I have a sweet tooth

When I moved to NYC about 3 years ago I was basically alone. Of course I had my husband and our little dog to be with but I had no friends, no family. Also we stayed at this Airbnb for about 3 weeks until we finally moved to our first apartment.

In this beginning I had just a few things to lean on during my time: buying stuff for my new apartment and the internet. I came to NYC with no job and no career - my deepest desire was to change from advertising from something else, something related to food. So I started to follow Bon Appétit on Youtube. From the first video that I saw I loved the content. Also it taught me so much - from full recipes to techniques.

Still nowadays I count on BA’s recipes. It’s the first website that I check whenever I want to find out about a new recipe or if I have an ingredient which I’m in doubt of how to prepare - for techniques or just creativity.

Recently I acknowledge the fact that I have a sweet tooth. Between breakfast and lunch I crave something sweet. And very often between lunch and dinner I have the same cravings. Usually I rely on my favorite combo: banana and peanut butter, sometimes I add some chocolate chips, maple syrup and/or chopped hazelnuts. But I was getting tired of eating the same thing over and over again. So I would munch on chocolate! (Lindt is my favorite).

I know that people really like chia pudding. I tried a few recipes but didn’t like any of it. I believe the texture is what it makes that not so tasty for me. It comes as a surprise for me that I have this issues because I always had zero problems with texture.

Until on the beginning of this year I founded out this Molly Baz recipe for Chocolate-Cashew Chia Pudding. She blends lots of ingredients and then add the chia pudding. But since I was already using the blender I thought “why not blend the seeds with it?”. It was the best decision I had. The texture was super creamy and after some hours on the fridge it got even better.

Now I have a quart container on my fridge every week, just one step away from me to dive into it and have a healthy and delicious snack. It’s a good breakfast too if you are into sweet treats on your mornings - I’m not, I gotta have savory stuff for breakfast with a big cup of coffee and you guess… cashew milk!

For my chia pudding I like to add vanilla whey protein and chopped fruits on top. The combination of vanilla and chocolate really makes me happy. And adding strawberries almost makes me feel like I’m having Neapolitan ice cream. Other combinations that I like are hazelnuts with banana and coconut chips with blueberries. Just yummy!

Flourless Double Chocolate Banana Bread

When I go chocolate chip I really go for it!

Instagram inspires me so much. I think that it's so nice to have a place where you can follow people that are doing very different things all around the world. Or even people that are interested in the same subject as you are.

This week I got so inspired by Garden In The Kitchen. Not only the author, Silvia, is a Brazilian living in the USA just like me, but she's so inspiring. What I really like about her is that she does wholesome recipes and very nutritional ones, but also very flavorful.

When I saw this double chocolate banana bread on her feed I knew that I had to try it. Since I had scheduled a tea time with one of my best friends that was the perfect opportunity. But my friend can't have gluten, so I had to do a few changes. And that's what I like - we can totally get inspired by something and not follow that through exactly how it is. I love that we can change recipes and create another one just by getting inspired.

Just like Silvia's recipe mine use only a blender. Luck for me I have a very potent one. If this is not your case, don't worry. You can blend the soft ingredients on the blender and then mix it in a bowl with the dry ones. Easy peasy. If you are looking for a vegan option, go for Silvia's, mine takes egg - since I had to found a solution for the oats in hers, I used almond flour. Also she used almond butter and I am pretty sure I didn't even need the peanut butter for mine since I used the eggs - probably you can add an extra egg if you don't want or don't have peanut butter around.

FLOURLESS DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD

INGREDIENTS

2 cups almond flour
4 small ripe bananas (or 2 large)
2 eggs
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cacao powder
½ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup peanut butter
Pinch of salt and cinnamon to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre heat the oven at 350F (180º C). Grease a loaf pan with canola oil or place a parchment paper. On the blender mix all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips. You can also start by mixing the bananas, maple syrup, eggs and peanut butter and then add this mix to the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Place the batter in the pan and bring to the oven for 50 minutes or until you place a toothpick in the center of it and it comes clean.

Cardamom Creme Caramel

It's not vanilla: the little black dots are yellow cardamom seeds.

