CHOCOLATE COCONUT HAYSTACKS

Let’s keep it simple today and make a simple candy—2 ingredients and 10 minutes from from start to finish—coconut haystacks.

So being that this is only a two-ingredient dessert, don’t skimp on those two ingredients. Use a high quality chocolate, my personal preference always leads me to  Valhrona for the dark chocolate (or milk chocolate if that is your preference) and for the white chocolate I like Callebaut best. And for just a few of them, I sprinkled some freeze-dried raspberries on top for added flavor and punch in color.

I’m keeping this short today, because I have a bah-jillion administrative items on my to-do list. Something that I’ve promised Matt I would tackle 3 weeks ago, and before that it was 5 weeks ago and before that—well, it was quite a while ago.

But by administrative, I mean annoying things like: changing my hosting company to speed up load time here, proper filing of all my thousands upon thousands of photos, returning the stack of unusable Amazon items, filing contracts, POs and invoices, cleaning up my photography space and organizing my ever messy prop shelves and drawers  . . . and blah-blah-blah, yaddy-yaddy-yah.

And wah-wah-WAAHHH. I hate chores, because that’s what this list feels like . . .a long list of dreadful chores.

CHOCOLATE COCONUT HAYSTACKS

YIELD: 1 dozen one-half inch haystacks

Ingredients:

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
4 oz. dark chocolate (at least 65% cacao), finely chopped
4 oz. white chocolate, finely chopped

Optional
1/2 oz. freeze-dried raspberries, crushed

Directions:

Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

Sprinkle coconut onto baking sheet and bake until golden, about 6-8 minutes (make sure to stir every two minutes for even cooking). Remove from oven and evenly divide coconut into two separate bowls.

In the meantime place dark chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl and the white chocolate in a second small microwave-safe bowl. Starting with the dark chocolate, heat bowl in 10-second bursts until completely melted, making sure to stir in between bursts; repeat with the white chocolate.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Add half of the coconut to the dark chocolate and stir until coconut is completely coated. Add the other half of the coconut to the white chocolate and stir until coconut is completed coconut.  Using a small spoon, scoop out two-teaspoons of coconut and chocolate mixture and drop it onto a parchment lined sheet.  Transfer finished candy to refrigerator to chill and set.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/chocolate-coconut-haystacks/

RASPBERRY PISTACHIO ETON MESS

Get your fancy pants on, we are doing an raspberry pistachio eton mess today with a hit of pretty from some edible flowers.

If you’ve never made or had this, let me start by saying this impressive looking dessert is easy to make.

It’s comprised of just a few components like – whipped cream, fresh fruit, some nuts and meringue. I used store bought meringue to short cut the time, but of course you can make some from scratch like I did here.

I’m sticking to easy Valentine’s dessert for this week, so stay tuned because Friday’s will be even easier than this to make, but every bit as fun, pretty and tasty.

RASPBERRY PISTACHIO ETON MESS

YIELD: Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 12 oz. raspberries
• ½ cup pistachios, finely chopped
• 12-14 1½ inch meringues, crumbled

edible flowers

Directions:

Place heavy cream into a small bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a separate bowl, mash 8 oz. raspberries with the granulated sugar. Fold raspberry mixture into the whipped cream. Fold in crumbled meringues.

Spoon eton mess mixture into tall glass, layer with whole raspberries and pistachios; finish tops with edible flowers.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/raspberry-pistachio-eton-mess/

CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO MOUSSE

Want to know why this is the best tasting mousse ever, besides the chocolate, the bold coffee flavor, the smoothness, the light texture—but not so much that it dissipates before you get the richness of the chocolate? I’ll tell you—the best thing about this mousse is I actually finished it.

Yup, there’s a story here. Because that’s what happens when you try to separate eggs with a baby saddled to your hip— it’s a messy affair. So what that it took me 10 eggs to yield the needed 4. That’s what happens when the bowl gets pulled out from under you and onto the floor, or after starting over, the same curious 8-month-old hands decide to pull your hands to his mouth to taste what it is you’re doing.

Yeah, so what.

It only matters if you curse, and your 7-year-old happens to walk by and say, “Mom . . .cusser”. Whoops. It was a one-off. Promise. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO MOUSSE

YIELD: Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. chocolate (65% cacao), coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup milk, warmed
• 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules (I used one Starbucks Via)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk and and stir occasionally until chocolate is melted and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. In a steady stream, add milk to chocolate, stirring to combine. Stir in cocoa powder and continue to whisk until well combined. Set aside.

