Don’t worry; it’s not graded!

The above is a compilation of all the chocolate various relatives and friends sent me for Christmas.

They know me so well .

I haven’t tried the face mask yet, but the strawberry-chocolate tea is really fun. (Apparently, it comes in a red velvet flavor, too.) And the Endangered Species chocolate-peppermint crunch bars are delicious! Why on earth had I never bought them before?

I bet they would be incredible in my Magic Chocolate Pie.

‘Cause the only thing better than chocolate is mint-chocolate. (Ok, and raspberry-chocolate, and coconut-chocolate, and coffee-chocolate, and… I’d better stop now, or I could go on forever.)

Are you a chocoholic?

Below, I’ve created a quiz for you.

You know you’re a chocoholic if…

• Your top 3 favorite desserts are chocolate pie, chocolate fudge, and chocolate brownies.
• You’ve contemplated adding cocoa powder to your peppermint toothpaste.
• You walk into Bath and Body Works just to smell the chocolate candles.
• You have at least ten different types of chocolate bars in your pantry… and none of them lasts very long!
• You’ve thought about naming a future child “Godiva.”
• You accidentally drop a piece of chocolate on the ground and then eat it anyway.
• Your idea of a balanced diet is holding a chocolate bar in each hand.
• Your friends hide their chocolate whenever you come over.
• You believe chocolate is a perfectly acceptable breakfast food.
• You have a special chocolate recipe tab…

Here’s mine: Chocolate Recipes.

Warning!

Do not click the above link unless you are a true chocoholic!

But do try a slice of my Triple Mousse Fudge Cake.

It just so happens that today is National Chocolate Cake Day!

Question of the Day:

Are you a chocoholic?

Chocolate is the answer to every problem.

No seriously, it is.

—-Boyfriend broke up with you? Chocolate!

—-No time to make dinner? Chocolate!

—-Spilled red wine all over your tablecloth? Baking soda!

???

Okay, maybe chocolate is the answer to almost every problem. (Please don’t try putting chocolate on your red wine stains. Not a good idea!)

Above, with vegan whip cream and Chocolate-Raspberry Sauce.

Yum yum yum……

But when it’s been raining all day, and you and your roommate are stuck inside (as we were yesterday), chocolate is definitely the answer.

Chocolate and Desperate Housewives.

We’re on season 7 of the DVDs, trying to make them last as long as possible.

The Perfect Hot Chocolate

(Serves 1)

Based on this recipe.

• 2/3 cup milk of choice
• 1/3 cup full-fat canned coconut milk (for notes on lower-cal options, see nutritional info link below)
• 2 T cocoa powder
• 1/16 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• sweetener, such as 1 stevia packet or 1 tablespoon sugar or agave

Combine all ingredients and stir. Either cook on the stovetop, or: microwave 30 seconds, stir, microwave 30 more seconds, stir, microwave 30 more seconds or until hot and completely mixed.

Click to see the hot chocolate’s Calories and Nutrition Facts.

And if you’re still craving hot chocolate…

Try a batch of these devilish Hot Chocolate Cookies.

Question of the Day:

What tv shows do you watch?

Emily (my roommate) and I watch Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives on dvd, and I really liked West Wing when it was still on. But Friends will always be my #1 favorite show.

By today’s standards, I guess I don’t really watch much tv. I’ve never seen a single episode of Real Housewives or Keeping up with the Kardashians. I saw a scene from Jersey Shore once… everyone was yelling and hitting each other. It was super-weird!

How to stay warm in the winter:

Option One: Hats and scarves!

I must have about a billion scarves (and lots of winter hats as well). To me, scarves are the only fun part of cold weather. Otherwise I’d be happy if it were 75 degrees all year long.

And they double as photography props, like in this oatmeal photo.

But there is another way to stay warm…

Option Two: Henry and Batman choose to park their butts in front of the heat dish.

All. Day. Long.

They even exercise in front of it:

Strrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrretch!

(Henry is very good at downward facing dog.)

Batman is just very good at being cute.

I haven’t been posting many photos of them lately, because they live at my parents’ house and I often forget to bring my camera when I visit. But they’re just as adorable as always!

Option Three: Pumpkin Bread in a Bowl.

It’s one of my favorite warm breakfasts, and it tastes especially good with raisins. Or chocolate chips, of course! I’d share with Batman and Henry… however, they won’t even leave the heat dish for food. Their hierarchy: heat > food > walks > everything else.

