October is one of my favorite months. The leaves are changing, the weather is cooling off, and it is time to lean into all things cozy. Cozy for me includes slower moments, spices, candlelit rooms, and being wrapped up in a blanket. I think that this sourdough pumpkin bread from This Jess Cooks adds to the experience of fall. It has the perfect balance of spices, pumpkin flavor, chocolate, and my favorite, a little tang from the sourdough discard. This all comes together quickly and is ideal for sharing!
Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin purée
200 grams (about ¾ cup) sourdough discard unfed, at room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips
1-2 teaspoons turbinado sugar for topping (I did not have & used regular sugar instead)
Let’s Get Baking
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour + cinnamon + nutmeg + cloves + ginger + baking soda + salt. Set the bowl aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar + brown sugar + pumpkin purée + sourdough discard + vegetable oil + egg.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
Fold in the chocolate chunks, keeping at least 2 Tablespoons of chocolate chunks for the topping. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar and the leftover chocolate chunks.
Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Then remove the loaf from the pan and transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Chocolate and orange is such an underrated combo. We always reach for the strawberries or the Oreos to pair with chocolate, but what about the oranges!?! With all this lovely orange citrus, Love Eat Sleep Food helped me with my ode to chocolate and orange with these baked donuts. They are such a yummy treat and you don’t need to stress with all the frying.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
1 Cup + 2 TBSP All Purpose Flour
5 TBSP Cocoa Powder
3/4 TSP Baking Powder
1/4 TSP Baking Soda
1/4 TSP Salt
43g Butter
1/3 Milk Chocolate Chips
1 TSP Coffee
1 Egg
3/4 Buttermilk
1 TSP Vanilla
3 TBSP Orange Juice
1 TSP Orange extract
Zest of 1 Orange
Icing
4 oz Chopped Dark Chocolate
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1 TBSP Orange Juice
1 TBSP Butter
Orange slices for decoration
Let’s Get Baking
Preheat the oven to 350F
In a small saucepan heat the butter until melted. While waiting to melt, combine the flour + baking powder + baking soda + cocoa powder + salt in a medium bowl.
Add the chocolate chips to the saucepan, as well as coffee + orange juice + vanilla + milk, mix to combine. Let cool briefly until adding brown sugar + orange zest + egg. Stir to combine.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold, don’t over mix. Pour the ingredients into a zip log bag and make a small incision. Pipe into a donut pan until it’s 2/3 full.
Bake for 13-15 minutes.
While baking make the icing!
Place the chopped chocolate to a heatproof bowl. In a seperate saucepan, add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Add in the chocolate + orange juice, stir to combine. After letting sit for 5 minutes, add in the butter and stir until smooth.
Wait for the donuts to cool before dipping in the ganache.
I am never never NEVER one to support recipe trends where people say, “WOW THESE ZUCCHINI CHIPS TASTE JUST LIKE POTATO CHIPS”. No, they don’t, and they never will. Stop lying to yourself and just eat a potato chip. But anyways, I have seen around the inter-webs people creating mini-desserts with dates, so I decided to make my own little creation. I am not going to agree with those people that these dates taste just like Snickers, because they don’t, but they are damn good. They are the perfect bite for when you want a little something sweet after dinner.
Ingredients
Peanut Butter
Dates, pitted and split on the side
1/2 Cup Chocolate chips
1/3 Cup Half & Half, or Milk, use what you have and use more if needed
Chopped Almonds or Walnuts
Flaky Sea Salt
Let’s Get Cooking
If your dates aren’t pitted, be sure to do that now. Prep a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Cut a slit on one side of all the dates.
Using a spoon, place a small amount of peanut butter into the date, making sure it is enough that the date can still slightly close. Once all the dates are stuffed, melt the chocolate + half and half in a microwave-safe bowl at 30-second increments until combined. Coat the stuffed dates into the chocolate, it’s going to be messy, but it’s okay.
Place onto the parchment paper, and top with the chopped walnuts/almonds and sea salt.
Holidays are the time that you get to show off your cooking and baking skills. At least that is how it is for me because I am usually cooking for one. I know I am a few weeks late, but I made this chocolate babka for Easter and I have to say it was an absolute hit. This recipe is from the New York Times Cookbook and makes 2 loaves. It is a long process, so I say get started three days before you want the loaf done. I made the fudge filling and chocolate streusel beforehand and it made the process go a lot smoother. As the New York Times said, read this recipe a few times before committing to making it, you’ll need it.
