Labour Day Again

Labour day snuck up on me this year. I usually see it coming at least a month in advance, and then begin the slow lament of summer's end. But not this year. This year was sunny skies and patio brunches and early morning farmers' markets, and tree ripened peaches and juicy, impossibly sweet watermelons all the way up until this weekend. And then all of the sudden.  Ouf. It's Labour day.

It's in my small tradition on this blog to bake a little something on Labour day to help me ease back into the routine of getting up early, teaching, marking, planning, going to bed at an insanely early hour, and then doing it all over again. Not that it's particularly painful -- I like routines, and I love my job. But after 2 months of adventures and unstructured days, of coffee breaks whenever I felt like it and spending whole days reading in pyjamas, it's kind of hard to let go.

So today, I've made us a chocolately zucchini bread to help smooth over the Labour day jitters and make us feel happy about returning to work or school tomorrow. This bread is dark and deep, but with a very light and fluffy crumb. It's packed with good things like shredded coconut, summer zucchini, cocoa nibs and spelt and just a whisper of those pumpkin pie spices -- nutmeg and cinnamon. It was a great way to use up two zucchinis that I kind of forgot about at the bottom on my crisper, and that quarter cup of coconut milk I was dying to use up. The crunchy topping of flaked almonds and raw sugar make this loaf feel like something really special... and it is! It's a Labour day treat and will last all through the work week.

I'm still sad summer is over for me, but I still look forward to a few more weeks of warm temperatures and fair skies.. and just a few more posts about Vancouver!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

2 small zucchinis, grated
1 egg
2 tablespoons of safflower oil
2 tablespoons of plain yogurt
1/4 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups of spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
a pinch each of cinnamon and nutmeg
a small handful each of shredded coconut and cocoa nibs (chocolate chips if you haven't got nibs)
a small handful each of flaked almonds and raw sugar

1. Put your shredded zucchini in the middle of a large tea towel. Gather the towel up around the zucchini pile and then squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze! Try to get as much liquid out of the zucchini as possible. Don't skip this step, otherwise your bread will be gummy.

2. Put the squeezed zucchini, egg, oil, yogurt, coconut milk and brown sugar in a large bowl and mix very well. Sift in the cocoa powder, spelt flour, baking powder and soda, and spices. Mix gently, until just combined.

3. Add in the coconut and cocoa nibs and give it one final stir. Pour the batter in a loaf pan and sprinkle with flaked almonds and raw sugar.

4. Bake the loaf in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until the almonds get slightly golden, and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Memories of Matchstick

A few days before our trip to Vancouver, when I was in the midst of wrapping up another school year, my partner asked me "What are you most excited to do when we get to Vancouver?" In my foggy brain that was still focused on report cards and marking and cleaning up the classroom, I blurted out "Drink lots of good coffee." And so the search began.

With a few tips and a little research, we developed a little list of coffee shops we wanted to visit while in Vancouver. Although we didn't get to do all of them, we did sample a lot of coffee on our vacation. I had many many iced americanos and countless cups of drip coffee, along with quite a few coffee shop treats. One of the first (and favourite!) places to went to for coffee in Vancouver, was Matchstick. It seemed to pop up out of no where (there's a trend .. finding coffee shops when you least expect it!) while we were trekking downtown on our first day in Vancouver. And it was on the list!

 And we loved it. They roast their beans in many different varieties in house and bake all their goodies right on site. The coffee did not disappoint. The americanos and cappuccinos were smooth and flavourful and the many different varieties of drip coffee available are single-brewed to order. Although there were many many different treats to choose from, we were recommended to try to chocolate almond berry scone. 

Let me tell you about this scone: first, it's vegan (which I didn't even realize until the next day when I actually read the sign) and also, it's made with hearty, nutty spelt flour. It was a dense, flavourful kind of scone, oozing with dark chocolate chips and fresh raspberries and blackberries and I definitely tasted a distinct but not over-powering coconut flavour. It was perfect with our coffee and I made a note to myself to try to re-create it at home.

Check out my drink! It's a home-made iced chai soy latte! You freeze a concentrated chai tea in ice cube trays and add your milk of choice! Recipe here. But I cheated .. and just used chai tea bags instead of regular tea with whole spices.


