Category: food

Not Much Avocado in Guacamole

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

I saw this story on Marketplace’s website that many guacamole dips contain little avocado:

The group says the guacamole dip made by Kraft contains less than two per cent avocado. Instead the dip is made of mostly water, partially hydrogenated coconut and soybean oil, corn syrup, whey protein concentrate, potato and salt. […]

I’m a bit surprised, as I didn’t expect common guacamoles to include such little avocado. So, I suppose I’ll just avoid brands such as Kraft, Herr’s, Dean’s and Marie’s (the prime offenders listed in the article).

Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Treats

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

I found this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Treats on the chocolate-recipes mailing list (yes, a list just for chocolate recipes, heh). It sounds simple enough, and I’m tempted to try it sometime. I’m curious about what kind of texture it might have — whether it’d be chewey or more flakey (I suppose that depends on the ratio of graham crackers to peanut butter).

Chocolate Peanut Treats

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 12 squares)
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter [I’d probably go with creamy]
  • 1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Stir in sugar and peanut butter. Press into a greased 8 inch square pan. In a microwave or double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Spread over peanut butter layer. Chill for 30 minutes; cut into squares. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes longer. Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe: Carrot Cake

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

Someone brought in some carrot cake to work the other day. It was moist and savory with a rich cream cheese frosting — it was some of the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. I was a bit sad that I wouldn’t be able to ask for the recipe, as it just appeared anonymously in the break area.

Luckily, the cake came up in some water-cooler conversation and just I happened to be talking with the person who baked it. She happily agreed to e-mail the recipe to me:

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups grated carrots
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/4 cups oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla

Preparation:

Cook at 350 for 30 min — if you do it in a cake pan — I end up cooking it for at least 45 minutes, but check it at 30 min, then every 10 min afterwards. [Yeah, that’s exactly how she wrote it. As you’ll notice, she doesn’t specify a pan-size, but I recall that it may have been 13 x 9 (?)]

Frosting:

  • 1 package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 16 oz box of powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese together, add vanilla, slowly add powdered sugar.

Trip to Target

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

I stopped by Target to replace some of Jason’s items that he took along with his move:

  • Mixing bowls
  • Whisk
  • Spatula

Pancakes, here I come!

For what it’s worth, a whisk is one of the secrets to good pancakes. Just be sure not to overmix — you want the batter mixed just enough so that there’s no liquid pooling beside the dry ingredients. It’s ok to have some lumps, as they’ll generally cook away.

Recipe: Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ashley Bischoff8 Comments

I recently ran across this recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies on AllRecipes. The reviews were positive, so I decided to try the recipe.

It worked out great—soft and rich, but with a delicious chocolate and pecan accent. I’ve added just a few comments as well:

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 roll parchment paper [You aren’t going to eat this, but you’ll need to have some on hand—you can find parchment paper in the same aisle as the wax paper and aluminum foil.]
  • 1 cup (110 grams) of chopped pecans (or chopped walnuts)
  • 2 sticks (227 grams) of butter, softened (Or for a vegan version, I’ve had success with Miyoko’s Vegan Butter, which I found at Target.)
  • 1 cup (198 grams) packed light brown sugar
  • ½ cup (99 grams) white sugar
  • 2 eggs (Or for a vegan version, I’ve had success with Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, which I found at Target.)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ¼ cups (178 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons Diamond Kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
  • 3 cups (295 grams) quick-cooking oats [These may be labeled as “quick-cooking” oats or 1-minute “instant” oats.]
  • 6 oz (170 g) dark chocolate from 70%+ bars (alternately: 6 oz / 170 g of chocolate chips)
  • Optional: Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling atop the cookies after they come out of the oven (You can find Maldon sea salt at Kroger and Safeway, among other stores.)

Directions—Toasting the Nuts:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375° F (190° C).

  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the chopped nuts in a single layer. Place the baking sheet in the oven for 5–6 minutes.

  3. Take out the nuts and set them aside to cool. (You can pick up the parchment paper by the sides to form a U-shape to make it easier to transfer the nuts to a small bowl.)

Directions—Baking the Cookies:

  1. Lower the oven temperature to 325° F (162° C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended.

  4. Roughly chop the dark chocolate bars. It’s fine (and even preferable) if not all the chopped pieces are the same size—aim to have most of the pieces no larger than around ½ to ¾ inch (1 to 2 cm) on any given side.

  5. Mix in the quick oats, pecans, and chocolate chips.

  6. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven.

    (They should puff up ever so slightly when they bake; if you take them out of the oven and they’re completely flat, they haven’t baked quite long enough.)

  7. Optional but recommended: Immediately after taking the cookie sheets out of the oven, sprinkle the tops of the cookies with sea salt.

  8. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.