Easy Cocoa Panna Cotta

Nothing this good should be this easy to make, unless it has zero calories. Which it never, ever does. I found this at The Italian Dish, and pretty much made it as is. So great for company - I make it the day before, and it looks much more complicated than it is! I'm excited to experiment with different flavors! I had made another version using mango puree, that I found at Naina's Recipes, which has a slightly different process, using buttermilk in place of the milk and some of the heavy cream. My husband really liked that version too. I'm able to fill about 7 parfait glasses with this:

Cocoa Panna Cotta

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c whole milk
4 tsp unflavored powder gelatin (if using the .25 oz packages, this is about 1 1/2 envelopes)
4 1/2 c heavy cream
2 Tbsp cocoa powder (can double it if you prefer it very chocolatey! I used Hershey's cocoa powder)
3/4 c sugar
 pinch of salt
Chocolate bars for garnish (optional but pretty!)

Directions:

Pour milk into a medium saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over it. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. Turn on medium heat and stir milk just until gelatin dissolves. Do NOT let the milk boil, at any point.

Add the cream, sugar, and salt. Whisk in the cocoa powder, and continue whisking until the sugar completely dissolves, which takes only a few minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool completely - it's helpful to pour it into another heat-resistant dish to speed up the cooling down process. Stir mixture frequently during cooling off period to prevent a skin from forming. Pour mixture into parfait glasses, ramekins, martini glasses, or whatever you'd like to present them in!

Cover and refrigerate until chilled and firm, about 4 hours. I cover them using glad press n' seal.

For garnish, use a vegetable peeler to shave chocolate curls onto the tops. I've also used sprinkles, for my daughters.

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

I needed a relatively quick dessert I could whip up for company, and had been dying to try this recipe I had found on Pinterest. Good. Stuff. And best of all, super easy:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake (adapted from www.thepickyapple.com)

1 box french vanilla cake mix (others have apparently used spice cake mix and loooved it)
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup butter, melted (that would be two sticks of butter - yeah!)
Ice cream (optional, for serving)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9x13 pan. Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour mixture into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix over mixture and top with pecans. Drizzle melted butter over pecans - be sure the dry cake mix is covered by butter (any uncovered parts will stay as dry mix!) Bake 50-55 minutes. Serve hot, and a la mode!

Stores in refrigerator if the pan is not immediately licked clean.

Chocolate Chip Muffins with Shredded Zucchini & Apple

Chocolate Chip Muffins with Shredded Zucchini and Apple
Adapted from www.allrecipes.com

Makes 24 mini-muffins along with 3 larger muffins, or 12-14 large muffins

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground flaxseed meal (optional)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. vegetable oil (I use Smart Balance)
1/4 c. milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice (1/2 a fresh lemon, juiced)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1 medium apple, shredded
1/2 c. mini semisweet chocolate chips

1. In a bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and flaxseed.

2. Combine the eggs, oil, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in zucchini, apple, and chocolate chips.

3. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

I refrigerate these, although they would freeze well too.

Jalebis - Pakistan's Answer to the Funnel Cake!

Kind of? That's how I sold it to my daughter's preschool, and the kids bought it ;) Like soft-crunchy, orangey, pretzel-shaped funnel cakes. I was presenting at Fun Friday at her school last week - every Friday they learn about a different country, and I went in to teach them about Pakistan, complete with goodie bags, Pakistani decor and jewelry, and of course, Pakistani sweets. I took in mango juice since my people looooove their mangoes, and tried my hand at making Jalebis, which I was ridiculously proud to manage! Am still bragging to my mom about it, trying to slip it into casual conversation: "The girls are cranky today . . .maybe I can make some more jalebis." Although my mother is perfectly aware that neither of my picky pickersons ate them. But, she's my mom, so she then launches into an appropriately gratifying string of praise. 


Jalebis (cobbled together multiple recipes found on the web):

All-Purpose Flour – 1 cup

Cardamom Powder – 1/8 tsp

Instant Yeast – 1 tsp

Cornstarch – 2 tsp

Oil – 1 tsp

Yogurt – 1 Tbsp

Warm Water – 3/4 cup

For Syrup:

Sugar – 1 1/4 cups

Water – 1 cup

Saffron – pinch

Lemon Juice – 1 tsp

Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, add Flour, Cardamom Powder, Instant Yeast and Cornstarch. Mix thoroughly.

2. Add Oil, Yogurt and Water and mix well until there are no lumps.

3. In a larger bowl or pot, add very warm water and place the mixing bowl with the batter inside the larger bowl (be sure that the water does not fall into the batter). Cover the larger bowl and allow the batter to rest for 30 minutes.

4. After the batter has been resting for 15 minutes, start on the syrup and start to pre-heat oil for frying the jalebi.

5. Syrup: In a heavy bottom pan, add Water, Sugar and Saffron. Cook for 15 minutes on medium heat.

6. Reduce flame to a low simmer and add Cardamom Powder and Lemon Juice. Mix.

7. Mix the fermented jalebi batter well and put it in a ketchup or mustard bottle with a spout.**

8. Squeeze out the batter into the hot oil in approximately 8 small circular motions. Jalebi should about 2-3 inches in diameter.

9. Fry until the bottom side looks golden and flip once to cook the other side.

10. With tongs, remove jalebi, shake off excess oil and place directly into sugar syrup.

11. Allow jalebi to remain in the syrup for just about 15 seconds (flipping to coat both sides), shake off excess sugar syrup and place onto a plate lined with paper towels.

12. Continue frying remaining jalebis.

13. Enjoy them hot for optimal taste or allow them to cool and store in a container with a tight fitting lid. Jalebis will remain fresh for 4-5 days unrefrigerated.

NOTE: About mid way through the frying process, turn off the stove for the sugar syrup so that it does not become too thick.

**I had a hard time getting the thick batter into the ketchup bottle using a funnel - it was too thick. I ended up putting it into a ziploc bag, cutting a corner, and then piping it into the ketchup bottle. By ketchup bottle I mean the red ones at restaurants, with the thin spout - I had some leftover from making and storing paints, and had purchased them from Wal-Mart.