Ingredients
For the Dough:
1/2 Cup Whole Milk
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
1/3 Cup Sugar + a pinch
4 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 TSP Fine Sea Salt
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
1 TSP Grated Lemon Zest
1/2 TSP Freshly Grated Nutmeg
4 Large Eggs, at room temp, lightly beaten
10 TBSP Unsalted Butter, softened
For the Fudge Filling:
1/2 Cup Sugar
3/4 Heavy Crem or Half and Half
Salt
6 oz Bittersweet Chocolate (66-74% cocoa), coarsely chopped
8 TSBP Unsalted Butter, diced and softened
2 TSP Vanilla Extract
For Chocolate Streusel
1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
3 TBSP Sugar
1 1/2 TBSP Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 TSP Salt
4 1/2 TSBP Unsalted Butter, melted
1/3 Cup Mini Semisweet Chocolate Chips
For the Syrup:
2/3 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup Water
Let’s Get Baking
Let’s start with the dough. Warm the milk in a small saucepan on the stove until it’s lukewarm. Remove from heat, and add in the yeast + pinch of sugar and let bloom for about 5-10 minutes.
Using a mixer with the dough hook [you can also do this by hand it just takes a bit more time] combine flour + 1/3 cup sugar + salt + vanilla + lemon zest + nutmeg and mix. Slowly add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients along with the eggs. Beat until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes.
Add in half of the butter and beat until the dough is smooth, add in the rest of the butter and wait until the dough is smooth and stretchy about 5-7 minutes. Add in 1 TBSP of flour if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl.
Butter a large bowl and form the dough into a ball. Roll the dough around in the buttered bowl so all sides are buttered. Cover with clean dish towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1-2 hours.
Press the dough down and recover, let rise in the friedge over night.
Onto the filling: Combine the sugar + cream + salt in a saucepan over medium heat, bring to a simmer and stir occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Add in the chocolate + butter + vanilla stirring until the chocolate is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. This can be made up to a week beforehand.
Onto the streusel: stir together flour + sugar + cocoa powder + salt in a bowl. Stir in melted butter until it is distributed and the streusel forms large crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. This can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the fridge.
To make the syrup: combine sugar & water into a small saucepan. Simmer over MED heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
Butter 2 9-inch loaf pans and line with parchment paper
Remove the dough from the fridge and divide it in half. On a floured surface, roll one piece into a 9×17 inch rectangle. Spread with half the filling all over. Starting with the long side, roll up into a tight roll, transfer to a dish towel, and place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Do the same with the other piece of dough.
After the 10 minutes, slice the rolls length-wise in half and twist the halves together as you were braiding them. Fold the braid in half and place it in one of the prepared pans. Repeat with the other dough. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let rise in the fridge overnight.
When it’s finally the day to bake remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temp. Preheat the oven to 350F.
Using your hands, clump the streusel together and scatter along the bread. Bake the bread for 40-50 minutes, until a tester comes out clean with no dough.
As soon as the bread comes out, pierce it with a knife going all the way down to the bottom of the bread. Pour over the syrup. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool before serving.
Serve and share with family and friends. Baked with Love,
My mom was going away for awhile and gave me this absolutely massive zucchini. I was racking my brain to think of all the possible recipes I could try to use up this monster of a vegetable. I used my hibachi recipe and I still had more to use, then it hit me. ZUCCHINI BREAD. So moist (ew) and delicious, I had to make some. I prefer chocolate zucchini bread, it packs more flavor, at least I think so. The recipe is used from Chocolate Covered Katie, I changed a few things but she gets all the credit, check out her site!
Ingredients
1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup + 2 TBSP Hersey’s Cocoa powder
3/4 TSP Baking Powder
1/2 TSP Baking Soda
1/4 TSP Salt
2/3 Cup Sugar
1 Cup grated Zucchini
3/4 Cup Greek Yogurt
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil, or Canola/Vegetable
1 TBSP Pure Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup Regular Chocolate Chips + extra for on top
Let’s Get Bakin’
Start off with grating the zucchini, it takes the longest. Grate on a cheese grater or food processor, whatever you have.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Add all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add in the zucchini + greek yogurt + coconut oil + vanilla + chocolate chips and stir until well combined.
Place the mixture into a greased 9×5 loaf pan. Press additional chocolate chips on top and bake for 35 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the loaf sit in the closed oven for another 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool for slicing in. It gets even better the next day so if you can resist temptations wait a day before trying.
Hangry Hannah 