cooksimple.com

You will all notice I’ve been absent and not posting much. I have been cooking but haven’t had the time to update the site will full posts (pictures, recipes, etc.). To make up for this I thought I’d share several of the best new recipes I’ve tried over the last few months. In no particular order:

Puree of Chickpea Soup – from the NY Times

Swiss Chard & Sweet Potato Gratin – from Smitten Kitchen

Whole Wheat Biscotti – I made these into lemon whole wheat biscotti by adding some lemon juice and lots of lemon rind

Granola Bars – from Smitten Kitchen

Pumpkin Spice Syrup – Yummy in a latté. I put the recipe & latté directions in a new post.

Mixed Greens with Garlic, Cumin and Paprika – A great veggie side dish. I posted the recipe in a new post.

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette – from the Joy of Cooking. Quite possibly the best dressing recipe! It is a basic vinaigrette made with apple cider vinegar and crumbled blue cheese. I’ll post the recipe once I get home and have access to the book

Yesterday I was searching for an easy, quick and chocolate dessert. I initially had the idea of pudding cake, however, I have yet to find a deep, dark chocolate version. I turned to my cookbooks and ended up in the Joy of Cooking. Amazingly enough the chocolate soufflé recipe looked to be just what I wanted – quick, easy and chocolate. Even better it could be made ahead! This dessert looks very impressive and has a great chocolate flavor. Whipped cream or a custard sauce would be a great accompaniment.

Ingredients

• 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon rum or bourbon
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat four 6 oz. ramekins with butter all the way up the sides. Pour sugar into each ramekin and make sure sugar thoroughly coats inside of ramekin.

Combine chocolate, butter and liquor in the top of a double boiler. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes then whisk in the egg yolks.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until the egg whites make stiff peaks (but not dry). Using a large rubber spatula stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Carefully fold the rest of the egg whites into the mixture until they are thoroughly mixed.

Divide the batter equally into ramekins and smooth the tops. Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes, until risen and set.

Note: The soufflés can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.

Yield: 4 soufflés

Banana egg rolls may sound strange, however, this is one of the easiest and most impressive desserts. Because egg roll wrappers are similar to pastry they work very well in this dessert. Though the picture shows two egg rolls as a serving you can easily serve just one and people will be plenty satiated.

Ingredients

• 4 egg roll wrappers
• 2 bananas
• 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter

Directions

Cut each banana in half so you have two ~3″ pieces of banana. Place one egg roll wrapper on the counter and turn diagonally so when facing you it looks like a diamond. Center banana in lower half of wrapper and cover with 1 Tablespoon brown sugar. Begin rolling wrapper over banana from the bottom to the top and bring sides towards the middle so the extra dough is in the middle. Continue rolling and lightly wet the end of the wrapper so it will stick together. Repeat with remaining wrappers and banana pieces.

Heat butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. When butter melts and begins to foam, add the banana pieces. Brown on all sides until crisp. Remove from pan and serve one banana egg roll with two scoops of ice cream and chocolate syrup.

Yield: 4 reasonable servings or 2 mega-servings

These are small, chewy cookies that taste like brownies.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup unsifted all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon double-acting baking powder
• scant ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup walnuts, finely chopped

Directions

Adjust the racks in your oven so they divide the oven into thrids and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut aluminum foil to fit two cookie sheets and grease with cooking spray.

Sift or mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

Break up the chocolate and put in the top of a double boiler over hot water. Add the butter. Cover and cook until melted. Stir until smooth. Remove from hot water and set aside to cool.

In a small mixing bowl beat the eggs on high speed with a mixer for a minutes, or until they are light in color. Gradually add the sugar and beat for 4 more minutes, or until the mixture is very pale in color and forms a ribbon when the beaters are raised. Beat in the vanilla. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and beat on low speed, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and beat only enough to blend. Stir in the nuts.

Use a slightly rounded teaspoonful of dough for each cookie and place them 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared foil. Slide the cookie sheets under the foil and bake about 12 minutes; reversing the position of sheets top to bottom halfway through baking to insure even baking. When done, the tops of the cookies will be cracked and will feel semifirm when lightly touched. Do not overbake – the centers of these cookies should be moist and chewy. Let the cookies cool on the foil on cookie sheets for about a minutes. Then, transfer to racks to finish cooling.

Yield: 40 cookies

Notes

If you don’t have a rack, just set the cookies upside down on the counter to cool.

Adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Cookies.

This is an awesome dessert that will impress any guests you decide to share it with. It’s so rich that I need the raspberry sauce to balance the flavors. However, if you’re a die-hard chocaholic then feel free to leave the raspberry sauce out.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whipping cream, divided
• 8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (10 oz) package frozen raspberries – thawed

Directions

Make the Mousse Loaf. Line 9×5″ loaf pan with plastic wrap, extend edges of wrap over sides of pan; set aside. Combine 1/2 cup whipping cream, semisweet chocolate, corn syrup, & butter in heavy saucepan; cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until choc. melts. Cool. Beat remaining 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, powdered sugar & vanilla until stiff peaks form; fold into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared loaf pan and chill at least 8 hours.

Make the raspberry sauce. Process raspberries in a blender until smooth. Pour puree through wire-mesh strainer, pressing with back of a spoon. Discard seeds, chill. Invert mousse onto serving platter, remove plastic wrap. slice loaf & serve with raspberry sauce.

Servings: 16