My scones turned out a little bit lighter but tasted quite similiar. I was sure that Matchstick used coconut oil in their recipe, but seeing as I haven't jumped on the coconut oil craze just yet, I settle for coconut flavoured Earth Balance, which worked perfectly. Ground almonds, almond milk, spelt flour, vegan chocolate chips and of course, fresh-from-the-market raspberries are also in the mix. These scones were a perfect morning and afternoon treat and were gone in no time. I'm already planning a second batch ..


Vegan Chocolate Berry Scones
inspired by Matchstick
recipe adapted from Post Punk Kitchen
makes about 10 medium-sized scones

1/2 cup of ground almonds
1 cup of spelt flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 cup of organic cane sugar
1/3 cup of coconut Earth Balance
1/2 cup of fresh raspberries
1/4 cup of vegan dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup of almond milk

1. In a large bowl, stir together the almonds, flour baking powder and sugar.

2. Add the Earth Balance and, with your fingers, rub the mixture together until you get a coarse mealy-textured mixture.

3. Add the berries, chocolate chips and almond milk. Gently stir the mixture until it comes together in a semi-sticky dough.

4. Drop 1/4 cup-sized mounds of dough on cookie tray and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, or until the tops get nice and toasty brown.

5. Enjoy with your coffee.  Thanks, Matchstick!!

Feeling Chocolately

On Monday morning, I woke up wanting to bake a chocolate cake. This chocolate cake to be specific. This chocolate cake that involves stout, maple syrup and cocoa powder. Did I have those things in my pantry? Yup (minus the stout, but there was a lonely dark ale sitting beside the almond milk...) Did I make that cake? Nope.

Ridiculous! Why can't I bake a chocolate cake on Monday, just because? It must be some inherent start-of-the-work-week thing where you feel like you have to do some work to earn the chocolate. Like, you know the episode of Bing Bang Theory where Penny makes French toast for Leonard and Sheldon but Sheldon is too uptight to eat French toast on a Monday?  Yeah, I totally felt like Sheldon -- except I didn't waste perfectly good French toast (or chocolate for that matter!).

Instead, I made granola. Wholesome, healthy, grain-packed Monday-food granola. And I make it chocolatey! I added a nice rounded tablespoon of dark cocoa powder to my oats and spelt and sunflower seeds and a dash of cinnamon to remind me of spicy hot chocolate. The liquid base is a combination of honey, tahini and apple sauce -- oil and guilt free. I tossed a good handful of raisins at the end and snacked on it while it was still warm. The house smelled like a chocolate factory while this was baking and it totally took away my chocolate-cake-baking itch. It was also perfect later that Monday with a splash of almond milk, a few sliced bananas and a sprinkle of blueberries. Beautiful summer Monday food.

Well, it's the weekend now, and a perfect time for chocolate cake, except that I didn't get around to doing any baking or cooking this weekend and ya know what? Tomorrow is Monday and the perfect excuse to make this granola again! This time, I think I'll try adding some coconut flakes, or flaked almonds and cranberries instead of raisins -- although dried cherries would make it a really special treat... and almond butter instead of tahini. Or maybe I'll use this recipe that calls for mashed bananas instead of apple sauce. Chocolate and banana .. Mondays rock!

Chocolatey Tahini Granola
makes about 4ish cups

2 cups of spelt flakes
1 cup of rolled oats
1/2 cup of sunflowerseeds (or almonds and coconut!)
2 tablespoons of black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon of dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3/4 cup of apple sauce (I made my by cooking two little apples in a splash of water and blending it)
2 tablespoons of tahini
1 tablespoon of honey
1 cup of raisins (or dried cranberries or dried cherries)

1. In a large bowl, toss together spelt flakes, oats, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cocoa powder and cinnamon until everything is evenly distributed.

2. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the applesauce, tahini and honey. Don't worry if it looks gross -- it'll get better!

3. Add the applesauce mixture to the oat mixture and carefully stir until everything is moistened. Spread the mixture out on a baking sheet making sure it's as even as possible.

4. Bake in a 350 degree oven, turning every 10 minutes for about 30 minutes or until the mixture dries out and gets crisp. You house will smell like heaven. Toss in the raisins as soon as it comes out of the oven. Cool and store in an airtight container. Enjoy!  Happy Monday!

