Cheating on Cupcakes

All you need is cupcake mix and a bottle of sprite!

Add about 8 fl. ounces of sprite into the cupcake batter (23 servings), pop it into the oven, and wait for magic.

No eggs, no oil, just sprite.

And it's delicious. 

PODCAST - Promoting Healthy Eating for the Youth

How Chocolate is Made

Chocolate is an essential element in the world of desserts. But did you know that the chocolate bean is actually extremely bitter? It started off in the forests of the Aztecs, being an essential part of their rituals. They're the ones that actually discovered it, and used it as a consumer product. It first started out as a hot, bitter drink, meant for the wealthy, and eventually turned into currency. When the Spanish explorer, Cortez arrived, the Aztecs thought he was a God, and treated him to chocolate.  He took the ingredient back to Spain, and it became extremely popular. They added sugar to the chocolate drink to suit their taste. The news of chocolate spread in France, and they added condensed milk to the chocolate drink, and it became hot cocoa. In the 1800's, technological advancements allowed chocolate to become solid, and around the same time, the Swiss added dried milk to chocolate, creating milk chocolate. (sokol, 2006)


From Bitter to Sweet

• First, the pods of that come from the cacao tree are plucked and opened. The beans are inside the pods. "The pods are about the size of a football. (The World Atlas of Chocolate).
• The beans then go through a fermenting process. "They are either placed in large, shallow, heated trays or covered with large banana leaves. If the climate is right, they may be simply heated by the sun. Workers come along periodically and stir them up so that all of the beans come out equally fermented. During fermentation is when the beans turn brown. This process may take five or eight days (The World Atlas of Chocolate)."
• The beans are dried after being fermented so they can be shipped to the manufacturers. The farmers place them in trays and leave them in the sun to dry (The World Atlas of Chocolate)."

Manufacturing

• The cocoa beans are inspected and cleaned, and are roasted afterwards (World Cocoa Foundation).
• Once the beans have been roasted and shelled, the heat from the processor causes the cocoa butter in the nib (the center of the bean) to melt, which is "cocoa liquor" (World Cocoa Foundation).
• The cocoa liquor is then fed in hydraulic presses that remove the cocoa butter (but leave 2 - 4%), which is stored in a liquid form (World Cocoa Foundation).
• Then, to manufacture the chocolate, the cocoa liquor is mixed with cocoa butter and sugar. To make milk chocolate, sweetened condensed, or powdered milk is added, depending on their preferred taste (World Cocoa Foundation).
• The liquor is blended with sugar and pre-condensed milk, and dried on heated rollers to produce the actual European flavors (World Cocoa Foundation).
• After that mixing process, the reduced product is placed in "conches", which are large agitators that stir the mixture under heat, which causes the chocolate mixture to become extremely smooth (World Cocoa Foundation).
• The chocolate is complete. It is then "shipped in tanks or tempered and poured into molds for sale in blocks to confectioners, dairies, or bakers. It may also be converted into proprietary bars for sale direct to the consumer market (World Cocoa Foundation)."

Did You Know?

• More than twice as many women crave chocolate than men (Food Editorials.com).
• Almost half of the world's chocolate is consumed in America (Food Editorials.com).
• A cocoa pod contains about 42 beans. About 270 pods are needed in order to make one pound of chocolate (Food Editorials.com).
• A dark chocolate bar has approximately 10-15g of sugar. A glass of orange juice has about 22g of sugar (20-20 Site, 2012).
• Chocolate is a natural form if anti-depressant. It produces serotonin –a chemical that elevates the mood. It is also referred to as the "happy chemical." Now that is a happy fun chocolate fact (20-20 Site, 2012).

Sources:


sokol (2006, Feb 6 ). Youtube: Chocolate Production [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tez9RZZIwC8

World Cocoa Foundation (n.d.a.). How Chocolate is Made. Retrieved from http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/learn-about-cocoa/tree-to-table/how-chocolate-is-made.asp


The World Atlas of Chocolate (n.d.a.). The Production of Chocolate. Retrieved from http://www.sfu.ca/geog351fall03/groups-webpages/gp8/prod/prod.htm


20-20 Site (2012). Fun Chocolate Facts. Retrieved from http://www.2020site.org/fun-facts/Fun-Chocolate-Facts.html


Food Editorials.com: The Yummy Food Guide (2012). 20 Chocolate Facts. Retrieved from http://www.streetdirectory.com/food_editorials/snacks/chocolates/20_chocolate_facts.html

Interview with Healthy Desserts Baker: Sam Al-Nahi

Q: What do you generally bake?
A: I bake everything from cakes to casseroles. I have three young ones that constantly keep me on the go. I try my best to help them make healthy choices, but at the same time, I don't want them to be deprived of any food. For this reason, I bake a lot of things, especially desserts, and try my best to duplicate (or improve) the taste. 


