Posted in Food and..., Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, chocolate, creativity, food, inspiration, Thoughts, work on March 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I spent a little time last night working out a new recipe for the mocha tofu pudding. What’s different? Double the espresso.
And am I using post-lunch dessert as an excuse to test the caffeine-fueled recipe results right now, on this busy busy Tuesday?
Why yes! Yes I am.
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Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, chocolate, food, recipes, vegan on February 12, 2022| 3 Comments »
I recently tried a variation on the previously-posted tofu chocolate pudding recipe, based on Mark Bittman’s Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding. It uses simple syrup, which makes it easy to add any flavor boosters you might like. I took the opportunity to make both plain for the pudding and a batch of passion fruit syrup to try with caramelized white chocolate later. (I may also try this with maple syrup. Go Canada!)
This recipe is gluten and lactose free (vegan too, depending on your chocolate). Don’t let that deter you, the final result is rich and creamy.
Right now I’m only able to find silken tofu in Tetra Pak boxes that hold 12.3 ounces and the easily available chocolate comes in 6 ounce packages, so I tweaked the recipe to match. I also left out Bittman’s cinnamon and chili but that version’s good too.
And hark, Valentine’s Day approacheth!
If your local store has silken tofu and decent chocolate it’s hard to find a quicker, easier dessert that’s still delicious. (It’s also possible to use the pudding as pie filling with a graham cracker crust, but I haven’t tried that yet.)
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Tofu Chocolate Pudding v2.0
Serves four. Or two. Or one. You’ll find no judgment here.
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Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged #foodforwriters, #lightindarkness, #ThingsILike, 2017, baking, bribery, brookies, chocolate, delicious, food, home, Motivation, New Year, recipes, winter, writing, yay on January 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »
I’m slowly getting back into a writing routine after the holidays. Writing is hard work, and of course glucose is critical to brain function. That means I have an excuse to bake:)
I worked up this cookie recipe for a friend who is gluten-averse. It’s based on a recipe from MasterChef Australia contestant Harry Foster and produces rich chocolate cookies with a satisfying cake-like texture.
Brownie + Cookie = Brookies
1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
2. Melt dark chocolate and butter in the microwave on low (30% works for me). Stir and set aside until lukewarm.
3. In a medium-size bowl, combine remaining ingredients and beat until light and fluffy. Add cooled butter mixture and mix until combined.
4. Scoop ~1-inch balls onto cookie sheets.* Gently press chocolate chips into the tops of each ball.
5. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Let cool two minutes before transferring to rack.
Makes ~33 cookies.
* If your butter-chocolate mixture is too warm, it may look and act more like batter. Pop the bowl into the fridge for a few minutes to chill and you should be able to scoop as needed.
I’d show you a photo of the cookies but, well, I ate them all. Instead, here are some pretty examples of other lights in the darkness.
Enjoy!
Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged #ThingsILike, birthday, cake, chocolate, creativity, food, fun, home, yay on October 12, 2016| 1 Comment »
Target: Caaaakkkkeeee!!!!!
Another year, another cake:) For this year’s birthday I wanted a little visual contrast, plus a way to use the last of summer’s fruit. Also, pretty. I went with that classic good time, chocolate, and a buttercreamcheese frosting.
Two layers, baked and cooled and torted to make four. To shake things up a bit, I added a thin coating of raspberry jam before frosting the first and third layers, to bring out a touch of fruit flavor. Crumb coat. Thick frosting top. Chocolate ganache trim, topped with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and mint, with a buttercream flower to wrap it all up.
Cutting it was scary, but worth it.
So tasty!
Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged birthday, cake, chocolate, creativity, food, fun, home, yay, Yuengling on September 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Subject: Cake, variation birthday
Year: 2015
Mission: Simple, elegant, tasty (natch)
Goal: Achieved
This year’s cake was chocolate, four layers, with a chocolate-cream cheese frosting. Sure, my original plan involved crazy complicated construction, multiple colors, and improbable royal icing designs, but in the end I wanted a good old-fashioned birthday cake. Nothing stressful, nothing so complex that it would interfere with family time. This fit the bill to perfection.
I used raspberry jam alternated with frosting in the filling, plus raspberries and their leaves on top for decoration, served with Pennsylvania’s own Yuengling Black & Tan ice cream.
Damn fine cake, if I do say so myself:)
Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged #fuelforwriters, #srslygood, chocolate, chocolate pudding recipe, dairy free, dessert, food, lactose free, lactose intolerant, Mary Robinette Kowal, recipes on February 23, 2015| 3 Comments »
I was pleased to see Mary Robinette Kowal’s recent recipe for dairy-free faux parmesan and thought I’d chime in. As a recently-discovered lactose intolerant, I’ve spent more time than I’d like looking for lactose-free recipes. Sure, you can take pills but isn’t it nicer not to? Instead of timing your medication precisely and watching the clock to make sure you haven’t over-eaten your lactase welcome, or realizing too late that you’ve forgotten your pills, avoid the problem in the first place.
