Chocolate Earthquakes

An earthquake of sugar....yum.

Speaking the name of these cookies gives you a pretty good idea of how they taste. A chocolately delight is how!  Easter Sunday has always been more about what I eat, than the fact that Jesus did some chilling out post death. I went to church growing up, every Sunday, but it was Unitarian church so often we were outside celebrating trees and the earth as much as Jesus. Honestly all I could think about was getting my cheap, ugly wicker basket in hand and scouring the feild looking for the precious candy. I have to avoid jelly beans in the supermarket because they are tiny beans of crack. To me, anyway. This year I did not eat ANY easter candy, beside a few jelly beans on Sunday. Quite an accomplisment for someone who used to eat her weight in reeces eggs and starburst jelly beans.

My mother made her famous ham. Its fame is known far and wide by our close friends. I dream about this ham, and luckily she has been making it for Easter for the last few years. I sadly will not post the recipe because no matter how hard I wish, ham is simply not vegetarian. Sometimes the truth hurts. Also I don't need to know this recipe, because it is too yummy, and I would not use my power for good. I would use it to consume a whole ham.

Ham and Angels, thats Easter!

The recipe I used comes from Vegetarian Pleasures, a book by Jeanne Lemlin. I own "Quick Vegetarian Pleasures", and for Easter my mom got me "Simple Vegetarian Pleasures" which I haven't stopped reading since I received it. As yall know, I have the best Mom of all time! Jeanne Lemlin has incredible recipes and her books were written in the 90s so are cheap to get on Amazon or used books stores. I highly recommend buying her books, regardless of your vegetarian status, she is a great writer and I have yet to make a recipe I didn't love. In the next few weeks I will be making many of her dishes, so stay tuned!

As far as the cookies, the directions instructed me to melt the chocolate on the stove, but I find that can be tricky and because I do not have special dual pots for melting chocolate, I used the microwave. Feel free to melt it on the stove, just watch it very carefully. Burned chocolate cannot be saved.

These are fairly simple and quick to make, though you do have to refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or so before you can bake them. The dough can refrigerate for up to 24 hours, so they are good to make ahead of time and pop in the oven right before you serve them. You can also freeze the dough, just defrost them before you coat them in the powdered sugar.

Chocolate Earthquakes

Watch out! Its an earthquake of CHOCOLATE. The BEST kind! 

The Goods: Makes 4-5 dozen cookies

8 tablespoons(1 stick) of unsalted butter
4(1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioners sugar

The Deal: 
1. Microwave butter in a medium bowl until melted. Add chocolate two squares at the time, stirring about every 20 seconds. Once melted, set aside and let cool.

butter and chocolate, together at last! 

2. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Whisk in the sugar, vanilla and melted chocolate mixture. Slowly add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until smooth. Chill the mixture until cold firm, at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

Making your dough

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two baking sheets and be sure the one oven rack is in the center and one is on the upper level.

4. Place the confectioners sugar in a small bowl. Scoop a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough and roll it between the palms of your hands and form it into a bowl. Roll it in the powdered sugar and coat well. Place on the baking sheets, about a dozen per sheet.

Be sure they are well coated in sugar

5. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, switching the placement of the baking sheets halfway through the cooking time so to not burn the bottoms. Cool slightly. Using a spatula move the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cool completely before storing.

Blondies with Chia Seeds

A blond making blondies, now THAT'S a Sunday! Any of my regular readers (aka my Mother and Christine) probably notice my desire to cook desserts on Sundays. This ensures I have a dessert to eat all week, and helps keep me away from a gummy bear massacre. It can get ugly, and full of red dye.

Good friends of mine make these little guys all the time, and I always have a hard time stopping at just one. I must confess I am not the hugest fan of brownies, I know how could I, but of all the incredible desserts out there, I think I can do better than brownies. Give me a brownie ice cream sunday and Ill grab a spoon, but I don't crave them.

Using chia gel again, which turned out beautifully. It cuts the amount of butter you have to use in half, which cuts out a lot of the fat. Of course making a dessert will almost never be "healthy", but these are healthier than any packaged cookie or candy bar you buy in the store. I find if I try to go all week without any sweets, I end up not being so...sweet, as it were, so I just keep working on moderation. Tis the key.

You can use 12 tablespoons of butter if you do not have chia gel, but I again encourage yall to try it. Look for Chia seeds in health food stores in the bulk section. A pound can be anywhere from $20-$30 bucks so if you can find it in a bulk section you can purchase a small amount and give it a try.


