Where to (Tr)Eat Vegan: Taza Chocolate Factory - Somerville, MA

Sometimes a girl needs a treat. Lots of them. Every day. I'm trying to talk my taste buds out of craving sweets before and after every meal but well...girl's just wana have fun. I'm not a chocoholic or anything but I can tear through some brownies or a chocolate bar when given the chance so I was super pleased to fall upon Taza while I was staying in Somerville. The chocolate factory happen to be right in my friend's backyard practically and because I was there during Halloween weekend I got to partake in the Dia de los Meurtos celebration at the factory.

Know what's great about Taza? This stone ground, certified organic, bean to bar goodness is all vegan! Yay! Plus their process leaves the nutrients of the chocolate intact. That's right I said nutrients and chocolate together. Here's what they have to say: Our chocolate contains many of the vitamins and minerals that are essential to good health, including iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and the vitamins A, B1, C, D, and E. And chocolate has more magnesium than any other food." That's all I need to hear.

For only 5 bucks a person, with one dollar of that going directly towards Sustainable Harvest International you can tour the factory and see chocolate being made on their vintage machines. If you live too far away you can take a virtual tour but you'll miss out on the free chocolate samples.

In March Taza and Cotton Tree Lodge in Belize will be introducing Chocolate Week. A whole week of exploring chocolate from the tree to your chocolate bar..and did I mention it's in Belize? Yeah...

They also have recipes on their website. I seriously want to try their guajillo chili chocolate mexicano cupcake recipe!

Vegan Oreo Cupcakes

So recently I bought myself the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World book...and I love it. These were my first project from the book and I can't wait to try more. I took a cupcake over to my brother who is deathly afraid of the word vegan and even HE loved it. Just a few days later we made a double batch together (its hard to bake with him because he eats them all before they can get frosted!). So...vegans and non vegans alike will love these and I highly recommend the book and I will keep you posted on further experiments!

Vegan Oreo Cupcakes
Makes 12

1 cup soymilk
1 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (I like lemon juice myself)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chopped oreos

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and line your muffin pans (I did big ones the first time and minnie the second time)
2. Whisk together the soy milk and lemon (or vinegar) in a big bowl and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat until the mixture is foamy. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, the cocoa powder and the salt. Add in two batches to the wet ingredients and beat until there are no large lumps. Add the oreos.
3. Fill your liners and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Move the cupcakes to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

Oreo Frosting
1/4 cup non-hydrog shortening
1/4 cup non-hydrog margarine (Earth Balance is a good one and they come in baking sticks!)
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 cup plain soy milk
1/2 cup crushed oreos

Beat the shortening and margarine together until fluffy. Add the sugar and beat 3 more minutes. Add the vanilla and soymilk and beat 5 more minutes. Add the oreos. Spread!

Banana Chocolate Chip Brownies

I've made these brownies several times now (with much success) but have never posted about them because...well gosh, brownies are like the hardest thing to photograph. But finally I just decided to post it anyhow.



I've been making so many banana treats lately that people must be getting sick of them but I never do! I have to hide my bananas though because people keep eating them thinking Im going to let them rot/throw them away.

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (divided)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 small very ripe banana, mashed

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F Butter a 9 inch square pan or a loaf pan (thats all I have but it makes nice thick brownies!).
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aide.
3. In a small saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Immediately remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Blend in vanilla. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl and cool slightly. With a whisk or fork, beat one egg at a time in a small bowl then blend it into the mixture. Blend in mashed banana, then flour mixture. Fold in remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips save a few to throw on top. Spread in pan. Throw the reserved chocolate chips on top.
4. Bake about 45 minutes or until a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool completely in pan.

Chocolate Ganache and Caramel topped Scottish Shortbread - A Guest Blog

Before heading off on all our separate adventures, the assistants of Limoges had a Holiday party and all of us brought a little something to share. Callum (our Scottish assistant) made some amazing shortbread (that I am eager to bake myself) and he kindly agreed to do a guestblog for me. Read and drool.



Whatup yo'? Keen to share a bit of my Scottish culture, I made my version of caramel shortcake for our Christmas party. Caramel shortcake is a very very rich dessert, popular in Scotland. It's a layered cake, made of shortbread biscuit on the bottom, a thick layer of gooey caramel in the middle and then a layer of melted chocolate. It's incredibly rich - so much so it's also known as "millionaires shortcake". Seeing as it's Christmas, I made it even more rich, by substituting the chocolate for a chocolate ganache, made of dark chocolate, butter and cream. Cut up into little squares as in the picture makes an excellent party canapé.

For the base:

4oz Butter, 2oz Castor Sugar and 6oz Self Raising Flour

For the Caramel:

One tin of Condensed Milk (normally by Nestlé), 4oz Butter, 4oz Castor Sugar and 2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup (this isn't vital, but makes the caramel even sweeter)

For the Ganache Topping

6oz Dark Chocolate, 3oz Butter and about 200ml of double cream.

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All these measures can be doubled or halved or whatever. None of them have to be exact either...

1. Heat your oven to 180˙C/350˙F. Grease your baking tin, I made mine in a large tart pan and it worked just fine.

2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and sieve in flour. Fold this into the mixture.

3. Press this shortcake mixture into the bottom of the tin as evenly as possible and bake it for about 15/20 mins until golden brown.

4. For the caramel, add all the ingredients to a pan. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves and then boil for about 5-10 mins. You MUST stir it constantly or it WILL burn, and the caramel will be full of bitter black bits.

5. Once the caramel is golden, spread it across the base evenly and chill in the fridge to set.

6. For the ganache, the easiest thing yo do is to place it all in a bowl, and blast in the microwave for a bit until melted. Stir it and perhaps heat again until its a smooth, thick, dark and glossy consistency.

7. As soon as the caramel is cooled and set, spread the ganache over the top - it should be thick enough for you to make a kind of rippled effect on the top with a palette knife. While it's still wet you can score the chocolate into portions - a small square is plenty for a portion because its so bloody rich.

8. Place it back in the fridge until set, probably about an hour... To serve, dust with a little icing sugar (I believe you Yankee doodles call that powdered sugar)