The Celebration of Celebrations

I know I've been posting about milestones and celebrations lately -- because you know what? Sometimes things are a big deal. And when a big deal comes along -- and we all know they don't come that often -- things have to be special. I hinted a couple of weeks back about being covered in chocolate. Well, there's a good reason.

When special occasions come along that merit not one, but multiple celebrations, the one that ends things off should be a great one. The timing of our celebration was a bit coincidental -- St. Patrick's Day evening -- but the theme was much better than green beer and Catholicism. There was beer, but not much talk of the Irish Saint. Instead, we paired the beer with chocolate. Not fancy wine pairings and tastings here. No wine and cheese platters and fancy muscat grapes. Chocolate treats washed down with beer -- now that's a celebration.




I first heard of this party idea on CBC radio last Valentine's day, when they suggested this as a unique way to celebrate the day. Their version involved getting different bars of quality chocolate, and sampling a square or two with different beers. Each type of chocolate went with a certain type of beer. CBC's special guest beerologist Mirella Amato recommends the following pairings:

white chocolate: English Ales
milk chocolate: dark beers like Guinness, stouts and porters
dark chocolate: fruity beers, high alcohol beers (hello fancy Quebec bottles!)




The first time we tried this chocolate beer idea was in the summer. I'm not a beer person, so I couldn't tell you the names of the beers we tried -- but some were delicious. Coffee and chocolate porters, a really dark Guinness-like stout, those fruity berrylicious intense Quebec beers -- I remember this really yummy dark cheery one! The English ales I couldn't handle at all -- way too bitey. And the chocolate treats? Well, let's see .. Nigella's chocolate cloud cake, milk chocolate chip cookies, whole wheat brown sugar chocolate cookies, white chocolate and fresh raspberry blondies, and truffles! The dark ones rolled in coconut, the milk ones in cocoa powder, and the white ones with added chopped sour cherries. This recipe really helped -- you don't need the margarine. So did this one. And this one...yeah, there was tofu in the blondies!



This time around, we went easy on the white chocolate because it wasn't everyone's favourite, and I played with a silicone chocolate mold that my love bought me for Christmas. We used three different types of dark chocolate: regular semi sweet buttons, Callebaut bitter sweet chips and Lindt 90% chocolate bar (which melted like a dream and poured oh so smoothly!). We filled them with pistachos and honey, cashews and coconut. I think those were the most fun to make. This recipe really helped. Pistachios are ground and then mixed with honey -- so sweet and nutty. The cashews were ground up with the coconut -- no sweetener this time, but it came together with the help of a splash of almond milk. You simply melt chocolate, fill the molds half way and put them in the freezer for a few minutes. Then, pull them out, put your filling in and add more melted chocolate. So easy and fun!




What else? Milk chocolate brownies with cocoa nibs -- crunchy and so chocolately! A repeat of Nigella's cloud cake because that's everyone's favourite. White chocolate chips oatmeal cookies with dried sour cherries and coconut -- a surprising favourite! It's a spin off of this recipe -- the one that made me love butterscotch, and now, white chocolate. A fun and easy treat -- milk chocolate covered pretzel twists. And my personal favourite -- dark chocolate popsicles. If you make anything, make these. Recipe here. I replaced half the water with strong brewed coffee and didn't bother with the whisking for ice cream -- popsicles or rather fudgesicles were much easier.



I urge you have this chocolate beer party. I don't even like beer and it was a blast. It's rainy and cold outside -- what better way to spend the day than plan a party. You don't even need a reason. Good friends are enough. Get chocolated!

Milestone Treat

There are milestone birthdays and milestone events like graduations and first recitals and all that jazz. I've had a few and I've shared a few, namely our 30th birthdays this year. But this milestone is like an ultimate. My best friend is the proud co-editor of a book, an actual book. I can hold it in my hands and flip through the pages. Her name is printed on the cover. Important people have read and reviewed it. It's the milestone of milestones.



I'm so very proud of her, and she knows. But I want to give her a little something to make sure she knows good and well. And this is the perfect milestone gift. Homemade Nutella. We had been talking a few weeks ago about our Nutella cravings, and she even ordered a Nutella latte! So this is the perfect little homemade treat to let her know just how great she is.

