownies, which she got from trEATs by April Carter. Here is the recipe with a few of Rose’s own tweaks. Continue reading Dark Chocolate Brownies With Salted Carmel→
I love Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut Bar. It’s my favorite chocolate. I thought about making some at home but decided it was best to leave it to Cadbury’s to make it the way they do – just perfect. Instead I decided to make a more adult fruit and nut bar with dark chocolate and some of my favorite dried fruits and nuts like apricots, pistachios, and candied ginger. I also added saffron to give the chocolate an exotic flavor. Here is the recipe. Continue reading Dark Chocolate Fruit & Nut Bark with Apricots and Candied Ginger→
Our family loves dark chocolate anything, and they especially love this raspberry chocolate bark. Kids like it with vanilla ice cream, adults like it with a good cup of coffee or port. Either way, this Dark Chocolate Rose Petal Raspberry Bark is delicious! Here is the recipe.
Love dark chocolate? Ever wonder how that delicious dark chocolate goes from bean to bar? When we visited Boston, Massachusetts back in July, one of the excursions was to the Taza Chocolate Factory in Sommerville, Massachusetts.
I heard this past week of the sad news that veteran actor Gene Wilder passed away at the age of 83. I’ve seen a few of his movies such as Stir Crazy,Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein, all of which were great comedies, family friendly movies. But what Gene Wilder is most famous for is his role as Mr. Willie Wonka in the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. What a classic this movie is. Based on the popular children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, this movie is a must see for kids of all ages. A great story about greed and selfishnes and how in the end love, generosity, and kindness towards others triumphs all misfortunes is a story that resonates even in today’s fast-paced world.
Continue reading Salted Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel 
