Oatmeal Cream Pies

February 7, 2013

Okay, I lied. These are not oatmeal cream pies. They’re oatmeal whoopie pies. Seeing how I’m from Little Debbie Land (McKee Foods is based in Collegedale, near Chattanooga), I feel the need to admit that to you up front. Still, they satisfy a craving without any questionable ingredients and not one. speck. of processed sugar. Seriously.

For the last three weeks I’ve been on a sugar fast. I’m trying to avoid eating any processed sugar during the week besides maybe what’s in a square of dark chocolate once a day (I have to have something). I’ve drastically cut my overall sugar intake, so the only other sugar I’ve been eating during the week is the small amount of honey I put in my coffee and then whatever is naturally occurring in the foods I eat.

This isn’t a “resolution”. I haven’t made a resolution in….ever. It’s just not something that I do. It’s kind of like saying, “The diet starts Monday.” Setting time constraints for when you are going to implement a lifestyle change makes me feel certain from the get-go that I am not going to be successful. My biggest successes as far as exercising, eating well, losing weight, etc., have come from just saying randomly one day, “This starts now.” That’s exactly how this happened. I just decided one day that my sugar intake was a little overboard and wondered if it could have something to do with my out-of-control breakouts. I mean, at thirty-four years of age I should not be breaking out like I did when I was in middle school…something had to give. Two-and-a-half weeks into avoiding sugar through the week and drinking a green smoothie every day, I think I can tell a difference….but it was a bad problem and it’s not going to clear up overnight. Bonus: I’ve lost three pounds. Yippee!

I give myself a little reprieve on the weekend, but when I decided that I “needed” an oatmeal cream pie I decided that it needed to be recreated to not include processed sugar. When I have some sucanat in the house I’d like to try to make something a little more authentic, but this definitely did the trick for the moment and gave me an excuse to use mascarpone cheese I had in the fridge. It’s not the same oatmeal cream pie I loved as a kid (and I’ll admit, still love as an adult) but Philip, who is not an oatmeal cream pie fan (he’s more of a fudge round kind of guy) said mine were better. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

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Serves	7
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	13 minutes
Total time	43 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Child Friendly
Website	Adapted from Deliciously Organic

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter (melted)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Large eggs (room temperature (I put them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes))
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup rolled or quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (You could also use pumpkin pie spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used kosher)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
8oz mascarpone cheese (softened (can also use cream cheese))
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with a Sil-pat or parchment paper.
Step 2
Place the oats in a food processor and pulse until they resemble cornmeal.
Step 3
Whisk the melted butter, eggs, applesauce, teaspoon of vanilla, and maple syrup in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, whisk together the flour, one cup of the ground oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and five-spice powder.
Step 4
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. If the mixture is too runny (it should be thick enough to be scooped onto the pan without running all over the place) add more of the oat flour. Use a two-inch cookie scoop or a large spoon to scoop out the batter. Bake for 12-14 minutes (it should feel firm but not hard when pressed). Allow to cool.
Step 5
Use a stand or hand mixer to completely combine the mascarpone, butter, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. It will not be smooth like icing but rather will look a little like ricotta. Spread the filling on half of the oatmeal cookies and top with the remaining cookies. Serve immediately. Store uneaten pies in the refrigerator.

Pinterest Test Kitchen: Brownie Bottom Banana Bread Muffins

November 6, 2012

Yep, it’s another baking post. This week, my baking endeavors were for a good cause.

For several years now, our church, Grace Calvary Chapel, has focused on missions to Honduras. They have worked closely with a ministry called Eternal Family Project, which is a home that a girl that I went to high school with started for girls who do not have families. She becomes a mother to these girls, raising them and making sure they get a good education so that they have bright prospects for the future. GCC has sent several teams down to Honduras to work with EFP and also work in the orphanages nearby.

This Christmas, a team from our church will be going to Honduras to work in the orphanages and take gift boxes that are being put together through a project known as The Box Project. The boxes will be given out to local churches to distribute within their communities. The past two weeks (and the upcoming Sunday as well) we have been having a bake sale to raise money for the Honduras mission trip. I volunteered to donate a baked good and figured that this was a great opportunity to work in my Pinterest Test Kitchen. After all, that means that not only am I giving to a good cause, I am getting the baked goods out of my kitchen!

Anyway, this recipe, from How Sweet It Is, was actually originally “brownie banana bread cupcakes with brown sugar frosting“. I adapted it by leaving out the chocolate chips between the brownie and banana bread layers and leaving off the icing to make them muffins, not cupcakes. Trust me, they are plenty sweet enough. The brownie is perfectly chocolaty, firm, dark but still sweet, while the banana bread is perfectly moist and tender with the delicious sweetness of over-ripe bananas. Delicious. I was not sad that we had a “casualty” that got smashed with the oven mitt, plus I got to eat my muffin “model”.

