2010 Holiday Goodies

Every year I bake cookies for The Wong Family + friends. This year was no exception. I usually spend hours perusing various sources (magazines, cookbooks, forums, blogs) for holiday worthy treats. If I were more organized, I would actually try some of these out ahead of time, but I'm not that organized. :) I trust most of the sources will yield deliciousness. If not, there is always the almond toffee I make yearly.

Here is what I made:

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread
(Dorie Greenspan)

These were very popular on the internet. They are a sturdy shortbread cookie containing espresso powder that yields a "cookies and cream" appearance. The chunks of dark chocolate scattered into the dough give the cookie a good chocolate bite without the cookie tasting like a decidedly "chocolate cookie". They tasted great with coffee... or a latte.

Very easy to make. The idea of using a zip-loc bag to roll out the dough is brilliant. I couldn't get mine to look particular "pretty" but they still tasted great.

Ina Garten's Rugelach

I've made rugelach in the past and always swear it is the LAST time. It is time-consuming, the dough is always hard to work with, and mine always seem to break and/or look ugly. But they taste divine! I have made Lora Bordy's Rugelach many times in the past but this year I decided to try Ina Garten's wondering if it would be any easier.

I'm not sure if it was the recipe (they actually look very similar when you compare the two) or if I just resigned myself knowing it would take a long time and therefore had more patience this year, but the process of making them was "not bad." I did lots of chilling though... I chilled the dough after it had been divided into 4 parts... then chilled it again after it had been rolled out into 9" circles... then chilled the cookies themselves before baking. It saved some frustration with the dough falling apart while I tried rolling them up.

Mine still never come out as picture-perfect or pretty as I've seen elsewhere, but they taste divine. :)

Nutella Nutters
(St. Petersburg Times)

When I saw this recipe, I knew I was making this one. Nutella + Peanut Butter cannot equal anything but awesomeness. These cookies also contain no flour which make them a naturally gluten-free cookie. They were easy to make with all ingredients I had on hand. These are rich, sweet, chocolate-y and chewy -- tasting of all things good: nutella and peanut butter!

Curry Coriander Shorties

(Gourmet, September 2009)

These were my surprise favorite of the bunch. I had read about this cookie on an online forum thread about unusual Christmas cookies. These shortbread cookies use savory spices to make them taste different. They smelled lovely while baking and had a really different complex flavor to them. I'm wondering if anyone will guess what it is, since I didn't label the cookies this year. Definitely my favorite of the bunch, but we'll see what everyone else thinks...

Surprise-Filled Cookies (Jam Thumbprints)

(Mrs. Fields cookbook)

I wanted another fruity cookie to add to the assortment and settled on these. I had made one in the past with a cream cheese dough that wasn't very easy to work with and decided to try this recipe from Mrs. Field's instead. There is no cream cheese in the dough and the resulting cookie tastes somewhere between a sugar and butter cookie.

I didn't follow the directions to use a melon baller for depositing the jam and instead used my fingers as I would in a normal jam thumprint. I used a mixed-berry jam which contained raspberries, cherries, and boysenberries. The cookies looked pretty and tasted as one would have expected -- fruity and sweet -- but I wasn't wowed by them.  Still would like to find a good jam thumbprint...

Aunt Anne's Sesame Cookies

(allrecipes.com)

I have to admit I was a bit worried about these after I bought the anise extract. I wasn't quite sure what anise was and when I opened the bottle and took a whiff, I didn't think I liked it. The anise flavor is very subtle though. These are a slightly sweet, butter cookie with a very slight hint of anise and sesame seed flavor. They were easy to make and looked pretty when done. They're a nice addition to round out the sweetness of most holiday cookies.

Whew, that was one big baking extravaganza. No more cookies for a while...

Crispy Salted Oat Cookies

I wanted to like these. Really, I did. I normally like the combination of salty-sweet... eggs that accidentally touch the pancake syrup... maple bacon... salted caramels... mmmm... but something about these were just a little off for me.

