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Double Chocolate Cookies (Gluten Free) Recipe

June 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
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Double Chocolate Cookies (Gluten Free) Recipe


The beauty of our double chocolate cookie recipe is in its simplicity – ten ingredients, and it doesn’t use butter (but rather, olive oil).

All you need is a fork; spatula (no mixer required); disher (a scoop – or a couple of tablespoons); two bowls; a (couple of) baking sheet(s) +/-  liners, and an oven.

Makes 18 cookies (which disappeared quickly).

Be sure to cool completely – they’re crumbly (and super hot) fresh out of the oven.

For us, these are an  ”every-once-in-a-while” treat (over the past several weeks, friends and family have repeatedly said they wanted some double chocolate cookies).  To all – enjoy!

Ingredients

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder* (I used a mix of ¼ cup high fat all-natural Guittard and ¼ cup Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa powder)

1/3 cup confectioners’ (a.k.a. powdered or icing) sugar*

1/3 cup granulated sugar*

¾ cup oat flour*

½ cup brown rice flour*

2 teaspoons sodium-free baking soda*

 

1 egg, beaten

½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or seed pulp from 1/2 vanilla pod, or  2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract*)

¾ cup olive oil*

5 oz of high quality (and sodium-free) chocolate* broken into small pieces (i.e., chocolate chips or chunks;  I used a mix of 2 oz dark chocolate chunks and 3 oz semi-sweet chips; technically it’s a triple chocolate cookie but who’s counting?).

(*one can purchase gluten free versions of these ingredients)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (cocoa, sugars, flours, and baking soda) together.  Make sure that the mixture is lump free and well-blended (i.e., you can also sift the ingredients together).
  3. Make a well (a.k.a. a hole) in the middle of the dry mixture (in the same manner as you would to make homemade pasta), and set the bowl aside.
  4. Separately, in small bowl, beat the egg; add the vanilla and olive oil and continue to gently beat the liquid.  Stop beating once the texture becomes somewhat “pasty” (i.e., thicker than the original liquid, but not fully emulsified like a mayonnaise).
  5. Pour the liquid into the center of the dry mix (the “hole”).  Gently mix the ingredients together, until a (loose) ball is formed.  Add the chocolate chips; mix until evenly distributed.  The dough should eventually form a cohesive ball (but not a super tight one).  The dough consistency should be not be super shiny/greasy, so if it is, add a little more flour and work it in).
  6. Line cookie sheets with a non-stick liner (i.e., Silpat).
  7. Using a disher (I used #40 – ours measures out 1 1/2 Tablespoons of batter per scoop), scoop the cookie dough and place on a cookie sheet (i.e., 3 rows of cookies x 3 cookies).
  8. Place in 375 degree F oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges become golden brown.
  9. Remove the cookies from the oven; let the cookies sit/cool on the cookie sheets before moving them to a wire rack (these particular cookies are very delicate when hot).
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Zabaglione – Make A Decadent Dessert Using Three Ingredients!

December 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Simply sublime when eaten fresh, Zabaglione is decadence made with only three ingredients!

Try a spoonful, or four. Warm Zabaglione magically melts in your mouth and becomes sheer happiness.  Its taste far surpasses whipped cream.  Light and airy, its texture lies somewhere between a whipped sauce and a frothy custard.  Served atop berries, or simply placed in a cup garnished with crushed amoretti biscuits and a sprig of mint, it is unpretentious and classic. Many find themselves going the traditional route – dipping Italian cookies or biscotti into a cupful of Zabaglione, bite after bite, the happiness becomes addicting.

One of the first things we learned after switching to a low sodium diet is that ordering low sodium desserts can be a challenge when dining out.  It’s a good thing for low-sodium, gluten or dairy free eaters* that most restaurants keep these three staple ingredients on hand: eggs, sugar, and wine!  (Although, you might have to plead your low sodium case with the owner to order Zabaglione off-menu.)

