recipe: my favorite snack

Earlier this year I got a free trial for one of those subscription snack boxes and I really loved it, but there was no way I could actually afford to keep getting it delivered. So I decided to come up with my own snack mix to have on hand whenever I get the munchies! Each week I just mix up a batch and store it in a tupperware container.



I don't know if this can even really be called a "recipe" since the instructions are so simple. I just take one bag of glazed walnuts (if you like the taste of plain walnuts definitely go that route since they're healthier!), one bag of dried cranberries, and one bar of dark chocolate broken up into small chunks. If you're looking for healthy dark chocolate, the higher the percentage of chocolate, the better. I got this one because it was on sale, but my favorite is the Theo 70% dark chocolate/sea salt bar.

I love this combination so much that I have to put a portion into a small bowl to snack on rather than dipping my hand into the container, or else I get "where did that whole bag of doritos go?!" syndrome. It disappears before I even realize it! It's just so good!

recipe: chocolate covered strawberry smoothie

I've been having a smoothie every morning this year, and this week I was in the mood for something a little extra delectable and decided to forgo my normal fruit-and-ginger concoction for something with chocolate! This literally tasted like a chocolate covered strawberry, it was so yummy! Also, sidenote, I have a really hard time swallowing pills and making a daily smoothie to take them with has helped tremendously. It's thick enough that I can't really tell the pill is in my mouth, which makes it a lot easier to swallow it. I know it might not work for everyone but if you have the same problem I recommend trying this :)

To make the smoothie, just blend together a handful of frozen strawberries, half of a bar of dark chocolate (I used a 78% cacao bar), 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 c. unsweetened coconut milk, 1/4 c. cold water, and 2 ice cubes. Add honey to taste. (I like mine a little on the not-too-sweet side!)

recipe: dark chocolate maple truffles

I promised you guys this recipe a couple weeks ago and here it is! These are sugar free, nut free, and gluten free plus the dark chocolate has anti-inflammatory properties. But maybe the most important thing is that they are absolutely delicious!! I made this batch last night and then experienced the most excruciating test of willpower when I had to leave them untouched in the refrigerator overnight so that I could take photos of them this morning. Needless to say, as soon as these pictures were in the can the candy was not long for this world. lol!



You'll need:
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
4 tbsp. unrefined coconut oil, melted
3 1/2 tbsp. maple syrup (start with 2 tbsp and then add more to taste)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)
pink Himalayan sea salt (optional)

Stir to combine the melted coconut oil, dark cocoa powder, and maple syrup. I started with a couple tablespoons and then added more until it was the perfect amount of sweetness for me. Keep stirring vigorously until it starts to thicken, and then refrigerate the mixture for 10 minutes.

Once it's hardened a bit, take the mixture out of the fridge and use a melon baller to scoop small bite-sized balls of chocolate. Roll with your hands to form a circle. Now here is where it varies based on what type of chocolate you want to make. I made salted chocolates and coconut chocolates.

- For plain chocolates, just place the balls on a dish and refrigerate.
- For salted chocolates, place balls on a dish and then sprinkle with salt.
- For coconut chocolates, roll the balls in coconut flakes first.

You can also roll the chocolates in sprinkles or chopped nuts instead. Or if you're not going sugar-free they'd be scrumptious rolled in powdered sugar. I personally want to try a batch rolled in chopped walnuts (and maybe sub the maple syrup for honey? hmm..)

This batch should yield approximately 2 dozen chocolates, and they're best kept in the refrigerator so that the coconut oil doesn't melt. When I served them at my Halloween party they held up just fine on the buffet table after being refrigerated for 24 hours straight.

Enjoy!! :)

cadbury flake frozen hot chocolate

The other day I was really in the mood for a frozen hot chocolate (perfectly natural when it's 40' outside, right?) but also very impatient about melting the chocolate, waiting for it to cool... oh and going to the store to buy the chocolate to begin with. That's when I saw some cadbury flake bars sitting on the kitchen counter and the wheels in my head started turning!

We get flakes every year for Christmas from the local Irish import store. They're my absolute favorite candy bars in the entire universe. The chocolate is just SO much better than any other chocolate that exists. It's not just the texture (which is amazing) but the taste. It's very mild, sweet and perfect.  Anyway, long story short, I decided to make a lazy version of frozen hot chocolate using cadbury flakes.



You'll need: 3 flake bars, 2 tsp of powdered hot chocolate, 1 cup of skim milk (or you can use whole milk or soy milk, whatever floats your boat!) 1 tbsp of sugar, and about 1.5 cups of ice cubes.

In a blender combine the flakes, hot chocolate, sugar and skim milk until it's not lumpy anymore. The first time I made this I didn't blend it well enough and kept getting chocolate bits stuck in my straw. Then add the ice and blend it again. Pour it into a cup and drink up! Easy peasy! I know there are probably very specific reasons for most frozen hot chocolate recipes calling for melted chocolate instead of just throwing candy bars into your blender, but this turned out SO fantastic I really can't imagine that it would have been improved if I had waited to melt the chocolate first.

