Guest Post(!!): Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies.

CAKEY’S NOTE: Hi! We’re taking a break from our normally scheduled programming from the world of my kitchen and brain and giving you, with great pleasure, Cakey Bakes’ first-ever guest post, brought to you by my dear friend & partner-in-crime Kathryn, & I wouldn’t have anyone else for our first guest post. I happen to be horrendously jealous of her (don’t tell her!) art, writing, fashion, and sweet-talking skills, not to mention her dedication to everything she endeavors upon. She’s been a huge encouragement to me when it comes to blog matters as well as real-life stuff, and she’s let me use her iPhone to take pictures countless times. She is smart, clever, and all-around fabulous in every sense of the word. Oh, and she knows how to spell “pomegranate”, unlike yours truly. So without any further ado…

Kathryn: I’d like to consider myself a balanced health-freak.

Which means I work out for an hour and a half a day, eat organic and whole foods (no gluten here), and feed my cat non-chemical-doused food. I do yoga, peruse healthy-cooking blogs, volunteer at the local environmental outreach and Humane Society – if you’re looking for “organic”, here I am…or as granola as a girl who likes designer fashion and jazz can get.

Uh, yes, I’ll take “break-in at Tiffany’s” for 100, please?

But where’s the balance, you ask? In these cookies.

These decadent, delicious, sexy cookies provide the balance.

There is nothing even remotely healthy about these treats, which is why I love them so much. Smooth cocoa and rich dark chocolate combined with the dash of salt create a surprisingly soft, gooey center. And the pomegranate arils? Perfection. A little burst of tangy-sweet in every bite. Don’t be intimidated by the pomegranate, please! She may look dangerous, but trust me. You can handle her.

Horribly, irrevocably seduced yet?

Good.

Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies (recipe from How Sweet Eats)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (melted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pomegranate juice
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup pomegranate arils

(*alternatives: replace half the butter with coconut oil, switch out a lower-fat/whatever margarine for the butter, use whole-wheat OR oat flour. You can also replace up to 1/3 of the flour with almond flour, for those of us who can’t have gluten.

Dark chocolate is healthy for you. Don’t replace that sucker with anything. Shut up and enjoy it.)

Directions:

1. Cream together the melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
2. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add pomegranate juice and mix until combined.
3. Fold in chocolate chips and arils. Refrigerate dough for 2-4 hours (or less/more)**.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350, roll the dough into balls and set on baking sheet.

**I made a batch without refrigerating and they turned out fine. They were actually softer without the chill, so…take that advice as you may.

Tip: freeze any leftover dough for slice-and-bake chocolate fudge pomeganate cookies up to two weeks later!

Pair with milk, a good book, and enjoy the decadence, lovelies.

Incredibly Versatile Granola Bars.

Waiting for a call to schedule a job interview is probably one of the more stressful waiting games I’ve played. Last week, the manager of the bakery (yes, bakery!) I applied to told me he’d call me back yesterday. Yesterday, I missed his call because I was driving and couldn’t call him back until a few hours later. When I finally called him back that evening, he wasn’t there. After waiting all morning and part of the early afternoon to see if he’d return my message, I called him instead, and left another message. Needless to say, I’m a little stressed. Especially because I hate talking on the telephone.

Stressful situations call for stress-baking.

There’s something comforting about nearly upsetting everything in my cupboards as I root around for measuring cups and mixing bowls. The familiar rhythm of pouring and stirring is comparable to giving a fussing child his favorite pacifier. It’s a sort of sedative, which is why I instinctively reach for a cook book in times of anxiety.

Enter the glorious homemade granola bar.

Quaker Chewy granola bars have never been my favorite. I know, I know, I must have malformed tastebuds or something. Honestly, they’re not as flavorful or satisfying as, say, a Kashi bar. Maybe that’s the health freak in me preferring whole almonds over weird crispy things (what ingredients make up a Chewy bar, anyways?), but I honestly think it’s just the fact I prefer my granola bars to be…well, chewy. For real chewy. With identifiable ingredients.

The great thing about homemade granola bars is that you can add basically anything you want – different types of dried fruit, nuts and seeds (pecans, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds…the list goes on, and on, and on), flavorings and spices, nut butter, honey or maple syrup…it goes on forever. If it’s small enough to mix in, go for it.

The cinnamon comes through perfectly, and for once, I can say that I wouldn’t add any more. Unless you prefer to up the cinnamon. The more, the merrier.

Perfect for breakfast (I’ve been crumbling mine up like cereal & eating it with milk), snack, post-workout, whatever. The world is your…granola bar.

Homemade Granola Bars
Based off this recipe
Makes 12-16, depending on the size you cut them

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup dried fruit of your choosing (I used golden raisins and mixed berries)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, optional
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, optional
• 3/4 cup nuts and seeds (I used pecans and almonds)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 1/2 x 11 baking dish with parchment paper or grease it. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Add egg and beat well. Stir in flax and honey.
3. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, cinnamon, and baking soda; stir into creamed mixture until just blended.
4. Stir in fruit, nuts, and other add-ins.
5. Press firmly into the baking dish. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until middle is set and edges are lightly browned.
6. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Devour.

