Cooking Baking Eating

The best type of reaction you can get while cooking or learning to cook is the look and exclamation of “You made WHAT?!”

This has happened to me more than a few times. Mostly with these lovely home made marshmallows.

Yes! You can actually make marshmallows at home. However they are completely different than anything you buy at the store. The store bought varieties are usually very firm, chewy, and while they taste good they remind me of chewing on rubber.

If you have ever had a home made marshmallow, you will be instantly spoiled and be hard pressed to eat a store bought one again. They are sweet, tender, and melt in your mouth.

Most people don’t realize that marshmallows can be made by hand. Of course they can, they had to be invented somewhere, likely in someone’s kitchen. It just seems so out of place for them to be made by hand now since it’s rare for someone to do so. They just think the rubber they buy in the store is the only way to get their fix.

Not true, and the best way to surprise your friends is to make them the best home made marshmallows ever.

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This cooking I did over the weekend just seemed to go so well!

Last week I ran out of flour. No really, I actually forgot to buy myself some flour. I was at a loss all week because I wanted to bake something. I don’t know that I would have baked something but since there was no flour, I REALLY wanted to bake. I was going through withdrawals of having my flour container full.

I am such a freak.

So all last week I was looking for something fun to bake without flour. I came across the recipe for a flourless chocolate cake! How ingenious. No flour, lots of chocolate, I did a happy dance.

I didn’t get around to making it until this past weekend because of sheer laziness. Everything seems to feel more of a chore lately, so I just didn’t feel like cleaning the kitchen after cooking.

The texture of the “cake” is not cake-like at all, but more of a mix between a truffle, brownie and fudge. It’s very silky and creamy, not spongy like a cake. It is truly a decadent dessert.

They say that you should use the best quality chocolate when making something that will have that as the main flavor. While that’s true and could have an impact on the final product, I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips from the grocery store.

The recipe is just simple ingredients, definitely not low fat by any means, but you only have tiny small pieces. It’s just that rich. Even our resident chocoholic (Husband) had to eat it slowly and only a small piece. I think it would be lovely with some fresh strawberries to go with it.

Holy crap its good, go try it.
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I have a new thing I want to start making. Finger food. I love the idea of being able to eat with your hands. Simple one bite packages that deliver taste and you don’t have to use a fork.

For my first foray into the little bites section of my cooking experience, I give dessert: Dark Chocolate Truffles.

I love making these and part of me is posting these not only for the fact that I’m loving the idea of finger foods, but also because I had a coworker who would always ask me when I would next be making them. I saw him again this week, unfortunately he didn’t see me. He isn’t a coworker any longer since he suddenly lost his sight last year. He’s a cool guy and I’ve been wanting to post these while they were on the brain.

Truffles bare the same name as the funky looking mushroom that we consider a delicacy and spend LOTS of money on. I really don’t think I’ve ever eaten a real truffle, but I am quite content with the dessert look-a-like version.

My version pictured doesn’t actually look like a truffle, they are usually round or misshapen to resemble their namesakes. I just thought it was going to be easier to just cut them in squares instead of shaping them. Really its just because I’m lazy.

You can coat them in anything that you want. I think my favorite is just cocoa powder or powdered sugar. But they can be covered in sprinkles, toasted nuts or shredded coconut. In the recipe I mix milk chocolate and semi-sweet, I think it makes a great combo since just semi-sweet can be quite powerful along with dusting them in cocoa powder.
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Just like Homer Simpson, I love donuts. However, I don’t really eat them very often because they are really greasy and sugary. I’ve been toying with the idea of baking donuts, I even picked up one of those donut pans from the local thrift store but just haven’t tried it yet.

Now that I am finally feeling better from this evil-death-flu that has been going around the nation, even though it only took a whole month out of my life, I finally have the bug to start cooking again.

I always know when I’m feeling better when I start wanting to cook again. So I bit the bullet and decided to do it.

I made the baked donuts I’ve been wanting to make. It’s basically the same recipe that is used for making the yeast donuts, but instead I baked them.

I didn’t have any frosting handy so I dipped them in butter and then in cinnamon sugar. My husband already has deemed that he likes them, but would rather have a frosting or a glaze on them. Read more »