Friday, August 29, 2014

Jac's Chocolate Silk Pie

I've made this pie several times over the past year. I usually use firm silken tofu. Soft would probably work, you'd just have a softer pie. Silken tofu usually comes in two sizes: 12 oz and 16 oz. If you use a 12 oz block, just use a 8 inch pie pan. I tend toward darker chocolate and desserts that aren't overly sweet. My favorite chips are Ghirardelli Chocolate 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Chips.

Jac's Chocolate Silk Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9 inch graham cracker crust
- 1 lb silken tofu
- 1 10 oz bag dark chocolate chips
- 6 oz coconut milk (light is fine)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Melt chips with coconut milk. If doing this in the microwave, stir several times to keep chocolate from burning.
- Pour off excess liquid from tofu, put in blender. Add melted chocolate coconut mix, vanilla and salt. Blend until smooth, scraping sides with spatula to get everything mixed in.
- Pour mixture into crust. Refrigerate until set (at least 2 hours). Serve with whipped (coconut) cream.

Whipped Coconut Cream
Note: Use a high fat coconut milk or coconut cream. 17g fat per 100mL is sufficient. 6g per 100mL wouldn't work. You want a milk that solidifies when refrigerated.
- Pour one 13.5 oz can coconut milk into a small mixing bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Whip chilled coconut milk on high speed several minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and powdered sugar to taste. Serve on your favorite desserts, especially Jac's Chocolate Silk Pie.

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Apple Cake Adventure

I tried to make a peach cake. This is what happened.

I'm staying at my cousin Tom's apartment while he and his wife are out of town. His kitchen is somewhat less well equipped then what I'm accustomed to.

Exhibit A: Mystery Measures

I had ripe peaches I wanted to use up, so I thought I'd have a go at this delicious looking peach cake. Changes 1 & 2 Since it's only me here, I cut the recipe in half while upping the fruit a bit since I wanted to use 2 whole peaches. Change 3 I didn't have any sour cream, but plain yogurt should do the trick. Then I discovered I didn't have any eggs. Change 4 I'm reluctant to buy them due to mild but annoying allergies, so I substituted 1 small grated apple and 1 teaspoon of baking powder for the egg. When I set about to put the wet ingredients together, I found Tom's mixer, but no beaters. (I searched the Entire Kitchen. Twice.) So I had to cream the butter and sugar (which I cut by 25%) Change 5 by hand. The dry ingredients went together without a hitch, except that Change 6 I accidentally added the cinnamon that was meant to be reserved for the sugar topping. I mixed the batter together, then went to cut up the peaches. Change 7 Pithy and brown inside. I used my two remaining apples instead. Apples don't cook down when they aren't covered by a topping or layer of batter, and I didn't want a layer of dried apples on top of the cake, so Changes 8 & 9 I put all the apples in the middle of the cake and added a little butter and cinnamon on top. Change 10 I didn't have any nuts so I omitted those, and Change 11 I had to reduce the baking time for the smaller cake. After all that, here's how it turned out.

Delicious.

Double Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons butter (salted) at room temp., divided
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (low fat) (room temp)
- 1 small apple, peeled and grated
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (I think. See Mystery Measures Exhibit A)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus extra for sprinkling
- 2 large apples, peeled and sliced

Directions
- Grease a 1 quart baking dish.
- Cream together 4 tablespoons butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add yogurt, grated apple, and vanilla.
- Preheat oven to 350
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
- Add dry ingredients to wet a little at a time. Mix just until combined.
- Pour half the batter into the pan. Cover with sliced apples, topped with a few shakes of cinnamon and about 1 tablespoon butter, in pieces spread around the apples. Cover apples with remaining batter.
- Bake for 40 - 45 min, until apples are bubbling and batter is fully cooked. Serve warm.

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