Question of the Day:

Do you like scarves? And winter hats?

Tomorrow: Another way to stay warm… A chocolate way .

Happy Peanut Butter Day!

If I’d known it was National Peanut Butter Day earlier than last night (when a reader told me about it), I would’ve made you an awesome new recipe. Instead, I’ll highlight some of my previously-posted pb recipes… and I’ll give you an IOU for that new recipe! 

                                       Chocolate-PB Fudge

Start celebrating early. Who says you can’t eat chocolate fudge for breakfast? (No really, who says? That person has some explainin’ to do!)

                                    PB Frozen Hot Chocolate

After your chocolate fudge breakfast, you’ll want dessert. Right?

                                 Chocolate-PB No Bakes

Lunch, perhaps? A person’s gotta have lunch! And one cookie is definitely not enough for a lunch… you’ll need to have five or six. Or seven.

                               Low-Calorie PB Ice Cream

No ice cream maker required!

                                Secret Peanut Butter Cookies

If you make these cookies, keep it a secret. Then you won’t have to share. And these are so good that you won’t want to share.

                                                PB & J Fudge

Like the pbj sandwiches of your childhood… except this is fudge!

                                             PB Cookie Milkshake

This healthy shake really does taste like you’re drinking a thick peanut butter milkshake. And really, what could be better than that? Well, maybe if it were chocolate peanut butter… 

Question of the Day:

How are you going to celebrate National Peanut Butter Day?

Here’s a list of all my pb recipes: Peanut Butter Recipes.

Imagine yourself eating your favorite granola…

Are you picturing it?

Now imagine eating your favorite granola… in the form of a yummy granola bar!

Nature Valley Granola Bars

Do you know the ones I’m talking about?

Those crunchy bars in the green wrappers? My friend Sarah calls them “horse food” because they’re made up of oats and sugar—things that horses like to eat. But the following granola bar recipe is much too good to share with horses. Sorry, horses.

Soccer Fuel

When I was in high school (it seems like a lifetime ago!), I played on the varsity soccer team, and our daily practices fell right after school. So I got in the habit of grabbing a bar—often a Nature Valley granola bar—to munch in the locker room while dressing out.

I’d completely forgotten about my past with Nature Valley until a few days ago, when I tasted an attempt at what was supposed to be a chewy granola bar.

“Woah, these taste exactly like Nature Valley oats-n-honey bars,” my roommate proclaimed after trying a bite. “Except, maybe these are even better!”

(She quickly proceeded to eat two whole bars.)

Copycat Nature Valley Granola Bars

Can be a gluten-free recipe.

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup rice crispies (I used brown rice crispies)
• 3 T oat flour (You can make your own by grinding oats in a food processor*.)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 T virgin coconut oil (or veg oil)
• 3 T agave (or other liquid sweetener)
• 1 packet stevia (or 1 T dry sweetener)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients, then mix in wet. Transfer to a baking dish (lined with wax paper), and press down. Squish HARD. Hard hard hard. Then cook for around 18 minutes. Wait at least 20 minutes before trying to cut into bars.

Click to see the granola bars’ Calories and Nutrition Facts.

*If making oat flour, measure the 3T after grinding.

Other bars I’ve done:

Homemade Luna Bars

Homemade Larabars

What should be next?

What are some of your favorite snack bars?

Larabars? Clif Bars? Mine are definitely Chocolate Wild Bars.

I just wish they weren’t so darn expensive!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

Is it snowing where you are?

As usual, Dallas weather doesn’t know what it wants to do. So it vacillates from 25 to 75 and back again. Shorts one day, fleece pants the next. Always on our toes.

No snow here yet, but I do have white powder of a different sort: sugar-free powdered sugar. (Oxymoron?)

Every Christmas for as long as I can remember, my mom has made multiple batches of pixie cookies (the little chocolate crinkle cookies, dusted with powdered sugar). Last month I decided it was time to try creating a healthier, vegan version of those crowd-friendly chocolate pixies. In my quest to “healthify” the recipe, I landed on an about.com article describing how to turn Splenda into powdered sugar. This got me to thinking, “If you can do it with Splenda, why not with other sweeteners?”

So I tried it, first with Sucanat and then with Xylitol. Both times, it worked! 

Sugar-Free Powdered Sugar

(Almost instant!)

A new addition to: My Sugar-Free Recipes.