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Ingredients

https://chattavore.com/pinterest-test-kitchen-brownie-bottom-banana-bread-muffins/

Peanut Butter Freezer Fudge

July 24, 2012

My naughty eating habits this summer have been catching up with me, and I’ve recently made a resolution to myself to pay more attention to my “real food” eating habits. I haven’t exactly been eating a lot of processed food, but I definitely haven’t been paying attention to my diet like I should. Add the fact that I haven’t been working (my job keeps me in perpetual motion) and my waistbands are definitely feeling a little tighter.

As I’ve considered what the problems are that have caused a little bit of a weight gain (I’m baring my soul here, guys!), it’s not the bacon, or the butter, or the half-and-half. It’s the white flour that I’ve let creep back into my baking….the sugar in the cakes, the popovers. It’s the sodas that Philip and I like to buy as a treat…and I’ve allowed the “occasions” for a treat to become a little more frequent. It’s definitely the inactivity…sitting at home, not chasing kids around, not traipsing the halls of the school (at work I always feel like I walk the hall a million times a day), and not getting on the treadmill or pulling out a workout DVD or going for a walk after dinner.

I’ve re-immersed myself in 100 Days of Real Food. I’ve discovered a new blog to love, Food Babe. And I’m considering making an effort to add some raw foods to my diet (I mean, besides fruit and salad) with the book Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. I am in no way interested in fake meat, but I’m happy to sub veggies or nuts for meat.

The truth is, you just have to have something sweet from time to time. For me, from “time to time” means that I need a little something sweet every day. I don’t need a huge treat, and it doesn’t need to be tooth-achingly sweet. It does have to taste good, though….and when I saw Food Babe’s recipe for almond chocolate freezer fudge, I knew I had to make it. Except that when I went to the grocery store, almond butter ranged in price from $8.99 to $13.69….way more than even the most expensive peanut butter (by the way, that was at Publix. I’ve checked it out at Earth Fare since writing this post and it was considerably more economical!).

Soooo, peanut butter freezer fudge it is. This stuff is delicious. The tiny amount of maple syrup may not seem like nearly enough sweetener, but I promise that it is. The pinch of salt makes it just slightly savory, and the coconut oil adds an amazing coconutty flavor. This is a perfect tiny treat for after dinner. I’m sold.

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https://chattavore.com/peanut-butter-freezer-fudge/

Peanut Butter Freezer Fudge

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Serves	15-20
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	10 minutes
Total time	20 minutes
Allergy	Peanuts
Meal type	Dessert
Website	Adapted slightly from Food Babe

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter
4 tablespoons coconut oil
1 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
4oz chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Note

When you cut the fudge, it may break-mine did! Just warning you.

Directions

Step 1
Line a small pan with parchment paper (I used an 8" square pan) and set aside.
Step 2
Combine the peanut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, and sea salt with a mixer until smooth (I used my stand mixer but a hand mixer would work fine).
Step 3
Spread the peanut butter mixture into the pan. I spread mine very thin. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and carefully press in slightly (the peanut butter mixture will be pretty thin, so be careful not to get it on your hands!).
Step 4
Freeze the fudge for at least two hours. Cut into squares; Food Babe says this makes 20 servings but I cut mine into 15 squares. Store in the freezer.

Orange Curd

July 11, 2012

A few weeks ago I posted a question to my Facebook “fans”: what type of chocolate popover would you prefer-spicy chocolate with salted dulce de leche, or chocolate-orange with orange curd? This was for a guest post that I was doing on doughmesstic.com. Spicy chocolate won by a narrow margin, and I promised that I would do the chocolate-orange popovers on my own blog soon.

When I dreamed up the idea of the popovers, I assumed that I would make the orange curd and also tell you where you could buy it if you were not inclined to make it yourself. Guess what? I looked everywhere, and I could NOT find orange curd. I found lemon curd (of course), key lime curd, vanilla curd, and raspberry curd. No orange curd. I even looked online. It appears that Wilkinson (the main brand of curds found in most grocery stores) manufactured an orange curd at some point in time, as I found nutritional information on a nutrition website along with a product photo, but when I checked the Wilkinson website….no go.

Don’t be afraid of this recipe! It may sound daunting, but I promise that it isn’t. The only caveat is that you have to stir it frequently and keep the heat low so that the eggs don’t scramble. It takes a while, but it’s totally worth it. My house smelled so good while I was making this….like a potful of sunshine. And the jars look so pretty! The curd wasn’t quite as thick as what I have bought in a jar before, but still thick enough to use without it running all over the place.