I figured it out about halfway into my second cookie. OH. I don't like crispy cookies! Doh. I prefer chewy and soft cookies. These are not it. They're not hard so I wouldn't classify them as "crunchy" but they are "crispy" - thin with a bit of hard chew to them.

I did like the flavor combination of salty-sweet, but still found that the cookies themselves lacked something. Spices? Add-ins? Not sure. The coworkers I gave them too enjoyed them and said they were good, but I am not sure whether they were trying to be nice.

Recipe found here.

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Molasses Cookies

The cool weather has brought me into the spirit of comfort, savoury foods.  Not really planning on making a meal with things that start with "M", I ended up with meatloaf and mashed potatoes with molasses cookies for dessert. 

Today, I started my holiday baking.  I try to bake 1-2 items each weekend, freeze them and then pull them out of the freezer when they're ready to give out.  I have 5 items on this year's bake list.  Hubby decided he wanted molasses cookies first.  (He's my taste tester.)  I used this recipe from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen.  It makes about 50 soft, chewy, molasses cookies that are both gluten free and vegan.  I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out just as she says "soft".  Hubby was surprised how well they turned out.  He thinks most of the gluten free things I bake taste grainy.  And when he finds out I took out or substituted butter or milk, he tells me its dry because there is no fat.  This time, he's not happy that I didn't leave enough for him to eat because they're going out to family and select few loved ones.  I guess this recipe is a keeper.

Next was dinner... Meatloaf... back to my comfort food... I looked at a few recipes and comments on All Recipes and ended up putting a whole bunch of stuff together to make a simple meatloaf

1.25 lbs of ground turkey
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
1 cup almond milk (there's that milk substitute)
1 cup gluten free bread crumbs (another substitute)
2 tbsp of Italian seasoning
splash of worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all that together in a big bowl.  Place in a lightly greased 9x5 pan.

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
1/3 cup ketchup

Mix well in a small bowl. Spread over meatloaf mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Viola! 
 

Homegrown Heirloom Tomatoes and Basil Makes Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce

This year my tomatoes have taken over.  Maybe it is the mild summer with a few spurts of hot weather.  Maybe it's where I planted the tomatoes this season in the garden.  Whatever it is, all my tomato plants have become bushes.  They are huge and keep giving and giving.  This is my third batch of the season.  Luscious heirloom tomatoes. 

I decided to use some tomatoes to make a different pasta sauce.  And since my basil has continued to grow even now, I decided on a tomato basil sauce.  Here's what I came up with:

2 italian sausage links

8 small/medium sized tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic salt

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/4 cup water

2 cloves of garlic, diced

1. Cook italian sausages in sauce pan.

2. Toss in the tomatoes and stir until they begin to fall apart, ~5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add the basil, olive oil, garlic salt, salt, and pepper.

4. Slowly stir the corn starch into the mixture and cook until it begins to thicken, 5 to 7 minutes.

5. Add water. 
6. Mix garlic into the sauce and simmer another 5 minutes.

And viola!  Topped over some quinoa pasta (for the gluten free diet).  Hmmm...

Cheeky's Part Deux

Since we were back in PS, we decided to go back to Cheeky's for Sunday morning brekkie. We found this place last year and remember it mostly for the bacon flight!

We had gotten there slightly before they opened at 8 am. There were already people lined up but they had a sign-in sheet which made things easy. We had a nice outside table again. The weather was warm, the sun wasn't in my face, and it was great for people-watching. :)

We started with coffee and tea ($2.50 each). I love the interesting dishware.

Of course we had the flight of bacon ($4):

From top to bottom, it's Jalapeno, Applewood, smoked, Xtra Thick. The side piece is maple. I had a few bites of each. Maple and jalapeno were my favorites.

R was banned from getting the Eggs Benedict. So he opted for the pecan brioche French toast ($10):

I had a few bites and it was very rich but he enjoyed it. 

