Chocolate Dipped Bacon

I know some of you are thinking, "What?! Bacon & Chocolate - Ewww," but trust me when I say it's all sorts of wonderful.  Salty & sweet, chewy & crunchy.  I promised, I'd be back to regular posting once summer was over, and I figured that my first post back ought to be the kind of delicious craziness that comes from random flights of fancy in my kitchen.  This summer of travel has meant very little time for crafting, but we do have to eat, even when living out of suitcases.  This quick and easy treat gets a big thumbs up from my boys.

There isn't much to the recipe.  It's basically dipping cooked bacon into chocolate.  What could be easier?  Recently I've been cooking bacon in the oven.  It's a simple, easy clean method for perfect bacon every time.    Lay out the bacon in a single layer on a foil lined jelly roll pan.  I cut the bacon slices into 1/4ths for the candy, but leave it whole for breakfast.

Place into a cold oven, then turn the oven on to 425.  Don't open the door while it's cooking.  After 17-18 minutes the bacon will be perfectly done.

Remove the cooked bacon to paper towels to drain.

Meanwhile, melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave.  One of my favorite things about my microwave drawer is that you can stir items from the open top without ever having to touch the hot bowl.

Dip the bits of cooked and drained bacon into the melted chocolate and lay on waxed paper to harden.  I use chopsticks for the dipping, but you could use a fork, too.

After the chocolate hardens completely, I store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.

Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Nothing says summer like pink lemonade, and the perfect way to kick off summer is with these Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes.

I started by creaming together 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup coconut oil.

I added in 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup agave nectar, 1/2 cup raspberry applesauce, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and the zest and juice of one lemon.

In a separate bowl, I whisked together 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup sorghum flour, 1/4 cup sweet rice flour, 1/4 cup potato starch, 1/4 cup arrowroot starch, 2 tsps baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt.

I mixed the dry ingredients into the wet, and then mixed in 1/3 cup milk.

I accidentally set my camera down for this next part.  I whipped up 3 egg whites with a couple tablespoons of sugar sprinkled in gradually until they were at a soft peak, then folded the egg whites into the battter.  Spoon the batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for 22 minutes at 325 or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Using a large tip on my piping bag, I poked a hole into the cupcakes, and piped in about a 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry fruit spread into each cupcake.

I mixed up some cream cheese frosting(cream cheese, butter & powdered sugar,) and added in 1/2 cup raspberry fruit spread and 1/2 tsp lemon extract.  I topped each cupcake with a fresh raspberry.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

One of my most often requested recipes is my Flourless Chocolate Cake.  I was making this moist & wonderful piece of heaven long before we went gluten-free.  It's so easy to make using only 4 ingredients, and it's so good that it disappears quickly, making pictures a tough enterprise.  But I snapped a couple of quick pics the other day when I made one.

Here's the low down on this simple dessert.  Melt 6 tbsps of butter and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips in a double boiler or the microwave, stirring every now and again.  Let the mixture cool for a few minutes before whisking in 6 egg yolks.  In the bowl of your stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat 6 egg whites til foamy.  With the mixer still going, sprinkle in 1/2 cup sugar, a little at a time, mixing until the whites are to a soft peak.  Sacrifice a quarter of the egg whites to lighten the chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest of the whites a quarter at a time.  Pour in a greased and parchment lined 9 or 10 inch springform pan.  Bake at 275 for 45 minutes.  Let cool before removing from the pan.  You can sprinkle on some powdered sugar before serving to pretty it up, but desserts that taste this good don't really need to be pretty.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Homemade Graham Crackers

Every year, we kick off the summer with a weekend camping trip to Darien Lake Theme Park.  Camping means a lot of things to a lot of people(we're tent campers, not glam-pers,) but almost universally it means S'mores.

This s'more was made on my stove, not a campfire, specifically for this post.  Incidentally, in the oft argued gas vs induction debate, no one ever cites the perfectly roasted marshmallow as a reason to use gas, but how would you make indoor s'mores without flame?  I've never been one for the basic traditional s'more.  I bring the traditional Hershey bars, but I also like to bring peanut butter cups and Ghirardelli squares for a more decadent treat.  

Even before going gluten-free, I had a disdain for boxed graham crackers preferring to make s'mores with soft ginger cookies or almond thins.  And in that vein, I decided to make my own graham crackers to bring along this weekend.  I started by whirring together 1 cup light brown sugar, 2/3 cup sorghum flour, 2/3 cup arrowroot starch, 1/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/3 cup white rice flour, 1/3 cup millet flour, 2 tbsps potato starch, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp xanthan gum in my food processor.  I pulsed in a cubed stick of butter.