So how does it taste? Like heaven. It's like a crunchy hazelnut butter with bittersweet chocolate -- much better than the commercial version. I'd totally put it in a latte, sandwich, cracker ... or just a spoon. And it's not totally sinful either, made with almond milk, organic cane sugar and a lot more than 56 roasted hazelnuts. Yeah, I know for sure. I rubbed the skins off all of them! A LOT more than 56!


Anywhos, go make this homemade Nutella -- keep a jar in the fridge, and give one to someone special, even if there's no milestone event, because friendship is a milestone in itself.

Crunchy Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
adapted from Fueling Endurance Performance
makes about 2 cups

2 cups of hazelnuts
3 tablespoons of organic cane sugar
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of unsweetened chocolate almond milk
50g (half a bar) of bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon of coconut milk

1. Roast the hazelnuts in a 300 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until they start to get fragrant. In batches, put rub the hazelnuts so their skins come off.

2. Place the hazelnuts, sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor and grind until you get a coarse meal.

3. Melt the chocolate with the coconut milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.

4. Add the chocolate mixture and almond milk into the nuts. Grind until you reach the texture you like. You can add more almond milk to your liking. Just taste often.

5. Spoon the hazelnut butter into jars and store in the fridge. Don't forget to share.

Happy Milestone Day Mia!

Easing in with Chocolate

It's back to the grind. It's officially fall. Oh, I know it's still mid twenties out there, and there's still humidity. I'm well aware that I just bought another watermelon and 2 pounds of peaches. I know that today was a lovely biking day and we totally got our sweat on riding to the park and back. And yes, I know the official turn of the season is not for another few weeks. There will be lots of berries, iced teas and patio evenings left this summer. I know. And I love it.

But ... school started. And for me, that marks the end of summer fun and the beginning of another academic year. It's back to the grind. I love my job; in fact, after a day back in school, I felt like I never left. But I do already miss the long lazy afternoons of coffee drinking, novel reading and slow-food baking. Oh the baking. I still bake a lot during the school year, but it's not like in the summer when I have time to mull about, let dough rise or spend forever pitting cherries and listening to music. Baking is often quick. It's often something I throw together to make Thursday night a little more special. It's more than often big batches of treats to sell at fundraiser bake sales. It's sometimes done in the very early morning on Saturday and given to my parents as a little treat later in the day. It's most often a healthy batch of something tasty quickly made on Sunday evening so I'll have something to look forward to during the work week.





This year, I celebrated the end of my first work week with a little bit of chocolate. Nothing too fancy or too oooey gooey, but a nice, sensible chocolate loaf cake to help ease me back to work. This cake is humble. It looks plain jane and rather sensible; kind of like outfits that you have wear to work. Comfortable, sensible, but not too stylish, nothing that will draw too much attention, but something that will make you look good. This cake is exactly that. To be specific, it's a chocolate tahini cake, and it's the perfect pick-me-up after a day at work, or in the middle when you can't keep your eyes open long enough to last through the last hour. It's got an amazingly tender crumb and a deep dark chocolate taste that pairs so nicely with the richness of the tahini, which shines through all the way. It's the kind of snack that you pack and forget about, but when you remember it, your day becomes so much brighter. And when you're at work, a little chocolate always helps you work that much better.





I got the recipe for this cake from a beautiful vegan blog called "have cake, will travel." However, I kind of de-veganized it by using yogurt in place of the apple sauce that the original recipe called for. I haven't tried it yet with apple sauce, but I think it's actually the yogurt that makes the texture of this cake so tender and delicious. Vegan yogurt would probably work (although I've had bad experiences with that ..), or you could always increase the amount of soy milk and add a squeeze of lemon juice or a teaspoon of cider vinegar. I think the acid is the key. Just for kicks, I'll try it with apple sauce and let you know. For now, I'm digging into another slice and getting ready for another work week.

