Chocolate in the house!

Holiday goodness from personal chef Charity

I spent the day in the kitchen… cleaning, then cooking, then cleaning, then cooking, then recooking, then cleaning! I made a pie for a friends’ Christmas dinner and some cookies for the neighbor. OK, yes, I had a few, too.  I really cannot resist chocolate and the cookies I made are a wonderful recipe from The Seasons of the Italian Kitchen by Diane Darrow and Tom Maresca.

Spiced Honey Nut Balls

1 oz raisins ( I used currants

2 oz each shelled walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts

1 oz citron, finely chopped ( I used homemade candied lemon peel after discovering that the storebought citron is full of high fructose corn syrup!)

1 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

4 T honey

1/2c. plus 2 T flour ( I used whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Put the raisins in a small bowl and add hot water to soften ( I used Marsala wine. why not?) Put the nuts on a baking sheet, keeping the hazelnuts to one side. Toast in the oven 5 minutes ( mine needed more, just watch them). Remove and rub the hazelnuts in a clean rough towel to remove as much of the skin as possible. Chop all the nuts together finely ( or pulse in the food processor).Put them in a large bowl. Drain the raisins and squeeze them lightly, and add to the bowl along with the ingredients through the nutmeg. Mix well. Mix the honey with 1 T hot water to loosen its consistency, and add to the fruit nut mixture. Sift on the flour and mix well. Oil or butter a cookie sheet. Break off bits of dough, roll them between buttered palms into balls about 2 inches in diameter. Set the balls on the baking sheet, put in the oven, and immediately turn the temperature down to 350º. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until they are golden brown. Cool on a rack. When they are completely cooled, they can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks. ( yeah, good luck with that!!)

My other culinary adventure today was French Silk Pie as blogged beautifully by my friend Amy Casey here. If you are not familiar with her, please become so. She consistently posts great recipes and photographs. The photo here is before topping with Grand Marnier flavored whipped cream. mmmm.

Chocolate is the food of love and today was about giving my friends and neighbors some chocolate love, as well as myself.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite barred chocolate, though I didn’t use it today. Please go to http://www.shamanchocolates.com and read about this wonderful company. If your local store does not carry it, you can order on line.

Bread!

As a person working on living gluten free for almost 15 years, I have struggled with finding good bread. Believe me, I have tried many brands and have worked on learning to bake it myself. In one word, ugh! Most gluten free breads do not taste good, most are a weird texture. In the past few years, I have basically given up. And, recently, am moving towards a world that is not only gluten free, but flour free, so bread is out. But, there are those days when a sandwich calls my name.

I have mentioned the name Mark Sisson before in another post. He advocates a caveman diet… no grains! He recently gave a link to this recipe which is the reason for this post. You can find the original recipe here, which gives the nutritional info and it is always interesting to read peoples’ comments.

Foccacia Style Flax Bread

2 c flax seed meal

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp salt

1-2 T sweetening power from artificial sweetener ( I will NEVER advocate using artificial sweetener. Please inform yourself about aspartame. I used xylitol, which kept it very low carb but have no problem recommending sugar. It just would change the nutritional information)

5 beaten eggs

1/2c. water

1/3 c. oil ( I used olive)

Preheat oven to 350º. Prepare pan ( a 10×15″ pan with sides works best) with oiled parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Mix dry ingredients well. Add wet to dry, and combine well. Make sure there aren’t obvious strings of egg white hanging out in the batter ( if you look at the photo carefully, you will see that dreaded string!) Let batter set for 2 or 3 minutes to thicken up some ( leave it too long and it gets past the  point where it is easy to spread) Pour batter onto pan. Spread it out from the center into a rectangle an inch or so from the sides of the pan. Bake for aboutg 20 mins, until it springs back when you touch the tope. Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want.

oh, this is good. It is moist. There is a bit of a bitter aftertaste from the flax but it is not really noticeable.  I actually followed the recipe exactly, which is unusual for me but in recipe testing, that is important. I can see many variation possibilities. How about adding some soaked raisins and cinnamon for a breakfast treat ? Or, add some garlic and rosemary for a more traditional foccacia ?

As a personal chef, I often have clients who are gluten free and I plan on making this a regular part of my menu. It is easy. It is delicious. It is healthy. What more could you ask for ? A simple thing like a tuna fish sandwich brought me much satisfaction today. And yes, there was mayonaisse involved.

Baking

The change in the weather and the coming of the holidays brings out the baker in me. I love to bake! While I don’t completely understand it, I am intrigued by the science of how by putting certain ingredients together, they change into something else completely. It is more like magic than science. I love how the house smells when something yummy is just about to come out of the oven. The dark side of baking is in the potential for over indulgence, especially by one who needs to be very conscious about gluten and sugar. Oh yes, there are delightful gluten free and sugar free things to be made, and I do. My solution has become one of baking for others.

Today’s project is a repeat of baking for clients this week and is a gift for my go to Web, graphic arts, networking “guy”. Todd is responsible for the new web site and much much more in the history of For Life! personal chef services. He and his family were my first paying clients. Fortunately, we all survived!

Baking for others brings me the same joy and experience of the magic as baking for myself. I usually plan it so that I can have a piece, bite, one cookie, whatever it may be and then it is gone out of reach. I have the pictures I have taken, the smile on the face of the receiver, and the lingering aroma.

These Apple Almond Bars come from a wonderful food blog, via a personal chef colleague from Michigan. I love the internet for many reasons and seeing how recipes travel from blog to blog to person to person is pretty interesting. Who knows where it will pop up next?  As usual, I added my own touches, using whole wheat flour, agave nectar instead of white sugar, and I didn’t peel the apples. Too much work, plus we need the fiber. Oh, and I added some cinnamon. How will you make this your own ? Don’t like almonds ? Try walnuts. Add some ginger. Make it gluten free. Let me know how you like it.