{create} chocolate peanut butter tarte

First off, thank you for all the sweet comments about my chalkboard vases! I keep moving them around the house because they look so good everywhere :). And along this line, I created a DIY project gallery this week! I've been wanting to do this for awhile. It's the spot to go if you'd like to make any of the projects I've posted here. I'll be updating it with all upcoming projects as well.

At some point, I'll make gallery for recipes also. Or, I guess baked goods would be more accurate! New here? I LOVE to bake. And today I'm going to have to demand that you drop everything and go make this recipe. It's that good :).

I've mentioned before that we're a gluten and dairy free household, but we're secretly in denial. We don't want our food (especially our desserts!) to taste gluten or dairy free. What's the fun in that? So it's my mission to find recipes that are amazing and everyone will love. This recipe had me a chocolate peanut butter. Uh, hello classic delish combo.

I first made this recipe one night when we had my parents (the ultimate test) over for dinner. They LOVED it. So we made it for friends. Who, of course, loved it. But it was when my dad requested that I make him this tart, instead of a traditional birthday cake, for his birthday last week, that I knew it was time to share it with you guys.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart

Adapted from Healthy Indulgences

Ingredients:
Peanut Butter Crust

• 1/4 cup crunchy natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons beaten egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup blanched almond flour, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons honey

Chocolate Filling

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons organic unsalted butter
• 3 egg yolks

Method:

Peanut Butter Crust

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2. Melt peanut butter and butter in a heat proof bowl. 
3. Stir in vanilla, egg and honey.
4. Add dry ingredients and stir to form dough. It'll be sticky.
5. Press the dough up the sides of a 9" tart pan.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, turn off the oven and do not open the door. Leave until ready to assemble.

Chocolate Filling + Assembly

1. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 1/4 cup coconut milk, honey and salt and simmer on low.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the rest of the coconut milk and cocoa powder. This helps the de-clump the cocoa powder. Add the mixture to the saucepan.
3. In another separate bowl, separate the egg yolks, and slight beat with a fork. Add 1/2 cup of the warmed coconut mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly and then add the egg mixture back into the saucepan.
4. Keep whisking. Cook for 3-5 minutes over medium-low heat stirring until mixture coats the back of a spoon.
5. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter until butter is melted.
6. Remove your tart shell from the oven, and pour chocolate filling in almost to the brim. 
7. Cool tart uncovered in the freezer until the top becomes firm. Transfer to the refrigerator and cover with plastic wrap.

Note 1: When you get to the assembly step, you will have filling left over. This is a very good thing. You can do two things. 1. Pour into ramekins or muffin tins and freeze for snacks. 2. Pour into ramekins and put into the refrigerator for pudding snacks. Either is awesome.

Note 2: This dessert is best accompanied with Bailey's. Be warned though: this is not for the weak of heart. :)

I learned this weekend that my aunt doesn't like chocolate/pb combo? What you say? Yes, we all said that too. So my question for you is: what's your favorite chocolate combo? What's your least favorite combo? Mine: I LOVE chocolate mint, but HATE chocolate/fruit anything. :)

{create} black bean brownies

This weekend we left town. And it was way over due. We are lucky to have a beach house in the family, so we try to get away for a weekend every month to six weeks --- you know, to relax and recharge --- but it's been months since our last little getaway. So we packed up our stuff and a couple friends and headed over to the beach! In January! This is reason # 2,347 why I love Oregon. In Oregon you go to the beach even if it's 40 degrees and raining sideways. And then you call it storm watching. Lucky for us though, it was about 55 and sunny. Down right spring-like, really.

The weekend was amazing. There was a tiny bit of this. But just a tiny bit though. Because out the window was THIS:

I mentioned in my blogger award post, that my favorite spot in the world is the cape in Pacific City. And this, my friends, is Cape Kiwanda. You can cross a fence walk out to the very end and feel very small in comparison to the ocean's vastness. And see the water pouring over the side? I'm glad I didn't climb up there Saturday. Waves were crashing over the cape, and I would've been soooo wet. Brrr! But, it was so cool to watch from the shore.

