Ingredient: cocoa

Chocolate Beet Bundt Cakes w/ Saskatoon Berry Sauce

Pairing beets with chocolate might seem unusual at first glance, but it works beautifully in a cake. It gives an extra bit of complexity to something that’s already amazing. The beets add earthiness and make the cake dense and moist.

This idea is particularly associated with wartime rationing, when sugar and flour were scarce. While historically a frugal option, chocolate beet cake has become more of a novelty or trend in recent years, with modern bakers experimenting with the flavor profile and incorporating it into more elaborate recipes. 

It’s impossible to pinpoint exactly who ‘first’ paired saskatoons with beet cake, as such recipes are often developed over time and evolve through various culinary traditions.

Saskatoon berries, or serviceberries, are a staple ingredient in Canadian baking, particularly in pies, cakes, and jams. They are known for their sweet and nutty flavor. Given the historical context, it’s likely that the pairing of saskatoon berries with chocolate beet cake emerged organically in regions where both ingredients were readily available and used in baking. Bakers in these areas may have naturally incorporated saskatoon berries into their beet cake recipes, either as a topping, filling, or as part of the batter. 

These little Bundt cakes with their saskatoon berry topping make a very special summertime dessert when those precious berries arrive.

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 Chocolate Beet Bundt Cakes w/ Saskatoon Berry Sauce
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Rating: 5
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Course dessert
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword chocolate beet bundt cakes w/ saskatoon berry sauce
Servings
Ingredients
Beet Puree
Cake
Saskatoon Berry Sauce
Course dessert
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword chocolate beet bundt cakes w/ saskatoon berry sauce
Servings
Ingredients
Beet Puree
Cake
Saskatoon Berry Sauce
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Beet Puree
  1. Remove beet stems & peel. Rinse beets & chop into small cubes. Place beets in a small saucepan & add water. Cook for about 10 minutes or until fork tender. Remove from heat & allow to cool. Once cool, puree beets with a small amount of the cooking water in a blender or food processor.
Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
  2. In a large bowl, place first 6 liquid ingredients & combine well. Add remaining ingredients & mix well.
  3. Scoop into 8 mini Bundt pans (or large cupcake pan), filling about 3/4 full. You can butter the pans or use silicon cups.
  4. For mini Bundt cakes bake only about 9 minutes or until they test done with a toothpick.
  5. Remove from oven & allow to cool slightly.
Saskatoon Berry Sauce
  1. In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch, sugar & salt. Add water & saskatoons. Stir while cooking until 'clear' & bubbling. Add margarine & lemon juice, stir then remove from heat.
Serving
  1. Place individual little Bundt cakes on dessert plates. Top with whipped topping & saskatoon berry sauce. Serve.

Nanaimo Truffles

The Nanaimo bar, a decadent Canadian treat, has a fascinating history. It is named after Nanaimo, a delightful city in British Columbia. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited British Columbia in 2020, their interest in these treats caused a media frenzy in the U.K. and the U.S., prompting questions about what the square was and where it came from. It is a dessert bar that requires no baking and generally consists of three layers: a graham wafer crumb and shredded coconut base, custard-flavored butter icing in the middle, and a layer of chocolate ganache on top.

The dessert was popularized in the years following WWII and subsequently rose to wider prominence after Expo ’86. Susan Mendelson is perhaps most responsible for commercializing the Nanaimo bar. She sold the bar during the 1970s to help pay her tuition, and in 1979 founded The Lazy Gourmet, a café and catering company in Vancouver, which claims to be the first business to sell the dessert. Mendelson wrote the official cookbook for Expo ’86, held in Vancouver, and included the Nanaimo bar.

After that, the Nanaimo bar began to be sold on BC Ferries and spread in popularity across Canada. It can now be found in Costco, Starbucks and countless cafes in Canada and the United States. There can be some variations with each of these layers — e.g., adding mint, mocha or other flavoring, as well as food coloring, to the icing center, or various nuts to the base — but a classic Nanaimo follows the traditional trio.

