Chocolate PB & J Pillow Cookies

A few months back, I received a shipment of jams and jellies from Uncanny Preserves and I promised Lindsay that I would make something using them.

But... you know... then they were too delicious and I just kept eating the jams directly out of the jars. The chutneys disappeared in a flurry of cracker crumbs and tidbits of cheese.

In spite of myself, I managed to restrain myself from opening the last remaining jar of sweet goodness until a few weeks ago. The blackcurrant jelly sat in my cupboard while I waited for divine inspiration to strike.

And then, voila: in my google reader feed over the weekend I spotted Angela's, from Oh She Glows, peanut butter chocolate cookies (she adapted them from Post Punk Kitchen - another great vegan resource) and I thought to myself, sure you could have chocolate and peanut butter, but what if you took it up a notch and threw in some sweet, tangy blackcurrant jelly.

Oh.

My.

God.

The jelly addition was a revelation. It took a recipe that was good and elevated it to a whole new level by balancing out the sweetness found in the two doughs.

Next time, I'm totally trying this with hazelnut butter and orange marmalade. Can you imagine?


Chocolate PB & J Pillow Cookies

(adapted from Post Punk Kitchen)
makes 24

Ingredients

Chocolate Dough
 
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup finely ground oats
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
scant ½ cup canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
3 tbsp non-dairy milk (I like almond)
1 oz dark chocolate (72%), melted
½ tsp vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling
 
½ cup natural peanut butter
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
½ tsp vanilla
2 tbsp non-dairy milk

6 tsp blackcurrant jelly


Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together flour and oats. Sift in cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together oil, granulated sugar, maple syrup, non-dairy milk, chocolate and vanilla. Stir dry ingredients into wet. Mixture should form a smooth ball. If not, add additional flour, 1 tbsp at a time. Set chocolate dough aside.

2. In a small bowl, mix together peanut butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla and non-dairy milk. Mixture should be smooth and malleable.

3. Preheat oven to 350º. Line a large baking tray with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.

4. Divide doughs into 24 balls each, rolling to making a sphere.

5. Take a chocolate ball and flatten it out to form a circle.

 Place ¼ tsp jelly on the centre of the dough and then top with a peanut butter sphere. Pull the chocolate dough up over the filling and pinch to close.

 You make want to roll (gently!) the ball in your palms to smooth everything out. Repeat with remaining dough and jelly. Bake, 8 cookies at at time (they spread a lot - leave 2" clearance around each) for approximately 10 minutes.

Let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Preserve Week: Nigel Slater's Elderberry Jelly-Jam

I mentioned last week that my husband, at my request for interesting fruit, brought home some elderberries.

The first thought that popped into my head was:

My second thought was: what the heck am I going to do with elderberries?

So I googled just that. There were recipes for syrups and a couple for pies, but I knew I wasn't particularly interested in making either of those.

Elderberries aren't exactly the most popular fruit out there.

I removed myself to the kitchen and pulled Nigel Slater's Tender II off my shelf. He had two options for me: a sauce for venison or a jelly-jam that could later be put into a Jam Roly-Poly.

Now, I've never had a roly-poly, but I like the sound of a jam filled rolled cake (like a swiss roll), which seems to pretty much describe what a roly-poly is. The cake was traditionally steamed in a shirt sleeve (we're talking back in the 19th century here), which earned it the title Dead Man's Arm.

That's certainly a less appealing name.

So, if making the jelly-jam meant I could have cake at a later date, I knew I was in.

I should clarify one thing: Nigel calls this a jelly-jam because, after straining the berries over night as one does to make jelly, you have the option of incorporating some of the berries back into the jelly. So, it's like this beautiful combination of the two.

Oh! And before I forget: a warning.

Elderberries don't smell the prettiest. I think they smell rather of wet hay. Monty Python was definitely on to something!

Elderberry Jelly-Jam

(from Nigel Slater's Tender II)
makes 3 cups

Ingredients

750 grams elderberries (weight should be berries already removed from stems)
600 ml water
400 grams tart apples (I used Granny Smith, but if you have access to crab apples, even better), halved and left uncored and unpeeled
750 grams granulated sugar

Directions

1. Place elderberries, apples and water in a large dutch oven. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until apples are tender. Remove from heat and then place mixture in a jelly bag to drip over night. Don't squeeze the bag or its contents, as you'll end up with a cloudy jelly.

draining through a jelly bag

2. The next day, pour the collected juices into a dutch oven along with the sugar. If you would like fruit in your jelly, add in some of the berries from the jelly bag. Discard the rest. Bring mixture back to a boil and boil hard for 10-15 minutes, or until jelly reaches its setting point.

3. Pour into sterilized jars and process in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Rich and Creamy Coconut Jelly Squares

Oh, I can taste the tropics just on the horizon. In a week from today, I'll be enjoying the lush green forests and dramatic coasts of Kauai.

And hopefully, I'll be enjoying some coconut based deliciousness along the way! This recipe is made using agar agar, meaning it's suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

It also uses creamed coconut - which you should not confuse with coconut cream! Creamed coconut is the unsweetened, dried flesh of the coconut ground into a paste and then formed into solid blocks (coconut cream, on the other hand, is a liquid.) It adds an intense coconut flavour to dishes and means you don't have to use any coconut extract to amp up that delicious flavour.


Coconut Jelly Squares

Ingredients

1½ cups full fat coconut milk
3/4 cups water, divided
¼ cup creamed coconut (not to be confused with coconut cream)
3/4 cup sugar
4 heaping tsp agar agar powder

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together coconut milk, ½ cup water, creamed coconut, sugar and heat until just simmering.

2. In a separate, small saucepan, bring remaining ¼ cup water to a boil. Sprinkle with agar agar powder and let boil for 3-4 minutes, until agar agar is dissolved. Pour mixture into coconut mixture, stir well to combine and simmer for 3-4 more minutes.

3. Rinse a 5"x9" loaf pan with water. Pour coconut mixture into loaf pan and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until set. Cut into 1" squares and serve with toasted coconut or your favourite tropical sorbet.