Lactose-free options also make life easier for hosts. I still wince at a dinner party we gave in my pre-intolerance days, where a guest who accepted the invitation with a breezy “Oh, no, I can eat anything,” looked at her cream soup and asked if I had anything without lactose. Whoops.
This modified version of Mark Bittman’s Mexican chocolate pudding recipe is rich and creamy, flour-less and lactose free. This isn’t one of those good in an “I-have-to-eat-this-way” recipes, it’s just good.
If you’re avoiding soy this isn’t the dessert for you, but otherwise I recommend it without reservation. It is fast, easy and delicious.
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Tofu Chocolate Pudding
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 pound silken tofu*
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted**
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1. Heat sugar with 3/4 cup water over medium heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool slightly while the chocolate melts.
2. Put all ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides to combine everything completely. Chill for at least 30 minutes, although longer gives a denser final pudding.
Garnish with raspberries and fresh mint or eat directly from the container with a spoon, your choice. Serves 4 to 6. Or one very hungry writer.
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Recipe notes:
* My grocery stores carry tofu in Tetra Pak boxes or water packed, but the important point is to find the silken variety. If you can only find 12oz boxes, I recommend getting two and increasing the recipe 1.5 times.
** Double boil if you like but I have good luck melting chocolate in my microwave at 20-30% power. I do this much chocolate ~three minutes at a time, stirring in between zaps. The chocolate taste is dominant so better is… better. While Valrhona is sure to be delicious I’ve had very good luck with a short ingredient list generic chocolate from my local grocery, so don’t feel constrained by the tyranny of premium labels. Look for one without added milk ingredients and off you go.
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A final comment on lactose: I was surprised to find that a lot of the foods I thought were off-limits actually contain very little lactose. Imagine my joy to find that brie and many other aged or fermented cheeses are essentially lactose free, not to mention butter and long-fermented yogurt. Find your own comfort level, of course, but that was a game changer for me. A quick crib for cheese is to check the nutritional information chart on the label. Grocery chain Wegman’s put out a post on this, and also lists other cheeses with low lactose levels:
An easy way to check for lactose in cheese is to look at the Nutrition Facts under “Sugar” Since the sugar in cheese is lactose, you can easily see how much lactose the cheese contains. If the sugar is listed as zero, then the cheese contains no more than half a gram of lactose per ounce. Compare to 12 grams of lactose in an 8 ounce glass of milk.
Enjoy!
Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged birthday, cake, chocolate, creativity, food, fun, home, yay on September 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Every year I make a cake for my birthday. This year I decided it was time to try tiered layers, plus butterflies, fondant flowers, pearls and gold dust (those last all technically edible but we know better; save your taste buds for the good stuff). What you see here are two 9″ layers supporting two 6″ layers, all in chocolate with a ridiculously decadent Grand Marnier frosting. Delicious!
/not a lie:) Also, what better fuel for writing than cake?
Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged cake, chocolate, food, nom!, Valentine's Day on February 13, 2014| 1 Comment »
My brain’s a little under-caffeinated today so I thought I’d bring you a recipe. Because chocolate cake, warm, soft, and straight out of the oven? Delicious. Also, I’ll admit to being a little snacky right now:) Enjoy!
Chocolate Cakes with Liquid Centers
The original version of this recipe was made famous by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten who says that this oozing molten chocolate cake happened completely by accident. The idea is fairly common now but it’s a great dessert for, say, Valentine’s Day. It’s quick, impressive, and can be pre-made and baked at the last minute, another big plus. These little cakes are tasty but easy to overcook. If that happens, well, you’ve still got chocolate cake.
115g / ½ cup unsalted butter, plus additional butter to grease molds
113g / 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
50g / ¼ cup sugar
16g / 2 T. flour
cocoa for dusting (or use flour, but cocoa will look better)
1. Microwave the butter and chocolate together on low heat (I use 30% power, stirring every couple of minutes) until the chocolate is melted. In the meantime, beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar until light and thick.
2. Beat together the melted chocolate and butter. Pour in the egg mixture, then quickly beat in the flour, just until combined.
3. Butter four 4-ounce molds, custard cups, or ramekins, then dust with cocoa and tap out the excess. Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can cover and put these in the fridge until you are ready to bake; I’ve done this up to a day in advance.)
4. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Bake the molds on a tray for 7–10 minutes (depending on ramekin size and batter temperature); the center should still be soft, but the sides will be set.
5. Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about 10 seconds, then unmold. Serve immediately. Excellent with ice cream and strawberry sauce.
Makes 4 individual cakes.
J.R. Johnson 
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