Q: As a Mom, what kind of desserts do your kids prefer?
A: Anything that involves chocolate. They can have some now and then. Usually, I substitute all of their sweets with fruits, brown sugar, and honey.


Q: What is your favorite dessert to make?
A: Why cherry cobbler, of course! 


Q: What made you to start cooking healthy?
A: I've always eaten healthy food growing up, so I have always been cooking healthy foods. 


Q: What advice would you give people who have a sweet tooth, but want to stay healthy?
A: Substitutes. It's all about the substitutes. Also, using organic foods makes a huge difference. The more you practice making healthy choices, the better you become at it. It gets so much easier after a few weeks, and by a month, you wouldn't even notice. Just keep your head in the game, have your goals set, and shoot for the target. 


Q: Do you have a key ingredient that you use in desserts that help its healthiness?
A: You can replace regular sugar with brown sugar, and I actually prefer the taste of brown sugar. A lot of people also use Splenda, but I can always taste the difference, and I really don't like it. But for people that do, go crazy. Frozen yogurt can always replace ice cream. And like I said before, condensed milk instead of cream.  


Q: What desserts do you chose when you eat out?
A: Oh, when I eat out, which is rare, I don't really eat healthy desserts. But on some occasions, I mostly eat desserts that involve fruit, berries, yogurt, nuts, and/or honey.

Lactose Intolerance

It seems impossible to actually think of dairy free products for calming the sweet tooth. Thankfully, those of you that are lactose intolerant don't have to be deprived. There are ways to eat your favorite types of desserts and get the same wonderful taste.

First and foremost, it is extremely important for everyone to be aware of lactose intolerance. Just a bit of knowledge can save lives.

Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose, which is a particular sugar found in milk and milk products (NDDIC: "What is lactose intolerance?", 2009). The majority of desserts have milk as an important component, which is why it's a rather big deal for being aware of lactose free desserts. I actually ran into a situation where I didn't know a friend of mine was lactose intolerant, and let's just say it didn't turn out alright. 

For starters, be aware of some product brands that will help everyone free to enjoy their food.

• LACTAID Products: Not only do they have 100% lactose free milk, but they also have an entire array of other lactose free dairy products from eggnog, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, and etc. (LACTAID - "Our Products", 2012). What I love about their website is the amazing list of recipes they offer (LACTAID - "Recipes", 2012). They even have chewable supplement pills that can ease discomfort in the digestive system. LactoseIntolerant.com says that "they are pretty tasteless, but sometimes a bit hard on the first chew; the chewable pills can also be swallowed if you prefer (LactoseIntolerant.org - "Lactase Supplements, 2012)."

• Organic Valley: I've actually heard many compliments about this brand, but it's a little more expensive. Organic Valley actually has an even wider range of milk products (Organic Valley, 2012).

• Land O Lakes: Dairy Ease: I would safely say that this brand is the one that's the most easily found in local grocery stores. Although they don't really have a very wide array of products, they're priced very reasonably (Land O Lakes - "Dairy Ease", 2012).

i hope everyone understands that they should consider all the possibilities before cooking. If you're catering, always always ask if you should be aware of any allergies or medical problems.

Sources:


National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (2009, June). Lactose Intolerance. Retrieved from http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/lactoseintolerance/#what

LACTAID: Our Products (2012). Product Pantry. Retrieved from http://www.lactaid.com/products-home#Products


LACTAID: Recipes (2012). Recipe Collection. Retrieved from http://lactaid.tastebook.com/


LactoseIntolerant.org (2012). Lactase Supplements. Retrieved from http://www.lactoseintolerant.org/understanding-lactose-intolerance/dealing-with-lactose-intolerance/lactose-substitutes/


Organic Valley: Products (2012). Lactose Free. Retrieved from http://www.organicvalley.coop/products/milk/lactose-free/


Land O Lakes: Products (2012). Dairy Ease. Retrieved from http://www.dairyease.com/products/

Interview with a Professional Dessert Maker: Nida Riaz

Q: What are your favorite desserts to make?
A: Well, to name some off the top of my head, I absolutely love making peach cobbler, tapioca pudding, angel cake, brownies, tapioca pudding, honey cake, coconut macaroons, and rhubarb crumble. Of course, some of them are very tedious, but it all pays off in the end.