In a bid to take advantage of the bar’s popularity, the city of Nanaimo launched a tasting trail much like Ontario has done for the butter tart. The Nanaimo Bar Trail features an array of establishments that proudly showcase their unique interpretations of the classic Nanaimo Bar. As of now, there are more than 39 businesses participating in this sweet adventure. These establishments offer a variety of Nanaimo Bar-inspired treats, from traditional bars to ice creams, macarons, cheesecakes, lattes, and even spring rolls.

All that being said, instead of the traditional rum balls at Christmas, here’s my version of Nanaimo truffles!

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 Nanaimo Truffles
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course dessert
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword Nanaimon truffles
Servings
TRUFFLES
Ingredients
Filling OR Centers
Base
Coating
Course dessert
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword Nanaimon truffles
Servings
TRUFFLES
Ingredients
Filling OR Centers
Base
Coating
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Filling/Centers
  1. Cream butter, custard powder & powdered sugar together well. Divide mixture into 22 pieces & roll each into a ball. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
Base
  1. Melt the first 3 ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Add beaten egg & stir to cook & thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in graham crumbs, cheerios, cocoanut & corn syrup. Set aside to cool.
  2. When base mixture has cooled, divide mixture into 22 portions. Place 1 portion in the palm of your hand & press to flatten into a large circle. Put one custard ball into the center & wrap the circle around the custard so it totally covers it. Squeeze gently to form a ball. Repeat until you have made all the truffles. Freeze for 30-60 minutes.
Coating
  1. Melt chocolate slowly in a double boiler until smooth. Without allowing the chocolate to cool down, take a frozen ball & carefully stick a toothpick or skewer into it & dip into the melted chocolate to cover. Remove the stick & allow the truffles to set on parchment paper.
  2. Store in refrigerator. Allow the truffles to come back up to room temperature to serve if you wish.
Recipe Notes
  • I have a nut allergy, so I replaced the nuts that are usually used in the base with crushed cheerios. I found it did not alter the flavor at all. Their still just as irresistible as ever!
  • The size & amount depends on your preference. Just divide the filling & base components into whatever you wish.

Strawberry Lime Cheesecake Cups

The flavor of lime has not always been one that I have enjoyed. It always seemed to have an overall harsh characteristic about it. After we spent a few holidays in the Yucatan, Brion started using lime juice in his chicken soup and really enjoyed it. From there I swapped out the lemon juice for lime in our guacamole. Now here I am putting it in cheesecake. Who knew it could be that good!

A squeeze of lime juice is vital to many classic dishes. It’s the kick in a margarita, the spark that ignites many curries and the tart foil to sweetness in a host of desserts. Conveniently, for such an indispensable ingredient, limes are available year round.

Lime pairs well with apple, berries, cherry, ginger, papaya, plum and strawberry to name a few. Today, I’m using it in a cheesecake filling. It seems like a nice little dessert to start off the month of June.

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 Strawberry Lime Cheesecake Cups
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Brunch, dessert
Cuisine American, French
Keyword cheesecake
Servings
Ingredients
Cookie Cups
Cheesecake Filling
Course Brunch, dessert
Cuisine American, French
Keyword cheesecake
Servings
Ingredients
Cookie Cups
Cheesecake Filling
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Cookie Cups
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter or coat with cooking spray a miniature or small muffin pan.
  2. In a bowl, cream butter & sugar together for 5-7 minutes until light & fluffy. Add egg & vanilla; beat until combined. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; mix until smooth. Dough will be thick.
  3. Shape into 1-inch balls; press onto the bottom & up the sides of muffin cups. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven & allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling. If centers aren't cupped enough use the underside of a measuring tablespoon to press the centers down a bit.
Cheesecake Filling
  1. In a bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar & lime juice & beat well. When cookie cups have completely cooled, pipe the filling in them & top with a fresh strawberry. Refrigerate until served.

