“There always seems to be someone looking over your shoulder – just waiting for an opportunity to lecture on The Darker Side of Chocolate” ~ Sandra Boynton, American artist and children’s author (1953 – )

We’ve all heard the ins and outs of whether chocolate is good for us, or not. High in added fats and sugar… but also there are the nutrients that almost make it sound like medicine — heart healthy antioxidants, Vitamin E, and flavonids, to name a few. In moderation, it can be a beautiful thing. Repeat the part about “in moderation” a few times before continuing on, because in a matter of seconds, we’re going to forget it.

One of the most memorable desserts I’ve ever had was the year my grandmother made chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse for Easter. It was probably close to 50 years ago, but I still remember my sense of awe. And some things, no matter how modernized we become, cannot be improved upon.

When we make desserts ourselves, we have more control over the ingredients, freeing us to choose Fair Trade, Equal Exchange, and certified organic. Not many places you can find that outside of our own kitchens, is there?

These beauties are put together with mere minutes of effort, but they do require that they are made a little ahead of when you want to serve them. One of the reasons we particularly like making these with the SunSpire chocolate chips is because they get soft a lot faster than some other brand, so with the ice cream, they aren’t rock hard.

Chocolate Cups

For each serving:

2 tablespoon of SunSpire chocolate chips
1 scoop of ice cream (see below)
1 teaspoon of chocolate sauce
1 teaspoon chopped peanuts

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth. Pour into the bottom of a foil cupcake liner, and spread to completely coat the sides. Place in the freezer until hard, about 20 minutes. Gently remove the foil before filling.

Instead of foil cups, you can use candy molds designed especially for this purpose. They come in a variety of sizes and increase our options…

To make dessert preparation easier than Granny’s, we filled our chocolate cups with peanut butter ice cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup, and sprinkled with peanuts to make a peanut butter cup like you’ve never imagined. You can, of course, use your favorite prepared ice cream, but this one is non-dairy and will knock your socks off. It is worth hauling out the ice cream maker, or even borrowing one from the neighbor you know you’ll have to listen to complain about politics for 40 minutes. Yes, it is THAT good.

Perfect Peanut Butter Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart

1 can organic coconut milk
½ cup Wholesome Organic Brown Sugar
1 cup organic peanut butter
1 ½ cups plain , unsweetened, or vanilla So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vodka (optional — helps keep the ice cream from freezing too hard)

Measure the canned coconut milk, brown sugar, and peanut butter into a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently just until everything has melted and blended together. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Chill for at least 4 hours. Process in your ice cream maker as directed.

Party perfect!

“Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarieties between the two but can’t remember what they are.” ~ Matt Lauer, American journalist and television news personality (1957 – )

The oven turned off mid-way through baking cupcakes and we didn’t notice it until too late. When I showed the Mosaic Dad the disaster, he responded with, “Those aren’t wrecked, they’re just concave!” With that much sweetness in the house, you wouldn’t think we’d even need dessert. Oh, but we do…

So Delicious Coconut Milk Minis Fudge bars to the rescue!  They’re a tasty, cold treat in a size that doesn’t make us feel like we’ve overindulged (like a cupcake), but they’re very plain (unlike a cupcake). That’s where the chocolate chips and California walnuts come in.

Decorated Fudge Bars

Serves 6
Time: 5 minutes

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup finely chopped California walnuts
 6 solidly frozen So Delicious Minis Fudge bars

Place a paper lined baking sheet on a shelf in the freezer where it can lay flat.

Melt the chocolate chips on the stovetop or in the microwave, stirring occasionally until they are velvety smooth.

Spoon the melted chocolate in a design over one fudge bar and immediately sprinkle with the chopped nuts. Place on the baking sheet in the freezer. Repeat with the remaining five bars.

Serve immediately, or allow the chocolate to fully harden and then place the bars in a sealable plastic bag to save for another time.

“A computer lets you make more mistakes faster then any other human invention in history…with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.” ~ Mitch Ratcliffe, technology journalist and more.

Back in the 1970’s, my mother learned about brandied peaches. I remember her getting very excited about the idea, and making them regularly for many years. As a teenager, I loved them because I was pretty sure I got drunk on them, even though they were always used as a garnish so the effect was unlikely.

Fast forward 40 years.

We’re preparing to move from Michigan to Colorado and part of that process involves emptying the liquor pantry. If not impractical, it would probably be illegal to bring half-full bottles of gin, rum, vodka, and tequila with us across 5 states.

So it was, that with a combination of memory and necessity, invention happened in the form of Tequila’d Peaches – and it is correct to say that the result was nothing short of, “Oh, yeah!”

NOTE: Kindly remember that this, as with any dish containing alcohol, may not be appropriate for everyone.

Tequila’d Peaches

Serves 4
Time: 15 minutes active + 3 days resting

3 ripe peaches
¼ cup sugar
½ cup tequila

Peel the peaches: This is done most easily by putting the peaches into boiling water for 3 minutes, then plunging them into a bowl of ice water. The skin can be slipped off this way instead of using a knife.

Cut the peeled peaches into slices or cubes, as you prefer, and place them into a pint jar. Top with the sugar and then pour the tequila over all. Seal the jar with a tight fitting lid, shake gently to disburse the sugar, and refrigerate for 3 days.

Eat the Tequila’d Peaches plain, use to top ice cream, or, as we did, to garnish Rice Cream Pudding from page 126 in the Mosaic Meals cookbook. While you’re waiting for the peaches to be ready, you can check out the really nice review of the cookbook and this blog on the Flour Tortilla blogspot.

If you have syrup leftover after the peaches have been eaten, simply add more peaches or other fruit (we’re going to try pitted sweet cherries next) to keep the love going a little longer!

“Spring can’t come to the phone right now…
She’s flown to distant hills
to dabble speckles on a fawn
and fling out daisy spills.”
~ from the poem “Spring Can’t Come to the Phone Right Now” by Charlotte Partin

Happy Earth Day! Are you ready for some warm spring sun? Perhaps we’re jumping the gun a little with this icy dessert, but think of it as a little bit of sunshine in a bowl.

If you’re hoping for a dessert that almost everyone who happens into your kitchen can eat, this would be the one. It is free from flour, gluten, dairy, and eggs.

Granita is an Italian ice with many variations, but really need not be complicated to be beautiful in presentation with a clean, fresh flavor. One of the reasons we like using orange juice for this is because it doesn’t require any added sugar, which means it also doesn’t require any cooking.

Making a granita doesn’t require any special equipment — just a freezer, a baking dish, and a fork.

The orange liquor is entirely optional. We like to add it to put an adult spin on it, but also because the “anti-freeze” effect of the alcohol makes the granita a little easier to scrape. By all means, leave it out if there is any question of its appropriateness for the people who will be eating it.

Orange Granita
Serves 6
Time: 10 minutes active + 2 hours freezing time

3 cups orange juice
2 tablespoons orange liquor (optional)

Sprigs of mint leaves or small chocolates to garnish

Pour orange juice into a 9 inch square baking pan. Stir in the orange liquor, if using, and place the mixture on a shelf in the freezer. After ½ hour, stir the mixture with a fork and scrape the frozen portions away from the sides into the center. Return to the freezer and repeat the stirring and scraping every 30 minutes three more times. Cover and allow to freeze until ready to use.

Remove from the freezer and scrape the surface of the frozen juice with a fork to create icy flakes. Spoon into serving dishes and garnish with sprigs of mint leaves or small chocolates.