chocolate – Turmeric and Twine

Vegan Passion Fruit Truffles + Motto For 2015

January 2, 2015Turmeric and TwineLeave a comment

Well, I did it. I made it through 2014, just like the rest of you. Big deal, right? Sometimes life is tough. We all have to trudge through the shit, but we don’t always come out clean on the other side.

2014 was a devilish year full of chaos (read: threats), discovery, challenges and love. The threats seem like a distant memory now, as I suspected they would, but there is nothing better at turning one’s life upside-down than being in a far away land and feeling unstable. I won’t go too in depth on that subject. Instead, click here. It may give you a vague sense of what I experienced in my final year of working at a Hagwon in Korea. I will say that I left Korea in the fall of 2014 with my sense of trust deeply shaken and my nerves shot, but thanks to Love, I felt hopeful. My support system was, and has been, so solid that even in the thick of the crises, lies and sleepless nights, I never fell. I stood tall, held my ground and was able to see the light ahead.

So, thank you Love. You saved the year and so much more. I dedicate this post, this year’s motto (see below) and my love, to you.

The most common variety of passion fruit is small and purple. Creatively named “Common Purple”, this thick-skinned, tropical fruit contains pleasantly crispy seeds and yields small amounts of juice. But, that yield is dazzling. Passion fruit is mouthwateringly fresh and the flavour is absolutely seductive. Tart, sweet and delicately strong: a little juice goes a long way in any recipe. I am appalled to acknowledge that I have not tried the entire range of passion fruit varieties. This will now go on my bucket list.

This year’s motto: Stepping Out Clean in Twenty-Fifteen

Passion fruit is a good place to start. And chocolate helps a lot. These truffles are deliriously decadent and will help you find strength to defeat all your foes.

Vegan Passion Fruit Truffles

Ingredients

1 cup cocoa powder
2 juiced passion fruits, separated from seeds
½ cup of coconut cream
4 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt

Directions

-Heat the coconut cream, passion fruit juice, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a soft boil. Stir continuously.

-Turn heat off and add coconut oil. Stir until fully incorporated.

-Add cocoa powder in small batches and mix until thick and smooth.

–Optional: If you like the texture of the passion fruit seeds, add some or all into the mixture.

-Let cool.

-Form teaspoon sized balls by rolling them in the palm of your hand and dust with more cocoa powder.

-Store in the refrigerator. They should keep well in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. If removed, they will only last a day.

Makes 20-24 truffles.

Transformation: Red Wine and Coffee Reduction on Dark Chocolate Raspberry Crepes

March 10, 2014December 29, 2014Turmeric and TwineLeave a comment

A week ago, I posted my recipe for my coffee reduction along with the mishaps of trying to flavour pair it. I had almost given up. But not before realizing that it belongs on something sweet. I should’ve known from the beginning.

Without further ado, I give you coffee and crepes. Absolutely gorgeous.

Red Wine and Coffee Reduction on Dark Chocolate Raspberry Crepes

Serves 6-7

Ingredients

For the crepes:

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt

For the filling:

2 cups whole raspberries
juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sugar
100 grams dark chocolate
2 tablespoon milk

The recipe for coffee reduction can be found here.

Directions

For the crepes:

On the stove top, melt the butter. Then add the milk and heat until warm but do not let it boil.

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt. Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack the eggs into the bowl. Whisk the mixture.

Slowly add the milk and butter to the flour mixture in multiple batches.

Heat a fry pan and melt a small tab of butter in it. Ladle a scoop or two of the crepe batter into the pan and roll the pan around to get a nice, thin and even layer. Cook for a minute or two.

Take a spatula around the edges to make sure the crepe isn’t stuck. It should be ready to flip when it moves on its own when the pan is shaken.

Time to flip it. Get a good grip on your spatula. Wedge it under the crepe and flip the spatula and pan in a simultaneous and smooth action. Don’t worry. I messed up a few flips, but the crepes are surprisingly forgiving. Repeat until the batter is gone.

For the filling:

In a small pot, heat the raspberries, sugar and lemon on medium low heat. Crush the raspberries with a spoon and mix well.

In a separate pot, melt the chocolate with milk on low heat.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of coffee reduction onto a plate. Then place a crepe on top. Fill half of it with raspberries and chocolate and then fold in half to cover the filling.

