It’s been a while since we featured a recipe! Especially one with “cake” in the title.

This recipe has many variations, one of which you’ve probably seen before. The one my mom always made growing up features cool whip, chocolate cake mix, crumbled Heath bars, and sweetened condensed milk plus caramel sauce drizzled in holes in the cake (hence, the “poke” portion of the name).

I usually buy a boxed cake mix for this, but why not try making our own using fair trade ingredients? Here’s a basic chocolate cake recipe from our friends at Fair Trade USA:

Ingredients

• 1 cup Organic Fair Trade Unsweetened Cocoa
• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups Fair Trade Certified sugar
• 2-1/3 cups warm water
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cups melted butter
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Fair Trade Certified vanilla
• 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 12oz jar caramel topping
• 8oz container Light Cool Whip
• 4oz Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

Mix cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in water, melted butter, and vinegar. Beat until smooth. Butter a tube cake pan and dust with flour. Bake in oven at 350° degrees for one hour or until toothpick is removed dry.

Now comes the fun part! Let your cake cool slightly. Then grab a wooden spoon and poke holes all through the cake, going down about halfway through. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce on top, then set cake aside to cool completely. Spread the cool whip over evenly over the top of the cake, then sprinkle with Heath pieces. I’ve also had this with Butterfinger instead of Heath pieces, and it’s fantastic! Feel free to get creative here.

This cake would be perfect on a warm summer evening, sitting around the patio with friends. You can plate the whole thing on our gorgeous Talavera Ceramic Serving Plate, then dish it up in individual portions in these elegant Sea Strip Capiz Bowls. Just because a dinner party is outside doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be fancy!

XO,

Casey

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Salty and Sweet is the best!

Plus an added bonus is that homemade chocolate covered pretzels make a great gift.  Just put them in a little cellophane bag (you can buy pretty ones at Michaels or online) put a ribbon on them and they make a simple, affordable gift for folks during the holidays or you can have them out as snacks at your holiday party.

How cute would fair trade chocolate covered pretzels look in one of these green and red bowls for a Christmas party?

Eva Hand Painted Bowls

Recipe:

Pretzels

Fair Trade Chocolate (dark, milk or white…it’s up to you)

Break chocolate bars into smaller pieces and melt in a double boiler.  If you don’t have a double boiler, no worries. I fill a large pot about half way with water and let it boil then place a large glass boil that can sustain high heat on top and then add the chocolate to the bowl.  Stir until fully melted.  Remove glass bowl from the pot and place on a heat safe surface. You can either drop the pretzels in the chocolate to fully cover them or use a spoon to drizzle chocolate on to the pretzels.

Let them cool and then enjoy!!

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This year may we suggest making this a Fair Trade Halloween! Fair trade chocolate is a nice way of supporting a good cause while celebrating a very fun and spooky holiday!

NaturalCandyStore.com sells Fair Trade Candies!

And why not hand your candy out in style this year?!? Consider our very fun (and from a distance very skeletal looking) bowl.

Haiti Metal Art – Coral Reef Bowl

Happy Halloween! Dawn

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Full disclosure, I have had both of the wines and chocolates and have loved them all.  I didn’t actually do the pairing; I was just sharing my musings and daydreams of doing a pairing with all of you!

The next question is how does one go about pairing the wine and chocolate.  Since I love red wine and most people I know also seem to enjoy red wine I decided to consider pairing two fair trade red wines and two fair trade chocolates together.  I received a little advice from the internet and then went from there.

I would suggest pairing Fairhills fair trade wine in Cabernet Sauvignon with Theo Chocolate’s fair trade chocolate salted almond 70% dark chocolate.

 Next I thought about what might go well with a Pinot Noir, since I am a big fan of Pinot Noir, so I thought Stellar Organics’ fair trade wine Pinotage would go well with Divine Chocolate’s fair trade chocolate in milk chocolate.

These are just a few of my favorites.  Let me know your favorite pairs and if you pair these tell me your opinion too!

Enjoy – Dawn

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Chocolate Chip Rice Krispies Treat Cookies
From the blog Spoon Fork Bacon
Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 Tablespoons
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer cream together butter and sugars. Scrape down sides of the bowl and mix in egg and vanilla.
3. In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir together until just combined.
4. Fold in the cereal, chocolate chips and marshmallows until fully incorporated. Refridgerate 30 mintues to an hour.
5. Drop 1 1/2 Tablespoon sized dollops onto a baking sheet lined with parchment, about 1 inch apart from one another (the cookies will spread).
6. Bake for 11 to 14 minutes or until cookies have barely begun to brown.
7. Allow cookies to cool for at least 5 mintues before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

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“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”

- Charles Dickens

In honor of my passion for chocolate it seemed fit to share some of the fair trade chocolates I enjoy most!

Enjoy – Dawn

My favorite! I love this chocolate!!! It is delicious and I like the crunchiness of the quinoa too.

Layers of caramel and crunch and chocolate!!!! Three delicious ingredients in one great chocolate bar!

Milk chocolate isn’t my go to chocolate, I prefer dark chocolate, but this milk chocolate is velvety and really very good!

Theo really does make very wonderful chocolate and I have always enjoyed the chocolate and nut combination that is found in their chocolate and almond bar. Salty + Sweet = Heaven!

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Summer just screams “s’mores,” don’t you think?

I know it’s not Tuesday, but I don’t think you’ll get any complaints if you make these cookies over the weekend. These are chocolatey, gooey, and delicious. They’re perfect for when you want a s’more but have better things to do than build a fire (or are fire-building-challenged, as the case seems to be with me). I made these last night since my family is coming into town, and I fear they may not make it through the day.