Place yolks and 1/4 cup  sugar in an electric mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until thick and pale, about 2-3 minutes. Fold mixture into chocolate, then stir in the coffee and salt; set aside.

Place the 2 egg whites and a pinch of salt in a clean electric mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat whites on medium high speed until soft peaks form, about 1-2 minutes. In a steady stream, gradually add remaining sugar and beat on low until glossy, about 1-2 minutes. Fold into chocolate mixture, then divide it between six serving glasses and refrigerate until firm about 2-3 hours.

Remove chilled mousse from refrigerator and set aside to make whipped cream. Place whipping cream and sugar in a medium bowl and vigorously beat until soft peaks from. Transfer whipped cream to a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip and pipe onto mousse. *Optional: Garnish with a dusting of crushed almonds and finely grated chocolate

http://www.bakersroyale.com/chocolate-espresso-mousse/

CEREAL MARSHMALLOW BARS

I’m all about bright hits of color lately. The latest dessert to get shot up with my current color obsession are these cereal marshmallow bars. It’s a simple riff on the classic rice krispie treat, but these are so much more fun–full of brightness and made sparkly with some colored sugar.

And what can make this an even better dessert than all the color bedazzling? More bedazzling. Yep more, or more accurately, with just a few swaps out, you can make this a double duty dessert that can be served on St. Patrick’s Day and Easter.

To make it a St. Patrick’s Day treat, double the glaze and spread it on top for a full layer rather than drizzle and then finish it with a heavy dusting of gold sprinkle. For Easter, swap out the gold sprinkle for some multi-colored pastel confetti, or to give it some added Easter sweetness, sprinkle the top with some crushed Robin Egg candy.

However you choose to skin these cereal marshmallow bars, do it with some color by using Fruit Loops or Trix cereal. And of course if you want to get crazy, throw some freeze dried fruit in there for an added layer of flavor. My recommendation, try adding in freeze dried strawberries and then swap out the milk in the glaze for some lemon juice—see how the variation in this simple recipe can be tweaked a million times over?

That being said, if you have a creative play on these cereal bars, come back and share with the rest of us!

CEREAL MARSHMALLOW BARS

YIELD: 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon butter
• 5 cups (9 oz) mini marshmallows
• 6 cups (6.5 oz) Fruit Loops

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

• 2 tablespoons colored coarse sugar or sprinkles

Directions:

Preparation: Spray a 9x9 pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.

Stir and melt butter and marshmallows in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Stir in Fruit Loops and mix until fully combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan, using your hands press to flatten. Set aside for 1-2 hours to set.

In a separate bowl, combine powdered sugar with milk and stir to combine. Using a spoon, drizzle glaze on top of cereal bars and dust with colored sugar or sprinkles.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/cereal-marshmallow-bars/

DARK CHOCOLATE-CARAMEL COOKIE BARS

Today I’m super pumped to have a guest post from cookbook author, Josh, of Slim Palate, who many of you are familiar with, and for those of you who are not, make sure you head over to his awesome blog for good eats.

Photo from Josh Weissman of SlimPalate.com

But of course not before you take in this grain-free, gluten free Dark Chocoalte-Caramel Cookie Bar—think of this as the healthy version of a Twix Bar. Sure I do a fair share of indulgent treats around, but indulgent treats that are Paleo and/or gluten-free friendly is always something I love working into my rotation of baked goods.

With that, let’s do this . . .

Photo from Josh Weissman of SlimPalate.com

So I’ve always been a huge fan of Naomi’s blog so this is a great honor to be able to guest post here. I knew that I had to create something sweet to match the style of this blog so I whipped something up that I think everyone can thoroughly enjoy. I’ll give you a hint: it’s Twix inspired

Photo from Josh Weissman of SlimPalate.com

So maybe I gave it away with that one but I don’t think anyone can complain. It’s a lot easier to make than you think, and it’s entirely gluten free, grain free, and refined sugar free. Despite lacking all of these things it still happens to have the familiar crumbly shortbread base, the sweet and salty caramel, and rich chocolate in every bite.

Photos by Photo from Josh Weissman of SlimPalate.com

This is all possible with the power of science, and by science I mean simply subbing honey and coconut sugar in place of the regular sugar and corn syrup.  You can always use sugar and corn syrup if you’d rather but I think that might take away some of the magic behind this recipe. The idea that healthier foods/ingredients don’t taste good is a fallacy and I’m here to eliminate that thought.

Then again, it’s still a treat that still has lots of sugar in it. Which is probably why it tastes amazing. Oh it also has like a ton of butter in it so, yeah. I have no regrets.

