Gluten-free Gourmand

I like this recipe because it doesn't rely too heavily on the flour.  Any recipe that has as much chocolate and butter as it does flour is okay by my.  This method of making cake batter results in a spectacular spongy structure.  If you would like to make this with regular gluten-ful flour, simply substitute it out by volume and omit the chia seed if desired. I adapted both of these recipes from the Joy of Cooking , which I use constantly for recipe inspiration. Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe Makes 9 large or 12 small cupcakes Have all ingredients at room temperature.  Heat the oven to 350 F. Whisk together in a medium mixing bowl, then set aside: 1/2 cup gluten-free cake flour,  pastry flour , or 1:1 gluten-free flour 1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa 1/4 tsp salt + a pinch 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp chia seed, very finely ground In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream with the paddle attachment for 30 seconds: 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter ...

Due to popular demand, I am now revealing my new Pancetta Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Actually, I only had one vote on the matter in my last post , and it was from a fellow cookie-lover, Jenn from Cinnamon Quill. If you are a vegetarian or vegan, or if you just love chocolate, please go straight to her vegan World Peace Cookie Recipe which looks amazing. If you're really into pancetta , stick around for this post or see my recipe for Pasta Carbonara or Pancetta-wrapped Scallops . As you can probably guess, I'm on a bit of a pancetta kick. While the rest of Portland is devouring bacon by the pound, I'm getting into the more subtle flavor that pancetta lends to a recipe. For something more intense, check out Pete's Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies . He candies the bacon before using. I went a different route with this recipe. I left the pancetta uncooked. Half of it I whipped into the butter to infuse the pancetta flavor throughout the batter. The other half o...

Making your own chocolate sauce for dipping or for putting on your ice cream is very simple. It only requires a few ingredients: chocolate, cocoa powder, butter, and cream. Because I don't always like doing things the easy way, however, I'm going to give you a recipe that includes one more ingredient: chiles. As my readers may know by now, I love Mexican food. Chilies with chocolate is one of my favorite combinations from Mexican cuisine. I have made chocolate sauce many times before, but when my cooking partner Alex suggested one time that we make it with chilies I was really excited. The first time we tried it with some roasted ancho chilies. It gave a good flavor, but what we were looking for was a distict bite. To up the ante, the second time we tried it Alex procured some ghost chilies, supposedly the spiciest chile in the world. They looked like dried habaneros. Pick your chile by how you want the end result to come out, and keep in mind that the chile flavor w...