Still, if you don’t want to make it….you’re out of luck on the orange curd. I’m terrible sorry. For some reason, chocolate-lemon popovers sounds pretty bizarre, but chocolate-lime doesn’t…so I would recommend using lime zest in your popovers and finding a jar of key lime curd (which I found at Earth Fare and Fresh Market). Curd is also delicious on ice cream, pound cake, angel food cake, and, I am sure, a plethora of other items.

Popover recipe to come!

Orange Curd

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Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	20 minutes
Total time	35 minutes
Allergy	Egg
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Misc	Serve Cold
From book	adapted from The Joy the Baker Cookbook by Joy Wilson

Ingredients

1/2 cup orange juice (I used freshly squeezed from 2 medium oranges)
zest of one orange (I reserved the zest of the other orange for the popovers)
1/3 cup sugar
2 Large eggs
good pinch salt
4oz unsalted butter

Directions

Step 1
Combine all ingredients except for the butter in a medium saucepan. Cook, whisking frequently, over medium-low heat until the yolks have thickened the sauce. It will go from smelling very "orangey" to taking on more of a cooked smell. The cooking process took about twenty minutes for me.
Step 2
Remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the butter a tablespoon at a time.
Step 3
Use a rubber spatula to scrape all of the curd from the pan to a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. Use the spatula to push all of the curd through the strainer. This will ensure that any cooked bits of egg do not get into your curd.
Step 4
Store the orange curd in a covered container (I used pint-sized Mason jars).

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Ingredients

https://chattavore.com/orange-curd/

Banana Ice Cream

July 7, 2012

Bananas…you either love them or you hate them, right?

Wrong!

Now, I love bananas. For one thing, yellow is one of my very favorite colors, so that’s one point. Next, I love the flavor. While the texture doesn’t exactly make me swoon, I’m fine with it. Philip, on the other hand, loves the flavor of banana-he’s happy to eat a banana Laffy Taffy or a slice of banana bread, for example-but he doesn’t care for the texture at all. Too mushy. He’ll eat them in banana pudding, but I wouldn’t say he likes it.

Back around Thanksgiving I got completely obsessed with Pinterest. I pinned a recipe for banana “ice cream”, which was really just frozen bananas spun in the food processor until they were completely pureed. Pureed frozen bananas interestingly have a consistency very similar to ice cream. There’s even a machine called a “Yonanas“, which can be yours for $49.95 (or more, depending on the model) and churns out frozen fruit in the consistency of ice cream. Wait, didn’t I just say I did that in my food processor? Ahem. Sorry.

Anyway, I was super excited because it was fat-free ice cream. And it was all-natural. Philip, on the other hand, was not so excited. To him, it still had the texture of bananas. I decided to try combining frozen bananas with a custard ice cream base and find out (a) if the flavor of the bananas would still shine against all the cream; and (b) if Philip would like it.

Guess what? It was a success! It was delicious. Fat-free? No…but I’m happy to continue to eat my pureed frozen bananas and reserve this for an occasional treat….that I can share with my husband. And with you!

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https://chattavore.com/banana-ice-cream/

Banana Ice Cream

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Serves	8
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	20 minutes
Total time	50 minutes
Allergy	Milk
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Freezable, Serve Cold

Ingredients

3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cups half-and-half
3/4 cups heavy cream
2-3 frozen bananas (I left my bananas in the fruit basket until they were nearly frozen, to concentrate the sugars)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Note

This makes a quart of ice cream; serving size assumes 1/2-cup servings.
Prep time includes freezing time; depending on your ice cream maker, this could take slightly longer (my Kitchenaid attachment took 20 minutes).

Directions

Step 1
Whisk the eggs yolks in a bowl until they are thickened and light in color.
Step 2
Combine the half-and-half, the cream, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until the mixture is hot and the sugar is completely dissolved.
Step 3
Temper the eggs by gradually pouring about half a cup of the hot cream/half-and-half mixture into the eggs while whisking constantly. Whisk the mixture back into the saucepan. Continue to cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl with a lid. Refrigerate until completely cooled.
Step 4
When you are ready to make the ice cream, puree the frozen bananas until smooth. Whisk along with the vanilla extract into the ice cream base until completely incorporated. Pour into your ice cream freezer and freeze according to machine directions.
Step 5
Pour into a quart-size container and freeze until firm. Serve on its own, topped with chocolate sauce, or with vanilla wafers and whipped cream for "banana pudding" ice cream.