Depending upon the origin of the restaurant, chef, owners, or where your taste buds happen to land in Western Europe – you might need to become multi-lingual to order up a cup of happiness; it’s been known to travel incognito using the following names: Zabaglione, Zabaione (Italy) or Sabayon (France).

Wine – yes, the wine you use will affect the end taste. 

My cardinal wine cooking rule is to always cook with wine that is good enough to drink with a good meal; cooking with unpleasant tasting wine will definitely ruin the flavor of your zabaglione.

Marsala and moscato wine are popular choices.  Personally, we like using an Italian vin santo wine.  The tradeoff is that vin santo’s availability and cost relative to marsala wine may not present a compelling set of circumstances enough to buy a bottle simply to make zabaglione; the upside is that vin santo (much like marsala) is a sweet wine which keeps relatively well under refrigeration. So fear not, you don’t have to rush and feel you have to drink the whole bottle of vin santo in one evening.  Sparkling wines can also add a flare to your Zabaglione: Moscato D’Asti, and prosecco tend to be the most frequently used.

Zabaglione Food Pairing Suggestions

*Note: Yes, Zabaglione is one of our “special occasion” desserts because the recipe uses wine.  If you’re curious and want to know more about cooking with alcohol, read our blog post here .  We recognize that alcohol isn’t meant for everyone’s diet – so we’re sorry if alcohol is on your prohibited foods list and we’ve inadvertently taunted you. Also, this dairy-free Zabaglione recipe is also a good dessert consideration for gluten or lactose free eaters – our zabaglione recipe doesn’t use dairy; heavy cream can often help prolong the shelf life of zabaglione, but also affects the flavor and texture. You’ll want to be extra careful when choosing the wine (allergens).

Zabaglione Recipe

Zabaglione Ingredients

4 egg yolks (**we use raw, pasteurized eggs for this recipe)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vin santo or marsala wine ** (see above for other options)

Directions

Use a double boiler / bain-marie; bring the water to a boil. (To construct a makeshift double boiler – fill a pot with 1 – 2 inches of water; bring to a boil.  Select another rounded pot or [copper or heat tolerant glass] bowl that can sit comfortably on top of the pot, the rounded bowl becomes important because otherwise the ingredients will stick to the edges, overcook or burn.  Do not select a bowl that sits low enough to touch the boiling water – you’ll scald the zabaglione this way.  Essentially, you’re using steam from the bottom pot to heat the liquid in the top pot).

Combine and whisk all ingredients together (i.e., top part of the double boiler/a> or rounded copper or heat tolerant glass bowl).  Once you combine all of the ingredients, it is essential that you continue to whisk (to ensure that the zabaglione stays uniform); sugar and egg yolks don’t play well when left alone.

Keep whisking; literally your arm might feel like it’s going to fall off if you’re not using an electric mixer.  I actually stand on a kitchen stool, because I find that it makes whisking a little easier over a bain-marie (plus, I’m old school – I like to use a traditional whisk instead of our electric mixer for spontaneous desserts).

As the heat increases the overall temperature of the zabaglione, the texture will change. Bring it up to 145-150F and keep whisking.  The heating process may seem like a long time because you’re busy whisking away, but it actually doesn’t take too long (usually less than 5 minutes).  The completion test is the ribbon – the point when you can lift the whisk away from the zabaglione, and for a few scant seconds, it makes a ribbon-like pattern before becoming uniform again. Be sure to watch the temperature, because there’s a fine line where the zabaglione might get too hot, start to curdle and scorch.  Quickly bring the temperature down, continue to whisk for about a minute, and remove from heat.

Serve warm.

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Golden Biscotti Recipe

December 12, 2012 By 2 Comments
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Holiday baking season is upon us!  To celebrate Italy (the region that we’re blogging about right now), Italian foods, and the holiday season, we’ve converted Rose Levy Bernabaum’s Golden Biscotti recipe (with her permission) into a low sodium recipe version.

Baked twice, these delicious little morels can theoretically be stored for lengthy periods of time… the main problem is that our biscotti seem to mysteriously disappear (into our stomachs) and typically don’t last in our house for more than a couple of days!  Great for eating at home (or for giving as a gift) – and particularly delightful when dipped in coffee or zabaglione, or paired with vin santo wine (if you happen to drink alcohol).