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Baking and blogging during midterms?

Challenge accepted.

One of the food staples among my friends and me here at school is bananas, one of the few fresh fruits our cafeteria offers. At one point last week, however, we realized that we had an excess of quickly ripening bananas in our dorm rooms. Of course, the logical conclusion we reached was to bake banana bread.

So, Sunday morning, we stole into one of the other dorms – one with a well-equipped, clean, roomy kitchen.

Remember Kathryn from my last post? She is a self-professed “I do not particularly enjoy baking” woman.

This recipe converted her.

What happens when you have a lot of bananas, a 26-oz jar of peanut butter, and two bags of chocolate chips?

Miracles happen, my friends. Delicious, warm, gooey miracles.

As you probably already know, proper baking things are often in short supply in college. Since there wasn’t a loaf pan in sight, I opted for a muffin tin, then decided on a round cake pan. Ok, maybe it was a metal pie pan. Honestly, at this point, it’s a miracle I know where my dorm is and how to tie my shoes. Whatever. That being said, I was a little anxious about it would turn out.

Of course, there was another snafu: no eggs, despite a desperate wild goose chase to procure a few by raiding three dorm kitchens . Not a one. Not even egg substitute. According to someone on Google, however, apparently you can use applesauce and baking powder as an egg in a pinch. Number two on the list of potentially disastrous things in this recipe.

A third “disaster”? Some of the bananas weren’t as ripe as anticipated…banana bread is only as good as its bananas. Again, thanks to Google, that was quickly remedied by throwing the bananas in the hot oven as we mixed all the ingredients. (for the full tip on ripening bananas, see the very bottom note of this post)

So, with great apprehension, Kathryn & I measured, poured, and mixed (in REAL bowls, with REAL spoons and a REAL whisk).

Unnecessary worrying, as usual. As soon as I had a taste of the batter (without any potential of contracting salmonella), I knew this was going to be a great loaf of bread.

I have a thing for peanut butter. It takes me less than a fortnight to finish a whole jar. I pile it onto bananas, toast, apples oatmeal, anything that would taste reasonably delicious with the addition of peanut paste. On particularly stressful days, I throw chocolate chips into a jar and spoon it out. Adding my favorite combination of dark chocolate and peanut butter to banana bread was a surefire way to make my favorite kind of sweet bread…even better.

This bread is scrumptious. Heavenly. Fantastic. Divine. Ambrosial (isn’t that a fantastic word?). Dessert-like, but actually healthy. Sort of like eating a peanut butter and chocolate sandwich…on banana bread. The sugar adds a spectacularly nice crunch (has anyone ever regretted topping anything sweet with sugar?). None of the flavors overpower the others; in fact, they accent one another beautifully.

This is the perfect marriage of banana, chocolate, and peanut butter, the paradigm of baking combinations. And you are invited to this celebration. A mostly guilt-free celebration, I might add: minimal butter, good fat from the olive oil, plenty of fruit, protein from the peanut butter and yogurt. Next time, I want to reduce the amount of granulated sugar – so feel free to use less sugar, more bananas, different kinds if chocolate chips…or more sugar. Whichever.

Because this was baked in a circular pan, the slices themselves looked more like scones than pieces of bread. There’s something more geometrically satisfying about eating a triangle over a rectangle or square.

I’m convinced that only the addition of walnuts or pecans could’ve made this yummier.

Oh, and more peanut butter.

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
recipe adapted from Joy the Baker
(makes one loaf pan – could also use a round cake pan or muffin tin)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour (white whole wheat, all-purpose, or a mixture – I used all-purpose)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe* bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
• 1/3 cup plain or vanilla fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup all-natural peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tbsp olive oil (or oil of your choice)
• 2 large eggs or egg substitute (since I didn’t have egg access, I used 1/2 cup applesauce + 2 tsp baking powder)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 – 1 cup dark chocolate chips (depending on your preference)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup nuts (peanuts, walnuts, pecans, or a mixture…or whatever other nuts you so desire)
• optional brown and/or turbinado to sprinkle on top

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a loaf pan; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a medium bowl, mix mashed bananas, yogurt, peanut butter, melted butter, and oil.
4. Add eggs and sugars to the banana mixture until no sugar lumps remain.
5. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until everything is well mixed. Mix in dark chocolate chips and nuts.
6. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and, if desired, sprinkle with brown and/or turbinado sugar. Bake for 55-65 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean (mine was done when the edges started peeling away from the pan).
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 20 minutes (or eat straight out of the pan), then invert loaf onto a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Toast, microwave, eat straight from the pan, slather with more peanut butter or melted butter, dip into a cold glass of milk, etc. Devour.

*NOTE: If your bananas aren’t ripe but you’re craving banana bread anyways, place them (skins still ON) on a baking sheet and stick them in a 350 degree F oven for about 45 minutes. The peels will turn black, but the inside will be ripe and sweet (and very easy to mash). Proceed with recipe.

PS: if you’re like me and express your affection for others by giving them food, this is a good recipe to whip up and send, or randomly show up on their doorstep with. It works, trust me.