I love the maple syrup "house":

Even though San Diego does Mexican mighty well, the huevos rancheros ($10) were calling my name.

Those are 2 poached eggs over tortillas and peruano beans. Not a healthy choice, but absolutely a delicious choice.

A very good breakfast before our drive home.

Jake's Ready to Eat

We were looking for a fun place to have dinner that wouldn't break the bank. We were also dressed in hiking clothes so a $$$ place wasn't going to cut it. There seemed to be no shortage of high-end fancy smanchy restaurants in Palm Springs but we found one listed as $$ instead of $$$ or $$$$! Jake's it is!

The atmosphere is casual but comfortable. There is a larger outside patio which looked romantic and a handful of smaller tables inside. We arrived slightly before 6 pm on a Saturday evening and even though the place looked empty, the host asked whether we had a reservation because he was booked for the entire evening. Luckily he found space, and they were able to seat us inside. The service was awesome... not pretentious, attentive and always friendly. They seemed genuinely concerned with whether we were enjoying our meal.

Shrimp cocktail was offered as an amuse-bouche:.

Tasty! Out came our server to deliver a warm dinner roll shortly after.

I started with the Mixed Organic Greens salad with lemon vinaigrette ($6.50). It had a nice variety of vegetables and everything was fresh, but of course, I could have easily eaten 3 plates of this. :)

R had the filet mignon with blue-cheese (are you surprised?). It came atop roasted garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus ($24). It was so delicious he ate everything cleanly - even the vegetables!

Because they couldn't make the Tower of Eggplant without cheese (apparently it is pre-assembled), I opted for the sea bass. It was crusted with hazelnuts and came with garlic mashed potatoes and not enough broccolini ($21). Although it was rich, it was perfectly cooked and excellent.  And even though it may look like a tiny portion in this picture (and I did think so when I first saw the dish), I was surprisingly full after I was done.

After gaping at the display case when we went in, I was determined to have a dessert. I mean, look at them!

This picture doesn't really do them justice (R took the picture - hah!).  The cakes are HUGE layer cakes and the brownies and bars (lower shelf on right and left) are as big as my face!  Okay, not really... but close!

It was tough choosing, but the peanut butter lover in me had to go with the peanut butter cupcake ($5):

It was a giant-sized, moist chocolate cake filled with a little peanut butter and topped with peanut-butter buttercream and roasted peanuts. Although I LOVE peanut butter, I shortly realized this probably wasn't the wisest choice as I also detest buttercream (too sweet!), and am generally not a cupcake fan. I can't really complain because there was nothing wrong with it (wasn't dry or flavorless), but I should have chosen something else!

R had the "hostess" cupcake ($5):

His response: Mmmmmmmmmm.

To top things off, they gave us a couple of complimentary bites of pecan bars:

I definitely left with a happy, full belly. This place is phenomenal AND good value. A similar dinner would have cost us much, much more.  We will be back.

Whisknladle

For my birthday, we went to Whisknladle in La Jolla. I was interested because I had heard good things about the place and they seemed to have some "different" items on the menu (bone marrow and sweetbreads, anyone?).

I like that their menu changes seasonally, they us local produce, and that most items are in small portions so you can sample quite a few. However, this can add up quickly and a few small plates can make for a hefty price tag.

We started with the chorizo date fritters ($11.50):

These tasty morsels were probably my favorite of the evening. They are dates stuffed with chorizo and served with parsley and a spicy tomato sauce. Very tasty!

For the main entree, I had the conchiglie. It contained shrimp chorizo, sweet potato, rapini and piquillo “sofrito.” At $24, I wouldn't describe it as "good value" but it was tasty, if a little too greasy for me.

R opted for the flat iron steak ($29.50) which came with fries, watercress and a béarnaise sauce (soooo rich).

I noticed there were no salt and pepper shakers on the table to been seen and I wondered what the reaction would be had we asked for ketchup. Heh. The service was very attentive, if slightly pretentious.

