I won't bore you with the details - I'll just head straight to the recipes. If you want more, go to last year's page.
Serves: 8
Cappuccino Cream:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup finely ground espresso-coffee beans (about 3/4 cup coffee beans)
1 cinnamon stick (3 inches long)
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups heavy or whipping cream
Chocolate Sauce:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy or whipping cream
- Prepare Cappuccino Cream: In 1-cup glass measuring cup, sprinkle gelatin over milk; set aside to allow gelatin to soften.
- In 1-quart saucepan, heat ground coffee, cinnamon stick, and 1 1/4 cups water over high heat just until mixture begins to boil, stirring often. Remove sauce-pan from heat; cover and let steep 10 minutes.
- Line sieve with coffee filter or paper towel and place over 2-cup glass measuring cup. Pour coffee mixture into sieve to drain; discard cinnamon stick. (You should have about 3/4 cup liquid.)
- Return liquid coffee to same saucepan. Add gelatin mixture and sugar, and heat over medium-low heat 1 minute or until gelatin and sugar dissolve completely, stirring frequently.
- Pour coffee mixture and cream into medium bowl set in large bowl of ice water. Stir mixture until it just begins to set, about 20 minutes.
- Immediately pour cream mixture into eight 4-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Place ramekins on jelly-roll pan for easier handling. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Meanwhile, prepare Chocolate Sauce: In 1-quart saucepan, heat chocolate with cream over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat; cool 5 minutes. (If making ahead, cover and reheat before using.)
- To unmold each Cappuccino Cream, warm small knife under hot water; run along inside edge of ramekin. Then, firmly tap side of ramekin against palm of hand to break seal completely. Invert each ramekin onto a dessert plate. Spoon warm Chocolate Sauce over each dessert to serve. Garnish with chocolate curls.
Yield: 6 servings
1 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp creme de cacao liqueur
1 c whipping cream
6 oz package of semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla
- Blend together first 4 ingredients while microwaving the cream until just beginning to boil.
- With blender going add the hot cream and blend until well combined.
- Pour into small sherbet or wine glasses and refrigerate for several hours.
Yield: Makes 2 pies of 6 servings each.
3 c sugar
7 tbsp cocoa powder
13 oz evaporated milk
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 c butter
1 ts vanilla
2 c flaked coconut
1 c chopped pecans
2 unbaked 9" pie shells
- Melt the margarine and set aside. Combine the sugar and baking cocoa in a bowl. Stir in the evaporated milk, eggs, melted butter or margarine, and vanilla, blending well. Stir in the coconut and pecans and turn into two unbaked pie shells.
- Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 40 minutes or until set around the edges. Cool on racks.
Yield: 6 servings
2 c sugar
1 c melted butter
1/2 c flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c cocoa
1 c chopped almonds or walnuts
4 beaten eggs
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Combine sugar, flour and cocoa in bowl. Stir in eggs, melted butter, vanilla and nuts. Place large pan of hot water in oven. Pour batter in buttered 9" square cake pan. Place in larger pan, water should come halfway up the side.
- Bake 1 hour, 20 min. Pudding is done when surface is lightly cracked and centre springs back when touched. Remove dish from larger pan to cool. Pudding has custard like consistency when it cools.
- Serve lukewarm or cut cold into squares.
Yield: 8 servings.
1 c milk
1 beaten egg
1/2 c strong coffee
2 c cooked rice
1/2 square unsweetened chocolate
1/2 c chopped raisins
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt
- Scald milk in the top of a double boiler. Add coffee and blend. Add chocolate, stirring until melted. Add sugar and salt.
- Add some of this hot mixture to beaten egg; then return to double boiler and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in rice and cool.
- Whip cream until stiff. Fold in raisins, walnuts and whipped cream. Chill well in individual sherbet glasses.
Yield: 16 brownies.
1 1/4 c hazelnuts (about 6 1/4 ounces)
4 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)
3 oz fine-quality milk chocolate
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 c Nutella* (chocolate-hazelnut spread)
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c sugar
2 large eggs
*available at specialty foods shops and many supermarkets
- Preheat oven to 350° F. and butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan, knocking out excess flour.
- Toast and skin hazelnuts (procedure this page). In a food processor pulse hazelnuts until coarsely ground (bits should be about 1/8 inch).
- Chop chocolates into small pieces and in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolates with butter and Nutella, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat.
- While chocolates are melting, into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and a pinch salt. Whisk sugar into chocolate mixture until combined well. Add eggs, whisking until mixture is glossy and smooth. Stir in flour mixture and hazelnuts until just combined.
- Pour batter into baking pan and bake in middle of oven 35 to 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out with moist crumbs adhering to it. Cool brownies completely in pan on a rack and cut into 16 squares. Brownies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container at cool room temperature, 5 days.
