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Dark Chocolate Tart

Dark Chocolate Tart

For the Love of Chocolate

“Busy though as she was with her teaching, Olive longed for the metropolitan life, and when the young man who had built the flour mill in King City sued properly for her hand, she accepted him subject to a long and secret engagement.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

There are many types of love. As we grow older our understanding of love expands. The idealistic dreams of a perfect romance bend and sway, get shoved in the storm, often breaking. We try again and again. It’s bittersweet. Just like dark chocolate. READ MORE . . .

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Pumpkin Pie Inside a Chocolate Cake

Pumpkin Pie Inside a Chocolate Cake

A Spectacular Thanksgiving Dessert

“Cal turned down Alisal Street, went into the post office, and looked in the glass window of box 632. It was empty. He wandered back home and found Lee up and stuffing a very large turkey.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

You know how the election went, I want to tell you about the dessert I made that fateful day. A dessert that would make a spectacular Thanksgiving statement and keep both the pumpkin and chocolate lovers happy. I’d seen magical pie inside a cake desserts on-line before. Crazy, intoxicating, a dessert that would change any conversation. It was election day and I needed to keep busy. In need of a diversion that would calm my nerves and settle my mind, I baked. I bought a pumpkin pie at the grocery store and buried it inside a chocolate cake. I spread a thick layer chocolate ganache all over the Pumpkin Pie Inside a Chocolate Cake. I cut the cake while it was warm and some of the ganache melted. I took photos anyway. I watched an election that was messy, imperfect, with mind blowing, spectacular results. I found that a bright orange pie hiding inside a dark chocolate cake was lots of spectacular, a bit messy and imperfect too. A perfect metaphor for the election, and life really. READ MORE . . .

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Big Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Big Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

A Cookie Monster favorite

“It’s not a silly thing.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

I am not bold enough to say these are the best Chocolate Chip Cookies, but they are mighty fine. No obscure ingredients, no overnight chilling time, just a huge batch of scrumptious Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are everybody’s favorite cookie, including the Cookie Monster at my house. I don’t even consider making a small batch of this recipe any more. We keep the dough chilled in the refrigerator and bake them a tray at a time. That way we can enjoy them warm from the oven. The aroma of chocolate chip cookies baking is one of life’s little pleasures. READ MORE . . .

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S’Mores Brownies

S'Mores Brownies

Because we could

“Under the live oaks, shaded and dusky, the maidenhair flourished and gave a good smell, and under the mossy banks of the water courses whole clumps of five-finger ferns and goldy-backs hung down. Then there were harebells, tiny lanterns, cream and white and almost sinful looking, and they were so rare and magical that a child, finding one, felt singled out and special all day long.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

The smell of wood burning in fireplaces always reminds me of camping. If I close my eyes and take in the woodsy smoke I can see the campsite in Arroyo Seco. The first couple of years after high school we went camping often. One year, we went camping in May at Arroyo Seco, at the deserted Girl Scout Camp, Camp Cawatre. We set up camp under a canopy of thick oaks and made our campfire and cooking area in an open clearing surrounded by sycamores. (When camping, one never sleeps in the same place where food is prepared.) We wished it to be the sultry, hot Indian summer of September and October. It was May, the ground was so cold and damp we couldn’t sleep. The sky was still black when we got up to rekindle the fire and boil water for coffee and tea. Then we made S’Mores for breakfast because we could. READ MORE . . .

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Magpie Bakery’s Pear Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Pear Pie

Three Things

“If you say it’s her, it’s her, said Joe, and he pushed a twenty and a five across the table. Hal rolled the bills like a cigarette and put them in his vest pocket. He cut a triangle of meat from the rib steak and put it in his mouth. It was her, he said. Want a piece of pie?”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Life in the kitchen is always changing, moving. Make a meal, clean up, try a new recipe, more cleaning, shop, then stock the pantry and refrigerator, more eating, repeat in random order. So many variables, just like traffic. The joy of flying down the freeway, the pause to refuel, the frustration of stop and go, the cozy feeling of coming home at the end of a long day and yes, the insane amount of time we spend in our cars. A working kitchen can be a traffic jam on Highway 68 or a sweet and sassy ride down the coast of California. READ MORE . . .