Brownie Batter Hummus

A few months ago, ALDI had this brownie batter hummus I heard a few people talking about. We got it once, and not only was it delicious but it got my kids to willingly eat some beans! (They didn’t know that, but hey…)

We have rice and beans every Monday night in the summer, and sadly neither of my boys chooses to eat this meal. So they’re really hungry, but I have done my part in feeding them. This week, though, I decided to shake it up and serve some chocolate hummus alongside the standard red beans and rice.

ALDI has stopped carrying the Brownie Batter Hummus, but I whipped up some of my own and I think it turned out great. If you want to sneak some fiber into your kids, too, here’s one easy way. We like this with graham cracker pieces, pretzels, or apples.

(Sneak may not be the right word, as they are well aware this is beans. But apparently chocolate trumps that knowledge and they happily devour it.) 

 

Brownie Hummus

Yield: about 1 cup hummus 

This tasty dip is super healthy, gluten free, and can be dairy-free and vegan as well with almond milk. 

Ingredients

• 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 
• 3 T cocoa powder 
• 1 heaping T coconut oil 
• pinch salt 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 2-3 T milk (can sub nut milk if needed) 

Instructions 

1. Add all ingredients except milk to the bowl of a food processor. 
2. Process until smooth. 
3. Add milk and process for another 15 seconds or so, until creamy and smooth. 
4. Serve with graham crackers, pretzels, or fruit. Or eat with a spoon. Whatever. 😉 

Notes For the smoothest hummus, remove the outer, translucent part of the chickpeas (the hulls). I didn't do this, but if you are fancy you go right ahead.

Thanksgiving Recipes

I shared these recipes on Vanderbilt Wife ... three years ago! They are still two of my favorite holiday recipes and make an appearance pretty much every Thanksgiving and Christmas. The cranberry chutney makes canned, jellied sauce seem laughable and can be cooling in the fridge in 15 minutes. The lattice crust on this pie seems fancy but is simple; and because it is served cold, you can make the pie a day or two ahead and have extra time - and oven space - for your holiday feasts!

From our kitchen to yours, enjoy.

Cranberry, Cherry, and Walnut Chutney

from Cooking Light, November 2005

1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1/2 c. port, sweet red wine, or 100% grape juice
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 c. dried tart cherries
1 pkg. fresh cranberries
2/3 c. chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 tsp. grated orange rind
1/4 tsp. almond extract
orange rind strips, optional

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Add cherries and cook 1 minute. Stir in cranberries; Return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, until all cranberries pop.

Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts, rind, and extract. Garnish with orange rind strips if desired. Cover and chill.

[Combine leftovers with a can of mandarin oranges and pour over raw chicken, then bake in the crockpot on low 6-8 hours for an amazing dinner!]

Cherry Cheesecake Pie

from Woman's Day Magazine

1 box refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts) (or homemade)
1/2 c. sugar
1 T cornstarch
2 (8 oz.) bricks Neufchatel cheese
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 can cherry pie filling
1 egg white, beaten

Heat oven to 350.

Fit 1 crust in a 9-inch pie plate. Cut other crust into 1-inch strips.

Mix sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Add cream cheese; beat with mixer until smooth. On low speed, beat in egg and extract.

Spread batter evenly in crust; spoon pie filling on top.

Brush crust strips with egg white. Place strips over top in lattice pattern.

Bake 50-60 minutes, until crust is golden brown.


Linking up with:
Sweet Tooth Friday
Mouthwatering Monday
Tasty Tuesday

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Chocolate Avocado Cake

It's time for the Secret Recipe Club once again! (Last month, in spite of my blogging break, I made Chocolate Coconut Oat Bars.)

This month my assigned blogger was Six Kilos of Pumpkin. Emily Jane is a university student in Australia. She moved away from home "to be able to study," and now she's learning how to cook on her own. She doesn't post too often, but when she does the quick synopses of her life are cute and remind me of my own college days.

I decided to pick this recipe for Chocolate Avocado Cake to attempt because:

• It looked like something my family would eat
• Emily Jane made her own tweaks to it
• And the recipe wasn't in metric!

I actually went back through the train of who made this cake. I believe it was created by Think Write Eat, then made by Joy the Baker, then Not Quite Nigella, and THEN Six Kilos of Pumpkin. And now me!

I went back and read each of those posts, taking tips from all of them. Joy the Baker and Not Quite Nigella actually made avocado buttercream for their cakes (Joy liked it; Nigella did not). I wasn't feeling brave enough for that, so I decided to create a blackberry cream cheese frosting with the massive amounts of blackberries the kids and I picked at Crabtree Farms.

The cake is actually vegan; my frosting is not. So if you want to keep it vegan, you can always try the avocado buttercream. 

The cake is fudgy and rich and I thought it went very well with the cream cheese frosting. If you have kids with an egg allergy, this would be a great recipe for a birthday cake!