For dessert, we tried the pumpkin bread pudding ($10). I had read they made their ice cream on the premises and the butter rum ice cream served with the bread pudding was delicious! The bread pudding itself was a little too "bread-y" for us though.

 

I think we'd go back and try a few other items but would have to save our pennies for next time.

Gluten Free Chinese Sesame Chicken

For my last post of the gluten free and dairy free weekend, we have Sesame Chicken and Broccoli over White Rice. Mmmmm....

I followed this recipe at Gluten Free Mommy but would made a few changes to her recipe and would still make a little more. Don't get me wrong, the dish was delicious and it's a recipe keeper. But I'd have less seasame seed and less sugar, even though I already cut her sugar in half. So doing this all over again, here's what I would do.

Gluten Free Chinese Sesame Chicken
4 servings

2 large chicken breasts cut into large chunks
1 tbsp of Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce
1 tsp of white rice vinegar
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup cornstarch

Mix soy sauce and rice vingear in a bowl and marinate chicken for about 20 minutes. Once marinated, add egg whites and cornstarch. Mix until well-blended. This gives the chicken a crispier coating.

Cook chicken in a wok. When cooked, remove chicken and set aside in a bowl.

Sauce:
1/4 cup Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce
2.5 tbsp white rice vinegar
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 - 1/4 cup of sugar
[The original recipe called for 1/2 a cup. I took it down to 1/4 cup and still thought it was a bit sweet. Hubby and I decided to cut the sugar next time but maybe not down to 1/8 cup.]

Sautee 1 diced garlic clove and 1 tsp of hot peppers (optional) in wok. Add the sauce and let ingredients incorporate. Stir in 2 tsp of cornstarch with a little bit of water to thicken the sauce. Keep stiring until the sauce thickens and bubbles. Add the chicken and 1/8 cup of sesame seeds. Stir until chicken is well coated with sauce and seasame seeds. Top with green onions and enjoy!

Yogurt and Honey Quickbread

I haven't had bread or any form of bread for at least 2 weeks. I have been craving bread. So one of my BFFs gave me a recipe for Honey Yogurt Quickbread but her "recipe" was basically only the ingredients and said bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 mins and then cool in pan for 10 mins. That didn't really tell me much. I could make a guess at what to do like put the dry ingredients first. But when it comes to gluten free baking recipes, I'm not quite the "baker" or even close to it yet... considering this is my first weekend of testing the baking waters. I looked up the recipe on the web and I found it on this forum though it's called Yogurt and Honey Quickbread.

I followed the recipe mostly but made a few changes to the ingredients. So here's my version of Yogurt and Honey Quickbread.

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups Four Flour Bean Mix (2/3 cup garfava flour, 1/3 cup sorghum flour, 2 cups cornstarch)
1.5 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tbsp sugar

Wet Ingredients:
3 eggs plus 1 egg white
3 tbsp Earth Balance vegan organic shortening, melted
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp distilled white vinegar
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup water

1) Mix together dry ingredients in bowl.

2) Combine eggs, shortening, honey and vinegar in a mixer and blend well. Add the yogurt and water and beat until smooth.
[Note: I was concerned about this recipe because I used shortening versus butter. I am allergic to cow's milk so butter is out of the question. While mixing the shortening in Step 2, the shortening started to solidify. I wasn't sure how the recipe would turn out.]

3) Slowly incorporate the dry mixture and mix thoroughly.

4) Pour into a lightly greased and floured bread pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.
[Note: I baked it for 30 minutes on a convection oven.]

The finished product looked as so. The dough doubled in size from the pan while it was baking. I thought the bread was getting too brown at the top around 20 minutes in. So at 30 minutes, I tested and it was surprisingly done.


The first slice. It looked like any other regular bread.

Inside

The bread was moist and slightly sweet. A great bread for jam and preserves. I am excited to have bread in my tummy again - gluten free and dairy free.