To make Chia Gel: To make 9 tablespoons or 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon of chia gel, you put 9 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in a bowl. Mix the seeds slightly, and then let rest for at least 20 minutes. It will create a gel, that looks grayish. It doesn't look appetizing, but doesn't taste bad. Try it, its mostly taste like water, with funny squishy things floating in it. To see pictures, view my previous post: chocolate chip cookies with chia seeds

Chocolate Note: You can really use any chocolate you want, just make sure its 6 ounces or 1 cup. I wanted  to try white and dark chocolate together, but you could use dark and milk, dark and peanut butter, all dark, all milk, the possibilities are what you make them. Chocolate possibilities.....yummy.....
Same thing with nuts, I used walnuts but pecans would be just as tasty. As always make sure you toast them first, it makes a big difference in the final outcome of your blondies. 

Blondies with Chia Seeds

The Goods: Makes about 20 big squares

1 cup walnuts or pecans

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

6 tablespoons butter or earth balance, melted and cooled

6 tablespoons chia seed gel(see note)

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 ounces white chocolate bar, roughly chopped

3 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped(see note)

The Deal:

1. Heat a saute pan on medium heat, add nuts to pan and toast until they omit a nutty smell, about 8-10 minutes. Do NOT let them burn, they burn quickly, so flip the nuts frequently. 

2. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with butter or spray. 

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl, set aside. 

4. Whisk melted butter, chia seed gel, and brown sugar together in a large bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold flour mixture into egg mixture until just combined, do not over mix. Fold in chocolate and nuts and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. 

melted butter, chia gel, and sugar

Adding flour slowly into wet mixture

Adding chocolate and nuts

5. Bake until top is shiny, cracked and light golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes. Careful not to overbake, once you are close to time, check every few minutes to ensure you do not over bake. 

6. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving, and cut into squares. 

Rugelach (A jewish pastry)

This may be my new favorite dessert. I am literally having daydreams about these suckers. I am not sure if I have ever had Rulelach before, perhaps I have, but nothing like this.

I stumbled on this recipe on one of my nightly readings of Barefoot Contessa's, "Barefoot Parties". After reading the ingredients and seeing the pictures I just had to make it. The next morning I woke up telling healthy boyfriend,
"I have to make rugelach, I have to." Confused he replied,
"What. What Arugela?"
"No baby, Rugelach."
"What, Arugela, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"
Finally I had to break open the book and show him what I meant. The name may be funny, but this dish is no laughing matter. I mean, laugh if you want, but they are so tasty, I would be surprised if you can speak.

Are they healthy? They are as healthy as cookies are, which is healthy for the spirit and healthy for the body, in moderation.

I used a electric mixer but you can mix this by hand, it just takes some muscle. Though I think working for sweets is probably a good idea, know what Im sayin!

A few notes to make sure you get it right. This is not a difficult dish to make, but unfortunately it's time consuming. You have to make the dough, then let it rest an hour. Then you assemble them and have to let them chill for an additional 30 minutes. So it aint no quick cookie, and is probably a weekend project.   Because it's pastry you cannot cut corners, the temperature of the dough effects the way it bakes. So let your dough rest, it works hard :)

Freezing Note: Luckily they freeze well, and you can make a bunch and then save some for later. Simply freeze the unbaked cookies, and defrost them completely before baking them.

Jam Note: Make sure you blend the preserves in a food processor, they are too thick right out of the jar.

Room Temp Note: Do make sure your cream cheese and butter are at room temperature. They will not cream together properly if they are not soft.

Rugelach (A jewish pastry)

The Goods: 
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 pound(2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 9 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
3/4 cup apricot preserves, pureed in food processor
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk(or water) for egg wash

The Deal: 
1. Cream the cheese and butter in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add the flour slowly and mix until just combined.

2. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and roll into a ball. Cut the ball into quarters, and create a small ball out of each quarter. Wrap each quarter in plastic wrap(or ziplock bag) and refrigerate for 1 hour.

dough in quarters, roll each into balls

3. To make the filling combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the raisins and walnuts.

4. Once your dough has rested roll out each ball into a 9 inch circle(which is the same size as a standard pie plate). Spread the dough with 2-3 tablespoons of apricot preserves, making sure all the dough is covered. Then sprinkle 1/2 cup of the filling on each circle, again making sure its fully covered. Lightly press the filling into the dough.

healthy boyfriend rolling out the dough!

5. Cut each circle into 12 equal wedges, first cutting the circle into quarters, and then cutting each quarter into thirds. They will look like crescent rolls before you roll them. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.

Not a pizza, but just as tasty!

make sure to refrigerate them before baking

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

7. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Brush each cookie with egg wash and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browed. Remove from heat and serve warm or place on a rack to cool.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Chia seeds

ooooooohhhh! cookies!!!

