Hot Chocolate Cookies Recipe

The drinks and dishes I tried on my trip to Avery Island inspired me to think about Tabasco in new ways. Of course you can use it in things like in guacamole or in a bloody mary, but how about something unexpected, for example, cookies?

I made François Payard Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies twice during Passover this year and they were gobbled up so quickly that I didn't even get to snap a photo. After following the recipe closely, I decided to put my own twist on it. The cookies are mostly powdered sugar, cocoa powder and egg whites. They are crisp and crackly on the outside but moist and fudgy, almost like brownies on the inside. But perhaps not surprisingly, they are a bit sweet.

To temper the sweetness I added Tabasco and cacao nibs. The Tabasco gives just a hint of heat in the background. You'll barely notice it, but it definitely takes these cookies to the next level. While the toasted walnuts add crunch and a contrasting bitterness, unsweetened cacao nibs help to balance the sweetness even more. Though I wouldn't call these cookies spicy, they do remind me of hot chocolate. The original recipes calls for Dutch process cocoa, but I tested it with natural cocoa (Hershey's and Valrhona) and it worked fine. I make the cookies smaller than Payard does because I'd rather have two cookies than one, but feel free to make them whatever size you like best. You can also make a half batch.

Hot Chocolate Cookies (adapted from François Payard)
makes about 40

Ingredients

2 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process or natural)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce

2/3 cup cacao nibs


Instructions

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. Chop the walnut roughly, place on a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 7-10 minutes, just until they are golden and fragrant. Let walnuts cool slightly. In a large bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt. Add the egg whites, vanilla and Tabasco and stir just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat). Fold in the walnuts and cacao nibs using a spatula. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of batter onto the baking sheets (or make them as large as a tablespoon if you prefer) and bake for 15 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked. Let cookies cool then peel off the parchment paper.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I created this recipe on behalf of Tabasco and I was compensated for it. The choice to post it here, was my own.

Vegetables and mushrooms sauteed

Vegetables and mushrooms sauteed

 Vegetables and mushrooms sauteed

Ingredients:

For four people (250 kcal per serving)
Butter 70 g
Carrot keep: 100 g
Onions: 2
porcini mushrooms: 600 g
Potatoes: 1/2 kg
Pepper: to taste
Salt: to taste

Preparation:

Cut the onion, clean the mushrooms, slice them. Peel and cut potatoes into cubes. Sauté everything in a pan with one ounce of butter. Add, once removed everything from the fire, the remaining butter and sauté the potatoes and carrots, boiled previously. Finally refit all the frying pan for gold.

World of cooking

Tuscan Vegetables

Tuscan Vegetables

Tuscan Vegetables

Ingredients:

For four people (300 kcal per serving)
Time : one hour and 15 minutes Difficulty : Easy
Vinegar: 2 tbsp
Garlic: 1 clove
basil: qb
Artichokes: 2
Onions: 250 g
beans: 250 g
Fennel: 1
Lemon: 1
olive oil 4 tablespoons
peas: 250 g
Tomatoes: 4
Leeks: 2
Parsley: to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Celery Green: 1
Sugar: 2 cubes

Preparation:

Wash the vegetables and then soak the artichokes in acidulated water with lemon not to darken. Blanch in boiling salted water artichokes and broad beans for ten minutes. Once drained, are then peeled if they are not tender. Slice the onion, fennel, celery and leeks in the white pulp. Put these vegetables into a saucepan and let soften in the oil over medium heat. When the vegetables are almost colorful, add the beans, peas, artichokes, tomatoes and a clove of minced garlic. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Stir, cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally. When the vegetables are cooked but not mashed, pour the vinegar. Cook over high heat, sprinkle with chopped parsley and basil previously. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Remove from heat and serve hot or cold.

