Scott's Lemon Biscotti

What to do about Scott.... Scott wanted veggies and low fat dip but anyone that knows Scott would know he really, really didn't want that. Scott is usually first in line for what ever I make so the thought of cutting up a few wet carrots and celery and mixing up an opaque bowl of low-fat dip just didn't sit well with me. Don't get me wrong, I respect Scott's wishes to eat low cal and low fat, but veggies? Blah! After all it's his birthday! So over the weekend I came across a Lemon Biscotti recipe in the 2007 March/April issue of Weight Watchers magazine and thought Scott would like it. Okay, so it's not completely without guilt, but it's 50 calories per serving, 1 gram of fat, and 1 grams of fiber. I'm still going to bring Scott a few baby carrots and dip, but at least he'll have these for dessert!

Richard's Double Chocolate Layer Cake

Today is Richard's Birthday Eve, but since he'll be out of the office tomorrow, we're celebrating today. Good thing too because I feel like it's been forever since I baked anything. I've been itching to make this cake for Richard since I made the Hazelnut Cheesecake. It has a good reputation so I thought it would be a good bet and Richard was jazzed to try it. I mean seriously, anything with almost two pounds of milk chocolate and cocoa powder has to taste good, right? This recipe is the epitome of what chocolate cake should be. I followed Epicurious's Double Chocolate Layer Cake but used Dutch processed cocoa even though it said not to. Pure cocoa is just too expensive and can be bitter. I didn't want to chance it. Since Dutched cocoa but already contains alkali, I omitted the baking soda it the recipe. The cake is a really dense then I thought it would be so next time I make it I might just cut the baking soda in half instead of omitting it all together. Nevertheless, I'm feeling confident that it should still taste good. I'm not a big chocolate fan but I think I'm going to have to try a small piece, you know, for educational purposes. :-)

Tasting Update: Richard and I discussed this and we both agreed that it almost had a New York style cheesecake texture. This is not a cake that can be eaten too quickly. One must take small bites and wait before digging in again. Peter S. told me me that he got a little buzzed from it. This is definately one for the books folks. If you want to make an impressive super-duper chocolate cake, this one is it.

This picture was hard to get! Dark chocolate cake is just difficult to capture without creating too much contrast. Thanks Craig for taking the cake slice photo! I swear I can smell a rich chocolate aroma wafting out of my monitor!

Ashley's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a while since I made cookies as a birthday treat and an eternity since I've made oatmeal cookies. They happen to be my very favorite, too. So when Ashley gave me choice of three different treats for her belated birthday treat, choosing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies was no contest! But which recipe should I make? I narrowed it down to two and decided to see what would happen if I combined them. The end result? A little chewy on the inside, a nice crispiness on the outside, and just the right balance of spice and chocolate. What a great cookie for a cold winter day.

Ashley's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oatmeal flour
• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine both flours, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix together will using a fork, being sure to break up clumps. Set aside.
3. In a big bowl, cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.
3. Combine the dry mixture into the wet mixture, being sure to check for air pockets of trapped flour mixture. When well combined, stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.
4. Drop teaspoonfuls of cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet bake for 10-12 minutes. (I use this tool as it helps to make even sized cookies). Don't remove them from the cookie sheet too quickly. Allow to cool for a 3 minutes before transferring them to a bakers rack or they may break apart. Once they are completely cooled, store in an airtight container.

Oh, and one last tip -- these cookies would be great to make for an open house or right before a party. My house smells good enough to eat!

For the Love of Kugel

Okay so not everything I make has a zillion calories or contains chocolate and nuts. As crazy as this sounds, I'm actually a member of Weight Watchers and so far have lost 31 lbs. My trick is not eat everything I make. If I do eat something, I try to eat just a small, one or two bite serving.

Over the weekend during my weekly meeting I ran into some neighborhood friends that I haven't seen in a while. After talking about about this and that, one of the women mentioned how much she loved kugel and how she used to eat it as kid. That got me thinking about a cookbook I owned called Healthy Jewish Cooking by Steven Raichlen. When I got home I pulled it off the shelf to see if I could find her a good recipe. And I did - for me anyway! I had been searching for something hearty and WW friendly for breakfast for a few weeks and this was it. It has only 1 pt per serving or about 50 calories! Talk about sweet!