Blue sky ... blue ocean ... is it spring yet already? Sadly, I know the 55 degree and sunny weekend we had was just a tease.

This photo isn't color corrected. Chris and I scrambled out of bed early Sunday to hit the beach before we headed home and the rocks were glowing. 

Just to the right of these rocks, the cape turns into a huge sand dune. In college, my friends and I used to climb to the top of the dune and then jump off. And then do it again and again until we were tired. Then we'd make a big bonfire and maybe consume a few beverages. Sometimes I miss the crazy weird things I did in college :). And no, there was no dune-jumping this weekend.

This made me stop in my tracks. You guys, a person didn't bury these logs in the sand. A person probably couldn't even move these logs. The ocean is a powerful force and I don't think people take that serious enough sometimes!

With all the adventuring and relaxing (many naps were taken by all this weekend), we needed something awesome to refuel with. And that's where today's recipe comes in: Black Bean Brownies.

If you've been around for awhile, you know that we're gluten free. I've found beans to be an awesome flour substitute in certain recipes. This was actually the first recipe I ever tried with beans, and I can't believe I haven't shared it with you! We're in camp fudg-y brownies, and these are the perfect dense, chocolate-y, fudg-y brownie. I swear, you'll NEVER know there are beans involved.

Black Bean Brownies

adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups black beans
• ½ cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup water or milk
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1½ cups honey (or agave)
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep a 9" x 9" baking pan with canola oil spray.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter. We use the stove, but microwaves work great if you have one!
3. Place the beans, 1/2 cup of the walnuts, the vanilla extract, and a couple of spoonfuls of the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Blend about 2 minutes, or until smooth. The batter should be thick and the beans smooth. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, mix together the remaining melted chocolate mixture, water/milk, and salt. Mix well and set aside.
5. In a separate bowl (yep, this recipe creates a lot of dishes. totally worth the effort.), with an electric mixer beat the eggs until light and creamy, about 1 minute. Add honey and beat well. Set aside.
6. Add the bean/chocolate mixture to the milk/chocolate mixture. Stir until blended well.
7. Add the egg mixture. Mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about an hour, until the brownies are set. Let cool in the pan completely before cutting into squares. (They will be soft until refrigerated.)
8. Once cool, pop into the refrigerator. They'll be easier to cut, and a little firmer.
9. Serve and enjoy. Once all are licking their fingers, divulge the ingredients and watch your friends be astounded that these brownies might actually be ... healthy. Who knew? :) 

Updated: I'm linking this recipe up to Sweet As Sugars Sweets for a Saturday link party. Come over and take a look at all the amazing sweets! 

{create} pie crust cookies + happy thanksgiving!

Hello friends!

Today I have a special treat to share with you. I am in the middle of making pies (pumpkin and banana cream, per family tradition) for a big family dinner tomorrow, and I wanted to share with you an awesome way to use up left over pie dough. After you've gone through all the effort to make pie crust, it's sad to throw any extra away, so why not turn them into little pie crust cookies?

It's so easy! Simply roll the extra pie crust to about a 1/4" thick, and use cookie cutters to make shapes. Coat with a cinnamon and sugar combo and bake at 425 for about 10 minutes. I just threw them in with my pie.

After 10 minutes, you get these wonderful, flaky, buttery cookies. Plus, they are also great for decorating your pie crust. I have these little leaves lining my pumpkin crust. I love it when something so cute and festive is so easy!

With that, I'd want to wish you of you who are celebrating a very Happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for all of you who stop and read this blog on a regular basis. It's crazy how much fun I have reading your comments and visiting your blogs :). So THANK YOU ALL!