Decadent Dark Chocolate Brownies

Hurray for gluten free and dairy free dark chocolate chip brownies! A success!! After being a cranky for 2 week because I couldn't bake or eat "real" desserts and breads, I decided this weekend I would venture off into the gluten and dairy free baking world.

Let me start off by saying, it is expensive to bake gluten free. These 4 ingredients alone cost ~$25 and the xanthan gum was $12.50. I only had to use the brown rice flour for the brownie recipe but that's besides the point...

Regardless of price of ingredients, I decided to bake this weekend. It's my stress relief outlet and makes me feel good. And did I mention that I LOVE to eat! I have often been told I should be 200 lbs relative to the amount of food I eat and I should be 300 lbs relative to the amount of times I talk about food. Going gluten free and dairy free is tough but I keep hearing from others that it gets easier. I'm still waiting for the day...

Dark Chocolate Chip Brownies

Ingredients

5 oz of dark chocolate (I used Trader Joe's.)

1/2 cup Smart Balance Organic shortening (I preferred margarine over shortening but they didn't have it at the market. You can substitute the shortening for margarine or butter if you please.)

2 eggs

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup almonds, ground into a fine meal

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1) Melt dark chocolate and shortening and set aside.

2) In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs on medium high until frothy. Add the brown sugar and beat until mixture is smooth.

3) Add melted chocolate mixture a little at a time and beat until chocolate looks smooth and glossy.

4) In a separate bowl, combine almond meal, brown rice flour, sea salt and baking soda. Add dry mixture into chocolate mixture. Add vanilla and beat for another minute or so.

5) Stir in nuts. Pour brownie mixture into pan and press chocolate chips into batter. (I do this so the chocolate chips don't all fall to the bottom.)

6) Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes and viola...

Gluten free dark chocolate chip brownies

Gluten Free Quinoa Pilaf

While the hubby is off in Boise visiting his sister and her family, I am stuck at home... gluten free, wheat free, and practically dairy free. So I decided to try out some new recipes so I have more idea of what to cook during the weekdays. Today's recipe uses quinoa...

Usually when looking up quinoa recipes on the web, I tend to find cold recipes. Mainly a side or a salad type recipe. I wanted something hot, like a rice. So I attempted to make a sort of "quinoa pilaf." It actually turned out really good and was happy that it was a "hot" quinoa dish. I ate it with a tofu and bell pepper stir fry. Yum!

The picture probably looks like mush but make it and I'll prove you wrong.

1) Cook quinoa on stove.

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups chicken broth (you and substitue vegetable or beef broth for a different flavor)

2) Roast 1/4 cup of pine nuts.

3) Stirfry 1/3 cup of diced onions.

4) When quinoa is cooked, mix all together in a bowl.

Curry Pineapple Fried Rice

We went our monthly family dinner at J&K's this weekend. The theme was Chinese food. I recently found out I am intolerant to gluten, wheat, cow's milk, cheese, and a few other foods. My family was awesome enough to prepare the Chinese dinner in all foods that I am no allergic too. :) My contribution to gluten free Chinese dinner was pineapple fried rice. I know, I know... it isn't really Chinese. It's more of a Thai dish. But when I asked J&K, I was told "never say no to pineapple" and "do it!"

One of the other foods I am allergic to happened to be milk so I was searching for an authentic recipe that didn't include coconut milk. I ended up incorporating 3 different recipes to make the dish... and it turns out I made a curry pineapple fried rice.

I thought it turned out delicious! Not too sweet or spicy, not too rich since it's without coconut milk, and not to bland too.

1) Mix together 1 tbsp curry powder, 2 tbsp gluten free fish sauce, and 2 tbsp pineapple juice in a small bowl.
2) Stir fry 1 sliced onion, 0.5 lb tofu, and 1 cup of diced bell peppers (I used red, orange and yellow peppers).
3) Stir in cooked white rice (1.5 cups uncooked rice), 2 cups of pineapple chunks, 1.5 cups of cashew, a handful of chopped cilantro and the curry mixture.
4) Eat well and enjoy!

