Chocolate Yogurt Bread

A few days ago @DanaLShrager (@JewishCooking Facebook group) asked for ideas — other than hamantashen — about what might make good mishloach manot for Purim. My suggestions included muffins, quickbreads and other homemade food goodies.

Like this chocolate bread. It’s rich and tender because it’s made with yogurt. It’s also easy to prepare and can be wrapped nicely to give away as a gift. You can add raisins or chopped nuts, or even leave out the chips. For sure, it’s a winner for Purim or any time.

Chocolate Yogurt Bread

• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/4 cups sugar

• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1-1/2 cups plain yogurt

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5” loaf pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together and set it aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium, cream the sugar and shortening together. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat the mixture until it is smooth and creamy. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the yogurt. Stir in the chocolate and mix until ingredients are well blended. Stir in the chips, if used. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely. Makes one bread

Chocolate-Dipped Dried Fruit

I love when one idea works for so many different things. Take chocolate dipped dried fruit for instance. It’s easy to prepare. Who doesn’t like that? It’s a lovely Valentine’s gift (and a whole lot cheaper than boxed fancy candy!). It’s also a perfect mishloach manot gift for Purim (and a whole whole lot cheaper than a gift basket!). And here’s one more — it’s a delicious, sweet end to a Superbowl meal!

All of you have to do is melt chocolate, dip the fruit halfway in and place the dipped item on parchment paper or foil (it will set in about 30 minutes). Of course you can do the same thing with fresh fruit! How good is this!?

Derby Pie

When Ed was growing up, it was a tradition in his family to watch the Kentucky Derby. One year he told his grandpa that a particular horse was a “sure thing.”

It wasn’t.

Lessons learned.

We watched the Derby as a family when our kids were young and then, one year, miracle of miracles! We went to the Kentucky Derby for real!

I placed a small bet on what I thought was a “sure thing.”

It was! I won!

I was elated and bought mint juleps for the people we were with.

Never again! Don’t waste my time adding sugar and mint to Bourbon.

And we had Derby Pie, which is a sweet confection with loads of sugar and chocolate and pecans too.

I’ve made my own versions over the years — I can’t have pecans in the house because of allergies so I use almonds or cashews. But pecans taste better and have the best texture for the pie.

So here, for all of you who will watch on Saturday (and even if you don’t) is my latest recipe for Derby Pie (which apparently is a trademarked title so I changed the name a bit to Derby Pie (Sort-of).

Derby Pie (Sort-of)

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

• 6 tablespoons butter

• 6 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate

• 3 large eggs

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons Bourbon

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cups chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick the bottom of the crust with the tines of a fork, cover with aluminum foil, including the edges, and weight the foil with baking pellets or dried beans. Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, return the crust to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and set it aside. Lower the heat to 350 degrees. Melt the butter with the chocolate over low heat, stir to blend them thoroughly and set aside to cool. Using a mixer or hand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, flour, Bourbon, vanilla extract and salt together at medium speed for about 2-3 minutes until thoroughly blended. Add the melted butter-chocolate mixture and beat for another minute or so to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Fold in the nuts. Spoon the mixture into the partially baked crust. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a cake rack.

Makes 8 servings

Banana Chocolate Cake

Same-old, same-old. The family came for the holiday (TG) and I have bananas leftover.

When there’s leftover bananas at my house I usually make banana bread or muffins or a plain banana cake of some sort. But I got some wonderful chocolate as a gift and wanted to use part of it for this cake. It’s rich and festive looking so I’m thinking of making this again for New Year’s weekend.

If you’re having a dairy meal for Hanukkah, this would make a marvelous dessert too!

streusel-topped BANANA-CHOCOLATE CAKE

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup butter

• 3/4 cup quick oats

• 3/4 cup shredded coconut

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt the butter and set it aside. In a bowl, combine the oats, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix to distribute the ingredients evenly. Pour in the melted butter, mix to coat all the dry ingredients and set aside.

Cake:

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (1 cup chocolate chips)

• 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup butter

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/3 cup buttermilk or kefir

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• streusel (above)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9”x13” cake pan or 2-9”round cake pans. Melt the chocolate and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the brown sugar and butter for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat for one minute or until thoroughly blended. Add the bananas and buttermilk and beat for 1-2 minutes. Add the flour mixture and beat until the batter is well blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the melted chocolate on top and use a knife to swirl it evenly into the batter. Scatter the crust mixture evenly over the top. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one cake, serving 12-16

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Is it part of my Jewish DNA that whenever a holiday (religious or otherwise) comes I think — “what food do I cook for this one?”

So, Valentine’s Day is coming. Also Ed’s birthday.

What do I cook for this one?

Chinese food. Maybe Beef with Orange or Chicken with Peanuts.

Scallion cakes?

He loves those Duck Legs with Hoisin sauce…….

Definitely cake.

Thinking this one ………

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

• 2 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup butter

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup sour cream

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a bundt pan. Melt the chocolate in the top part of a double boiler set over barely simmering water. When the chocolate has melted, remove the top pan and let the chocolate cool slightly. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the sugar and butter on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and beat for 2-3 minutes, until well blended. Add the flour mixture alternating with the sour cream. Stir in the vanilla extract. Stir in the melted chocolate and mix until the batter has a uniform color. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes 12-16 servings

Dark Chocolate Cookies

Every cookie season —(meaning right now) — I make my usual stuff: Fannies (butter thumbprint cookies), Grand Finales, Peanut Butter, Jan Hagels. This year I’m also including Swiss Chocolate Almond cookies and Brownie cookies and this new addition to my cookie repertoire: Dark Chocolate cookies.