In a small mixing bowl, I whisked together 1/3 cup honey, 1/4 cup milk, 2 tbsps molasses, and 2 tbsps vanilla extract.

I like using local honey to help inoculate against pollen related allergies.

With the food processor on low, I mixed in the wet ingredients.  I turned the dough out onto a floured board and kneaded it into a ball, then patted it into a rectangle.  Wrap the dough and chill for a few hours in the refrigerator.

Roll out half the dough to 1/8" thickness, and using a pizza wheel, cut into squares.  Prick the dough all over with a fork.  You can gather up the scraps and re-roll them, but I just left them.  Those scraps will be great for s'more's milkshakes or crumbs for cheesecake bases.  Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through.  Immediately after pulling them out of the oven, rescore the lines.

Let cool completely before breaking apart.  Pack in an airtight container.  I had to make that above s'more for blog posting purposes, and it was perfect in it's ooey, gooey, deliciousness.  I can't wait to bust these out around the campfire this weekend.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Something Swanky's Sweet Treats Thursdays.

Cinnamon Mango Scones

You might have noticed the mangoes in my fruit bowl in my finished kitchen reveal photos.  If I was a professional, I'd have probably replaced those with some bright green apples(and had better lighting, but let's not pile on ;-P)  But the fruit is ever changing in that bowl, and last week it was champagne mangoes.  I used a couple for breakfast the other day to make some Cinnamon Mango Scones.

I started with 2 champagne mangoes.  If I had the larger type of mango, I'd only have used one.

I sliced the flesh of the mango off each side of the pit, and scored through the fruit to the skin diagonally

in both directions to create diamond cubes that I sliced off the skin.  Reserve the fruit while you make the scone batter.

In a medium bowl, I whisked together 2/3 cup sorghum flour, 2/3 cup arrowroot starch, 1/3 cup white rice flour, 1/3 cup brown rice flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp salt.

In a separate bowl, I mixed together 1/3 cup melted coconut oil, 1/4 cup agave nectar, 2 tbsps maple syrup, and 1 tsp vanilla and mixed the wet ingredients into the dry.

Mix in 1/4 cup of hot water and fold in the reserved mango.

Drop by large scoops onto a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for a few minutes before removing from the baking sheet and enjoying.  These were so moist, not at all like a store bought scone.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.

Walnut Ganache Tartlets

No finished kitchen pics yet, mostly because it's been grey and dreary for days, but also because I've been busy, busy, busy making messes in my kitchen.  I made Walnut Ganache Tartlets to bring into school for our Staff Appreciation Luncheon today.

And last week I made approximately a gazillion White Chocolate Lemon Meringue Tartlets and Fresh Berry Mini-Pavlovas for a fundraiser Saturday evening.

Here's how I made the Walnut Ganache Tartlets for today.  I started by placing a generous cup of walnuts on a baking sheet and popping them into a 350 oven.  After about 10 minutes they are perfectly toasted and fragrant.  It's important to keep an eye on toasting nuts, because they go quickly from perfectly toasted to burnt.

I pulsed the nuts in my mini chopper, reserved 1/4 cup of nuts for decoration, and gave the nuts another couple of pulses for a fine chop.

I mixed in 2/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/3 cup white rice flour, 1/3 cup amaranth flour, 1/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup arrowroot starch, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 tbsps of lemon zest.

I cut in 12 tbsps of butter with a pastry blender,

and mixed in 2 slightly beaten eggs.  The mixture will look crumbly, but hold together if you ball it up.

I loosely fill an ungreased mini-muffin pan, and press the crumbs into the sides and bottom of each cup.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.  You should be able to spin them out of the pan.  I've shared several recipes that use ganache before.  These tartlets only need about 1/2 of my linked ganache recipe, but I like to make a full batch each time and keep some in the frig.  It often inspires off the cuff recipes like my Creamcheese Cookies w/ Ganache filling.  While the tartlets are cooling I made a batch of ganache.

Spoon some ganache into each tartlet cup,

and sprinkle on the reserved toasted walnuts.

While the tartlets were baking, I had piped out several masquerade masks, because the theme of today's Staff Appreciation Luncheon is Masquerade.  A trick I use to keep multiple piped items the same size is to sketch it out on paper and slide the waxed paper over my drawing.  Each mask(or butterfly, or whatever,) will still look individual, but the last one won't be twice the size of the first one.  

Always pipe more decorations than you actually need, because after they're chill in the freezer, some might break as you peel them off the waxed paper.

After the ganache cooled and set up, I placed a mask in each tart.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.