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National Chocolate Month — So Let’s Celebrate!
Anti–oxidant rich, internationally beloved sweet treat, once a luxury item…recipes run the gamut from decadent to a healthy treat. We've offered a few suggestions for substituting sugars or other ingredients some people might prefer to avoid. Please feel free to try your own substitutions.
Baked Chocolate Tart
One 10–inch tart/pie shell – homemade or store bought
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
5 1/2 ounces semi–sweet chocolate
8 Tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
Small pinch of salt
4 eggs, or equivalent egg substitute
1 cup of sugar, substitute Turbinado or Succanat
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
3 medium heaped Tablespoons sour cream or crème fraîche
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place the butter, chocolate, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and allow to melt slowly, stirring occasionally until well mixed. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and sugar together until and well creamed, and then add the maple syrup and sour cream or crème fraîche. Stir your chocolate mixture into this mixture, scraping all the chocolate our with a spatula. Once you’ve mixed it well pour it into the pastry shell. Bake 40–45 minutes. During cooking a beautiful crust will form on top.
Carefully remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool in a rack for at least 45 minutes, during which time the skin will crack and the filling will shrink slightly.
Chocolate Tofu Cream Pie
3 cups tofu, soft
1 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar, substitute Turbinado or Succanat
3/4 cup cocoa
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup liquid as needed for blending – soy milk is best in this recipe
Blend ingredients using the liquid to help blend the tofu. Try to blend as thick a cream as possible so it will set nicely when refrigerated. Pour into a pre–baked pie shell, top with Tofu Whipped Topping (below), and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Tofu Whipped Topping
3 cups tofu, soft
1 cup soft tofu
1/4 cup oil
2 Tablespoons honey or sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping sides of blender inward. Whip a little just before serving if needed.
Ginger Spiced Hot Cocoa
8 ounces 1 percent low–fat milk
1/4–inch piece peeled, fresh ginger, sliced into 2 rounds
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons sugar, substitute Turbinado or Succanat
2 teaspoons water
1/4 teaspoon dark chocolate shavings (about 1/8–ounce)
In a small saucepan heat the milk and ginger over a medium-low heat until scalding, about 4 minutes. While the milk is warming, put cocoa powder and sugar into a mug. Add the water to the mug and stir until the mixture has the consistency of a paste. Remove the ginger from the warmed milk. Add the chocolate mixture to the milk and whisk until slightly frothy. Pour the hot chocolate into the mug and top with chocolate shavings.
Pajas
1 cup pecan halves
1 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped semisweet chocolate or chocolate morsels
7 ounces canned sweetened condensed milk, check your health food store for an organic version, sweetened with organic cane sugar
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or use a nonstick pan. Toss the pecans in the melted butter to evenly coat. Spread the nuts on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden and aromatic. Set aside to cool, and then chop roughly. Place the chopped pecans and the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until evenly moistened. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter for each cookie onto the lined baking sheet and gently flatten to circles of about 2 1/4–inches in diameter (these cookies do not spread). Bake 10 minutes or until the coconut turns very pale golden, being careful not to overbrown. Transfer to racks to cool.
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