Carrot Muffins

After Shabu Shabu night, I had 4 pounds of carrot left to eat. I was looking up all sorts of recipes to use my carrots. I found this recipe from All Recipes, and I thought it looked fairly easy. It got good reviews, although only 9 of them, and I had all the ingredients in my house.

I followed the recipe but just added a few more carrots (2.5-3 cups or 3 grated carrots), about a tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg. I turned the recipe into muffins so that I could freeze them. It made 6 large muffins. Honestly, the muffins didn't look like much but they were delicious! Cooked perfectly, moist and you could taste the hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. This recipe is definitely a keeper, but of course next time I will use gluten free flour. 5 stars!!

Kale and Banana Smoothie

I have been trying to look for new recipes to use with kale, so I thought, why not put it in a smoothie? I love green smoothies after all. This smoothie is delicious and nutritious.

1 banana
2 leaves of kale, chopped
1/2 of soy milk
1 tsp of honey or maple syrup
dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or flaxseed

Golden Yam Brownies

Yams are exceptionally good for the body and I was trying to figure out something new to make with my yams this week. Behold, I found a recipe for Golden Yam Brownies. Who would have thought you could make brownies out of yams? These were delicious!


Based on some of the reviews, I decreased the sugar to 3/4 cups of brown sugar and 3/4 cups of white sugar. I also added in about 1/2 tsp of ground ginger and 3/4 tsp of ground cinnamon.

The brownies came out extremely moist and I am assuming this was due to the butter and/or eggs. Plus, the yams itself carry water. So for my next rendition, I plan on cutting both the eggs and butter in half. I like moist brownies but if it doesn't have to clog the arteries, I rather take it out. I'd also add in a little more ginger and cinnamon... maybe a tsp each, just for some added spice.

Substituting Cherries for Cranberries in White Chocolate Cherry Cake

I made this awhile back but haven't gotten around to posting the recipe. I got this recipe from a co-worker of mine back in 2005. It's for White Chocolate Cranberry Cake. But when cherries were in season, I ended up substituting the cranberries for cherries to make this delicious cake. Hubby gave it a thumbs up and as usual, we devoured it quicker than expected.

Changes in the recipe:
- Cherries = Cranberries (pitting all the cherries stained my fingers for days)
- Did not make the glaze.

Ingredients
6 oz of white chocolate chips
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
4 eggs
3 tbsp grated orange peel
3 tbsp orange juice
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups fresh pitted cherries

Grease and flour bundt pan. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, orange peel and orange juice. Mix well. Add flour and baking powder. Stir in chocolate and cherries.

Bake 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and remove to a wire rack.

Bundt cake on the wire rack

Close up of the cake

Sliced to perfection!

Molten Spiced Chocolate Cabernet Cakes

I felt like baking something new yesterday and came across a recipe that I tore out of 2008 Martha Stewart Magazine. I have made Molten Chocolate Cakes, also known as Lava Cakes, before but I can't ever seem to get the baking time right. Some cakes are overcooked and don't have chocolate flowing out when you cut into them. Other cakes are undercooked and I can't get them out of the dish without them falling apart. This recipe came out great! The timing was just right and the cakes came out of the ramekins easily. And the cakes weren't overly sweet, which is often the case with the standard Lava Cakes. I'd probably add a dash more ground ginger for more of that spice but other than that, this recipe is a keeper.

Ingredients:

4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp Cabernet Sauvignon or other wine
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
6 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger

1) Butter 4 6oz ramekins.
2) Microwave chocolate and butter in a bowl for 1 minute or until butter is melted. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted.
3) Stir in wine, vanilla, and sugar until blended. Whisk in eggs and yolk. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon evenly into prepared dishes.
4) Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Let stand for 1 minute. Loosen edges with knife. Invert onto serving plates. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and enjoy.

After they came out of the oven

Inverted cake

Dusted with powder sugar

Taking the first bite and watching the spiced chocolate flow out