I got into the habit of baking cookies for Hanukkah and Christmas many years ago when newspaper columnists like me would deliver their articles by hand, typed on paper, to our editors. Back then we could actually develop a relationship with the editor and any other journalists sitting nearby.

That was back in the 1980s.

After some years the hard copy was replaced by a floppy disk and then a hard disk and then a thumb drive. But still, for most of us, whatever we wrote was delivered in person.

So I baked cookies and made up holiday baskets for everyone I knew in the various newsrooms of the various newspapers and magazines I wrote for.

Hundreds of cookies, every year.

The internet changed everything. No more deliveries. No more interactive relationships, although I do see (did see, before the pandemic) a few of the editors I submit work to, but of course, not everyone lives close enough.

And of course this means —- no more cookie baskets.

But that hasn’t stopped my baking habits. True, I don’t make as many cookies as I used to, but cookie season is cookie season, after all. So, thanks to a large freezer, I still bake plenty and cookie season baking means I will have a supply for a while.

I do give lots of cookies away to friends and neighbors and any people who might be stopping by like the plumber or UPS deliveryman. But mostly my family gets to eat them, plus my cousins who come for New Years and my brother and sister-in-law who live nearby.

Reason enough. And my house smells wonderful.

Dark Chocolate Cookies

• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 3/4 cup butter

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Confectioners’ sugar 

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together until thoroughly combined. Set aside. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until soft and smooth. Add the brown sugar, sugar and vanilla extract and beat for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is light and a uniform color. Add the dry ingredients and blend the ingredients to form a dough. Shape the dough into two logs with a diameter of about 1-1/2 inches. Wrap the logs and chill for at least one hour or until firm. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the logs into disks about 1/2” thick. Pace the disks on the parchment leaving about 1” space between each disk. Bake for about 15 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool. Sprinkle confectioners’ sugar on top.

 Makes about 40

Banana Chocolate Muffins

Before my cousins came for a long visit over the Memorial Day weekend I stocked up on all the foods they loved. We ate most of it, but Leslie told me that Neil also needed foods with potassium so I bought several bananas.

He ate a few.

Still. I bought too many. As usual. There were 3 left over.

So, banana muffins. These, with chocolate because, why not?

banana chocolate Muffins

• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed

• 3/4 cup water

• 2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 10 muffin tins. Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set it aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil together in an electric mixer at medium speed for a minute or so or until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to blend ingredients thoroughly. Add the bananas and mix them in. Add the dry ingredients and beat for 1-2 minutes to blend them in thoroughly. Combine the water and cider vinegar, pour into the batter and beat the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Fill muffin tins with equal amounts of the batter. Spoon equal amounts of chocolate on top of each and use a knife to swirl some chocolate into each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for 15 minutes before removing them.

Makes 10

Banana Marble Bread

Got some leftover bananas? Maybe a little chocolate (bar/chips/anything)?

Here’s a comforting treat. The swirl of chocolate makes plain old banana bread a bit more festive.

If you’re socially distancing at home like so many of us, this Banana Marble Bread is a tasty way to pass the time, use what you have and add a comforting fragrance to your home.

Banana Marble Bread

• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 2 large eggs

• 3 medium ripe bananas

• 1/4 cup fruit juice, oat milk or other non-dairy milk (or use dairy milk)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set it aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil with a handheld or electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mash the bananas and add them to the sugar mixture. Beat thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Add the flour mixture and beat for 1-2 minutes to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the juice and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the melted chocolate on top and use a knife or spatula to swirl it through the banana batter. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool on a cake rack.

 Makes one bread serving 10-12

Banana Fudge Brownies

If you like fudgy brownies, you have to try these! The mashed up bananas I added to the batter make them incredibly moist. And the fruit flavor is a perfect balance to the sweet from sugar and chocolate.

The recipe is simple too, easy enough for kids, and a good lesson too, not just on cooking but on how to avoid food waste. I made these when I had two soft, older bananas — no one was going to eat them out of hand and they weren’t enough for banana bread.

Makes a memorable treat on Valentine’s Day.

Banana Fudge Brownies

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (1 cup of chips)

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 medium bananas, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8" or 9” square baking pan. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the top part of a double boiler over barely simmering water. When the ingredients have melted, blend them thoroughly. Remove the pan from the heat and separate the top part of the double boiler from the bottom. Combine the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is as thick and pale. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract and stir to blend them in. Add the chocolate mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Fold in the banana pieces. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let the brownies cool in the pan. Cut into 16 pieces.

Makes 16

Banana Oat Marble Bread

So, okay, as usual — the family was here for Mother’s Day. I bought a ton of fruit. All gone.

EXCEPT for a few bananas.

And so: Banana Bread. This one with oats and chocolate. It’s moist and gently sweet. Could do as dessert or just with some coffee as a snack. A little nosh.

Freezable too.

Banana Oat Marble Bread

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup quick oats

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 2 large eggs

• 3 medium very ripe bananas

• 1/4 cup fruit juice such as mango, orange or apple

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan.

Melt the chocolate and set it aside. Mix the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and set it aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil with a handheld or electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mash the bananas and add them to the sugar mixture. Beat thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Add the flour mixture and beat for 1-2 minutes to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the juice and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Spoon the melted chocolate on top and use a knife to swirl the chocolate into the banana batter. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool on a cake rack.

 Makes one bread serving 10-12