Photo from Josh Weissman of SlimPalate.com

Sugar fiends and health nuts unite, enjoy the crumbly, buttery, ooey gooey candy that are my Dark Chocolate-Caramel Cookie Bars. You won’t regret it.

DARK CHOCOLATE-CARAMEL COOKIE BARS

YIELD: Serves 6

Ingredients:

Shortbread Base:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 cup tapioca flour
• 1 cup softened butter plus extra for greasing
• 2/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Caramel Middle:

• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tablespoon butter or ghee
• 3/4 cup heavy cream or coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate top:

• 10 1/2 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped (anywhere around 70%)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment in both directions, leaving some overhang. Grease the parchment with butter.

In a media medium sized bowl whisk together the almond flour, tapioca flour and salt. In a stand mixer begin making the shortbread crust by adding the softened butter, and coconut sugar and creaming it on medium high until you get a frosting like consistency. While beating slowly add the almond flour and tapioca flour and continue to beat on medium high until it forms a dough. Press the dough evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Place the shortbread into the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a medium sized heavy bottomed pot fitted with a candy thermometer add the coconut sugar, honey, 2 tablespoons of the butter or ghee, heavy cream or coconut milk, vanilla, and salt. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to about medium low-medium to hold a nice boil without boiling over. Bring it to about 265 degrees and immediately take it off the heat.

Pour the caramel over the cooked and cooled shortbread crust and quickly spread it around to cover the whole top. Allow to sit for 30 minutes or until the caramel is no longer liquid or warm to the touch.

Place the chocolate in a medium sized microwaveable bowl and microwave on high at 30-second intervals, stirring in between intervals, until completely melted. Alternatively you can melt it in a double boiler, stirring often, until completely melted.

Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel part and spread it around with a frosting knife or spatula.

Allow to cool for 30 minutes to an hour, until the chocolate is completely solid. Remove the candy from the baking tray and slice into bars with a sharp knife. Store in an airtight container or serve immediately. These will last you about 1 1/2- 2 weeks.

Tips: When using your candy thermometer, make sure that it is only in the liquid and not touching the bottom of your pot.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/dark-chocolate-caramel-cookie-bars/

BLUEBERRY BAKED OATMEAL

Let’s ease into Monday with this no-fuss Blueberry Baked Oatmeal. It’s like a breakfast dessert that’s good for you and light in calories.

And light is not something I do often, but when it tastes great—I’m all in. This recipe is from Katie Higgins newly released Chocolate Covered Katie cookbook.

Think of it  as a  skinny dessert book that uses things like  stevia, pure maple syrup, agave over sugar in many of the desserts. Yogurt and coconut oil for the fat. Silken tofu over heavy cream like in her Chocolate Infinity Cake – it’s silky, lightly whipped and looks just like any other chocolate mousse pie, but it’s lighter in calories. Speaking of lighter in calories, the recipes even features Weight Watchers Points. Yay for those of you utilizing this system to keep your food in check.

 Now that you are onto me that this is a book review, here’s what I’ve bookmarked to make next:

• Cherry Peach Crumble Tart – peach season can’t come soon enough for this.
• Chocolate Obsession Cake – a chocolate cake with no butter?! Yep, none. The cake is made soft and tender with a little help from carrot juice, plain yogurt and coconut oil.
• Blueberry Silk Pie – because I have a thing for blueberries—and this in a silk pie—um, yes!

And here’s what the book features:

• 80 recipes
• 6 chapters (including: cookies, brownies & bars; dessert for breakfast; ice cream milkshakes & smoothies; cakes & cupcakes; puddings, dips, frosting & more
• Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value for every recipe
• Photo with every recipe

Now that I gave you a quick run down, head over to Amazon and add this to your cart and check it out for yourself!

BLUEBERRY BAKED OATMEAL

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or thawed frozen)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2/3 cups milk plus 1/2 cup of milk of choice
• 3 to 6 tablespoons pure stevia
• 3 1/2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 3 tablespoon ground flax
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional

Directions:

Heat oven to 365 degrees F. Lightly cover an 8 inch pan with baking spray; set aside

Combine blueberries and rolled oats in a bowl. Pour evenly into prepared pan.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together 2/3 milk and all remaining ingredients (reserving the remaining 1/2 cup milk). Spread this mixture evenly over the blueberry layer and stir quickly. Top with reserved milk.

