Russian cuisine is heavy on desserts, they have cookies, pies, and filled pastries, but for some reason no chocolate desserts. Don’t get me wrong Russians like chocolate it’s a common hostess gift and is usually put out any time you have tea at a friend’s house, but they don’t bake with it.  So, I have been seriously craving a chocolate baked good. And with Andrey’s love of cookies in mind I decided to start on a chocolate cookie recipe. After a little research and borrowing bits and pieces of other cookie recipies I came up with a double chocolate chip cookie recipe that is low on fat and sugar and free of white flour. They have a full dark chocolate taste without being overly sweet or riche. They are officially my favorite cookie!

Ingredients:

Wet:

1 egg

¼ c. + 2 tbs. applesauce

2 tbs. coconut oil

1/2c. brown sugar

Dry:

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

3 ½ tbs. cacao powder

¾  c.  whole wheat flour

¾ c. oat flour

1-2 tbs. water (depending on how dry your dough is)

100 g. chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

A bowl and electric hand beaters will work fine for this recipe, but you could also use a stand mixer.

1.     Add the egg, applesauce, and coconut oil to the bowl and beat till combined.

2.     Add the sugar to the bowl and beat till smooth.

3.     Add the dry ingredients one at a time mixing as you go.

4.     If the dough is a bit dry add a tablespoon or two of water.

5.     Stir the chopped chocolate in by hand.

6.     Form the dough into balls by hand and put them on a cookie sheet. Flatten the balls into discs.

7.     Bake at 350 F for 9-10 minutes.

The base for this recipe comes from Kath Eat’s Real Food, a great blog that I stumbled upon a couple of years ago. I loved the recipe, healthier version of a classic baked good and tasted better than the original. But even when something is good, occasionally it is nice to change things up, so I did a little experimenting with the recipe.

Experiment number one was to add just a couple tablespoons of ground flax seed to the original recipe (minus the chocolate chunks). This came out great, but you couldn’t really taste the flax and so I felt it could be tweaked a bit more. Experiment number two was to replace a quarter of the flour with ground flax and to replace the eggs with flax eggs. If you think this was going too far, you are correct. These muffins were almost impossible to get done in the middle, although they did rise the normal amount. Once they were finally cooked they still taste pretty good, but they are very dense for muffins.  So finally, experiment number three was to replace a quarter of the flour with ground flax and keep the rest the same. These came out just the way I wanted, fluffy, but chewy, slight flax taste, but still full of banana flavor.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. On a plate or in a small bowl mash the banana.

4. In a small bowl beat the eggs.

5. Add the mashed banana, honey, and almond milk to the eggs and mix.

6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

7. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin or individual muffins cups.

8. Bake for 12 minutes.

Notes:

If you are going to add chocolate chunks like Kath’s original recipe (it is amazing this way) I would recommend taking the honey down to a 1/3 cup.

Watch your baking time, I am currently working with an oven that looks like it is from the 50s and has the temperature settings 1, 2, 3, 4, so I can’t promise that my baking times are exact.

Granola bars are one of my favorite snacks to have on hand for after class, in between rehearsals, or while running errands. They are portable, packed with filling and nutritious ingredients, and delicious. For years I would kill hours standing in the grocery store reading and comparing the labels of granola bars, looking for the ones with the least added sugar and processed ingredients. After a while this got old and I stopped buying them altogether and replaced my favorite snack with nuts and dried fruit. But as tasty as trail mix can be it just wasn't as satisfying as a granola bar, so I started making my own. After a few tries, I settled on a recipe I loved and it has once again become a go to snack for the studio. Now that we are in Russia some of my standard ingredients are a bit harder to find and I had almost resigned myself to drastically altering my recipe. However, thanks to my husband's persistent scouring of store aisles I have everything I need. 

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter and honey until creamy and thoroughly mixed.

2. Then add the egg and beat it in, now the batter should be easier to stir.

3. Now add the ground flax, hemp flour, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and combine thoroughly.

4. Mix in the coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and raisins.

5. Fold in the oats, one cup at a time, mixing until they are all wet and evenly distributed.

6. Grease a baking pan, a 7x9 works well, and pour the mixture in spreading it until it is even.

7. Bake at 350 F or 180 C for 18 minutes. 

Enjoy as an after workout snack, grab-and-go breakfast, or healthy dessert! This is a very versatile recipe, so feel free to switch the nuts, seeds, and dried fruit to suit your taste. I would just suggest chopping larger nuts like walnuts before adding them.

It is Thanksgiving morning, but here in Siberia I am probably the only person that feels like today is a holiday. When I got up this morning there was a mini blizzard brewing outside the windows, not an unusual sight here, but it did make me feel in solidarity with my family back home, who are experiencing unseasonable snow. But after a few hours the snow and wind just disappeared and I am greeted with an unusual, but very welcome sight, a blue sky.

Part of me is yearning to put on a big Thanksgiving dinner and introduce my husband's family to the holiday, but as we are not yet in our own home I have decided to make do with a few reminders of the holiday. Since I am a vegetarian and have been since childhood, the usual headliners are not what I love about this holiday. I prefer the side dishes like cranberry sauce, roasted vegetables, and anything with pumpkin. 

So, to assuage the slight homesickness I feel today, I have decided to make cranberry sauce and cornbread, both my mother's recipes. I was hoping to make some pumpkin muffins as well, but pumpkin puree has been very difficult to find here. Pumpkin itself is easy to find, but I have cooked with it a couple times and every time I have been surprised at how light the pumpkin taste is. However, I might breakdown and see if I can make a decent pumpkin muffin from it in the future.

Note: We also make this bread when it is not Thanksgiving and it makes a great breakfast with a couple of sunny side up eggs on top.