Biscotti baking tip: we recommend using an electric knife (serrated blade) to cut the biscotti after the “first bake”.  It made the process a whole lot easier.

Biscotti Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached

1 ¼ teaspoons sodium-free baking powder
2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons orange zest (or zest from one large orange)

2 large eggs

½ cup olive oil

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 2/3 cups unblanched, sliced almonds

1/3 cup unblanched whole almonds

 

Topping Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 large egg white

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, sift together all but ¼ cup of the flour with the baking soda. Set aside

In a food processor with the metal blade, process the sugar and orange zest until the zest is finely minced.  Add the eggs and process for about 30 seconds or until thoroughly blended.  Scrape the sides of the bowl.  With the motor running, add the oil, extracts, and process until blended.

Add the sliced almonds and process until finely chopped.  Add the flour mixture and process for about 7 seconds or until the flour is almost incorporated.  (There will be some flour clinging to the sides of the work bowl.  Do not over process, as the dough will be too stiff to incorporate the flour completely in the processor.)

Scrape the dough (including any flour from the work bowl) onto a lightly floured counter and knead the dough, adding the remaining ¼ cup of flour to form a soft, non-sticky dough.

Shape the dough into two 2-inch-wide cylinders.  Each will be about 7 ½ inches long.  Line up the whole almonds lengthwise in rows along the dough and press them well into the dough.  With the palms of your hands, roll the cylinders on the counter, enclosing the almonds and maintaining the 2-inch diameters of the cylinders.  Place the cylinders 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.  Beat the egg white.  Brush the cylinders lightly with the beaten egg white and sprinkle them with the cinnamon topping.

Bake on the upper rack of the oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and firm.

Cool the cylinders on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes or until just warm.  Slip them off the sheet and onto a counter.  With a serrated knife, cut diagonal ½-inch slices.  Place the slices closely together on the cookie sheets.

Toast the slices for about 8 minutes.  Using a small metal spatula, turn them and bake for another 8 minutes or until golden brown.  For even baking, rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking period.  Use a small, angled metal spatula or pancake turner to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Store: In an airtight container at room temperature

Keeps:  Several months.

 

* The giveaway is a sponsored message for Safest Choice Eggs.  The sponsored message will be deleted from this post once the contest has been completed (this is not a sponsored post).

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Low Sodium Shortbread Cookie Recipe

December 1, 2011 By
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Dust off your baking pans and whip up a batch of thin, crisp, flaky, melt in-your-mouth shortbread cookies.  All it takes is four ingredients.  Sounds simple? It is.

I’ve been making this shortbread recipe since I was in grade school: if I could do it back then, you can do it now. My “heirloom recipe” ingredients were lifted directly from the back of a (legacy) Canada Corn Starch box — though my preparation methods are entirely different.  I “adapted” this shortbread preparation method inadvertently at the age of 11 — the day I “ran out of time” to soften the butter at room temperature.  Back then, our microwave didn’t really do much in the way of “softening” butter, so I used the “pie crust” method of cutting the cold butter into the flour mixture and a superior cookie was born.  My shortbread cookies are flaky, tasty, and crisp…and I’ve never looked back.

As it turns out — these cookie ingredients fall under the “very low sodium” category… though, with the main binding ingredient being butter, you may want to hold off eating the entire batch (by yourself) in one sitting!

Yield: Makes approximately 32 cookies.

Ingredients

1/2 cup cornstarch (125 mL)

1/2 cup icing sugar (125 mL)

1 cup all-purpose flour (250 mL)

3/4 cup unsalted butter (*cold/refrigerated) (175 mL)

(Optional: Icing, colored [cake decorating] “sanding” sugar)

*Note:  I do not recommend starting this recipe with softened butter or blending this mixture a lot with your hands: I think that too much kneading (via soft butter) changes the overall composition of the mix, making the cookies far more dense.