(Vegan) Chocolate Avocado Cake with (UnVegan) Vanilla Blackberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake
3 cups white whole wheat (or AP) flour
6 T dark cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 avocado, mashed
2 cups water
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp white vinegar
1 cup turbinado sugar (can sub regular sugar or sucanat)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans.

In one bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. In a large bowl, mix oil, avocado, water, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir in sugar. This will seem like a big watery mess; that's OK.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, combining until smooth. Pour into cake pans. I always whack my pans flat on the counter to release air bubbles, then make a shallow well in the middle by pushing batter to the outsides of the pan. This helps the cakes not to be as domed.

Bake 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pans; then remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup blackberries, crushed (if I did this again, I would probably strain the blackberries through a fine-mesh strainer to try to remove seeds)

Beat together cream cheese and butter with a mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time (until it's as sweet as you prefer). Add blackberries and vanilla and continue beating until well-combined.

Frost cake with frosting; garnish with additional blackberries if desired.

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De-luscious Lemon Cake

I'm a sucker for lemon desserts. Tart and sweet is kind of like chocolate and salty--you can just keep eating its perfection forever. (OK, that's not necessarily a good thing.)

I came across the recipe this morning on VocalPoint and something in it just screamed, "Make me, Jessie!" I knew all I would need was lemons, so I listened the voice. I am bringing dinner to my Bible-study group tomorrow night and thought it would make a perfect sweet ending. As a somewhat wise cook, however, I also knew I'd better test it before I took a new recipe to a bunch of people I'm just getting to know. Wouldn't want to poison anyone.

This dessert is like a sponge cake on top and a custard on the bottom. Mmmmm. It'd be even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top to balance out the tart lemon. Maybe I'll pick up a pint for tomorrow night. (If you're interested, I'll also be serving Jo-Lynne's beef enchiladas and Mexican Corn Dip AKA Magically Delicious Dip according to Amanda.)

I modified the recipe to fit with my whole-foods-hopeful lifestyle. If you use white flour and white sugar, it will probably be a much lighter color.

De-Luscious Lemon Cake
3/4 cup sucanat or turbinado sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, separated--let the whites warm to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the recipe
3 T  butter, very soft
1 tsp lemon zest (from about 1 lemon--zest before you juice)
3/4 cup lemon juice (from about 3 lemons. Meyer lemons are actually cheaper than regular ones right now, and very flavorful!)
1 1/2 cups milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8x8 pan with cooking spray (or butter it, if you're anti-Pam).

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks about 1 minute. Stir in butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and milk. Add sugar mixture and stir together well.

Beat egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer until stiff peaks appear. Add contents of other bowl and mix on medium for a minute or until the batter is smooth.

Pour batter into your prepared pan. Place that pan in a larger dish (like a lasagna pan or roaster) and fill with hot water to about 1 inch up the sides of your cake pan.

Cook for 40-50 minutes or until top is brown and starting to crackle. Serve warm or chilled, preferably with ice cream!

Linked up to Tasty Tuesday & Lemon Recipes at The Happy Housewife.

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C is for Cupcakes

When the cold weather starts to bite, I start to bake. I don't know why. The Christmas-ness of it, I guess.

See evidence A:



Erm, yes. My stove really is THAT dirty. Unfortunately the cold weather doesn't make me want to CLEAN.

Friday night I dragged Libbie out in the cold to Target, to which I had a gift card, so I could buy baking supplies. A cart full of butter, eggs, oats, M&Ms, chocolate chips, and a size 18 month shirt later, I was back at home and tucked Libbie in. Then I was tired. Heh.

I did make Crystal's Lazy Granola on Friday and then called it a night.

But Saturday I was back in the kitchen with a vengeance and started to attack these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.



I followed the cake recipe exactly, so I'm not going to repost it here--you can see it at that link. It is a very tasty chocolate cake recipe and the surprise peanut butter ball on the inside only adds extra goodness! I ended up only making 18 cupcakes rather than 24, but I think I filled the cups a little too full trying to cover the PB ball.



I forgot to get Cool Whip at the store so I had to improvise on the peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Here's what I did.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 T butter, softened
2/3 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup peanut butter
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted or whisked

With a electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until well mixed. Add peanut butter. With mixer on low, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.

(Make sure you refrigerate anything you make with cream cheese frosting, of course!)



I didn't have any tools with which to pipe the frosting on nicely, but they still taste pretty darn good. The frosting is heavenly. These 12 are all sitting nicely in my Wilton cupcake/cake carrier, ready to go to work tomorrow. To a party for me. Because I don't have anyone to feed them to here, and I'm not going to eat them all by myself!

Linked to Mouthwatering Mondays, Tasty Tuesday, and Cupcake Tuesdays.