Classic Strawberry Shortcake

Since it is strawberry season I am running strawberry shortcake on the menu as a dessert special. I've been changing up the components and plating a bit every day, but the main components remain the summer. Featured on this plate is a toasted buttermilk biscuit, chantilly cream, local strawberry and honey compote, lime coulis, a strawberry rose, and a fresh mint garnish. 

Citrus Pound Cake

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Citrus Pound Cake with a citrus syrup, lightly spiced whipped cream, and lemon curd. 
Citrus Pound Cake = flavored with lemon, lime, and orange
Citrus Syrup = reduction of orange juice and lime juice with sugar
Lightly Spiced Whipped Cream = flavored with ginger and nutmeg
Lemon Curd
Lime Twist
Fresh Mint Leaf

Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies will surprise you considering they contain no butter or eggs. They are soft and cake-like warm from the oven, and crisper once cool. But they are chock-full of chocolaty goodness and a sinch to make!

Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated (white) sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup nondairy milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups mint chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
Mix together milk and baking powder and allow it to get frothy. Then add to the bowl with the remaining ingredients. 
Drop dough by tablespoons onto baking sheets and bake about 10 minutes for soft cookies, or up to 15 for crisp cookies (will depend on size). Allow cookies to rest on the sheet for a minute or two before removing to cool.

Emerald Mint Truffles

These are secretly healthy truffles – but you won’t even notice. Mint is the prevalent flavor in the truffles, and chocolate in the coating. Most people assume the green color is due to the mint, but these truffles have no food dye in them, they get their color and creamy texture from avocado. Coconut oil and maple syrup are both better-for-you alternatives than butter and refined sugars, but they don’t impart strong flavors of coconut or maple here.

Emerald Mint Truffles

TRUFFLES

¼ cup avocado, well mashed or puréed until smooth

3 Tablespoons coconut oil

2 Tablespoons maple syrup

¼ teaspoon mint (peppermint) extract

CHOCOLATE COATING

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 Tablespoons coconut oil

2 Tablespoons maple syrup

TRUFFLES: Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Place mixture in the freezer for a few hours until firm. Roll into balls or portion with a small ice cream scoop. Chill until firm. Makes about eight truffles, depending on size.

COATING: Whisk all together well. Use to coat truffles. This makes enough coating for all the truffles, but if you want to show off the green color, make half a batch and leave half the truffles uncoated. 

Mint Nanaimo Bars

I have always been a pretty big fan of the classic nanaimo bar. I am not sure why the combination of a nutty, chewy base, a sweet, creamy filling, and a rich chocolaty topping is so good, but it always seems to be a hit! This is one of those cases where you hesitate to mess with a good thing, but there are several yummy variations, usually involving a different flavoring in the filling such as mint, cherry, or pineapple. I also made a ‘reverse’ nanaimo bar once, where the filling was chocolate and the base and topping were vanilla. The filling can be died green to identify it as mint, if desired, but I didn’t bother with the added dye. This version is extra minty because the use of mint chocolate chips ensures a hint of mint in each layer.

Mint Nanaimo Bars

BASE

1 cup mint chocolate chips

½ cup butter or hard margarine

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup flakes coconut

FILLING

2 cups icing (confectioners’) sugar

¼ cup butter or hard margarine, softened

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon mint (peppermint) extract

green food coloring, optional

TOPPING

¾ cup mint chocolate chips

2 teaspoons oil

BASE: In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate chips and butter over medium heat. Stir in the crumbs and coconut. Press firmly into a greased or lined 9x9 inch square pan. Chill.

FILLING: Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Spread evenly over base. Chill.

TOPPING: Melt chips and oil together. Spread evenly over filling. Chill until set but not too hard, then cut into bars.

Frothy Malt Grasshopper

Here is the dessert display from yesterday's Irish meal, from left to right: pistachio-crusted mint chocolate cream pie, emerald truffles, mint nanaimo bars, and Irish soda bread. To round out the meal, I made my take on a grasshopper drink. Typically a grasshopper is a sweet, green mint flavored drink using crème de menthe and crème de cacao liquers. This is my version, which is definitely not as sweet and incorporates some different flavors. I had neither required liquer on hand and was not about to venture out in the midst of a storm, so I just made do with what I had on hand.

