Flourless Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

WARNING! This cake is not low calorie, but very very delicious, rich and addicting. The chocolate is so comforting. You will only need a tiny piece of this cake to satisfy your taste buds. This cake is also freezable. Freeze it, so you do not feel tempted to eat more later. I will admit I ate more than a 1/4 of the cake once, but nothing happened and I didn't gain any weight. If you feel like splurging on it, then you know what, once in a lifetime it will not kill you so go for it.

Calories: 10,000+ for the whole cake.
Serves: 20+
Recipe from Polpo

Ingredients:

• 14 oz (1 3/4 cup) of hazelnuts 
• 14 oz  (1 3/4 cup)of dark chocolate 
• 14 oz  (1 3/4 cup) of butter at room temperature 
• 7 oz (.875 of a cup)  of brown sugar 
• 6 oz (3/4 of a cup) of white sugar 
• 9 eggs 
• 1/4 cup of Franjelico 
• 1 cup of marscapone (We usually just make whipping cream without using this) 
• 2 tablespoons of cream 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit or 180 degrees celcius 
• Prepare a 10 inch pan by greasing it with a little bit of oil. You also need to line it with baking parchment. 
• Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for about 10 minutes. They should turn dark brown. Let them cool and then put them on the bottom half of a clean tea towel on flat surface. Fold over the other half to eh towel and rub to remove the skins. Put the nuts in a food processor or blender. They should have the consistency of bread crumbs. 
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over low boiling water. Add the blended hazelnuts into the the chocolate. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and use a mixer to cream them together. Add the eggs one at a time while mixing and add the chocolate too. Alternating between the eggs and chocolate. 
• Scrape the whole mixture into your cake pan. Make sure to check the cake after 1 hour. The top of the cake should be set and a skewer put into the centre will come out still wet but not too raw. The does settle down and set inside as it cools. While the cake is still warm, pierce the cake with a skewer and sprinkle over the Frangelico. The cake should cool inside the tin. (We have made mistakes with this cake many times and the middle has fallen out before. Make sure that you allow the cake to cool). 
• Whip up some whipping cream and serve with the cake. 
• Extra: Fold the cream into the mascarpone until smooth and serve this with the cake. You can also decorate the cake with confectioners powdered sugar.

Peach Cobbler

Lawrence's Cultural Food Club went to Lawrence's "cabin in the woods" Bjorklunden. The group made peach cobbler. The oven did not work very well, but the peach cobbler ended up tasting great. It is very sweet and light and not too bad in calories. I highly recommend this desert! 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup milk
• 4 cups peeled, pitted and thinly sliced fresh peaches (5 to 6 medium peaches)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Several dashes ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Pour the melted butter into a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, 1 cup sugar, the baking powder, and the salt and mix well. Stir in the milk, mixing until just combined. Pour this batter over the butter but do not stir them together.
• In a small saucepan, combine the peaches, lemon juice, and remaining cup of sugar and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Pour the peaches over the batter but do not stir them together. Sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg if desired.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top is golden-brown. Serve warm or cold. 

Thick Hot Chocolate

Who doesn't love a nice warm cup of thick HOT CHOCOLATE? When I was in 7th grade, my family and I traveled to Paris during spring break and we went to a nice cafe. I cannot remember the name, but it was really spectacular. I remember we ended up going back twice. They served thick and sweet hot chocolate and it was so filling. Truly savory and delicious. I also remember ordering an omelet with two different cheeses, a chocolate croissant and some toast out of the two times that we went to the cafe. I have attempted to replicate their hot chocolate recipe and I think this one tastes pretty similar. Feel free to use any kind of chocolate and do not let the milk scald. This recipe works great with some whipped cream on top and a chocolate chip cookie. Now drink this with a nice small cup and pretend you are in a Paris cafe. 

Serves 2

Ingredients: 

• Chocolate of your choice (5 squares of ghiradelli chocolate/ cocoa powder/chocolate chips) 
• 1 cup of milk 
• Whipping cream to top

Directions: 

• Bring milk to a boil on medium heat. Do not let it scald. 
• Turn it down to low 
• Add your chocolate 
• The longer you stir it the thicker the hot chocolate will get 
• Add whipping cream on the top

Candy Cane Cookies

(Align the two colors next to each other, so you can twist the dough and form a candy cane like shape)

Candy cane cookies for christmas? Or for mid-spring fun?  These cookies are so fun to eat and taste amazing. They are so easy to make and actually quite easy to shape.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Each cookie about: 70 calories (If you get four dozen)
Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter 
• 1 cup of sifted confectioners sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 1 1/2 tsp of almond extract 
• 1 tsp of vanilla 
• 2 1/2 cups of flour 
• 1 teaspoon of salt 
• Red food coloring 

Directions:

• Mix the butter and sugar together, vanilla, almond extract and then add the egg. 
• Add the flour and salt. 
• Divide the dough into halves and add red food coloring to one half. 
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees farenheit. 
• Roll 1 tsp each color dough into a strip (4 inches long). Place the strips side by side, press lightly together and twist them like a rope and form a candy cane like shape. 
• Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place each candy cane on the baking sheet. 
• Bake for 9 minutes or until lightly browned. 
• After they cool, sprinkle confectioners sugar on top. 

Stareos

These are my favorite cookies ever! Just one cookie is enough to satisfy a sweet craving. Many of my friends call them "fancy oreos." The cream filling is very sweet while the cookies themselves are a little bitter. They complement each other out. Make sure you plan ahead of time to be home while these cookies are baking. They bake for one whole hour in the oven at 250 degrees.

The recipe makes: 18 cookies

INGREDIENTS: 

Chocolate Shortbread

• 1 1/2 cups flour 
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 8 ounces (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

White Filling: 

• 1 cup of mascarpone cheese 
• 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

Directions: 

• Combine the butter and sugar in a mixer with a paddle. There is no need to set the butter out ahead of time to bring it to room temperature. 
• Beat on low speed for about 15 seconds. 
• Add flour, salt and cocoa powder and continue to mix until the dough comes together (about 3 or  4 minutes.) 
• Prepare your baking sheets with parchment paper. 
• Roll out the dough on a table with some flour sprinkled on it so the dough does not stick. Roll out the dough 1/4 of an inch thick. 
• With a star cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can. Keep reusing the dough until you have used up almost all of it. You don't want to rework the dough too much. You should have around 34-36 cookies. 
• Place the cookies on the baking sheets and refrigerate them for at least one hour so they don't spread out in the oven. 
• Preheat the oven to 250 and bake the shortbread for an hour. 
• To make the filling: stir the mascarpone, vanilla and sugar until smooth. 
• Do not put the filling on the shortbread until the cookies are completely cool. The cookies should not be assembled until the day you will serve them. The shortbread dough can be wrapped and refrigerated, and made one week in advance. The mascarpone can also be made two days in advance. 
• Spread about 1 tablespoon of the filling on top of 18 cookies and smash the other 18 on top with the filling inside. 

Recipe from Star Desserts by Emily Luchetti