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300F
  2. Sift together cornstarch, icing sugar, and all-purpose flour.  Blend (well) in a bowl.
  3. Separately, cut the butter into small “slabs”, approximately 1/4 inch thick.
  4. Cut the butter into the dry mixture: this can achieved by using two knives (cut the butter repeatedly into the flour), a fork, or a pastry blender.
  5. Cut the butter into the mixture until the mixture is evenly distributed.
  6. Gently knead the mixture into a ball.  At this point, the heat from your hands will start to melt the butter, and allow the components to stick together.  It doesn’t take a lot of kneading to make this dough ball.
  7. Roll out the dough (approximately 1/4″), cut with cookie cutters, and place on a baking sheet.
  8. Bake 300F oven:  approximately 10-15 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown.
  9. Remove from heat, cool on wire rack.  Decorate as desired.
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Pluots: A love affair with a juicy heart shaped fruit

August 18, 2011 By
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We stumbled across a “U-pick” farm and discovered happiness…

Last weekend, we took a break from olive oil tasting in Santa Ynez and serendipitously found ourselves driving toward a pick-your-own farm.  As they say, this opportunity was just too ripe for the picking!  At 3:30pm, we climbed out of our car and begged the owners to let us race around and beat the 4 o’clock closing bell (note: picking fruit takes some time.  The grounds are well spaced so consider allocating ample time [and not half an hour] to enjoy the experience).

The best discovery we made were “pluots” – a cross hybrid of plum and apricot, with an officially trademarked name. We dug around a little to find the nutritional/sodium values: while we weren’t able to locate an entry specifically for pluots (in the USDA Nutrient Database), we did find ones for raw apricots and plums which noted (nominal)  “sodium free” amounts. Based on this information, given that they are cross-bred fruit, we think that Pluots would also likely fall into the “sodium free” category.

The U-pick farm was exquisite:  patches of  fruit scattered everywhere and a vibrant color explosion in the pluot section. Simply beautiful! Our pluots (pictured up top) darkened in color, we patiently waited the fruit to ripen.  Torture.

We were able to sample the juicy “fresh” fruit (under management supervision only).

As we taste the fruit, we realize that it takes a lot of self control not to eat our way through the entire farm.

We were surprised at how many pluots grow on a single tree; when Pluots fall to the ground, it’s an indicator that the fruit are ripe for picking. Yum!!


Thank you Victoria – we had a great time tearing around the farm and we learned a lot! Next time we come up, we’ll show up earlier — especially now that we know where you are :)

Details:
Santa Ynez Valley Farms
8700 Santa Rosa Road, Buellton, CA 93427

(805) 688-2696  *call for hours of operation (just in case)

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Which Varieties? Fig-ure it out!

August 16, 2011 By
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In season, and fresh off the farm. Tasty and *super* low sodium (1 mg/100 g). Learn more about our local California fig varieties:

 

There really is nothing like the taste of a farm fresh fig…  We ended up taking a self-guided tour at the Fairview Gardens farm in Goleta, CA — we wanted to see for ourselves what fresh figs look like when they’re still attached to the tree.

Back home, at our local Hollywood farmer’s market, we found three types of fresh figs available:

Here’s what we learned:

Adriatic - During our taste test, this Mediterranean transplant definitely seemed to be the sweetest tasting of the three. The Adriatic fig is apparently the most bountiful of all the California grown figs.  (We really enjoyed these, probably because of the high sugar content).

Mission -- Here in California, there are a lot of things inspired by the original Spanish missionaries (we also wrote about artisan olive oil ).  Mission figs derive their name from the Spanish “Mission”aries who traveled along the California coast from Mexico, planting produce along the way. The Mission fig is the most “common fig” that we’ve seen at local markets, and is famous for its distinctive flavor and color: these figs turn a deep purple, then to a rich black as they ripen/dry.