 

World of cooking

Vegetables with Parmesan

Vegetables with Parmesan

 Vegetables with Parmesan

Ingredients:

For four people (220 kcal per serving)
Time : one hour and 30 minutes Difficulty : Difficult
Garlic: 1 clove
basil: a bunch
Eggplant: 200 g
Mozzarella: 120 g
oil: 10 g
grated Parmesan cheese: 60 g
Tomato sauce: 300 g
potatoes 200 g
Pepper: 200 g
Salt: to taste
Zucchini: 400 g

Preparation:

Wash and slice the zucchini and eggplant. Boil the potatoes for about twenty minutes. Remove the seeds and cut peppers into strips. Cook zucchini and eggplant on the grill. Heat the tomato lightly salt it and add crushed garlic and basil leaves cleanse. Cook over medium heat with oil. Slice the mozzarella well. Remove the garlic. In a baking dish covered with a sheet of parchment paper, place the bottom a bit ‘of tomato, then the sliced ​​potatoes, a layer of zucchini, peppers and eggplant, mozzarella cheese to finish, yet seasoned with tomato, sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 200 ° C for 30 approximately.

Learning about Tabasco

Tabasco sauce isn't just for dousing on eggs or doctoring your bloody mary. In fact it takes on a completely different character when used in cooking rather than as a finishing sauce. It's a surprisingly versatile condiment that can be used in a wide variety of dishes and drinks. There are seven different varieties of Tabasco sauce (actually there are a couple more as well that are not widely available). I learned all of this and more on a recent visit to Avery Island, home and birthplace of Tabasco sauce. The trip to Louisiana was with the inaugural group of Tabasco tastemakers. As one of the "tastemakers," I will be creating several recipes using Tabasco (for which I am being compensated).

During my visit I saw the pepper fields, the barrel room (where I tasted chili pepper mash), the factory (where I breathed in vinegar fumes), the lab, the bottling rooms and learned just how Tabasco is made. While almost 99% of the Tabasco chile peppers come from places like Latin America and Africa, all varieties of Tabasco sauce are made on Avery Island. The peppers are processed, made into a mash with salt, aged and fermented in bourbon barrels, then transformed into sauces.

At a dinner for the Tabasco tastemakers I was blown away by how chef Alon Shaya of Domenica restaurant in New Orleans used Tabasco in his cooking. Twice nominated for a regional James Beard award, Shaya cooks his unique version of Italian food using the best local ingredients he can find, and a good deal of restraint in a town where excess is generally taken to an extreme. He used Tabasco in everything from a simple yet intensely flavored handmade pasta with shrimp to a chocolate dessert.

Finally bartender Neal Bodenheimer of Cure used Tabasco in cocktails with spirits like Pimm's and rum and creme de banane. One of the drinks he made was a "cobbler" which traditionally is a drink made with wine or sherry, sugar and fresh fruit. His cocktails were both unexpected and amazing. Stay tuned for my first recipe...

Read more blog posts about the Tastemaker trip:

Comic strip of Camper English tasting pepper mash from Alcademics

Of Mash, Marsh and Memorable Meals from Food Orleans

Avery Island, part deux: boils, bottles, bloodies & boudin from Food Orleans

Tabasco taste test from Fritos and Foie Gras

Chef Alon Shaya goes Tabasco crazy from Fritos and Foie Gras

A Visit to Avery Island Louisiana Home of Tabasco Sauce from Recipe Girl

A Trip to Avery Island Louisiana from Eat, Live, Run

Top 10 Avery Island Louisiana from What's Gaby Cooking

Disclaimer: I visited Avery Island as a guest of Tabasco

Day 191! Vanuatu- Citrus Baked Fish in Coconut Cream - Up Next, Vatican City

After a brief world-cooking hiatus (forced upon me by life's ever-so annoying demands, like work), I'm back and jumping right into the first of the "V" countries with the beautiful South Pacific Island, Vanuatu. After this, I'll only have 6 countries left to go which fills me with a combination of excitement over continued possibilities and more than a little sadness over the impending end of this wonderful journey. But until then, onward with this island stop and citrus baked fish.