Q: What is the most tedious dessert to make?

A: I would definitely have to say any type of soufflé just because it’s so easy to mess it up. You have to be very careful in each step you take. The most tedious part about it is actually when the dessert is almost finished, which during baking time.  If it over-bakes, the soufflé would just spew over the bowls. If it under-bakes, it would sink in. Oh, another very tedious dessert to make is the syrup for crème caramel. You have to keep the consistency going, and it requires a lot of patience. As for the crème caramel, boiling milk can be a bit overbearing if you’re a beginner in dessert making, or just cooking with milk in general.

Q: What is the easiest dessert to make?

A: One of my favorites, peach cobbler.

Q: How do you make it?

A: You only need 3 ingredients!  Vanilla cake mix, peaches, and butter.  

1.       Butter the dish you’re going to make it in. It involves just layering, no mixing. Depending on how many people you are serving or how big the dish is, it can take half of the cake mix or one full box of cake mix.

2.       Layer half of the vanilla cake mix on the dish. Just drop the powder into the baking dish, and make sure it covers the bottom completely.

3.       Lay the peaches (canned or fresh) down side to side until the powder on the bottom is completely covered.

4.       Take the rest of the cake mix and pour it over the peaches. There may be cases where you may need more cake mix on the top, so be careful about how you divide it in the first step.

5.       Take about 3 sticks of butter, and cut them into small squares, and put them on top.

6.       Pop it in the oven, and eat to your heart’s desires. Don’t forget to have it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Q: What is your most popular dish among customers?

A: Usually, it’s cupcakes and cakes. Most people want them for parties. Pastries are quite popular as well.

Q: What is your favorite thing about making desserts?

A: I have a huge sweet tooth. Also, I love the satisfaction out of a successful dessert. There are just so many things I love about making desserts. To start, it really calms me down. I just unconsciously cook sweet things and ponder about life, haha!

Guest Blogger, Matthew Prince: Cookies Like You Know What You're Doing

Today, I had the joy to have a guest blogger, my good friend Matt! 

He's gonna show us how to make sugar cookies. From scratch! That's right folks, so pay good attention. It's about to get messy. 

Check out his blog, Cook Like You Know What You're Doing.

There comes a time in every person’s life where the desire for sweets becomes overbearing. Instead of spending a ridiculous amount for store-bought cookies, let’s make some ourselves.

Cheaper, more fun to make, and by far better than the factory productions, this simple recipe for sugar cookies revolves heavily around my hero, Alton Brown and his sugar cookies, doctored a little bit to suit our needs as beginning cooks.

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon of Baking Soda
• 1 Stick (8 tablespoons or ½ cup) Butter, unsalted
• A grand total of 1 ½ cups of sugar. You can use white or brown sugar, but I find a full cup of white sugar and ½ cup of brown makes the cookies soft, yet chewy, as opposed to all white sugar making the cookies fluffy, or all brown sugar making the cookies hard and chewy.
• 1 large egg, possibly 2 depending on the size of the eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, real or imitation extract, either works.

Supplies:

• Two large mixing bowls, preferably made out of microwave-safe material
• At least two 9x13 inch cookie sheets. You can use any size you like, but this recipe makes a fairly large batch, so make sure you have enough cookie sheet area to compensate.
• Either extra butter, non-stick spray, or some other oil to keep the cookies from sticking to the pan.
• A fork or a whisk, something to break up the butter in later stages
• A microwave (Optional, but helpful)
• An oven. I don’t plan to show you how to make cookies without an oven anytime soon, as I don’t know how to do it myself!
• A sheet of paper to write these instructions down. These can be as simple or as complex as you like, but as long as the message is still relayed.

Figure 1: Here’s my cheat sheet for sugar cookies.

Instructions:

1. The first step is to start pre-heating your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (about 190 Celsius). Make sure the lid to the oven is closed and you’re not fooling with the oven while it pre-heats. This step will save you time later after the dough has formed.

2. The next step to sugar cookies is to combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. This means taking the cups of flour and baking soda.  

Figure 2: Flour and Baking soda already inside.

3. Set the dry ingredients aside and get another bowl for the wet ingredients. This will include the egg, vanilla, butter, and either kind of sugar.
4. It’s at this stage you want to turn all the wet ingredients into as much of a liquid state as you can make it. This means either having room-temperature butter so it’s soft and easy to mold, or heating up the ingredients (Conveniently through a microwave). 