Kadota** - The Kadota fig, is an American version of the original Italian Dattato fig.  It’s more “thick-skinned” than the Adriatic (though the difference isn’t that noticeable when we were eating them);  they turn a creamy amber color when ripe (ours pictured above are still “green, off the vine”).  When ripe, they have an almost-seedless texture (even though there are technically “seeds” inside);  due to this fact, we think this fig has more broad range of cooking applications. (We found this fig to be sweeter than the Mission fig, and less sweet when compared to the Adriatic).

**We’re giving a a special shout out to the folks at K&K Ranch, Orosi, CA – where we bought the Kadota figs.  They’re a family owned and operated farm.  Thanks for all of the great produce!!

Calimyrna  – (not pictured). The Calimyrna is the California version of the “Smyrna” fig. Calimyrna fig has a golden colored skin and is delicious.

While there are hundreds of fig varieties, only a handful of varieties (approximately half a dozen) are grown commercially in California.

***one important note:  while we’ve noted figs as being “low sodium”, if you’re on a special diet requiring you to monitor your potassium intake, please keep in mind that figs contain 232 mg/100g of potassium — so you might not be able to go too crazy and stuff your face with a ton of figs!!  Happy eating!

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Lavender Rice Cream Recipe

July 18, 2011 By
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Rice cream’s texture is similar to a granita or sorbet’s –  and a great alternative for those who can not eat milk/cream. We definitely thought this was tasty!!

 

Harvesting lavender flower buds in our front yard isn’t as straight forward as one might expect….

Several years ago in an effort to be “more green” and reduce our home’s water consumption, we decided to convert parts of our front yard into a “more friendly, mostly native landscape” habitat. For the most part, planting drought tolerant plants has been been a good experience –  and our lavender has become the food supply for many local bees and humming birds.  The downside is that our unintentionally created hummingbird and bee sanctuary has created an ongoing series of “us versus nature” altercations, especially when we need to venture into nature’s  “food territory” and try to harvest “their” food.

As it goes,  humming birds are actually pretty territorial:  if we attempt to go anywhere near “their food”, they’ll swoop down and hover fairly close to our faces — their wings flutter a million miles a minute and it creates a very uneasy feeling.  At least the bees’ just sort of  hover around with a menacing intent: the whole experience gives us a run for the money.

The scenario has left me no alternative but to “commission” (bribe) our dog to act as a decoy, “food pooching” missions so to speak.  Our dog’s really more of a food critic than a security guard… but anyway, she keeps most of the environmental characters at bay…and the new strategy allows me to harvest “food” in relative peace.

Food is always an adventure….

The Skinny on Lavender

  • Apparently the only edible portion of the lavender plant are the delicate flower petals (here’s our resource link); the flower petal has a more delicate flavor than the “bud”.
  • Herbal tea can be made by steeping the lavender bud in hot water for several minutes; once the steeping has been completed, the remaining herb should be “strained out”.
  • The University of Maryland Medical Center’s website notes that “lavender oil is toxic if taken orally”
  • If you “pick your own culinary lavender”, make sure it’s pesticide free.

******************************************************************************************************

Lavender “Rice Cream”

Ingredients

3 cups Rice Milk, Vanilla Flavor (our store bought version notes 55 mg of sodium per 1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons honey (liquid)

For lighter flavor:  4 Tablespoons lavender petals (clip the petals off of approx. 1 cup of buds)
For a more concentrated flavor:  use 1/2 cup of buds. Be careful to watch the “steeping”/cooking time, you may want to pull out the buds much earlier in the process (~ 5 – 10 minutes).

Directions

  1. In a double boiler/bain-marie, mix all of the ingredients together, bring to simmer, reduce heat (low) and hold for 15-20 minutes. [The lavender will begin to discolor (turn brown)].

2. Strain the liquid into an ice bath. It’s acceptable to allow the solids to continue to “steep” until the liquid has cooled. Discard the solids.

3. Process the remaining liquid according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Each of our “rice creams” took approximately 45-50 minutes in a self-refrigerating unit, and an additional hour or so in the freezer.