Recipe from Averie Cooks

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They are pretty easy to make and so so good. These cookies are a little time consuming though, but I say it is worth it! And a little shout out for the Smitten Kitchen because I really like her recipes and I find them creative, interesting and pretty easy to make, which is saying a lot because while I love to bake I don’t really like to cook.  But her recipes make we want to do both!

Fair Trade Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookie:

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter; at room temperature

(a little tip I learned from the Barefoot Contessa reagarding ‘room temperature’ leave the items out overnight to be sure they are at the correct temperture)

1 cup smooth peanut butter; at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated fair trade sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed fair trade light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 fine sea salt

Filling:

8 ounces fair trade semisweet chocolate; coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Pince of salt

Make the cookies In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy, then add the peanut butter and beat until smoothly combined.  Add the sugars and beat until combined. Add the egg and beat until the batter is smooth.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and salt. The dough will be thick and a bit crumbly. Divide the dough into two parts, placing each on a piece of plastic wrap. If you’d like to slice the cookies from a log, form each dough half into a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch log that should be about 12 inches long. Wrap each log and freeze for 30 minutes, until firm. If you’d like to roll out the cookies, flatten the packets a little and place them in the fridge for at least an hour before rolling cookies out.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper.

To Slice Cookies Slice each log of frozen cookie dough into just shy of 1/4 inch slices. I like to hold the end of the log gently with two finger as I a slice the cookies, because they are so prone to breaking.

To Roll Out Cookies First, promise me you know what you are getting into. These cookies are crumbly and the dough, it will not want to be rolled out. It helps to let it warm up a little and use as little flour as possible. And again, accept that the dough will be crumbly and keep nudging it back together until the cutouts resemble cookies. The upside of all of this crumbliness is that the cookies hold their shape nicely in the oven.

Bake Cookies Transfer the formed cookies to prepared baking sheets with a thin spatula and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  They should be a little puffed and faintly golden at the edges when they are finished.  Transfer the cookies to cooling rake and cool completely.

Make the Filling In the top of a double bolier or ina bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, butter and a pinch of salt, whisking together until they are melted and smooth.  Let the mixture cool until it is thick but spreadable.  You can speed this process up in the fridge or by setting the bowl in another bowlof ice water, but for both methods, be sure to stir frequently so that it chill evenly.

Finish the Cookies Dollop half the cookies with about 1 teaspoon of chocolate peanut buttter filling each. You can do this with a butter knife or, if you wish to be more precise, you can use a pastry bag with a round tip, or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off.  Place a second cookie over the chocolate mixture, and press the cookies gently together so that the filling approaches the edges.  Repeat with the remaining cookies. Let the cookies set until the chocolate is mostly firm.

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The Chocolate Chips from Weeks 1 & 3

The most surprising thing I found from these past several Tasty Tuesday posts was the difficulty in finding three different fair trade chocolate chips.  I went to three different stores, which all carry a large amount of fair trade items and wasn’t able to find a third type of fair trade chocolate chips.  I have heard in the past that fair trade chocolate is particularly expensive to purchase so there is less of it on the market.  I find this discouraging!

The Chocolate Chips from Week 2

But there’s good news!!! The fair trade chocolate chips that I used were very good.  I would say if I had to choose one over the other I am a bigger fan of the Guittard chocolate chips; they really are delicious.

Now for this week’s recipe from Oh She Glows:

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photo: Oh She Glows

print this recipe!

Yield: 12-14 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 7 tbsp Earth Balance + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or 1/2 cup Earth Balance- see note)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cane sugar (or use white)
• 1 flax egg: (1 tbsp ground flaxed mixed with 3 tbsp water)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the flax egg and set aside.

2. With an electric mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the Earth Balance until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and cane sugar and beat for 1-2 minutes until creamy. Beat in the flax egg.

3. Beat in the remaining ingredients and fold in the chocolate chips.

4. Shape balls of dough and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes (or up to 14 min. on a Silpat mat). Allow to cool for 5 min. on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack for another 10 minutes.

Note 1) For a crispier cookie edge, use 7 tbsp Earth Balance and 1 tbsp olive oil. I preferred cooking them this way. They also spread out a bit more. Alternatively, for a softer cookie, use 1/2 cup Earth Balance and no oil.

Note 2) To retain the crispy factor of the cookies place them in the freezer after cooling in a container or baggie. It was the only method I tried that kept the crispiness of the cookies! Simply thaw on the counter top.

Read more: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/09/08/vegan-chocolate-chip-cookies/#ixzz2Ruy71u9E

My cookies weren’t entirely vegan because I used chips with at least some traces of milk but dark chocolate chips are definitely out there for you  to use in a vegan recipe.  And I used applesauce instead of flax seed (1/4 cup applesauce = 1 egg). Also, a little shout out for Earth Balance, my family eats this on toast all the time and it really is a tasty alternative to butter. Finally, I always use the whole bag of chocolate chips in any cookies that I make!!

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The recipe I followed was the Pioneer Woman’s “Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies”, she used plain malted milk powder and I used chocolate malted milk powder. Two things worried me about this recipe: 1) would it be too malty and 2) would my addition of chocolate malt powder be too chocolate-y (if there is such a thing). The answer is NO, not too malty and not too chocolate-y, they were awesome!

And just a quick aside, I only baked the cookies for 10 minutes because I enjoy a more chewy than crispy cookie and these fair trade chocolate chip cookies came out perfectly!

Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Added by Ree on June 6, 2010 in Cookies, Desserts

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