sweet samoas

In previous years, early spring was always Girl Scout cookie time. Tagalongs are my personal favorite (oh the peanut butter), but Mark is a fan of the Samoas. However, this year due to our pledge to remove as many processed foods as possible from our diets, as well as our challenge to not eat any chocolate that isn't fair trade, the cookies were not in the cards for us this year.

I decided to be ambitious and try to make my own homemade version of the Samoas with fair trade chocolate for Mark as a gift for the anniversary of the day we met, which we celebrate each February. The verdict was quite positive, delicious actually. Just don't attempt these when you only have 2 hours on your hands because let's just say it took ages.

You start with a shortbread cookie base.

 

At this point, we have to stop. This dough is really thick, and it broke my mixer blade. Granted, I think from such repeated use over the last 4 years the beater blade had its fair share of beatings, but this one decided to make the plastic blade snap. Right in the box. Shards of plastic pieces in my dough.

That means I no longer have any regular blades for my mixer because the one that came with it had a paint chipping problem that wasn't appetizing. So enter Mark's mixer. And a second batch of shortbread. Photos pick up where the other left off!

 

During the dough making, you should be toasting coconut. 

 

After the dough is refrigerated in hunks, you take it out to soften, roll, and cut. I chose to use a combination of circle and heart cutters, since these were an "I love you" gift and all.

While the cookies are baking, you can start the caramel. This wasn't my night. I ended up making two batches of caramel because I burnt the first one while distracted with the shortbread. These photos are a mix from the two batches. Using organic sugar (with a higher molasses content and thus a brownish tint) made for a harder time seeing when the caramel had started to form. This was the most tricky part of the process for me.

 

 

You separate it into a small dish for spreading and leave the larger amount to make the coconut mixture.

Enter coconut, gloriously toasted.

 

Mix with the caramel and get ready to assemble.

 

It helps to keep the coconut mixture on the cookie if you spread a little caramel on it first.

 

After the coconut and caramel have set, you can dip the bottom of the cookie in chocolate and then flip it over to set. We use Theo chocolate quite a lot now in baking. Theo is the only American chocolatier that produces fair trade  chocolate products. Everything we've had from them has been out of this world. If you ever see Theo (we get ours at Whole Foods but you can buy it online and also at REI), grab it up. You won't regret it.

I popped a tray of them at a time in our chest freezer to speed set, because at this point I was ready for bed.

 

Just flick the excess chocolate over the top of the cookies to finish. Five hours later, you have amazing homemade samoa cookies. 

 

 

ninja fudge brownies

 

Anthony requested fudge brownies for his birthday, so that's what he got. He didn't ask for ninjas, but thanks to Amber, he got those too. I used a fudge brownie recipe that had three kinds of chocolate (all fair trade certified, except for the last of the Hershey's cocoa we're using up so as to not be wasteful).

I really wanted to catch the egg mixture mid-drip.

I made a foil sling for the brownies so they could be easily pulled out of the pan and cut without damaging the pan.

 Once cool, we added the ninja honor guard.

And once at the restaurant, flaming pirate candles, including a ship, a parrot, and a treasure chest.

The yellow ninja in this next photo looks like he's fist pumping.

 

 

The most rich, fudgey brownie I've ever eaten. Right here to the west of Bounty Bay and north of Parrot's Cove.

alyn's birthday turtle cheesecake

My title makes it sound like Alyn had a birthday turtle who liked cheesecake. But you know what I mean. This recipe had a swirled/marbled batter and a crust made out of chocolate graham crackers.

My springform pan isn't missing its bottom: it's glass. My grandma gave me this springform pan years ago when I was just starting to get into baking. It's Pampered Chef and is awesome. The bottom is glass, and it also comes with a bundt pan insert so you don't have to have two pans.

Sweetened condensed milk gave the batter a little bit of a caramel hint.

Time for the secret ingredient. You add it when you add the sugar. Can you guess what it is?

Corn starch! The tiny bit of corn starch helps to keep the cheesecake from cracking. Then it's on to the last bit of liquid, some vanilla extract.

After melting some chocolate bits (Sunspire chocolate!), you add in a little bit of batter and swirl to make the chocolate layer.

Each layer goes back and forth in the pan until it gets full.

And it goes into the oven, on top of a tray to catch any residual butter drippings from the crust. I also include a cake pan full of water to assist with the effort to keep it from cracking.

After letting it bake without opening the oven door to check on it and then allowing some heat to escape the oven after it's done so that it doesn't shock in temperature (and crack), it can come out to rest.

Topping time. Chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, and chocolate chips and pecans. That's the turtle part, I guess.

And once you get to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner and everyone finishes their meal, you can take it out to display on a red and white checked tablecloth. :)

I will spare Alyn and not post the photo of him in his balloon hat. But it was classic. That much I will tell you.

Decadent and rich, the key ingredients for deliciousness.