(Ro)Coco for Cocoa

Ever since Peeps and I made these brownies a few weeks ago, I've been craving chocolate. It's like something in my lady brain was triggered and reminded about my love of chocolate. And thus, the next two brownie based recipes.

Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies
(Taken from the Edmonton Sun)


I really have Garrett to thank for these. If he hadn't gotten locked out of the house and had to kill time before I got home from the U2 concert and found himself at Original Joe's reading every newspaper he could, he would have never found this recipe for me. I wish I could credit this recipe to someone because it's daaaamn good. They are bordering on healthy, being made with heart-healthy canola, no butter, minimal sugar and natural ingredients.

I found my cocoa nibs at Planet Organic, for about $14.99 for this large bag. Cocoa nibs are roasted cocoa beans, seperated from their husks and broken into small bits. They are quite bitter and crunchy and don't have the added sugar that chocolate chips have, being that they are just the beans. Most cocoa nibs are ground into a paste and become a liquor that go into 'chocolate' by adding cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla. Apparently the nibs are very high in antioxidants, with more than red wine and green tea! They also have beneficial effect on the heart and circulatory system.

Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp honey
1 omega 3 egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup natural cocoa powder
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
1/4 chocolate chips/chocolate chunks of at least 60% cocoa mass
2 tbsp bran
1/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchement paper.

Beat together brown sugar, oil, honey, egg and vanilla in a medium bowl using an electric mixer until batter is creamy, about 3 minutes.

Beat in the cocoa powder gently (or else it will fly everywhere!) on low speed until incorporate, then beat for about a minute.

Stir together flour, cocoa nibs, chocolate chips, bran and baking soda. Add flour mixture to cocoa until well mixed. Batter will be VERY sticky; I ended up adding about a 1/4 cup of warm water to the batter to make it manageable. I also found that, when I did my second tray and the batter had some time to sit, that it was easier to deal with. So let batter sit until the oven is preheated.

Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake until outside of cookie looks crunchy and they have puffed up, about 8-10 minutes. I found I only needed 7mins in my super powered oven.

Just like brownies, don't overbake!!

Let cookies cool on sheet before transferring to wire rack. Store cookies in an airtight container or freeze.

Makes 36 (tiny) cookies.

These cookies were perfect fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies. Very moist and soft, very chocolatey!

1 WW point each.




Black Bean Brownies
(Modified from The No-Meat Athlete)


When my new office mate Becca told me she had a recipe for brownies that contained black beans, I was very skeptical (Beans in brownies? Come on McFarlane!); until I tried one. I then needed the recipe immediately so I could re-create them and trick people into eating the healthiest, moistest brownie I've ever had.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cups raw sugar
1 1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cups chopped and roasted almonds
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and filled with new water
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, cocoa, almonds) together, set aside.

Drain a can of black beans and rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear. Return the black beans back to the can and fill with water. Puree the beans (with water) and vanilla. Add bean puree to the dry ingredients and extra cup of water. Stir to combine.

Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan around halfway through. When the brownies are finished they should be firm in the center and the edges will be slightly puffy and starting to pull away from the sides. My batch was finished at 25 minutes. Again, don't overbake!

Let brownies cool then cut into 24 squares.

I was SO happy with how these turned out! Very moist, no taste of the beans but still very much a brownie despite being super healthy. The original recipe called for hazelnuts (and for double the amount) but I decreased it by half and did almonds since it's what I had on hand. It would be easy to experiment with different nuts or not include them at all.

I made these last Sunday and froze about half of them. They stayed fresh for days and the frozen ones froze really well.

Enjoooooy!

3 WW points each

Rhubarb Pound Cake

2 plus months sans post. I really do intend to get better at this! In interest of actually posting this the night that I made it, I'm nixing the photos for this post!

It's the time of year for rhubarb...lots of rhubarb. My lovely mother brings me mass quantities of this bizarre plant that she gets from a family friend. Until now I've almost exclusively paired it with other fruit to make a fruit crisp. This time, I tried something different; cake!

Rhubarb Pound Cake
(recipe modified from April 2002 issue of Harrowsmith County Life)

2 cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/4 inch pieces (mine was previously frozen)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup apple sauce (original recipe called for 3/4 cup butter but I reduced and subbed applesauce)
1/2 cup sugar (again, recipe called for 1 cup)
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. Place rhubarb in saucepan and add 1/2 cup sugar. Stir to coat and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until rhubarb begins to soften but retains shape. Remove from heat and drain through a fine mesh sieve. Let cool.

3, Sift flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside.

4. Using electric mixer (like me NEW green Cuisinart) beat butter until very soft. Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until light and fluffy; add applesauce.

5. Using a fork, beat eggs in small bowl. Add vanilla and mix well. Slowly blend egg mixture into the butter mixture. Gradually add flour mixture and continue to blend until well combined. Lightly fold in the cooled rhubarb.

6. Pour batter into pan, smooth top. Bake for 1 hour or until knife comes out of the centre clean. Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes. Cool.

This recipe equals a total of 62 WW points, so depending on how you slice it up the points value will vary.

On a side note, I picked up Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton from the library today. I'm only a few chapters in, but so far it's a beautifully written memoir filled with delicious memories of food, both happy and sad. Pick it up!


Enjoy!