• 1 cup xylitol or Sucanat (It’s 100% sugar-free if you use xylitol. This technique works with regular sugar too, or evaporated cane juice or even brown sugar. So if you find yourself in the middle of baking something and you run out of powdered sugar, just make your own!)
• 1-2 tsp arrowroot or cornstarch (You can omit this, but the texture will be better if you don’t.)

Whir the ingredients in a blender. (I used a Vita-Mix.) It’ll smoke a little, but that’s ok. You should have powdered sugar in a matter of seconds! I guess it’s actually too simple to really even be called a “recipe.” I haven’t tried baking with the xylitol version, but you can definitely use it to sprinkle on anything you’d normally sprinkle with powdered sugar:

Such as the above: Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal.

But like I said, I didn’t use the powdered sugar for oatmeal; it was used for Chocolate Pixie Cookies. Hopefully I can get that post up soon… I need to make more cookies first, because the Christmas ones all disappeared before I had a chance to snap a photo!

Tomorrow:

What would you rather see: cookies or granola bars?

I know I ask for your opinions a lot… I hate making decisions!

Wouldn’t you like to eat this entire chocolate cake in a single sitting?

Actually, you can.

This decadent cake can be made in under 5 minutes.

And it serves just one person.

Unless you’re crazy and decide to share…

You’re not crazy, are you?

Yeah, me neither .

When I heard that today was National Coffee Break Day, my first thought was to write a post highlighting all of my previously-published coffee recipes. But then I decided posting a new recipe would be much more fun… especially if said new recipe involved coffee and chocolate! (Chocolate’s always more fun.)

So I came up with something I’d been meaning to try for a while: a mocha version of the popular One-Minute Chocolate Cake:

Watch out, guys… this one’s even better than the original!

One-Minute Mocha Cake

(can be gluten-free!)

Topped with my favorite Four-Ingredient Ice Cream.

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons spelt flour (or white, or even peanut flour)
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp evaporated cane juice (or sugar)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 stevia packet (or 1 more tablespoon sugar)
• 1 tablespoon coconut or veg oil (Edit: many commenters have said it still tastes good if you sub applesauce or mashed banana. But I can’t personally vouch for the results if you make that substitution.)
• 3 tablespoons milk of choice (I used almond milk)
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. Add liquid, stir, then transfer to a little dish, ramekin, or even a coffee mug. Microwave 45-50 seconds (or more, depending on how powerful your microwave is). If you don’t want to eat it straight out of the dish, be sure to spray your dish first (and then wait for the cake to cool before trying to remove it).

See the original version’s post for: Calories and Nutrition Information.

In honor of today, serve with Copycat Starbucks Frappuccinos.

Question of the Day:

What are your favorite sources of caffeine?

Coffee? Tea? Chocolate? If you don’t already know mine, you must have forgotten what blog you are on .

Did I mention it’s completely flourless?

Southern Comfort Food

If you were to peek inside the kitchen pantry of my childhood, I guarantee you’d find at least one box of Jiffy corn muffin mix. Although we rarely ate packaged foods (my mom preferred to cook from scratch), the Jiffy mix was an exception.

Now that I’m grown up and living on my own, I haven’t bought Jiffy in years. The mix is neither healthy nor vegan. (One of the main ingredients is hydrogenated lard. Eww!)

However, I craved it when I made my Sweet Potato Chili.

With temperatures dipping into the 20s, last week was a perfect time to experiment and create healthy cornbread recipe. I went through three trials before coming up with the recipe below, which was a huge hit. My roommate describes it as being “totally, totally addictive.”

If you make this, I hope you’ll feel the same way!

You know you want me…

Totally Addictive Cornbread

(gluten-free!)

• 1 cup milk of choice (I used almond milk.)
• 1 tabespoon white vinegar
• 2 cups fine or medium cornmeal (I used whole-grain, but regular is ok.)
• 2 T baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice or regular sugar (I like my cornbread southern-style, with zero sweetness, so I like to omit this. But everyone else who tried the recipe preferred the sweetened version. I’d recommend leaving it in, especially if you’re making this recipe for the first time.)
• 1 and 1/2 packets stevia (or 2 more T sweetener)
• 11-oz can corn, drained (not unsalted)
• 2 T coconut or canola/veg oil (see nutrition link below, for a fat-free option)
• 1/4 cup applesauce

Mix the vinegar with the milk, and set aside. Combine dry ingredients and mix very well. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, applesauce, corn (pulverized if you wish), and milk-vinegar. Then pour the wet into dry and mix until just mixed. Pour into a greased 8×8 dish and cook at 420 F (preheated) for about 25 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before trying to cut, or it will crumble. (Side note: true southern cornbread is supposed to be crumbly. If you prefer cake-like cornbread, click the ”calories and nutrition facts” link below, as I’ve posted my non-crumbly cornbread recipe on the linked page.)