4. Alternatively, once cooled — you can try breaking up the portions into 1/2 cup sized portions and consider the “old school method”.  There is a well known science class trick that uses the reaction between water, ice, and heat to make ice cream (in two Ziploc bags). Though we didn’t test this method, however there are quite a few data points (such as you tube videos) that document this method as being completely feasible. In a nutshell: put the ice cream liquid in the inner bag and seal it up. In the second (larger bag), and 4 cups of ice and 6 Tablespoons of salt. Insert the sealed (smaller) bag containing the ice cream mix into the large bag. Manipulate the ice around the smaller bag for ~10 – 15 minutes.  The other tip we found was that the 1/2 cup portion is the one that works (don’t try to double the load). Good luck with this one!

5.  Storage note:  because this recipe has only a handful of ingredients, it’s best if you eat it fresh.  Freezing it overnight can turn the whole thing into a solid “brick”, in which case you’ll be scraping it from the pan as you would a granita (using a spoon or fork to “shave off” the layers)…still tasty, but a lot more work…

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Lemon-Verbena “Rice Cream” Recipe

July 18, 2011 By
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Carmageddon weekend in Los Angeles coincided with National Ice Cream Day — to celebrate, we made two flavors: Lavender, and Lemon-Verbena.

Lemon-Verbena “Rice Cream”

3 cups Rice Milk, Vanilla Flavor

1 Tablespoon Verbena leaves, chopped

Zest of 1 lemon (yellow portion only) — approximately 3 Tablespoons

2 Tablespoons honey (liquid)

(Make sure you only use the yellow portion of the lemon zest.  Inclusion of the white portion will yield an undesirable and bitter taste)

Follow the instructions for lavender rice cream (above). 

Note:  because this recipe has only a handful of ingredients, it’s best if you eat it fresh.  Freezing it overnight can turn the whole thing into a solid “brick”, in which case you’ll be scraping it from the pan as you would a granita (using a spoon or fork to “shave off” the layers)…still very tasty, but a little more work…

 

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Make a Fun Camping Dessert: Cake in Orange (Peel)

July 12, 2011 By
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An easy dessert idea and a fun way to be a gourmet camper!

Whether you make this at home in your backyard fire-pit, or out in the “semi-wilderness”, the cake in an orange peel really does work.

Nowadays, there are far more choices for “healthier” and “lower sodium” cake mix options – the mix we picked up at the grocery store measured in at 110 mg sodium per serving.  (Brownie mixes can also work for our camping application) — the cake-in-a-box also called for: 2 eggs, water/milk, and canola oil.

Our extra special cooking event also called for several oranges, 1 zip lock bag, enough aluminum foil to cover each of the oranges, a couple of toothpicks (cake tester).  You’ll also need a knife and a spoon, and a long set of tongs (or scrounge “in the wild” for a really good/long pair of wooden sticks) to fetch the orange packet out of the fire.  Just remember, the larger the oranges, the longer it will take to bake…Simple, right?  Yep.

Step 1:  Follow the cake mix ingredients/directions: to make it easy to transport — put the liquids in a zip-lock bag (including the eggs, without shells).  Keep the liquid mix refrigerated (or on ice) until you’re ready to use it.  When you’re ready to make the cake, add the dry mix into the zip-lock bag and shake/mix well.  You don’t need a mixer for this.

 

Step 2:  Cut the top off the orange (so you effectively start to make an orange cup).  To hollow out the orange, you’ll want to cut around the sides (in a circle), and then make an “X” pattern in the middle.  Take the spoon and scoop out the middle until the orange “cup” is hollow. The orange makes a nice snack while you’re waiting for the cake….

Step 3:  Fill the orange cup roughly 1/2 to 3/4 way full with the cake batter.  DO NOT fill the orange to the brim: the cake needs room to expand.

Step 4:  We brought along our micro-planer, and added orange zest to the vanilla mix (to change the batter flavor to orange).   Also consider adding small pieces of dried fruit or other morsels of fun “road trip food” that you think will mix well.

Step 5:  Seal up the goods. Pop the top back on, and wrap the oranges in aluminum foil.