Frothy Malt Grasshopper
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon pure mint (or peppermint) extract
1 shot strong espresso
1 shot single malt scotch 
1/2 cup almond milk

Stir together the cocoa and ginger in a mug, then whisk in the espresso and scotch until smooth. Froth the almond milk until doubled in volume. Stir in half of the milk, then spoon the rest on top. Serve immediately.

Some notes and hints: I like the flavor of almond milk in this drink, as I think it is lighter and blends better with the strong flavors already present in the drink. Milk of any kind must be cold in order to be frothed, so I recommend serving this as a cold drink and using cold espresso. This also gives a stronger flavor of the scotch without having to use a lot. However, the drink may be heated after preparation but may lose some of its volume. You can add a touch of sweetener if you wish, I think a liquid sweetener will blend better but you may wish to avoid strong flavors like maple or honey. 

Pistachio Mint Swirl Cake

Pistachio Mint Swirl Cake
1 package (two layer size) marble cake mix
1 package (four serving size instant pistachio pudding)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup mint chocolate chips, divided

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Grease a tube or bundt pan.
In a large bowl, beat together all ingredients except the chips and chocolate swirl mix until smooth. Remove one cup of batter and stir in the chocolate swirl packet and 1/2 cup chips.
Pour half of the plain batter in prepared pan. Spoon chocolate batter over top. Top with remaining batter. Gently swirl a knife through batter a few times. Then sprinkle with remaining chips.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool before unmolding.

This cake may look fairly basic from the outside, but as you can see from the slice placed on top, it is a nice light green color from the pistachio, with a chocolate swirl in the middle. The mint chips add another depth of flavor that pair well with both the pistachio and the chocolate. 

Mint Chocolate Halloween Brownies

I'm not expecting very many trick-or-treaters tonight. That's why I simply made one pan of brownies to give to everyone who comes to my door. I whipped up a pan of mint chocolate brownies. I wanted to try something a little different, as I do not often pair mint and chocolate together. This gave them an entire new depth of flavor. These are the really fudgy, chocolaty brownies too - my favrotie. They don't even need icing unless you want to decorate them, as I did. Next, once they were cool, I spread them with a thin layer of simple icing. Then I decorated them quickly a few different ways, as they were still slightly warm and I could hear hungry trick-or-treaters prowling around. I probably should have baked the brownies yesterday, but I did not get the chance, so I just made and decorated them today. 
I did a few different decoration techniques - spiders using milk chocolate balls and melted milk chocolate, as in my peanut butter cookies from earlier in the week; BOO piped in both melted chocolate and white icing, and some more cobwebs piped in white icing. 

My idea of a jack-o-lantern this year? I couldn't really drag home a big pumpkin, so I bought a mini one at a farmer's market over a month ago, and kept it in the crisper in the fridge to keep it fresh. It was much too small to carve, and I didn't have any paint, so I simply grabbed a black sharpie and wrote "TAKE A BROWNIE" in the creepiest writing I could. It is tradition on my blog to post a picture of my food-related jack-o-lantern each year, so here it is!!!
Happy Halloween Everyone!

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh

1 cup Bulgar wheat

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

salt and pepper, to taste

4 scallions, finely chopped

1 green pepper, finely chopped

1 tomato, diced

8 black olives, sliced

2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped

Place bulgar wheat in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover. Let stand for about 30 minutes, until much of the water is absorbed and bulgar is doubled in size.

Drain well.

In a small bowl, mix together the oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. In a large serving bowl, mix together the bulgar with this mixture. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for at least one hour, or up to six hours before serving.

Mix in remaining ingredients. 

This is my first time making this Levantive Arab dish. Traditionally it is made with bulgar, but new versions make use of couscous, quinoa, and rice. The traditional dish is flavored with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, parsley, and mint. Any finely chopped vegetables may be added for flavor and color, and the spices may also be varied. This is a nice, cold side dish. If I had to categorize it, I would call it a salad. It is great served as a light lunch with toasted pita chips and hummus.