Flourless chocolate cakes



My multiple food sensitivities result in me feeling like something of a hypocrite if I don't try to accommodate other people's dietary needs when they visit. As a result, my food-sensitive friends tend to find that I've whipped up a dessert for their sakes when they pop in. Case in point: today's gluten-intolerant guest will find that I have given Martha Stewart's Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe a second go.

This time, I baked the cakes (soufflés, really) in ramekins and added about ¼ teaspoon of salt to the egg whites before whipping them. I would have liked for the chocolate flavour to be more prominent, so I'm going to have to remember to add espresso to the chocolate the next time I bake these. I'm otherwise very happy to be able to serve them and hope our guest will be as pleased with them as I am.

Homemade blondies!



Matt's in the unfortunate position of being stuck at home today due to car troubles, but I'm taking the opportunity to make up some dairy-free baked goods!

This is a blondie recipe which I adapted and have been using for years. I found the original recipe overly sweet and have probably only ever added the walnuts once (I don't care for the slight bitterness that they add).

This time around, I replaced the butter with vegan margarine, used half of the recommended chocolate chips and substituted about ¼ cup of all-purpose flour for the equivalent amount of coconut flour. The resulting blondies were a bit more "cake-y" than usual, but were still fantastic. It was also a saltier blondie than I usually make — undoubtedly a result of the fact that I sprinkled the batter with sea salt before baking, but I like them!

I should have doubled the recipe to allow for the fact that I baked these in my tamago pan, and wouldn't add quite as much salt next time, but these certainly aren't going to go to waste!

P.S. I also got the chance to make homemade breakfast sausage this weekend (loosely based on this recipe), with organic pork belly and a mortar-and-pestle-crushed blend of fennel, sea salt, Tellicherry peppercorn, roasted garlic seasoning and paprika. It's easily the best sausage I've ever eaten.

Our first collaborative kitchen effort



I present Matt's and my first "kick at the can" at a beef and mushroom pie. Matt made the filling (with advice on food substitutions — i.e., ketchup for tomato paste — coming from me), and I made the puff pastry topping (with Matt providing me with enough baby-free time to do so).

We find out tonight how it turned out.

6:19 pm update: Awesome.