Yield: 16 bars
For apricot filling:
6 oz dried apricots (about 1 cup firmly packed), chopped fine
1/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 c water
1 tsp vanilla
For chocolate chip mixture:
1 1/3 c pecans (about 4 ounces)
1 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
confectioners' sugar for sprinkling bars
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Make apricot filling:
In a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan combine apricots, granulated sugar, and water and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove lid and simmer mixture, stirring and mashing apricots, until excess liquid is evaporated and filling is thickened. Stir in vanilla.
Preheat oven to 350°F. and grease and flour an 8-inch-square baking pan, knocking out excess flour. -
Make chocolate chip mixture:
In a shallow baking pan toast pecans in middle of oven until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes, and cool. In a food processor pulse pecans, flour, brown sugar, and salt until pecans are coarsely chopped. Add chocolate chips and butter and pulse until pecan mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Press about half of chocolate chip mixture onto bottom of prepared baking pan and spread evenly with apricot filling. Crumble remaining chocolate chip mixture evenly over apricot filling, pressing it down slightly, and bake confection in middle of oven 1 hour, or until golden. Cool confection completely in pan on a rack. Sprinkle confection with confectioners' sugar and cut into 16 bars.
Yield: 12-14 Servings
CRUST
13 oz gingersnap cookies (about 50 cookies)
2 tblsp sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
6 1/2 tblsp unsalted butter, melted, cooled
FILLING
1 lb good-quality chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker's), finely chopped
4 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 c sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tblsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground ginger
2/3 c minced crystallized ginger
White chocolate curls
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For crust:
Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Wrap outside of pan with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil. Finely grind cookies, sugar and ginger in processor. Add butter; blend until moist clumps form. Press onto bottom and up sides of pan. Chill while preparing filling. -
For filling:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 300°F. Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler set over hot water until chocolate melts. Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally. - Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and yolk 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla and ground ginger. Gradually beat in melted white chocolate. Stir in crystallized ginger.
- Transfer filling to prepared crust. Place springform pan in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake until cheesecake puffs and edges crack slightly, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Transfer cake to rack. Run small knife around sides of cake to loosen. Cool completely. Remove foil from pan sides. Chill cake overnight. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.)
- Release pan sides. Transfer cake to platter. Top with chocolate curls.
Yield: Makes one 7- or 8-inch round cake.
1 c sweetened flaked coconut
4 oz semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces
5 tblsp unsalted butter
3 tblsp light or golden rum
4 large eggs, separated
1/4 c sugar
2 tblsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
For the frosting:
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon light or golden rum
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
- In a baking dish toast 2/3 cup of the coconut in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven until it just begins to color, transfer it to a small bowl, and let it cool.
- In a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water melt the chocolate and the butter with the rum, stirring, until the mixture is smooth and remove the bowl from the heat. In a bowl whisk together the yolks, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, the flour, and the salt until the mixture is smooth and whisk in the chocolate mixture and the remaining (untoasted) 1/3 cup coconut. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat the whites until they hold soft peaks and beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar until the whites just hold stiff peaks. Stir half the whites into the chocolate mixture and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a buttered 7- or 8-inch springform pan, bake the cake in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until it is set and the top is puffed and cracked, and let it cool in the pan on a rack. (The cake will fall as it cools.)
- Remove the side of the pan from the cake and spread the frosting on the side of the cake. Holding the cake in one hand over the bowl of toasted coconut, with the other hand press the coconut onto the frosting, letting the excess fall back into the bowl. The cake may be made 1 day in advance and kept covered loosely and chilled.
- Make the frosting while the cake is cooling: In a bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter, add the rum, the salt, and the confectioners' sugar, and beat the frosting until it is light and fluffy.
Yield: Makes one two-layer 8" or 9" round cake or one 9x13 sheet cake. 1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 c oil
1 3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c milk soured with 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 1/2 c flour
4 heaping tblsp cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, cloves, and salt
2 cv grated zucchini
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped nuts
- Beat together first five ingredients. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and spices. Add alternately to egg mixture with the sour milk. Fold in zucchini.
- Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan or two round pans. Then sprinkle the top with the sugar, chocolate chips, and nuts.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
Yield: 6-9 servings
4 c French bread cubes
1/2 cup chopped nuts
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 14oz can Eagle Brand Creamy Chocolate Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 1/2 cups water
2 tblsp butter, melted
- Preheat oven to 450F. Place bread cubes in buttered 9-inch square baking dish.
- In bowl, beat eggs and vanilla. Add Eagle Brand, water and butter. Mix well.
- Pour egg mixture evenly over bread, moistening completely.
- Bake 40-45 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm with whipped cream. Refrigerate leftovers.
