I’ve been feeling a bit down lately.

Maybe it is this stinking cold that I can’t seem to shake. Whatever it is, I need some major excitement in my life to bounce me out of my funk.

The way I see it, I either need to find a spectacular recipe or I need to buy a Tesla.

One of those options is way more likely than the other, although I can totally envision myself, scarf blowing in the wind, speeding down the road in a white Tesla with Juliet sitting, ears blowing in the wind, in the passenger seat.

Back to reality…here is a wonderful recipe for a chocolate peanut butter tart that is guaranteed to lift anyone’s spirits.

My prototype got rave reviews at my good friend Sarah’s delightful Easter dinner and garnered compliments from my photography teacher, Al Nomura. So, you need not take my word for it. Al and Sarah say it is good and, trust me,  they are two tough cookies (sorry…shameless food pun) when it comes to reviews.

My recipe is an adaptation of a recipe from Food and Wine Magazine. The link to the original recipe appears at the end of this blog.

Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart

Crust
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 T. unsalted butter (cut into tablespoons)
8 oz. Nabisco Chocolate Wafers (finely ground in a food processor to make 2 cups of crumbs)

Filling
8 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 C. smooth peanut butter
1 C. sugar
2 t. vanilla extract
1 C. cold heavy cream

Topping
4 oz. semisweet chocolate (chopped)
1/2 C. heavy cream
1/4 C. salted roasted peanuts (chopped)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare the crust by combining chocolate and butter in a glass bowl and microwaving it at high power in 20-second intervals until the chocolate is just melted. Stir and then stir in cookie crumbs. Press the cookie crumb-chocolate mixture into the bottom of a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. When you have the mixture evenly spread across the bottom of the tart pan, push a bit up the sides of the pan. Try and keep your crust thin at this point.  Too thick a crust can be too hard when the tart is finished. Bake the crust for 10 minutes and cool on a rack.

To make the peanut butter filling, beat cream cheese with the peanut butter, sugar and vanilla extract until blended using a electric mixer. Whip the cold cream in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold one third of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Once this mixture softens a bit, fold in the rest of the whipped cream. Spoon this filling into the cooled crust. Using a spatula, smooth the surface. Refrigerate for one hour.

To make the chocolate topping, combine the chocolate with the heavy cream in a glass bowl and microwave at high power in 20-second intervals until the chocolate is just melted and the cream is hot. Stir this mixture until blended and then cool until the mixture is tepid, stirring occasionally. Spread this mixture over the chilled peanut butter filling.

Sprinkle chopped peanuts around the edge of the pie. Chill (uncovered) in your refrigerator for 3 (or more) hours .(Cover if you plan to keep the pie refrigerated longer.)

To serve this pie, gently remove the tart pan rim from around the pie. Cut the pie into wedges, slicing with a sharp knife that has been dipped in hot water between cuts.

Cook’s Notes: I found this pie easier to cut and serve when the pie was very cold. You could easily put the pie in the freezer for a few minutes to firm it up before cutting. Also, the recipe cautions to be sure to press the crust into the tart pan until the crust is thin because a thick crust can be too hard when cooked. Although I was well aware of the need to do that, press as I might, I found it difficult to get the crust as thin as I would have liked. I guess the message is to be extra diligent to get the crust thin.

Here is the link to the original recipe in Food and Wine Magazine:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Recipe from Food and Wine Magazine

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. As the old Irish blessing goes, “May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door.”

I found this recipe on a site called “In an Irish Home.” The author adapted the recipe from one that originally appeared in the NY Times.

Interestingly, the Irish cook calls this cake a “master recipe,” one of those exemplary recipes that is so good that you cook it for the rest of your life. She said that, once she tasted this recipe, she danced a jig across the kitchen.

Seems like a good recipe to share on St. Patrick’s Day.

I plan to have my cake tonight with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream and a generous tot of Irish whiskey. Jig will, no doubt,  follow.

Recipe: Irish Whiskey and Chocolate Cake

12 T. unsalted butter (cut into 1-inch pieces)
3/4 C. plus 2 T. unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 C. brewed strong coffee
1/2 C. Irish whiskey
1 C. granulated sugar
1 C. light brown sugar
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. fine sea salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/8 t. ground cloves
3 large eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
1 C. semisweet chocolate chips
Powdered sugar for serving

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 10-inch springform pan and dust it with 2 T. cocoa powder. Wrap bottom of the pan in aluminum foil to prevent the batter from leaking in your oven when you bake the cake.

Put warm coffee, Irish whiskey, 12 T. butter, and 3/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder in a medium pan and heat over low until the butter melts. Whisk the mixture as the butter is melting. Then, add brown sugar and white granulated sugar to the liquid mixture, whisking until the sugars are dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely.

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and ground cloves in a large bowl. Set aside.

Mix eggs and vanilla in a bowl. Slowly whisk the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs.

Add the dry ingredients to the egg/chocolate mixture and whisk until the batter is well combined. Fold the chocolate chips into the cake batter.

Pour the batter into your buttered springform pan. Bake at 325 degrees F. in the middle of your oven for 55-65 minutes–until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

Remove cake from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to keep it from sticking to the pan. Remove sides from the springform pan. Place cake on a serving dish and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

My market had big bunches of asparagus today–beautiful, tender green stalks.

Can it be Spring?

My recipe was adapted from a recipe that appeared on the All Recipes site. The link to the original recipe appears at the end of this post.

Recipe: Cashew Rice Pilaf with Asparagus

1/4 C. butter
2 oz. uncooked spaghetti (broken)
1/4 C. minced onion
1/2 t. minced garlic
1 1/4 C. uncooked jasmine rice
2 1/4 C. vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/2  pound fresh asparagus (trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces)
1/2 C. cashew halves

Directions:

Melt butter in a pan. Saute broken spaghetti in the pan until the spaghetti is a light brown. Be careful, the spaghetti can brown pretty quickly.  Add the minced onion and garlic to the pan with the butter and broken spaghetti and saute for 2 minutes until the onion and garlic are soft. Add the jasmine rice to pan, stir to mix and saute for about 5 minutes until the rice is a light brown. Add vegetable broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower heat and cover pan. Cook for about 20 minutes until rice is tender and has absorbed the broth.

Trim asparagus and cut into 2 inch pieces. Put asparagus in a pan with water to cover and cook until the asparagus is al dente but not mushy.

Mix cashews into rice/spaghetti mixture and garnish with asparagus.

Here is the link to the original recipe from the All Recipes site:

Asparagus and Cashew Rice Pilaf