Map Courtesy of Lonely Planet

Located in the South Pacific, Vanuatu is an island nation, "Y" shaped archipelago of 83 islands. The islands share their maritime borders with Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands. Mostly mountainous and volcanic, the climate is tropical and subtropical. The majority of the population are Vanuatu, with the remainder being Pacific Islanders and Asian. The primary source of income on the island is local aggriculture, fishing and forestry. First sited by European explorers, the island has probably existed for some 4,000 years, with pottery fragments dating back to 1300-1100 BC as evidence of human existence. With the discovery of sandalwood on the island, the islanders were exploited as laborers for many years. In 1906, French and British missionaries and settlers hoped to establish cotton plantations, but later switched to cocoa and coffee production. Finally, after years of dual governance by the French and British, the country established independence in 1980.

Vanuatu cuisine is typical of Pacific Island cooking, with fish, root vegetables, fruit and vegetables being the staples. Most islanders have back yard gardens, and food is plentiful. Papaya, pineapples, mangoes, plantains, sweet potatoes, taro, yams and coconut are all enjoyed. Kava, a non-alcoholic drink with mild sedative properties is the national drink and is mostly used at night due to its relaxing effects. I think I need some of that.

I used Branzino - aka Mediterranean Sea Bass

Layer orange and lemon slices on top

Pour some coconut milk around the little darling and season with salt and pepper

Wrap up in several layers of banana leaves so you have little packets - secure with kitchen twine

Serve with a salad, plantains or rice - the fish is so tender, the meat falls off the bones

Citrus Baked Fish in Coconut Cream (Recipe Adapted from Healthy Life)

2 medium whole fish  (I used Branzino, weighing about 2lbs. total)
½ tbsp. ground black pepper
1 lemon
1 orange
½ c. light coconut milk
Salt to taste
Banana leaves

Wash and clean fish and place on a softened banana leaf. Thinly slice the lemon and orange and alternate the slices on top of the fish. Sprinkle pepper and pour coconut cream around the fish. Wrap the fish well in about 3 layers of softened banana leaves and bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes or in an earth oven for about 1 hour.


© 2010-2012, What's Cooking in Your World? Sarah Commerford/All Rights Reserved

Homemade Cheez-Its

After seeing these on Dara’s blog, Gen Y Foodie, I was smitten.  We needed to make them.  But instead of being all responsible and healthy with the olive oil and flax seeds, I went with good old butter.  We love butter.  We love Julia Child’s "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" for that reason.  So back to the cheez-its – It is exciting for some reason to make a homemade version of packaged food item.  Especially in this case, the buttery, cheesy crackers emerging fresh from the oven makes for such a lovely snack.  Now Seth likes to destroy this delicate harmony of the home-baked cheddar cracker by actually dipping them in this ridiculous store bought cheese dip.  If you notice, it isn’t even packaged in a jar.  It is a tin can that you open like a can of cat food.  Super classy.  He swears by it.  He claims that because the cheez-its taste so strongly like cheese, it helps to dip them into something that doesn’t taste anything like cheese… like pre-packaged cheese dip… While this is the dip he grew up with, and sometimes you just can’t fight nostalgia, I think we’d both agree that these crackers taste great with almost any dip.

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling on top
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon powdered mustard
¼ teaspoon onion powder
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces
6 – 8 tablespoons ice water

Instructions
In a small bowl, mix together ½ teaspoon kosher salt, pepper, paprika, powdered mustard, and onion powder.  In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cheddar, and the seasoning mix.  Add the pieces of butter and using your fingers work the butter with the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumble.  Add 6 tablespoons ice water, adding more if needed for the dough to come together.  You might want to use your hands to work the dough into a large ball.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Heat oven to 350.  I like to roll the dough out on a Silpat or parchment paper cut to fit a baking sheet to get the right size thickness (about 1/8 inch), and then transfer the Silpat or parchment to a baking sheet. If you aren’t using these, the dough should be rolled out to roughly fit a baking sheet.  Use a pizza cutter or fluted pastry wheel (gives that nice deckled edge) to cut the dough into squares.  It helps to use a ruler to evenly space out the cuts.  Use a chopstick to make the classic hole in the center that store-bought cheez-its have.  Sprinkle more kosher salt on top then bake for about 20 minutes.  You want the crackers to be crisp, but not burnt; you may wish to remove the outer couple rows, then put the pan back in and finish the inner rows.  Once they are done, use the same pizza cutter or fluted pastry wheel (lined up with your previous cuts) to separate the crackers fully.