Figure 3: Butter

5. Add the egg, sugar, and vanilla with the butter and mix together well. You want to make the butter as smooth as possible before proceeding.

Figure 4: Vanilla, brown and white sugar 

Figure 4.1: You'll have chunks of butter in your mix. This is normal. Get them as small as you can before proceeding.

Figure 4.2: Your wet mix should look something like this when done.

6. Next, take the dry mix of ingredients and slowly mix them into the wet mix with your fork or whisk. You want to add small amounts of dry mixture at a time, as all-at-once tends to make a mess and doesn’t mix as well with the wet mix

Figure 5: You don't have to be precise with how much you add, just split the dosage.

7. Whip this mixture into a very smooth consistency, making sure to use all of the flour mixture you prepared earlier.

Figure 6: Looking good with your dough there!

This is what’s traditionally known as cookie dough, a delicasy eaten raw. While I find it delicious, know that the product has raw animal product (in this case, raw egg), and can make you sick due to the sickness inducing nature of raw food.

8. At this point in time, your oven should be just about done pre-heating and ready to bake the cookie dough into actual sugar cookies. What we’ll need to do at this point is to line a cookie sheet with our dough.

9. The first and only step to preparing the cookie sheets for their sweet visitor is oiling the pans so the cookies don’t stick. I’m rather lazy during this process and use aerosol cooking spray. Anything like this or a light layer of an oil (butter, margerine, olive oil works too, but tastes strange).

Figure 7: Spray away!

10. You want to grease the pan enough so the cookies will not stick to it. Likewise, you don’t want to add so much grease that the pan drips of oil and oil-like products. Use your best judgement when oiling the pan.

11. Once your pan(s) have been properly lubricated, it’s time to shape your cookie dough into cookies. You can shape cookies into specific shapes with cookie cutters, but for round cookies, make balls of dough with your hands.

How much dough per cookie, you ask? Well, that depends on how large you like your cookies, and how many cookies you want to end up with at the end of the day. In my personal experience, a scoop from a teaspoon makes good portions for a large batch of small cookies.

Figure 8: This is about the correct size for small cookies.

12. Take the teaspoon portion of dough and create a ball of dough with your hands. The ball doesn’t need to be a perfect sphere, just rounded enough so it will hold its shape on its own. Place each ball on the cookie sheet, allowing about half an inch of room to bake by itself. Make sure you give each cookie space to bake, otherwise the cookies will melt into each other, making a very large, sweet mess. 

Figure 9: Spreed out cookies - You're doing it right. 

13. Once finished spreading the cookies onto the cookie sheet, you can either place them in the oven now or do a technique known as “Scoring.” Scoring makes lines on baked products for various purposes. Should you put scoring marks on today’s cookies, your cookies will not puff up as much compared to without score marks.

14. To score your cookies, take a fork and gently press against the ball of the cookie until you can see the dough squeeze through the cracks of the fork. You can stop here, or add another set of marks at perpendicular intersections, making a grid pattern. Do this for all/some/none of the cookies, it’s all your preference at this point. 

Figure 10: Score it good!

15. Once you have scored your cookies (or not), they’re ready to go into the oven. Place them on the metal rack, but BE CAREFUL. All metal in the oven will be painfully hot, so wear protection before, during, and after baking.

Figure 11: Scored cookies straight into the oven.

16. Close the lid and set your local timer for seven to ten minutes. Baking time is approximated here due to various elements (namely location, altitude, weather, how much baking soda went into the cookies, etc.)

Figure 12: I like to start with seven minutes and increase time as I need it. 

17. When the timer goes off, check on your cookies. You’ll know they’re done when they’ve changed color from a pasty white to a golden brown. Also, if you scored your cookies, you’ll see the individual lines clearly against the cookie. If none of these signs have occured, close the lid and let the cookies bake for another 2-3 minutes.

Figure 13: Cookies on the left pan still need a few more minutes. Cookies on the right are almost done, but will go with the left pan for a few more minutes.

Figure 13.1: Done! Look at those sugar cookies!

18. When you see the golden brown tinge on your cookies, take them out of the oven with proper hand protection and let them cool off in a dry, open place for ten to fifteen minutes. Once cooled... well, that part should be obvious, right? EAT!

Serving and Decorating:These cookies go really well with other desserts. Try adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of two to three cookies for a sweet treat that’s hard to beat.

Good Luck!

-M