Chocolate Tahini Loaf
adapted from have cake, will travel **I halved the original recipe, so I'm sure the one below doubles nicely

1/4 cup of tahini
1/4 cup of honey or agave
6 tablespoons of soy or almond milk
1/4 cup of yogurt (or juice of half a lemon topped up with soy, or soygurt)
splash of almond extract
3/4 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 cup of natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of sesame seeds (I used a mixture of both white and black)

1. In a large bowl, mix together the whisk together the wet ingredients. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder. Mix until just combined.

2. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and sprinkle over the sesame seeds. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until a cake-tester inserted comes out clean. Happy work week!

It's Time for a TREAT!

Treats are wonderful. Yup, you know it! Treats keep us motivated and energized. If we didn't treat ourselves once in awhile, we'd be gloomy and glum all the time and life would be boring and tiresome. Hurray for treats!

I believe little treats are good for the soul; that splash of cream in my coffee, the teaspoon of peanut butter on my oatmeal, the sprinkle of cheese on my pasta -- they keep my life exciting and give me things to look forward to. But treats are especially important when you're stuck in front of the computer doing work all weekend instead of relaxing and enjoying the day. Yup, that's me. I'm up to my eyeballs in report cards, and the only way I'll make it through is with a few little treats to brighten my day. And these chocolate peanut butter pretzels are the perfect snack to make my report card blues fade, if only for a few short moments.


They are the perfect treat the whip up when you're busy -- taking less than 10 minutes to prepare. They're crunchy, salty chocolatey, creamy and sweet -- all the right things you need to cheer you up when the work week stress has made its way into your weekend.

It's time for a treat!!!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels

2 cups of pretzels
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
3 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spread the pretzels out on a cookie sheet until you have one single layer.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the peanut butter, maple syrup and cocoa powder, stirring constantly until well combined.

3. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the pretzels and toss gently so that everything gets touched with ooey gooey peanut buttery goodness. You could dip them individually if you had the time and patience.

4. Bake the pretzels in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until they get fragrant. Cool for 5 minutes and start snacking!

A Chocolate Kick

Sometimes, when you're feeling down, or just a little un-energized, you need a little kick. I'm not sure what got into my system this week, but despite the post-Halloween sugar fix that the children were on, I just couldn't seem to keep from yawning every five minutes. Usually when the students have lots of energy, it makes me have lots of energy. Not this week. I nearly fell asleep in the middle of a class.

It's during weeks like this where I need a serious kick. Coffee would do it, but we've already been over the coffee days. After my Second Cup fun on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday felt like an eternity of caffeine headaches, dropping eyelids and overall sluggishness. Don't get my started on Monday. Usually my weekend coffees are enough to carry me on Monday, but not this week. I crashed on the couch at 8:00pm after nodding off during my prep periods all day.



Not fun. I could have used a serious kick .. a chocolate kick, to be specific. Nothing too ooey-gooey and sticky, nothing too sugary .. just some serious chocolate to get my engine running properly again. For starters, I could have made this cocoa banana millet porridge for breakfast. That would have set me on the right path. The millet is so unique in flavour -- very rich and nutty and wholesome. The banana provides just the right amount of sweetness to round out that deep, dark cocoa flavour. I wouldn't have been yawning on this breakfast, and it would definitely have kept me going until lunch. Millet is incredibly filling!



I could have also used a slice of this vegan chocolate cake at around 3:00pm when I'm getting ready for my last class, but wishing it were bedtime. This cake is incredibly easy to make, has a wonderful, tender crumb and it's vegan! I first had it when my love made it for me for my birthday, in a heart shaped pan and topped with a vegan chocolate glaze. But for everyday snacking, just bake it up in a loaf pan and slice away. We didn't fiddle too much with the recipe, except for using whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose flour. It's light, chocolatey and guaranteed to give you a nice kick when you need it.

Oooh chocolate. I needed you this week. I'll never forget about you again!

Cocoa Banana Millet Porridge

1/4 cup of millet
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of almond milk
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
a splash of vanilla
1/2 a banana, chopped
1 teaspoon of almond butter
a handful of frozen sour cherries (if you have them!)

1. Toast the millet in a dry saucepan for about 2-3 minutes, or until it starts popping and smelling toasty. Add the water and almond milk and bring to a soft boil. Add the chopped banana and stir.

2. Turn the heat down, cover the pot and let it cook for about 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid is soaked up.