Sometimes you just need some cookies. I've had a cookie itch (one of the better itches to get) for a few weeks, and Sunday is one of my favorite days to bake. I love being able to putter around the kitchen, unlike the weekdays where I have less time. These cookies turned out well, though I find cookies are always better the second day. Not entirely sure why, but a day old cookie is so much better, or at least the ones I've made are.

For these cookies, I used a small amount of chia gel. Not sure how many of you have used/heard of chia seeds but they are pretty nifty. And yes, chia seeds are from the cha-cha-cha-chia plants that were big in the early 90s. I used to LOVE those commercials.

Chia seeds are cool for many reasons. Apparently the Aztecs were nuts about them, and they were often used as currency. Warriors and hunters would drink the chia gel instead of eating food because it would keep them full and energized. So its not just a seed, its a seed with lots of cool history!

They are FULL of fiber, two tablespoons has about 8 grams of fiber. They are great for people who need a lot of fiber, but have a hard time getting enough. Especially for older people, or those who are chronically ill/have cancer and need more fiber but have no appetite or have a hard time eating.

Chia seeds

They also are good for dieting, similar to spirulina, a small amount can keep you full for a long time, and give your body nutrients. They are also full of Omega Threes, the kind of good fat we want more of, and can help with keeping blood pressure and blood sugar under control. Also Dr. Oz loves them, and WHO doesn't love Dr. Oz?

Here are two sites with additional information, again its hard to find a lot of completely reliable information given there hasn't been a ton of formal studies.
Here is a blog that had some information: Blog on Chia seeds
Here is the nutrition facts: Nutrition Facts of Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are another tiny little miracle. They can be eaten raw, or made into a gel. Healthy boyfriend likes to drink them in water. When you put them in water, if you let them sit, they create a gel, that has a strange consistency. I had read that many vegans use chia get in place of butter or oil. I had never tried it, so I only used a small amount of chia gel in this recipe, unsure of how it would change the flavor. I found no flavor change, though these are only the third from scratch cookies Ive made, so a cookie expert could probably notice if there was a difference in flavor. Where is a cookie expert when you need one? If yall see cookie monster, send him my way.

water and chia seeds

Chia Gel

Chia Gel: To make 9 tablespoons or 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon of chia gel, you put 9 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in a bowl. Mix the seeds slightly, and then let rest for at least 20 minutes. It will create a gel, that looks grayish. It doesn't look appetizing, but doesn't taste bad. Try it, its mostly taste like water, with funny squishy things floating in it. The picture to the left is right when I put the seeds in. The picture to the right is the gel, after about 20 minutes.

As far as making cookies goes, a few things to remember. I looked at a several different cookie recipes, trying to learn about what makes a good cookie. One thing that was common is almost all the recipes was room temperature butter. Having your butter at room temperature makes it easy to mix, but also is how cookies turn out fluffy and light. So make sure when making cookies, you let your butter warm up to room temperature. You don't want it melted, just room temperature.

 I read in one of my Martha Stewart books(she is a bit intense, but has great information about WHY you do certain things in cooking) and she says you should never try to speed up making your butter room temperature ie microwave it. That can change the consistency and you dont want that when baking. If you forget to take your butter out of the fridge, you can slice it up very thin which will help it warm up faster. Or use a cheese grater and grate your butter, which will allow it to warm up fast as well.
Also make sure to take your eggs out and allow them to get to room temperature. So you do need to think ahead a bit when baking cookies, but not too much.

Next time I will attempt to use half butter and half chia gel, and see how it goes. Hope you enjoy!

This recipe is based on a few, but predominately Martha Stewarts Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

Note: If you dont want to use the chia gel, just use 2 sticks of unsalted butter.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Chia seeds

The Goods: Makes 30-40 cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup(1 1/2 sticks) of unsalted butter
1/4 cup(4 tablespoons) of chia gel(see note)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted(optional)

The Deal:


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two large cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

3. Place butter, chia gel and both sugars in a large mixing bowl. Mash with wooden spoon until light and fluffy, about 4-6 minutes. You can also you use an electric mixer to speed up the mixing. Add eggs, one at a time beating throughly until blended. Stir in vanilla.

butter, chia gel, and sugars

mixing in eggs

4. Add your flour mixture in three additions, adding it slowly to fully mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Once mixed, add your chocolate chips and nuts if using.

5. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop dough and place on cookie sheet, leaving plenty of room between cookies.

6. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown on edges and toothpick comes out clean. Rotate your cookie sheets half way through cooking to avoiding burning the bottoms of your cookies. Remove from pan and place on wire rack to cool.

Very important: Grab a hot cookie and enjoy your delicious accomplishment! Cookie five!