Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

I've been making this recipe for a long time. The cinnamon flavor really is a nice flavor with the rice and chicken. It is another one of those real homey tasting meals. It also cooks relatively quickly and doesn't require a lot of fuss.  Cinnamon Chicken Pilaf (Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook Chicken ) 1 whole chicken (cut up) salt/pepper 2 T olive oil 2 medium onions, chopped 1 c rice 3 oz tomato paste 2 3/4 c chicken stock 2 cinnamon sticks Dry chicken with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. In a skillet with a cover brown chicken in olive oil on both sides. Remove and set aside. Cook onions in remaining oil until translucent. Add rice and saute for about 3 minutes until it smells slightly toasted. Add tomato paste and chicken stock; stirring until tomato paste is dissolved.  Add cinnamon stick and chicken back to the pan.  Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes until stock is absorbed, chicken and rice is tender. It looks like too much liquid: Bu...

Browsing around my recipes to try file (OK that makes is sound like it's a little thing - it's really a LARGE file) I found this one. The Sous Chef is a big fan of tea breads. He likes plain, dry things (wait a minute I think I might have insulted myself there?). I thought I would be nice and make him a tea bread since I usually lean towards more chocolatey gooey things in my baking. Cinnamon Raisin Tea Bread (adapted from Cooking Light ) 1 c raisins 2 c hot water (for raisin soaking) 3/4 c buttermilk 1/2 c sugar 1/4 c canola oil 1t almond extract 2 eggs 1 1/2 c flour 1/4 c ground flaxseed 1t cinnamon 3/4 t baking powder 1/4 t baking soda 1/4 t salt 1/4 t nutmeg Glaze: 1/2 c confectioner's sugar 1/4 t almond extract 1T milk 2 T toasted sliced almonds Grease a loaf pan. Soak raisins in hot water for about 5 minutes until plumped. Meanwhile combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until mixed well.  Stir in raisins. Combine the dry ingredie...

Getting ready for Thanksgiving can be daunting but there are many things that can be done ahead of time to make life easier and cranberry sauce is one of them. I usually make it up to a week before. It is really easy to make. Cranberry Sauce 24 oz fresh cranberries 1c brown sugar 1/2 c sugar juice and zest from 2 oranges 2 cinnamon stick 1 t fresh ginger grated 1 vanilla bean Split vanilla bean down the center with a sharp knife.  Rinse and discard any soft cranberries. All ingredients ready to go Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat until cranberries start to burst. Stirring occasionally. Stir occasionally Taste and add additional seasoning and sugar as necessary. Cranberries can be quite tart so it really depends on the batch how much sugar needs to be added. Ready to remove from heat Let cool. Scrape vanilla bean and stir scrapings into sauce. Return bean to sauce. Chill. Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon before serving.  You might wa...

I saw this in the November/December Cooks Illustrated magazine and thought it might be nice instead of baking an apple pie. I'm thinking of making it for Thanksgiving. It was absolutely less work and I would say as good as an apple pie but a little different. This is definitely impressive looking and really is not that complicated to make. The press in crust is a breeze. I added cinnamon to the recipe. I fail to understand how you can bake anything apple without adding cinnamon to it. As I've mentioned before, I'm a cinnamon freak. I added a little nutmeg too. They recommend using a 9" tart pan but I only have a 10" It came out fine in the 10" The crust was probably a little thinner but it was fine. I also used granny smith's instead of golden delicious. You need to use an apple that is going to stand up a bit to the heat and not turn to mush. In the base of the tart I mixed granny smiths with Fuji. I wanted the base to be a little sweet to contrast ...

Well it's getting to be ice cream season (at least the weekend was). It's hard to believe after all that cold weather this winter that I would ever be interested in eating anything cold ever again. But then....I made the burnt cinnamon simple syrup and it got me to thinking... Burnt Cinnamon Ice Cream 2 c heavy cream 2 c milk 1 vanilla bean 3 egg yolks 1/4 c sugar 1/4 c brown sugar 1/4 c burnt cinnamon simple syrup * Split vanilla bean down the middle with a sharp knife. Heat heavy cream, milk, and vanilla bean in a saucepan until boiling - not a rolling boil - just bubbles at the edge.  Remove from heat. Mix 3 egg yolks with sugars in a small bowl or measuring cup.  Whisk in about 1/2 cup of the heated cream into the yolk mixture to temper the yolks. Add egg yolks mixture to the cream and heat to 160. Remove from heat. Place saucepan in ice bath to cool mixture quickly. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean and mix into ice cream mixture.  Pour mixture into cont...

The NY Times Magazine section did a piece on cocktails about two weeks ago and one was calling me- Rhum Agricole Daiquiri . What attracted me here (well besides the cocktail aspect) was the Burnt Cinnamon Simple Syrup. It was easy enough to make, as are most simple syrups, but it was the potential uses.  I started thinking not only daiquiris but why not with Applejack? Apples, burnt cinnamon sounds like a winner to me. Or how about a nice hot cider, with a little rum, and the simple syrup (Guess I'll have to wait until the fall for the cider). On the non-alcohol side-why not use it to moisten a sponge cake - wouldn't that give it an interesting flavor? Or what about a burnt cinnamon ice cream? Now first for the burning of the cinnamon - it felt a little like I was doing a cleanse to ward off evil spirits. I think that is usually done with sage but if cinnamon works too - so be it. The recipe recommended using a small creme brulee torch to burn the cinnamon sticks - like you d...

This cake sounded so good.  I love cinnamon, caramel, and chocolate so this sounded like it would be great. It's been on my to-make list since 2008. So was it worth the wait?  I think the caramel overpowered the cinnamon flavor and you couldn't taste the cinnamon at all. I think next time I wouldn't even bother with the cinnamon. The cake was very light and tasted good. I think I would  maybe use a different chocolate for the icing.  I used Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% Belgium dark chocolate . It was a little too strong tasting. I generally use this for dark chocolate in baking but for some reason, it was a little too dark for this recipe. But the Sous Chef said he liked the contrast. A few hints: 1.  They didn't say to grease the pan. To grease or not to grease - GREASE.  I was so glad I did. I think the sides would have really stuck had I not. 2.  Seriously be careful when you pour the caramel into the cream mixture. You could totally end...