Click the following to see the Calories and Nutrition Facts.

Question of the Day:

What do you like to eat when it’s cold out?

One of my favorites: 5-Minute Chocolate Oatmeal.

I also love chili, hot soup or stew (especially with carrots), and caramelized roast veggies. Oh, and anything chocolate. Chocolate is a year-round thing!

Did you see my crazy blog? On Friday and Saturday, my website looked awful. Little by little, a bug ate up all my posts, pictures, and even my header, replacing them with random images. (A tire? A pine cone?!)

I try not to bore you with talk of technical difficulties on my blog. After all, you’re here for the recipes, not for a lesson in computers. But today I feel it needs to be addressed, since so many of you have recently been reporting 404 errors when you click on a recipe link. Please accept my apologies for all the trouble, and know that I’m doing everything I can to fix it as soon as possible.

When Good = Bad:

In the past few months, traffic on my blog has grown so incredibly fast. It’s crazy; I’ve had to upgrade server packages four times in the last two months to keep up!

But there’s a downside to this growth: a person needs to know quite a lot about technology to manage all the wild things that can happen to a high-traffic site. I’m struggling to learn it all as fast as I can. And every time a reader sends me an email addressed to my webmaster, I have to laugh. Webmaster? Unfortunately, I’m the only webmaster for chocolatecoveredkatie.com… and that’s a scary thought, considering I didn’t even know what HTML stood for until last year.

(Honestly, it’s amazing my site runs at all!)

C-panels, dedicated servers, caches… who knew running a food blog required so much technical knowledge? I really appreciate your patience as I try to fix all the craziness with my blog. And if anyone has an idea as to why people are suddenly getting 404 errors on pages that DO exist, please let me know! I’ve tried so many different ways to fix it—and nothing has worked.

For your patience in sticking with me, I promise you a really yummy post tomorrow .

Also, sorry for the delay in ending the Cappuccino Larabar Giveaway.

Question of the Day:

Are you good with computers?

Or are you clueless, like me? Actually, to be fair to myself, I’m not clueless anymore; I’ve learned a lot. But oh my word, was I ever clueless when I started this blog!

Also: Is my site working ok for you now? Or are you still getting error messages?

Tequila?

What’s that?

Healthy Frosting Shots?

Maybe you’ve heard of the popular bakery, Sprinkles? At this bakery, they sell something known as a frosting shot. It’s genius… How many times have you eaten a cupcake, only to say, “Gosh I wish this cupcake had less cake and more frosting”? Enter the frosting shot: a small glass filled to the brim (and beyond!) with—you guessed it—frosting.

Yesterday, I made my own frosting shots:

Thick Chocolate Frosting…

Try this on my delicious Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes.

Or skip the cupcake, like I did, and simply serve yourself a big glass of unadulterated chocolate bliss. Cupcakes? Who the heck needs ‘em when there’s rich, chocolatey frosting around? They’d just get in the way!

Chocolate Mousse Frosting

(or just chocolate mousse)

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/4 cup plus 1 T cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• sweetener to taste (I used a little stevia, but any dry sweetener will do.)

Open the coconut milk, and leave the can (or transfer to a bowl) uncovered in the fridge overnight. (Don’t shake the can before opening.) It should get very, very thick. (If it doesn’t, you’ve gotten a bad can that won’t work for the recipe. I highly recommend Thai Kitchen, or especially Thai Kitchen Organic.) Once thick, transfer to a bowl (you can opt to leave out the watery bit at the bottom of the can, if you want it even thicker) and whip in your cocoa, vanilla, and sweetener with a fork, or even beaters if you want to be fancy. (For the photos on this page, I didn’t use beaters. But I did pipe the mousse out using an icing tip.) Stored uncovered in the fridge, the mixture gets even thicker.

Click if you’d prefer a recipe for: Healthy Vanilla Frosting.

I know that not everyone prefers chocolate!

Frosting or cupcakes?

What would you rather have?

Side note: I just updated My FAQ Page.

I was surprised how many people were asking the same question: Is chocolate vegan? Oh goodness, yes. Chocolate most definitely is vegan!! If you learn just one thing from reading my blog, let it be that!