I am that type of person that goes to bed and start to think. A lot! Somedays I start to think about food and flavors and new combinations and my mind goes crazy. Sometimes I just sleep and kind of forget it - because I am not the type that will open my eyes, take the cell and make a note because this will make me lose my sleep for sure. But somedays I am look enough to go to bed with an idea on my mind and then I wake up and the idea is there I will only rest when I go to the kitchen and start to test.

This happened this week when I was thinking about creme caramel, one of my favorite desserts ever. Creme caramel is very popular in Brazil, I grew up having it on special occasions with family. But it's the kind of dessert that people love and it's not so simple to do. Specially because sometimes it gets some holes in it and some people love this way but I prefer de creamier one - no holes, just a velvety cream.

A few months ago I was giving this amazing yellow cardamom by Burlap & Barrel and felt in love by it. It was the first time that I had cardamom in my life. Don't get me wrong but cardamom is so expensive in my country that I never had the chance to try it before. Since then I've been trying to use it as many times as possible with different combinations. And the latest one is the subject of this post.

Sweet and glorious with a fragrant taste.

It's so hard to do a dessert like this when the sun is already down and you have to wait until the other day just to take nice pictures. Nevertheless so worthy. Do you want the recipe? Here it is:

CARDAMOM CREME CARAMEL

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CARAMEL

2 cups sugar
¾ cup water

INSTRUCTIONS

In a pan add the sugar and the water and give it a little stir to dissolve. Turn on the medium low heat and once the mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring and wait until it turns to caramel. Transfer to a 9 inches pan.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CREME

4 eggs
1 can of sweet condensed milk
2 cups heavy cream
10 pods of yellow cardamom

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven at 350 F. Put some water to boil. Take the seeds out of the cardamom pods and add in a blender with all the other ingredients. Blend for about 2 minutes. Using a sieve transfer the liquid to the pan with the caramel. Use foil to cover it. Get a bigger pan and place the pan with the liquid on the center of it. Put in the oven and pour the hot water. Let it cook for 90 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool on the counter. Put in the fridge after it has cooled down. Leave it on the fridge for at least 3 hours.

To take the creme caramel out of the pan: use a knife to let it out from the edges from the pan. Put the pan on the stove top for about 20 seconds. Place a beautiful plate on top of the pan and turn. It's ready!

I would truly recommend this dessert for Christmas feast! Also I would decorate it with orange confit or toasted pistachios. Superb!

Brownie with Coffee

I had some coffee from the breakfast waiting to go down the sink this morning. But, I can't live with myself anymore knowing that I wasted food without even thinking about something to do with it.

Even tough it is Sunday I still had time to go to the kitchen and do something sweet for the weekend - this is a new tradition in this house: we have to have something sweet to bite during the weekends. A delicious new tradition to be honest.

I was out of chocolate bars or chips, but I had cacao powder. Butter, eggs, sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and the coffee. The happiness recipe for sure.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cacao powder
1 1/4 unsalted butter sticks
2 cold eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
A pinch of salt
A pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup (leftover) coffee

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325°F (180°C). Line the bottom and sides of a baking pan with parchment paper - I used an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a heatproof bowl put the butter. Bring it to Bain Marie and let it melt. Then combine the cocoa and then the sugar and mix it with a whisk. Pour the coffee and whisk everything together. It should be warm enough that you can dip your finger on it - with no harm (please)!

Melt the butter in Bain Marie.

Add the cocoa powder and mix it.

Add the sugar and whisk everything together.

Pour the coffee...

Whisk until thick.

Let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to cool down a little bit. Add the cinnamon and the salt. The cinnamon will enhance the chocolate and the salt will enhance all the mixture. It's just a pinch, anyway.

A pinch of salt and cinnamon to enhance the flavors.

Now it's time for the eggs! After the batter has cooled down a bit, you can add one at a time. Pour one egg at time and stir vigorously after each one. The batter will look thick and very shiny. Now we can add the flour. Using a strainer to make the flour lighter and easier to stir. Also it prevents lumps on the batter.