Step 6:  Bake your orange cake.  Consider the placement of your orange packet relative to the heat — there are a couple of tips you’ll need to know:

  • A campfire’s temperature, at peak, can reach 900 ++ degrees Fahrenheit .  This is NOT your home oven, and things will cook much faster (i.e., and NOT the stated 20 minutes on the package @ 350F).
  • Cooking time will depend upon many variables:  the size the orange, how much batter was used, the proximity of the packet relative to the center of the fire, the fire temperature/maturity, and the amount of [wet] orange which was not removed in Step 2.
  • Monitor the orange packet during cooking.  There is a pretty high probability that the foil could can be compromised if the heat gets too high.
  • Have a mechanism to safely remove the orange cake packet out of the fire.
  • Be CAREFUL when opening the packet after baking:  the cake packet gets really *hot* and there is a fair amount of “steam” when you open the foil.
  • Consider baking your packet “closer to the edge” and NOT in the center of the fire:

Step 7:   When you think it’s done — open the foil, test for “done-ness” at the center with your toothpick (the toothpick should come out clean), and eat when fully cooked. We use the scratch and sniff test — when you can smell the cake baking for a reasonable amount of time, it might be ready to test it…  Enjoy!!

 

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A Smorgasbord of “S’mores 2.0″

July 8, 2011 By
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Summer camping & S’more: great excuses to earn the “container pyromaniac” badge.

I’m not sure what I love about S’mores the most:  the carefully toasted marshmallow; the scorch: flamed up with a crunchy, dark outside crust; or the roasted, scrunchy caramelized outer skin hiding a warm, gooey molten layer underneath?

What I do know is that roasting marshmallows over a campfire (or any other type of flame) brings out the pyromaniac tendencies in the best of us.

Surprisingly, for something so simple –  the total sodium intake values crept up on us when we used the traditional recipe and stuffed our faces.

Here are a few ways to lower the overall sodium in a “S’more 2.0″:

  1. Swap the crust -  Switch the graham cracker to a brown rice cake (our box of graham crackers noted 180 mg per 2 full cracker sheets, and the USDA database notes 67 g per cracker x 4 crackers = 268 mg.  Comparatively, our store version notes 35mg per rice cake, the USDA database value is 2.3 mg per rice cake) .  We actually ended up preferring the taste of the brown rice cake over the honey graham version; the rice cake version didn’t give us that “sweet” aftertaste that lingered in the back of our throats, as the honey graham version did.
  2. Go open face – The downside is that the rice cake made one HUGE S’more.  If you don’t mind having the caramelized goo drip all over your face (which can be fun), I’d suggest using one rice cake instead of two.  (Note: cutting them in half, horizontally, doesn’t really work that well).
  3. Creamy filling -  There’s not much you can do about the marshmallow; we measured several brands and they all ended up noting similar nutritional values (and ingredients).  If you make the fruity S’more below, you could try switching to a ground fig puree/paste (which if you make it yourself doesn’t have sodium, just be mindful to use figs sparingly if you have potassium intake concerns).
  4. Change the chocolate – the classic milk chocolate bar that we all used to use has 35 mg sodium per bar, we swapped it out for a dark chocolate one, whose listed sodium nutritional content is “zero”!

Our updated recipe – “S’more 2.0″
(per one serving)

  • 2 rice cakes
  • 3 marshmallows
  • chocolate pieces, to taste. (We used 3).

Fruity S’more 2.0
(per one serving)

  • 2 rice cakes
  • 3 marshmallows
  • dried fruit (strawberries, cherries, cranberries, blueberries), chopped

Directions

  1. Roast marshmallow over fire (alternatively, cook over gas flame; or microwave in a bowl @ 15 seconds, and slightly cool; or make it in a  toaster/oven by making a  “foil packet” – layer marshmallows with one rice cake underneath, bake @ 350 until marshmallows turn golden brown – remove from heat)
  2. Sandwich the marshmallow and filling of choice between the rice cakes (as pictured below).  Enjoy!!


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