Spoon another teaspoon of coffee reduction on top.

Try not to get a stomachache from eating too much. It might be a challenge.

Flavour Pairing: Chocolate Beetroot & Black Tea Cake with Sweet Cream Cheese Icing

October 17, 2012February 8, 2013Turmeric and Twine6 Comments

Yes: chocolate. And since you ask, yes: beets.

It was in Niki Segnit’s The Flavour Thesaurus (one of my food bibles) where I first heard of chocolate and beetroot being paired. I think my head exploded a tiny bit when I saw the two foods listed side by side. Once I’d gotten over my initial shock of the idea, I found it made perfect sense to combine these two flavours (and textures, I might add). To my surprise, Segnit’s critique of the pair was rather negative. She wrote that it tasted like “a cheap chocolate cake that’s been dropped in a flowerbed”. No matter. Nothing could deter me from trying it. I was hooked.

In fact, Segnit’s comments only fascinated me more. I wanted to start a chocolate and beetroot movement. Somehow I felt I had a duty to get the word out, because certainly no one else had the thought of making this sort of thing before…right? A quick web search proved me wrong and revealed that chocolate and beetroot cakes are everywhere. And in all sorts of forms: molten lava cakes, sweet breads, brownies and cupcakes. They looked good and the bakers/reviewers/eaters couldn’t stop raving about how gorgeously the two complemented each other. I felt the need to catch up with these baked goods. The challenge was on. ON!

Based on their individual flavour merits, beets and chocolate are meant for each other in cake form (or a gorgeous liquid nitrogen ice cream. Anyone?). Here are a few reasons why:

Beetroot: Beets are unique for their sweet and earthy character. These qualities together have a tendency to turn people off. As a beet advocate, I find it tragic when people decide they don’t like beets based on one or two poor experiences. Like the time they tried plain boiled beets (or worse… canned beets!) or were the victim of someone’s boring, mushy cooking. The genius in the complexity and tones of beets is how they accent and respond to other flavours; sour, salty, herby and in the case of this recipe, sweet. The beetroot not only compliments the chocolate in flavour, it also makes the cake incredibly moist and light while still providing that rich chocolaty experience we all want when eating cake. Yum, yes and yeah.

Chocolate: Chocolate has a wide variety of flavour due to the multitude of processing it undergoes. Cocoa beans, fresh off the tree, are bitter, astringent and pretty much horrible. Once processed, chocolate falls into the roasted flavour category. Left unsweetened, chocolate is still quite bitter, but the roasting process introduces a rich nuttiness that responds incredibly well to sweeter flavours. I like to think of cocoa powder as a black canvas ready for lightening, and since it’s sort of a black hole of roasted goodness, it is very forgiving and accepting. Chocolate regularly opens its loving arms to coffee, mint, fruit, nuts and chilies. I found no reason that beets shouldn’t also be a part of that following.

Did chocolate beetroot cake disappoint? No, it’s only surged my expectations higher. There were no flowerbeds in my kitchen that day.

Chocolate Beetroot & Black Tea Cake with Sweet Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

For the cake:

1 ½ cup beets, boiled and mostly blended (about 2 or 3)
1 cup cocoa powder (or melted bittersweet chocolate)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup black tea (or water)
1 cup butter (melted)
1 cup flour
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
5 eggs (separated)
¼ tsp salt

For the icing:

1 cup icing sugar
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tbsp cream cheese
½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Peel and quarter the beets. Boil for about 30 minutes. Blend the beets in a food processor (I left a few small chunks unblended for a pleasingly colourful effect).

Preheat oven at 350ºF/180ºC/Gas mark 4.

In a large bowl mix cocoa, tea and butter together until smooth. When it mixed well, add egg yolks and the blended beets.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

In yet a third large bowl whip the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold in sugar until it combines with the egg whites. Then fold in the chocolate/beet mixture. Once combined, fold in the dry mixture until smooth.

Pour into a greased pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. Test your cake by poking it with a fork. If it comes out clean, your cake is done.

While the cake is baking, combine your icing ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add more cream cheese to achieve a thicker consistency. Add more yogurt to achieve a runnier icing. Let your icing set in the fridge.

Let your cake cool. Then ice it. Then drool over what you just made.

Join the chocolate beetroot movement.

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