I think this would work amazing with pretty much any candy bar, actually! Imagine a frozen Twix hot chocolate, or a frozen Kit Kat hot chocolate!! The yummy possibilities are endless! :D If you really want to use flakes but aren't lucky enough to live in a country that sells them or near a store that imports them, they're also available on amazon here! :)

nutella cookies

These are out of this world amazing! I'm not a big chocolate/cookie/dessert girl (go ahead, revoke my right to call myself female. I'll understand.) but last weekend I had a giant sweets craving that needed to be filled. Enter, nutella cookies. They're really thin, but not crispy. Three days after I made them, they're still deliciously soft and chewy, with a swoon-worthy, close-your-eyes-and-imagine-you're-in-heaven combination of chocolate and hazlenut. Rather than feeding my fix, they practically turned me into a chocoholic ;-D

Here's what you need:

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1-1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 c. nutella

1/2 c. butter/margarine

Preheat the oven to 350'. Melt butter in the microwave, then mix with both sugars using an electric mixer on medium. Then turn the power to low and add the egg and vanilla. Once that's all mixed, add the nutella and mix until blended.

In a separate bowl, combine flour + baking soda + salt. Add dry to wet, and mix on low speed until it's blended. I don't know if my mixer is just on its last leg, or if this mixture is really that thick, but I had a hard time combining it. Considering my mixer was like $10 at Kmart about 10 years ago, I'm thinking it's the mixer...

Once it's all smooth, scoop teaspoonfuls of the mixture and roll them into little balls. Space about 1.5 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. The original recipe called for freezing the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes before baking, but I skipped this step since my cookie sheets don't fit in my freezer. I'm glad I skipped it, though, because the thin flat cookies were exactly what I was going for. If you want more puffy cookies, go with the freezer method.

Bake 6-7 minutes (or 7-8 if you put the sheets in the freezer) -- then let them cool for 5 minutes before removing from the sheets. That last step was really important. The cookies came out slightly undercooked, but the last five minutes on the hot cookie sheet finished the job :)

ps. I have NO clue where I got this recipe from! I know it's from the internet somewhere, but I can't find the original recipe. If you know the original source please let me know so I can add a link! :)

nutella cupcakes

Last night I was perusing tumblr when I came across this amazing blog, Bake It in a Cake. I was drawn in with a Pumpkin pie in a cupcake recipe, but what ultimately hooked me was their recipe for Nutella and Vanilla cupcakes with Nutella buttercream frosting. (I know, "yum" right?!)

I panicked, though, because they only had a photo of a cupcake and no recipe! eek! Luckily, they posted it tonight and I was able to whip up a batch of delicious cupcakes for dinner. Yup, cupcakes for dinner.

I made a few alterations to the recipe -- instead of putting a chocolate wafer in the cupcake (since I don't have any) I just used the nutella. I also halved the icing recipe since nobody in my family is a huge fan, and even half was still a little too much for us. I actually over-iced the cupcake in this picture just for the blog post.. normally we just spread a little bit on top like butter ;-)

Our oven is broken, so it overheats and doesn't spread the heat evenly. Baking anything is really hit or miss, but these came out fine. The nutella sunk to the bottom of the cupcake instead of floating in the middle, but I actually think I prefer them that way! It was like a little cupcake sandwich with nutella on the top & bottom and cake in the middle!

And to top off the deliciousness, I opted for half of a Ferrero Rocher candy instead of a sprinkling of toasted hazelnuts. They are, without a doubt, some of the most scrumptious cupcakes I've ever tasted! My mom predicts that once my dad gets home from work & we have three people working on them, there won't be any cupcakes left by morning ;-)

ps. I'm planning on making the pumpkin pie cupcakes but with gingerbread cupcake instead of cream cheese! I'll let you know how they come out!

pps. Sorry for the crummy picture quality, I usually only take pictures in natural lighting, but I made these at night and wanted to snap a photo before they're all gone by morning!! :)

impromptu trip to new york

I'm petrified of elevators, especially ones that go up 80+ floors, so I gave my brother my camera and asked him to snap some photos for me when he got up to the top of the Empire State Building. Isn't the view breathtaking?!


Close up of the purple M&Ms in the huge candy department in the NBC store. My mom's favorite candy :)


The Empire State Building at night. There was a really bizarre sky that night... it seemed as if there were black clouds floating above.


I take one of these every time I go into the city, don't I? Oh well, it's one of my favorite places to go, I think it's so lovely!


Friends section of the NBC store. Love this shirt! My brother wants the "How You Doin?" shirt, and I also saw one with the infamous "pivot" sequence. If I was a t-shirt kinda gal, these would have been coming home with me ;-)


My view from our seat at Olive Garden in Times Square. It was so much fun to look out the window while we were eating!


Scrumptious chocolate mousse for dessert! I don't care if it's not real Italian food, a commercialized chain, blah blah blah... in a family where even Chinese takeout is a rare treat, eating at Olive Garden is a huge privilege and a delicious one at that!

frozen hot chocolate

When I was in New York on Wednesday, I had the most amazing frozen hot chocolate drink! I'm not usually a big fan of chocolate or sweets (I know, I'm really weird) but this was seriously one of the most fantastic things I've ever tasted in my life.

So when I got home I started searching for a recipe to make this delicious confection on my own. I found a few recipes that sounded like they'd work, but most called for whole milk or cream (which I don't use) and made enough to feed an army. This is the best one I could find, and I just adapted it a bit so it would make less & be a little healthier.

Melt about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips with a little less than 1/8 c. skim milk in the microwave. When it's melted, mix it with 2 tsp of hot chocolate mix (I like the Hershey's brand best) and 2 tbsp of sugar or sugar substitute. Mix with 1/4 c. of skim milk. Then combine in a blender with one tray of ice cubes, and yet another 1 cup of skim milk. Top with (fat free preferred!) whipped cream and drink up!

I'm sure the cafe I originally had this at used whole milk or cream and artery-clogging whipped cream, but my version tasted exactly the same and was much, much healthier! Most recipes that call for whole milk do come out really similar with skim, and you feel a lot less guilty indulging in them! :)