The mint ads an unusual but welcome flavor, which reminds me of Greek cooking. If you want something good, but with more egg/zucchini flavor, you might want to leave it out. Here's the recipe, tweaked a bit - I omitted extra salt and reduced the amount of matzo meal.

Zucchini Kugel

• 2 lbs medium zucchini
• Spray Olive Oil
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 1 whole eggs
• 6 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1/4 cup of matzo meal
• Freshly Ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly spray a 9 inch pie plate with non-stick spray.

2. Trim the zucchini and cut on the diagonal into 1/4 inch thick slices. Bring 2 quarts salted water to a rapid boil. Boil the zucchini until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain the zucchini in a colander, rinse, and drain again. Lay out 4 paper towels and put zucchini slices on top to dry. Then lay another 4 paper towels on top dry the tops. Place the dried zucchini in a big bowl.

3. Heat a large flying pan on medium-high heat and spray with olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft but not browned. Add the onion mixture to the zucchini.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs together, matzo meal, and herbs then add this to the zucchini mixture. Mix together well.

5. Add mixture to the pie plate and bake for 45 minutes.

Martha's Chocolate Truffles

When I asked Martha what she wanted for her birthday her answer was, "I’d love something small (bite-sized even) and very chocolate". The first thing that popped into my head was truffles. After all they were bite-sized and are to some the very definition of chocolaty. I did my usual research and found two recipes to try but couldn't' decide between the two so I made both.

The first one I found was just a basic Chocolate Truffle recipe. It was easy to prepare but BOY is it messy to shape and form. I think with more practice, it would be easier. They taste like the real deal! When I gave one to my husband, he squinted his eyes and said, "Wow is that chocolaty! Woo!" The second recipe I found was Easy Decadent Truffles. I was intrigued by it because of the high number of good reviews it received. Personally I think it tastes more like a rich chocolate cheesecake and less like a real truffle. However I can see how it appeals to so many people. It was much easier to shape and it wasn't nearly as messy as the traditional recipe. This recipe was a lot less intense on the chocolate scale, even though I used 71% dark chocolate. The cream cheese seems to cut the bitterness a bit.

I elected not to enrobe the truffles in a chocolate shell because I had ran out of good chocolate so I skipped that step and just dressed the little fellas in coconut, powdered sugar, dark chocolate cocoa, and almond dust. Here are the flavor combination I put together:

• Grand Marnier rolled in coconut
• Grand Marnier rolled in almond dust
• Mexican Vanilla (thanks Mandy!) rolled in powdered sugar
• Espresso Chocolate Cheesecake Truffle rolled in dark chocolate cocoa powder -( for these I used a high quality dark chocolate that had espresso beans premixed into bar.)

Groundhog Day Cupcakes

Groundhog Day has always been a favorite movie of my husband. He was so inspired by it he bought a piano and taught himself how to play! Last year, on February 2nd, he started a ritual with our son where they watch the movie together. It was Jake's first time seeing it and he loved it so much that he asked to watch it again the next day. That day a tradition was born. Tomorrow evening they will watch the movie again and to commemorate the event I created a special Groundhog Day cupcake. I did my usual research on the web and I found a few recipes but none of them really looked much like an actual groundhog, so I created my own. I think Phil would be proud!

In case it doesn't come through in the photograph, it's a groundhog coming up out of it's snow covered burrow to see it's shadow. The cupcake is buttermilk chocolate-almond cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting (which is suppose to be snow). The little guy in the center is made from Tootsie rolls, regular size and mini chocolate chips, white candy melts, and cocoa. The cake crumbs around his head are suppose to be the dirt from his burrow. Yum!

One of my husband's favorite quotes from the movie:
Piano Teacher: Not bad... Mr. Connors, you say this is your first lesson?
Phil: Yes, but my father was a piano *mover*, so...

This just in! Phil Says Spring is Right Around the Corner! Straight from Gobbler's Knob, read Phil's official forecast here. I wonder if my cupcakes helped scare his shadow away? :-)