Irish Cream Cheesecakes

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

Although St. Patrick’s Day started out as a religious feast holiday celebrating the life of St. Patrick, it has become kind of a mixture of non-religious celebrations steeped in Irish culture, folklore and superstition.

Many St. Patrick’s Day traditions revolve around luck. Ironically, the Irish have been a very unlucky people as history tells. For instance, the rainbow you often see depicted in the St. Patrick’s Day themes, has seven easily distinguishable colors. Both the rainbow and the number seven are symbols of luck.

It is considered lucky to find a four leaf clover or ‘Shamrock’. It has been estimated that there are about 10,000 three leaf clovers to every four leaf clover. According to legend, each of the four leaves represents something: hope, faith, love and luck, respectively.

In the 19th century green became the symbol of Ireland ( also called ‘The Emerald Isle’). The wearing of green on St. Patrick’s Day is considered lucky. Pinching those not doing so began in Ireland many years ago. 

The legendary ‘Blarney Stone’, which is set in a wall of a castle in the Irish village of Blarney, is said to have magical powers. Whoever kisses the stone will have powers of persuasion.

Of course, we can’t forget some of the lucky charms associated with all this folklore.  If you hang a horseshoe over your doorway, make sure it has the open end up or your luck will pour out. The saying ‘see a penny pick it up and all day you will have good luck’. If you are lucky enough to see a falling star or a ‘shooting’ star, you get to make a secret wish.

With all the serious and concerning things happening in our world today, I thought it would keep things lighter just to acknowledge our Irish friends with some ‘fun facts’ on their St. Patrick’s Day holiday.

For the food tribute of the day, I chose to do IRISH CREAM CHEESECAKES .  How can you not love these little treasures!

 

 


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Irish Cream Cheesecakes

Like eating a fudge brownie topped with cheesecake.

Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course dessert
Cuisine American

Servings
cheesecake cups


Ingredients
Base

Cheesecake Filling

Course dessert
Cuisine American

Servings
cheesecake cups


Ingredients
Base

Cheesecake Filling

Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Chocolate Shells
  1. In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar & cocoa; cut in margarine. Add water & mix only until combined. Shape into 1-inch balls; press onto the bottom & up sides of lightly greased miniature muffin pans (1 3/4-inch diameter size).

Cream Cheese Filling
  1. Preheat oven to 325 F. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth on medium speed. Add sugar, Baileys Irish Cream, & vanilla & egg; blend well. Fill chocolate cups. Bake 15-18 minutes.
    If desired top with whip cream.

Brownie Fudge Pudding

If you grew up in the 60’s, you probably remember ‘brownie fudge pudding’. Those wonderful pudding cakes every homemaker was making. The ultimate time saver because it could be mixed and baked all in the same dish.

Pudding cakes offer two treats in one. While baking, the cake portion rises to the top and a creamy pudding-like sauce forms on the bottom. They can also come in a variety of flavors and can even be made with fresh fruit. Adding fruit, such as blueberries or cherries, makes a pudding cake even better than a regular fruit cobbler in that it develops a thicker, richer sauce around the fruit than most cobblers would.

This dessert is relatively low in fat and it really isn’t necessary to add an extra topping, although ice cream or whipped cream are good. At the time my mother was making this dessert, it was only the chocolate version. It’s definitely one of those classic recipes that has never been forgotten.

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 Brownie Fudge Pudding
Serving it parfait style adds a bit of elegance to this ordinary little pudding.
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course dessert
Cuisine American
Servings
Ingredients
Course dessert
Cuisine American
Servings
Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In an 8 x 8 inch baking dish, combine first 5 ingredients. Add milk, margarine & walnuts; combine. Spread batter evenly in dish (batter will be stiff). Sprinkle brown sugar & 1/2 cup cocoa over batter.
  2. Pour boiling water over all & bake for about 40 minutes or until batter rises to the top & is baked through.