Welcome

I would like to welcome you all to my blog : ) This is the first attempt I have ever made at such a thing, usually I don't care enough to keep my Facebook status updated even. However, I've been looking for a new hobby and had a revelation the other day and said to myself "why not chronicle my excessive love of food?" To be more specific, desserts of all kind. Sure, I love savory food, the everyday meal, but I find that it's dessert that can really make things special. Whether it is a fancy cake after dinner or a simple blueberry muffin with your morning coffee. I love it all and I love trying new recipes and sharing the really fantastic ones with others. Thus, the purpose of my blog. I am going to write about my exploits in sweet delicious food and share photos and recipes with anybody that cares to have a look. To change things up a bit every once and a while I will even throw a savory recipe or two at you. I think I might even throw my two sense at you about nutrition. I studied nutrition for two years at SUNY Plattsburgh before postponing my education to run away and get married to a military man (whom I love oh so much and have an amazing baby girl with). I don't regret any of it, but have since gone in the opposite direction and taught myself to bake and cook not only healthy dishes, but decadent ones as well. So here it goes for those, like me, that don't eat to live, but live to eat (as the phrase goes haha).

I am going to start things off with the most recent recipe I have tried and found incredibly successful- Moo-less Chocolate Pie  by Alton Brown found in "Food Network Favorites". Now I found this particular recipe interesting because of the peculiar ingredients. Normally a chocolate pie consists of a crust of sorts and then a chocolate pudding filling. Pudding is made through thickening milk or cream with sugar and egg yolks. As you can infer from the title of this pie, there is indeed no dairy, which would make this particularly pleasant for vegans. Instead of the traditional dairy pudding, the recipe transforms melted semi-sweet chocolate into a creamy chocolate pudding mixture with silken tofu. "Tofu?" You are probably thinking that doesn't sound so appealing, especially if you have never tried tofu. Well let me just tell you, the most important thing you need to know about tofu is that it takes on the flavor of the recipe that it is used in. So in essence this recipe is GENIUS. Swapping cream and egg yolks along with a hefty amount of sugar for basically chocolate chips and tofu while still coming up with just as delicious a result ? It's unbelievable. I am telling you this recipe is so luscious and oh so smart! You have got to try it. Not only does it make the dish that much more nutritious, but the method is so simple. With a pre-made chocolate crumb crust (I used Oreo) and the use of a food processor, I had this pie whipped up in less than 15 minutes! How awesome is that? Here are a couple side notes I have about making any changes to the recipe. You should use a good quality semisweet chocolate chip (I would use Ghiradelli or Callebaut), but if you are vegan you are obviously going to want to use vegan chocolate chips. Also for vegans, if you choose to put the mixture in a crumb pie, you'll have to make your own crust with vegan butter and crushed vegan chocolate cookie crumbs. If you don't feel like going to the trouble, the mixture would also make a fantastic pudding all by itself.

So again, welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

Moo-Less Chocolate Pie


2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup coffee liqueur (some strong coffee will work just as well I am sure- coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1- 16 oz block silken tofu
1 Tb Honey
1- 9 inch chocolate wafer crust

1.) Place a small metal or glass bowl over a saucepan filled with simmering water. Melt the chocolate chips and coffee liqueur in the bowl. Stir in the vanilla.

2.) Combine the tofu, chocolate mixture, and honey in a food processor. Blend until smooth and liquified.

3.) Pour the filling into the crust and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until the filling is set. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Source: Alton Brown, "Food Network Favorites", 2005.