Bake for  35 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes before cutting into slices or a large cookie cutter. Served topped with fresh blueberries and pure maple syrup, if desired. Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container for up to 3 days , or freeze for up to a month.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/blueberry-baked-oatmeal/

BLUEBERRY & JASMINE TEA MARSHMALLOW

Here’s what to make when you are too lazy to fire up the oven. And what to eat when you skip breakfast and forget to eat lunch because you are too busy trying to remember all the other things you forgot. Or what to pop in your mouth while crawling around on the ground trying to keep the ever-moving 10-month-old from eating dust bunnies.

These blueberry and jasmine tea marshmallows, they’re an any-time-of-day meal. Because I don’t even know what a real meal is anymore.

The baby thing has a way of warping time and reality. Minutes become lost hours, meals become cold bites between multi-tasking. It was like this  the first time, but when it’s your first, you get to use  that excuse—it’s your first. When it’s your second, the expectation is that you will have this mom thing down—things should be smooth, experience should arm you with a swift and deft mind to keep every thing well handled.

But the only thing keeping me well handled these days is an utterly adorable, irresistible, smiley-face, chubby baby who suckers me into his world. I’m not complaining I. LOVE. IT.

He even travelled with me and Matt on our last trip to Napa Valley where I joined the Blueberry Council at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone for a little bootcamp. A boot camp filled with a cooking and tasting things paired with blueberries—that’s blueberries in all its form: fresh, dried, freeze-dried, powdered.

You can bet I loved every moment, seriously—wine tasting, cooking, eating alongside all kinds of chefs—hella yes.  And besides all that, blueberries are a favorite around here, check out all the ways, they’ve been used here:

• Blueberry-Coconut Banana Bread
• Blueberry and Earl Grey Macarons
• Gluten-Free Blueberry Coconut Cake
• Blueberry Waffle Cookies
• Blueberry Oatmeal Bake
• Blueberry Muffin Cookies
• Easy Blueberry Muffins
• Blueberry Scones

As for my favorite way to have blueberries—gotta go with fresh first, then powdered. The latter being a pulverized version of freeze-dried blueberries. While the powder is second to fresh for straight up eating, I love baking with it more than fresh blueberries. The powdered from is highly concentrated in flavor and great for dyeing anything you need purple or magenta—the perfect thing to give these marshmallows a punch in flavor and vibrant shot of color.

Now that you’re in the know about blueberries and all its awesome forms, pick a blueberry recipe and—do it!

BLUEBERRY AND JASMINE TEA MARSHMALLOWS

YIELD: Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

• ½ cup water
• 2 teaspoons loose leaf jasmine tea
• 3 tablespoons gelatin (3 packets)
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons water, divided use
• 2.5 oz. blueberry powder
• ¼ cup honey
•  2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

Preparation: Lightly cover a 9x9 pan with nonstick spray. Place parchment on top and then cover once more with nonstick spray. (The first layer of nonstick spray will help to keep the parchment paper in place.)

1. To steep the tea: Place tea-leaf filled infuser in a glass. In a small pan, heat 1/2 cup water to a rolling boil. Pour water over infuser and steep for three minutes. Remove infuser and set tea aside to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, pour tea into a standmixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment.  Sprinkle gelatin on top. Set aside.
2.  In the meantime, place the sugar, water, and honey in a saucepan with over medium heat; cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook without stirring until candy thermometer read 240 degrees F, about 12-15 minutes.
3.  Pour syrup mixture into gelatin mixture; beat on low until combined. Increase speed to high and beat until thick and fluffy and mixture triples in volume, about 10 minutes.
4. In a small bowl stir together 1.5 oz blueberry powder and 3 tablespoons water until fully combined. Fold blueberry mixture into sugar mixture and fold until fully combined and no streaks remain.
5.  Using an lightly oiled spatula, scrape mixture into prepared pan. Use a lightly oiled offset spatula to smooth out top (top surface will not be completely even). Set aside in a cool place, (not the refrigerator) for 8 hours or overnight.
6. Whisk together powdered sugar, cornstarch and remaining 1 oz. blueberry powder until well combined. Remove marshmallow from pan and peel away parchment paper. Lightly dust top and bottom of marshmallw with powdered sugar mixture. Lightly cover a serrated knife with non-stick spray and slice marshmallow into 1 inch cubes. Cover cut sides with powdered sugar mixture. Marshmallows will keep in an air tight container for up to 5 days.

• Blueberry powder can be sourced at your local health food store or on Amazon.
• If jasmine tea is not your thing, you can skip the tea by replacing that portion with just a plain 1/2 cup of water.
• I used loose leaf tea for this recipe, so if you used pre-packed tea bags the ratio may need to be adjusted.
• If you don't have honey on hand, you can swap it out with maple or agave syrup without altering the taste too much.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/blueberry-jasmine-tea-marshmallows/