3. Stir in the honey, cocoa powder, vanilla, frozen cherries and almond butter and cook uncovered for about 3 minutes until the liquid thickens a little.

4. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.

Cleansing Treats

Who says you can't have treats while you're cleansing?? It's mid-week, I cleansed yesterday, crashed at 8:00pm after a long day at work, but I still had time for a little treat: Chocolate Banana Softserve with Strawberries. What?! That's not part of the cleanse?! Oh, but yes, yes it is. No dairy or sugar added .. inspired by Maya and Eliza and their creative blended frozen fruit desserts. The texture and taste were right on. I don't need to say more ... just MAKE IT!!


Chocolate Banana Softserve with Strawberries
inspired by nourishing mornings and pistachios and rainbows

1 frozen banana
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/4 cup of soy or almond milk (plus more if needed)
a handful of strawberries, sliced

Put everything in a blender or mini chopper and whiz until smooth and creamy. You might have to add more liquid depending on the size of your banana. Serve with fresh sliced strawberries and don't you DARE feel guilty about eating THIS dessert!

**I'm going to try it tonight with frozen banana, frozen blueberries and almond extract.

A Sudden Craving

Ever had a SUDDEN craving???? Yeah, yeah, don't deny it! I know you have! Sushi? Salad? Tofu? No, I'm not talking about that. Let's not kid ourselves. I'm talking about a REAL CRAVING. Chocolate? Peanut butter? Now we're talking. What are your biggest cravings? Those urges that hit you at random moments. Like when you're out at 9pm walking home from the movie store and it's humid and drizzly and suddenly your partner says .. "I crave Reese's.. No, not really. I crave the combination of chocolate and peanut butter."

Did we take the shortcut and buy the package of Reese's? Nope. Instead of reaching for a ready-made treat, we bought a dark chocolate bar and made cookies, peanut butter chocolate chunk ones. They were chewy and peanut-buttery oh-so-chocolately. Not too sweet like the candy-bar would have been, but just sweet enough to satisfy that late night craving. Because I used a chopped up chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips or chunks of baking chocolate (which would have been alright too), the chocolate bits did this melty, oozy thing that put this cookie over the top. It was the perfect treat to accompany The Good Fellas. Robert DeNiro would have approved.


I'm not going to ramble on in this post. Summer is ending and I have lots of fun things to try to cram into this last week of freedom. But I urge you to give in to your cravings once in a while. A healthy dose of sugar, or chocolate, or whatever it might be that hits you suddenly and out of the blue, might not be such a bad idea. Sushi, salad and tofu -- save those for a regular day. Make these cookies for one of your REAL cravings.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
adapted from the Robin Hood Flour cooking pamphlet with help from Seven Spoons (who urged me to add the honey) and Anna Olson (who's secret to chewy cookies -- corn starch -- won my heart)

1/4 cup of butter or margarine (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of corn starch
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 dark chocolate bar, chopped

1. Cream the butter/margarine, peanut butter and brown sugar until smooth and well-combined. Add the egg and honey and mix well.

2. Sift in the baking soda, corn starch, and flour and give it a good mix. Add the chopped chocolate and give it one final stir.

3. Drop teaspoons of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies get a little golden brown.

4. Don't forget to eat some while they're hot -- the ooey, gooey, melty chocolate shouldn't be missed. But, they store well and stay chewy if you keep them in a sealed container.

Lavender Manifesto

If you haven't already checked out the blog Sociologists Eat Chocolate, written by the mysterious and thoughtful Blackcurrent Productions, please go now. I'll wait ...

Isn't it great? I love all the different types of chocolate that are showcased and all the quirky and sometimes random comments from the tasters. I especially like the "Manifesto" -- the most interesting, funny or thought-provoking comment. It's brilliant and I wish that I were one of the tasters -- especially when the theme of Chocolate and Lavender came about. Lavender? I've never cooked with lavender before, though I know it's sometimes added as one of the herbs in the popular herbes de Provence mix. The thought intrigued me; I could almost taste it. Dare I try? When my little, non-nonchalant comment about making cookies with lavender got a response that suggested shortbread, my mind was made up. But I wasn't just going to make lavender shortbread. I was going to make different kinds, and have tasters judge each one, in a little tribute to my elusive inspiration.