I'm taking Friday off to hang with my family, but will be back on Monday with some great gift ideas. Because, you know, I really can't think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving. :)

{create} an alternate pumpkin pie

Is Thanksgiving really this week? It has completely snuck up on me this year and late last week I realized that I hadn't even begun to think about pie! Because, as a gluten and dairy free household, pie is always tricky. But, being Thanksgiving and all, it's necessary. Friends, stay with me here. I tried a new pumpkin pie and, gluten or no gluten, it's so good.

We see a completely rock-star naturopath in Portland, and as if reading my mind, she sent out an e-newsletter last week filled with great holiday recipes. Including, a gluten and dairy free pumpkin pie.

So of course I had to give it a try. It's not a typical pumpkin pie, in that it has a cookie-based crust, which I love, but had never tried on a pumpkin pie before. It was so good. It added a new depth to the pie that was awesome. I have the cutest mini pie dish, so I halved the recipe and it was perfect. For the two of us, we really don't need a whole pie.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 6 1/2 oz. Gluten-Free Ginger Snaps (enough to make 1 1/2 cups cruched)
• 5 tablespoons organic butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Pie Filling:

• 1 1/2 (12 ounce) packages extra firm tofu
• 2 cups canned pumpkin or cooked pumpkin
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor, pulse cookies until crushed. Melt butter on stovetop over medium heat and mix in honey. Pulse together with the crumbs and add the salt.
3. Firmly press crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie dish. I like to use a measure cup to help with this. It makes everything very evenly pressed. Bake until crust is fragrant and edges are golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool completely.
4. While crust is cooling blend tofu in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Pour into prepared pie shell.
5. Bake for approximately one hour. It seems done when a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean. It will continue to firm up as it cools. Keeps well in the fridge.
6. Enjoy!

{create} apple muffins

I consider myself so blessed to have grown up with an amazing Grandmother. This woman was sheer inspiration. Her husband died when my mom was in middle school, yet my grandma worked full time, kept a beautiful home and most importantly, kept the family together.

Growing up, ALL family holidays were spent at her house, where she would spend days prepping elaborate and wonderful meals. Okay, the carrot jello salad might that appeared at every holiday meal might be the exception. The best part though? She was an amazing baker. She always had fresh baked goods in her house, and she is one of the main reasons I love baking so much today.

When she died a few years ago, I ended up with her recipe book.  Even though this was such an amazing gift, I'll be the first to admit that it's really hard to read her handwriting!

It's so interesting just to flip through the book. It's literally falling apart (as you can probably see!) from her overuse. But it's filled with such lovely recipes, I can see why it was overused.One of these years I want to bake through it. Doesn't Cardamon Biscuit Bread sound interesting?

This past weekend I took a turn at my grandma's Apple Loaf. My mom raves about it, and I can see why. I turned mine into muffins, and they were so moist and so flavorful and tasted completely of fall. Yum!

Apple Loaf Recipe 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup butter
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose gluten free flour + ¾ tsp. xanthum gum)
• ½ cup nuts (optional)
• 2 large or 3 small apples

Method:

1. Grate or chop apples.
2. Combine flour, nuts (if using), salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat until incorporated.
4. Add apples. Mix.
5. Add flour mixture to apple mixture. Combine, but don’t overbeat.
6. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes for a loaf. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes for muffins.
7. Enjoy! 

{create} birthday cake

Happy birthday to me! 

I love birthdays ... aren't they the best? In honor of my special day, I thought I'd share a completely amazing birthday cake recipe. This cake isn't actually for my birthday -- but don't worry I have a fantastic dessert planned for my party this weekend and I'll share it soon. I made this cake for Chris' birthday a couple weeks ago. 

Fun fact: Our birthday's our two weeks to the day apart. When we got married my parents tried pulling a joint birthday party for us. They should know me better than that! I love Chris, but I do not share my birthday with anyone :).

