Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Mousse - Wine Flight Pt. 4

On the morning of Christmas Eve I woke up feeling a little risque. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I said, "Laura, you're going to be a bad ass today. You're going to put sugar and water in a saucepan, and watch it turn into a beautiful brown bubbly caramel. But you know what else, you crazy rebel? You're going to do it without a candy thermometer." 
And I did.
And it turned out SO PERFECT.
And it was my first caramel, ever!
And then I put dark chocolate into it, and I ate a spoonful and died and went to heaven.
But then I didn't stop there! I added eggs and turned it into a mousse, and topped it with salt.
Are you still breathing?
I barely am.

You know those desserts you taste and they are so mind-blowingly good you fall to the floor after the first bite? If you don't know those desserts, make this mousse so you can understand what passing out over caramel and chocolate is all about. Even if you don't want to make a mousse, just make the chocolate caramel and drink it, or drizzle it over ice cream or brownies. Whatever you prefer.
It's worth it, promise!

Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds - Wine Flight Pt. 4

Dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds.

A dessert that gives you double the antioxidants?!

Say whaaaaa?

I know.  You're welcome!

And the best part? 

The juices from the poms go pop in your mouth.

It's a juicy chocolate little morsel!

Perfect for the holidays, and perfect for everyday.

Salted Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Double Chocolate.
Peanut Butter.
Course Salt.

Enough said?
Enough said. (Make them and see for yourself!)

Dark Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons

My mom told me back in the day, coconut macaroons were all the rage. I'm not sure when back in the day was, but I'm guessing it was when big hair and big glasses were all the rage, too. Mom pulled those off amazingly well. I have pictures to prove it.
Coconut macaroons used to be my dad's all time favorite cookie, so my mom would make them for him every so often. Being the huge coconut fan that I am, too, when mom pulled up this new recipe, we knew we were going to incorporate these into our holiday baking.
These cookies are several things. 1. so stinkin' easy to make. 2. insanely scrumptious. 3. dangerously addicting.  
No, seriously. Try to eat just one. Doesn't work.

Confession: Mom and I gave most of these away as gifts, keeping less than one dozen for her and my dad and me and Eric. Since I knew they were dad's favs, I told her I'd just take two home. I left their house and ate both in my car before I even got on the freeway. Oopsies...
sorry, Eric.

Pumpkin-Orange Cheesecake

After spending the first few hours of my Saturday morning reading alone on the couch(not complaining), I got a call from my mom wondering what I was up to. After quickly realizing I didn't want to spend the day couped up alone in my apartment, my mom and I decided to use the weekend to cook and bake together (pretty much my favorite kind of weekend). Thirty minutes later, I was off to Arlington.
A few weeks ago, my dad found a cheesecake recipe in the new Sunset magazine. Once he read the words 'salted caramel' he HAD to have it, and has been desperate for my mom and I to make it ever since. I'm pretty sure I saw drool on the pages when he handed us the recipe. (It happens to the best of us).
When we got home from the grocery store, after getting everything we needed for the weekend, I suggested that we have a glass of wine while we bake. My mom simply replied, "Well, YEAH. You think Julia never drank wine while SHE baked? Come on! You've heard her voice in some of those videos!"
..insert mine and mom's imitations of Julia's voice here...
Alright, so I've come to a few conclusions. Either Julia never really drank while she baked OR she holds a glass of wine much better than we I do.
We had a few mishaps. No big deal.
So I may have forgot to set the cream cheese and eggs at room temperature before we got everything started. That's okay. We just put everything on pause for thirty minutes or so and drank more wine.
So I almost forgot to add the pumpkin to our pumpkin cheesecake. Meh. I caught it just in time! (Mom told me no more wine til' dinner.)
So my mom wrapped the baking pan in foil far before she was supposed to. Didn't matter!
Because our cheesecake turned out beautiful and perfect and beautiful!
Tis' the season! The decadent holiday baking has commenced!

Birthday Cake = French Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Compote

This year was dad's 60th birthday, so we decided to do something extra fun and special. We rented a cabin by Mt. Baker and spent the weekend relaxing and having fun in a beautiful place. Because it was such a special birthday, I wanted an extra special cake that I knew dad would absolutely LOVE. Dark chocolate and raspberries immediately popped into my head as a must. I had just finished reading David Lebovitz's The Sweet Life in Paris, which included a mouth-watering french chocolate cake recipe. Made with dark chocolate, it's meant to be smaller, denser, and much richer in flavor. How could I resist? I thought it would look beautiful with an equally rich ganache and drizzled with a sweet/tart rasberry compote. The result was perfect - the cake was a hit and most important of all, dad LOVED IT! I love a success.

French Chocolate Cake
(courtesy of David Lebovitz)
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temp, separated
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line loaf pan or cake pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, heat the chocolate and butter together just until melted and smooth.
Remove from heat and stir in half the sugar, then the egg yolks, and flour.
Using an electric mixer or a whisk, begin whipping the egg whites with the salt. Keep whipping until they start to form soft, droopy peaks. Gradually whip in the remaining sugar until the whites are smooth and hold their shape when the whisk is lifted.
Use a rubber spatula to fold one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until the mixture is smooth and no visible white streaks remain.
Scrape the batter into pan, smooth on top, and bake for about 35 minutes, just until the cake feels slightly firm in the center. Do not overbake. Let cool in the pan before serving.

Chocolate Ganache
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (I used chocolate chunks)
1/4 cup heavy cream

Put chocolate chips in a small bowl. Bring cream to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan. Pour cream evenly over chocolate. Let stand for one minute to soften, then stir until smooth. If frosting is too loose to spread, let it sit at room temperature for 10 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, frosting will continue to thicken as it stands.

Raspberry Compote
2 pints raspberries
1 -2 tablespoon water
Sugar to sweeten

Allow to boil in saucepan until desired thickness.

Chocolate Banana Bread With Cinnamon/Sugar and Chocolate Topping

Is that title an irresistible mouthful, or what?
I am salivating just writing it. Not to mention it is baking to perfection right now, and the smell alone emanating from the oven is making me "go bananas" with anticipation.
I have a real thing for breads/desserts with bananas, chocolate and/or peanut butter as its main ingredients. Any combination will do just fine. I seriously spend a few nights per week scouring the internet for recipes. Google Search: Banana Peanut Butter/Chocolate ______, then click! click! click! on links in search if the most delicious concoctions out there. So, it's no surprise that this particular banana bread recipe called my name. I saw it and I said, "you are mine, alllllll mine." And the rest is history.
I found this recipe from the awesome new blog I discovered called Orangette (more about that later). Here it is, in all it's glory. And I must say, it a complete cinch to make!
Chocolate Banana Bread With Cinnamon & Sugar Topping:

3 ripe bananas
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For topping:
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray 8 inch bread pan.
In medium mixing bowl, mash bananas well with a fork. Add the eggs and stir well to combine. Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla. Add 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and stir. Pour the batter into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, stir together topping ingredients. Sprinkle the mixture evenly oven the batter in the pan and top with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

Bake for 35-40 minutes (although mine took quite a while longer), OR until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes.

And WA-LA! The final product - nothing to it!

This bread is a-mazing warmed up for about 25 seconds in the microwave with a little butter on top. After Eric's first bite, he became weak in the knees, fell to the floor and said "you must make this every day." That's how good it is.