Dulce De Leche Chocolate Pudding

Let me warn you now, if you have an aversion to chocolate or sweets please continue to scroll down to another recipe because were entering a rich thick dark chocolate zone. Seriously, this thick pudding is really rich so I served it with some berries to tone it down. Ice cream could be nice as well. A spoonful of pudding and berry – I was in heaven. The sliced almonds were also a nice crunchy texture against the smooth and creamy pudding. I had recently found some dulce de leche (in bar form) at the hispanic section of my farmer's market so I wanted to incorporate it into this pudding. Hey, some dulce de leche couldn't hurt anyone, right? So I finally found a recipe that combined both sweets and it was deeeelicious. I served them in individual ramekins and even had some left over for a quick snack. I urge you to spoil yourself and make this chocolate pudding asap. You don't even have to share it with anyone. I won't tell.

Dulce De Leche Chocolate Pudding

adapted by Cafe fernando

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups half 'n half

6 oz dark chocolate, I used 70% cacao, coarsely chopped

1 cup store bought dulce de leche, in bar form not liquid

sliced almonds, for garnish

1 Combine cornstarch and sugar in a large heatproof bowl.

2 Slowly whisk in milk and place the bowl over a pot of gently simmering water and stir, scraping the sides and bottom.

3 After the mixture thickens, about 20 minutes, add 6 oz of chocolate into bowl and continue stirring until smooth and thick.

4 Add dulce de leche and stir until melted.

5 Strain through a mesh strainer into individual ramekins (this took a while) and let cool until room temperature.

6 Top with sliced almonds and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with fresh berries or ice cream.

Banana Bread with Chocolate

I recently bought "The Homemade Life" by Molly Wizenberg, the author of the blog Orangette. I was a big fan of her blog – simple photos, interesting compositions and witty writing. The book was no disappointment. Her recipes are woven throughout memories of her father and family. 've had banana bread before, but never like this. It is so moist, delicate and it doesn't scream banana, it is mild and delicious. This particular recipe originally included ginger, but I'm not a huge fan so I left it out. This was really easy, even for me, and lasts up to 5 days, covered in aluminum foil on the counter. It is especially yummy heated up in the toaster for breakfast. If you try it with ginger, let me know how it goes! Enjoy!

Banana Bread with Chocolate

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups unbleached flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, or chocolate bar broken up into shards

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas, about 3 bananas

1/4 cup well-stirred whole milk plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a standard loaf pan (9x5 in) with cooking spray.

2 Melt butter in the microwave. Set aside.

3 In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate and whisk well to combine.

4 In a separate bowl, lightly beat the the eggs. Add the mashed banana, yogurt, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir to mix well.

5 Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir gently. Do not overmix, but there should be no unincorporated flour.

6 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

7 Bake 50 minutes to an hour until the loaf is a deep shade of golden brown. Cool the loaf for 5 minutes. Let it cool completely before slicing.

Note: Molly says this bread freezes very well, wrap it in plastic wrap and then again in aluminum foil.

My new favorite snack

I had a vision at the grocery store yesterday. A utopia of creamy chocolate, salt, and crunch. And this is what happened.

I had a (too big) bag of bagel chips (I don't really know why I bought it, but it seemed like a good idea at the time) and instead of using it as a real bagel and spread cream cheese or some other dip, I wanted to make it a sweet snack. Enter Nutella! I loooove it. It goes with everything (especially a spoon). The combination of sweet and salty is my favorite. If you like chocolate covered pretzels, then you will love this. It has even a bigger crunch and you can control the chocolate/salt ratio. I like a lot of sea salt so I sprinkled a bunch. 

So, bagel chip + nutella + sea salt= a perfect salted chocolate snack. Nutella can also be spread on any type of crunchy surface, like pita chips or saltines. If you use salted saltines, then you can forego the sea salt. But if using unsalted, you gotta sprinkle on the sea salt! Trust me.