I found this recipe on the Spunky Coconut* awhile back and I'll admit, I was completely intrigued. I make a seriously awesome black bean brownie, so I was itching to try beans in a cake. Chris' birthday was the perfect opportunity! And guess what? It passed the test. You know, the *your-family-is-not-gluten-free-and-is-completely-nervous-about-all-your-crazy-gf-concoctions* test.

Friends, my family loved it. I didn't tell them what it was made of -- I'm not sure they can handle the truth -- and no one was the wiser.

The best part about this cake though? It isn't full of nasty, empty-calorie ingredients. In fact, it's so jam-packed with fiber and protein, I didn't feel at all bad when I had it for breakfast the morning after Chris' party. :)

Vanilla Layer Cake

Vanilla cake:

Makes two nine-inch layers

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked white beans, room temperature
• 12 eggs
• 1.5 tsp. vanilla stevia
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• 2/3 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 3 tsp. baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees.
2. Butter two nine inch cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper. Butter parchment paper as well. Set aside.
3. In a food processor, combine beans, eggs, stevia and honey. Puree well.
4. Add in coconut oil, coconut flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. I was a little nervous about the food processor capacity here, but didn't overflow (phew.). Puree well.
5. Pour into prepared cake pans.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, but check often after 20. Mine were done right at 25 minutes.

OMG chocolate frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups unsweetened chocolate
• 1.5 cups coconut milk
• stevia to taste

Method:

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler with coconut milk.
2. Add stevia to taste. 
3. Let cool until it's the consistency of frosting.
4. Try to not eat all of it by the spoonful -- you do need some for the cake.

Finally, assemble the cake! And, of course, ENJOY!

*Recipe adapted from The Spunky Coconut. Have you checked out her site before? She's genius. I'm so excited to try more of her recipes.

You might also like:

Christmas baking

{create} almond butter

In my head . . .

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7.23.2010

{reveal} landscape tips

Last week I showed off our summer landscaping project. Today I'm back to give you a few landscaping tips we learned from our yard adventure. Here's the house, again, in all its cuteness:

And here are all the plants ready to go into the ground!

Landscaping tip #1: Create a color scheme. This is something I learned from talking to my gardener friends about landscaping. Color schemes help pull the look together. They can be wild and crazy or they can be monochromatic -- I've seen beautiful yards in both. As you can see above, we chose predominately white, yellow and green with pops of red. Next year I'd also like to add some oranges. Pretty much my only rule for our front yards is no purple/blue flowers. A huge bonus about having a color scheme is it will help direct your thinking when you're standing among hundreds of beautiful plants at the nursery.

Landscaping tip #2: layout your plants before digging. This one saved us and is especially important if you don't have a landscape plan to guide your digging. We repositioned our plants about a dozen times before we settled on a layout we liked. The picture above isn't even the final layout! So, please don't dig until you're happy with your layout. It's much easier to move a pot then replant.

Both these tips I did not find during my extensive online research. They were simply from talking to people. So, I hope you find them helpful as well!

I am so excited about how this will look a year from now! I'll leave you with a few detail shots:

Happy weekend!

7.20.2010

{I heart} flower bag

There's a chance this adorable bag was delivered at my door yesterday:

I am completely smitten. I have so many plans for this cute bag and am excited about how much sass it'll add to an outfit! The best part, is it's large enough to be a work bag, which for me means it has to carry files and my lunch :).

My plan was to show you the bag in all its cuteness and then direct you to the site, but I just jumped onto get the address and it's out of stock! (SOOOO glad I ordered when I did!) But, check out Ruche anyway, because they have some pretty darn cute clothes and accessories.

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Transforming our house into a home

Our adorable 1928 bungalow

This blog is a place to capture my inspirations on our quest to transform our bungalow from neglected and dumpy to lovely and a place we're proud to call home. I hope you find something useful, entertaining, or even inspiring while here.

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Jenn McC.

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homeinthemaking @CentsationalGrl hulu.com is great! 5 hours ago reply

homeinthemaking I'm on a futura kick. Is that weird? 6 days ago reply

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