I began with a little research -- a study on shortbread. Others have done it. And I found out that people put all sorts of things into shortbread -- not just lavender. Rosemary and honey were among the ones that definitely intrigued me. And of course, there's chocolate. And lemon mixed with lavender.. how can I resist my favourite citrus? In the end, I came up with four combinations:

1) honey and lavender
2) honey, lavender and lemon
3) chocolate/cocoa and lavender
4) chocolate/cocoa,rosemary and orange orange -- to mimick Organicfair's Provence chocolate featured her in the the Lavender Chocolate tasting.

I used a combination of fresh lavender (sneakily snipped from my parents' neighbour's garden .. thanks Jacquie!) and dried, a summer blossom honey, and high quality fair trade Camino cocoa powder. Here's what the tasters had to say:


Honey and Lavender

1. It’s delicious (turns away shyly). I can very much taste the lavender, but it’s not to say that’s too much lavender.
2. There is it ..nice and floral, but something is missing ...
3. I think I can taste honey more than lavender – it’s a good cookie, but .. (has sinus problems) I don’t know if this is affecting my taste buds or not.



Honey, Lavender and Lemon

1. My body feels tingly when I eat it. Very light lavender – good balance with the lemon.
2. I get the lavender hit first .. and then comes the lemon, barely sour tang. Crisp, not a tender shortbread texture, but still buttery and rich.
3. Ok I’m getting little hints of citrusy but again, I don’t taste the lavender.


Chocolate and Lavender

1. Wow, it’s really like pooof! Lavender! The first thing I taste is lavender, right in my cheeks and then the chocolate starts melting in my mouth.
2. Rich chocolate and delicate flowers ... I get a real lavender hit on this one.
3. Ok I get some now (lavender!).



Chocolate, Lavender, Orange, Rosemary

1. First it’s the rosemary, and then it instantly blends with the chocolate, and then when I swallow it, I get the orange. The lavender.. it’s not lost, but the first thing I taste is the rosemary.
2. It’s orange and chocolate first and foremost – and then little hints of rosemary here and little hints of lavender there.
3. Ohhh.. crumblier, softer, melting in my mouth. I like the cocoa chocolate taste – to me it just tastes like chocolate shortbread. The only time I taste the citrus is when I get little bits of the peel, little sparkles of citrus that surprise the tongue amidst the sea of cocoa. I didn’t even taste the rosemary.

So I learned a few things. First, the lavender taste and scent is much stronger when you taste the cookie right from the oven (taster 3 tasted the cookies after they had cooled for a few hours .. she also had sinus issues but we won't go there). Confectioners sugar results in a crisper, tighter cookie -- the crumblier, tender texture was preferred. The lavender almost needs something to go along with it -- chocolate, lemon .. --it's the floral hit that needs something to balance it out. And ... I love playing with lavender! There will be more to come -- I'm going to going to modify the lemon and lavender one (which seemed to be the favourite) and see what the tasters think of that. In the mean time, I'll leave you with the recipe sources and ...

Today's manifesto: I can tell there’s something different but I don’t know that it’s necessarily lavender which is a good thing because I think then it would just taste like potpourri and I’m not into tasting potpourri. (gigglejuice is not only a critical criminology sociologist --I hope I got that one right! -- but is also known to keep large bars of chocolate by her desk during exam time AND likes to cook and bake!)

Honey and Lavender Shortbread Honey, Lavender and Lemon Shortbread

I was nudged in the right direction by this post from tara at Sevenspoons, who made a honeyed-rosemary shortbread based on this original recipe from Epicurious. I just substituted the lavender for the rosemary and followed the recipe exactly. The idea to add lemon came from this post at Jules Food. I did exactly what was suggested: added the zest of one lemon and a little squeeze of the juice.

Chocolate and Lavender Shortbread Chocolate, Rosemary, Lavender and Orange Shortbread

The original recipe for chocolate shortbread came from this post at Epicurious. I just added a tablespoon of lavender. The flavour combination of chocolate, rosemary, lavender and orange was, as mentioned, inspired by one of Blackcurrent's chocolates: Organicfair's Provence. For this, in addition to the tablespoon of lavender, I added a teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary, and 2 teaspoons of orange zest.