Deep Chocolate Truffles

 I'm a huge fan of Chocolate Covered Katie, so as soon as I saw her recipe for fudge babies and friends, I knew I wanted in.  They're easy, healthy, natural, and delicious.  So one day, when I get a super high powered blender and can pulverize some walnuts, I totally plan to make them.  Several varieties of them.  However, until then, I'll be making this recipe and calling on the same CCK concepts and deliciousness in spirit.  This recipe yields a truffle that's pretty tasty in its own right.  Your truffles will also be rich and delicious.  As with the originals, you'll need no added sugar and no blender.  You only need:

• Almond butter (choose a variety according to taste - e.g. salty or not, roasted or not...)
• Mashed dates (if they are difficult to mash to the consistency of applesauce, soak them for a few hours first)
• Unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark for rich color)
• Instant coffee powder (optional, for a mocha flavor)

1. Mix the first three ingredients in approximately equal portions with a fork (possibly use less cocoa depending on how bitter you like things, a little goes a long way here) until a chocolatey batter forms.  
2. Taste and adjust the proportions, adding some coffee granules if desired.
3. Role into balls.
4. Enjoy!

Moist Cake Brownies

These moist, delicious brownies just might be healthy!  Well, they're almost healthy.  They're made with black beans(!) instead of white flour, so they have more fiber and protein and fewer carbohydrates than your average brownie.  You don't taste the black beans, though, I swear!  The brownies taste like a nice rich slice of cake.  They are so easy to make!  I found this wonderful recipe on the wonderful site Chocolate and Carrots, and I made only simple changes-I used brown sugar instead of white, and less of it than in the orginal recipe, I omitted chocolate chips (I didn't have any around, but I'm sure they would have been divine sprinkled on top!), and I added instant coffee granules for espresso/mocha flavor.  To bake a batch today, you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked and drained black beans (I had freshly cooked beans ready, but a 19oz can will do)
• 1/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark, but a fancy brand like Valhrona would work really well here!)
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg white
• 3 tablespoons of oil
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• a spoonful or so of instant coffee powder
• sweetener to taste - if you are using table sugar, use between 1/2 and 2/3 cup

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Blend all of the ingredients together.  
3. Pour into greased 8x8 pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
4. Let cool a bit, and enjoy!

The brownie stack.

The view from above.

Oreo muffins

The chocolate muffin lineup.

Following the success of the Gluten-Free beer bread and Spiced Plum Muffins, I decided to try a third recipe with the same (surprising!) oat flour and GF beer base.  The result was a batch of beautiful muffins with a very unique texture and flavor.  The final product is more crumbly than a traditional cake-y muffin, and if you go light on sweetener it tastes like an interesting bread more than anything else.  Lightly sweetened, these muffins would be suitable to accompany your breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but they wouldn't taste chocolatey at all.  With a lot of sweetener, they taste like oreo cookies, in muffin form.  I really enjoyed eating these muffins sprinkled with sugar.  To make the muffins, you will need:

• 3 3/4 cup oat flour
• 1 12 oz can of beer (I used GF New Grist)
• 3 tablespoons of baking powder 
• 1-2 tablespoons of oil of choice
• to taste: unsweetened cocoa powder (1 used ~1/4 cup of Hershey's Dark), instant coffee, sweetener (you'll need more than you think; get your batter to taste as sweet as you want it to and then add a bit more sweetener to be safe-it's vegan so you can taste the batter :D), and salt

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line muffin tins with baking cups.
3. Mix oat flour and baking powder together; fluff with spoon.
4. Add beer and stir until mixed.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and stir gently.
6. Pour into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Enjoy!  (these are delicious warm or cold)

Makes 12 medium-size muffins.

Note on beers: you will probably want to choose a lighter tasting beer if you are making a dessert.  You don't want the beer flavor to overpower the other flavors in the dish.