It's the time of year for giving, so we're participating in the 5th annual Menu for Hope charity raffle, which brings together food bloggers from around the world in the fight against hunger. Bloggers offer prizes that you can win by purchasing a $10 raffle ticket. The proceeds of the charity raffle goes to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP).

Last year, we gave away an iPhone. This year we want to share our love of a Bay Area product, Scharffen Berger chocolate. Many of you know that we love to eat and bake with Scharffen Berger chocolate and we wrote about the factory tour previously. So our raffle prize this year is the following...

Scharffen Berger Gift Package

• A 5 pound bag of petit baking squares. The winner gets to choose between 62% semisweet, 70% bittersweet and 99% unsweetened chocolate.
• The Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate cookbook by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger
• A Scharffen Berger (extra) bitter t-shirt

Due to the weight and temperature concerns (we don't want your chocolate to melt), we're limiting shipping to the US only. The charity raffle runs from December 15th - 24th with raffle winners announced on January 12th.

The prize code for our Scharffen Berger gift package is UW24. Shipped within the US only.

How to Enter/Donation Instructions

1) Choose a prize(s). For a complete list of prizes offered worldwide, visit Chez Pim. For a list of prizes from West Coast food bloggers, visit MattBites.

2) Go to Firstgiving, the online fundraising company used to manage the Menu for Hope charity raffle, and make a donation.

3) Specify the prize you would like to bid for in the 'Personal Message' section of the donation form. Every $10 donated will get one raffle ticket toward a prize. For example, a donation of $50 gets 5 raffle tickets, which can be distributed between different prizes, such as 3 tickets for UW24 and 2 tickets for UW33. This would be entered as 3xUW24, 2xUW33.

4) If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so the corporate match can be claimed.

5) Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that Menu for Hope can contact you if you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Please spread the word to your friends and family to help in the fight against hunger! Let me know if you have any questions and thanks in advance for your generosity.

a

We've been chocolate blackout cake obsessed since the first time we made it. The cake and pudding are fantastic on their own, but combine the two and you have the best chocolate cake ever!

The last few times we've made this dessert we skipped the icing because it's very temperamental. Instead, we doubled the pudding and used all four layers of cake. Who's not going to like twice as much homemade chocolate pudding?

To prove how good this cake is, all you need to do is take a look at the last picture in the slideshow. That's our friend, Jane, having a piece while in early labor. I'm not kidding! We planned on cooking for Jane and Mark back in September. But, she started having contractions early in the morning so we figured dinner was off. Hungry Bear and I decided to make dinner anyway since we had already gone shopping.

Then, Jane called in the evening telling us that she was coming over for cake. We thought she was just joking, but Jane and Mark soon showed up at our door (the hospital is only a few blocks away). I told her she was welcome to have some dessert, but if her water broke she had to clean it up.

Luckily for us, there were no accidents. Jane enjoyed her cake while Mark was timing her contractions. It was one of the more entertaining Sunday nite dinners we've had in awhile. We sent Jane and Mark to the hospital with a good portion of the cake and Jane delivered a healthy baby boy, Dylan. When we visited Jane and the baby in hospital, she also declared it the best chocolate cake she's ever had!

P.S. We promise a savory dish in our next post. And I also promise to deliver it in less than a week.

a

It's been way too long since our last post. Over the last month, I've been distracted by foodgawker, the election (I'm supporting "that one") and Penn State Football. I've spent entirely too much time in front of the computer, mostly with foodgawker, making it hard to crank out a post. We've been cooking regularly, but I've been too tired/lazy to pull out the camera and tripod to document our meals.

Hungry Bear has constantly reminded me that I'm neglecting SND. To appease her and some of our loyal readers (I hope you are still out there), we present to you look-we-still-love-you-and-SND everything cookies. As someone who loves to eat anything and everything, this cookie has it all... chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, nuts, granola and rolled oats.

It's a great recipe that Hungry Bear got from a friend over a decade ago. As the name implies, the cookie has everything you'd want... soft, crunchy, chewy, chocolaty, fruity and peanut buttery. I like to think that they're sort of healthy with the low-fat granola and rolled oats. It lessens the guilt after you inhale half a dozen cookies in five minutes!

a

Hungry Bear and I recently discovered chocolate oatmeal courtesy of Jeff, one of my closest friends and Penn State buddy. He came out to visit us a few weeks ago to rest, relax, cook, eat and ride (road biking). Jeff actually prepared a few meals for us while he was here. You've gotta love a house guest who will cook for you!

One morning after running the Lyon Street Steps, Hungry Bear made some steel cut oats and Jeff turned it into chocolate oatmeal by adding a little Scharffen Berger sweetened cocoa powder. It was delicious! And I can't believe that we didn't think about this combination ourselves. We typically have our oatmeal with some sliced bananas and brown sugar, which is good, but not as brilliant as chocolate oatmeal!

So the next time you want a healthy breakfast, reach for the steel cut oats and a little cocoa powder. Thanks Jeff!

a

First off, sorry for the lack of posts, but foodgawker has been "eating" up all of our time. We hope to get back on a more frequent schedule soon. Second, we had our one year blogiversary at the beginning of the month, but sadly we didn't get chance to post about it. Hungry Bear did make this incredible chocolate blackout cake to celebrate the milestone.

She used a blackout cake recipe from Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker's American Desserts, but substituted bittersweet Valrhona chocolate for the semisweet. The cake is absolutely delicious, but it's time consuming to make because of the many steps... coffee brewing, pudding creating, cake baking, cookie crumbling and icing making. We loved the pudding and the cake part. There was an extra layer of unused cake and it was fantastic by itself.

The icing tasted good, but we didn't like the hardened texture and it was difficult to work with. If we had to make it again, we would use Gale Gand's fudgy chocolate frosting instead. Or we would skip the icing, double the pudding quantity, use all four cake layers and top it with pudding.

Still, it was one of the best chocolate cakes we've made and definitely worth the effort!

a

I usually don't get too personal in my posts and just stick to the basics (good food, good photos, good recipe). For the most part, I don't think you are interested in what Hungry Bear and I do outside of our adventures in the kitchen. But, I'm making an exception with this post to fully explain why we made these decadent cocoa brownies.

I've mentioned our NYC friends, Jeff and Aimee, in the past. They organized our first cupcake tasting tour. I met Jeff in 1990 when I was a sophomore at Penn State. Despite getting off on the wrong foot (Jeff initially disliked me, imagine that?), we become very close and eventually lived together for a year and half.

I remember whipping up homemade hashbrowns with Jeff at 2:00 AM, when normal college kids would go get pizza. I was there when Jeff and Aimee started dating. They had to keep it a secret initially and it was funny how they snuck in kisses when no one else was looking. I was honored to be in their wedding party six years later. Now, they have a beautiful baby girl, Ava.

We only see each other once a year, twice if we're lucky. But, I have great memories of their visits to San Francisco and my visits to NYC, especially the meals. We've spent time on vacation together in France, Italy and Canada. Despite not living in the same city in over 15 years, we've remained extremely tight and they are still my closest friends.

Last week, Jeff and Aimee received a double dose of bad news. I was stunned and saddened. I've spent a lot of time talking on the phone with them trying to comfort them. I wish I lived in NYC because I feel so useless in San Francisco. Besides being there 24/7 whenever they needed to chat, the only other thing I could do was to make some comforting food for them.

Cookies and brownies are probably the easiest things to ship cross country. So, we planned on making cream cheese brownies. One of the first things I ever baked was cream cheese chocolate cupcakes that I made for Aimee. I actually had to make two batches of the cupcakes, because my dog, a little cock-a-poo named Champagne, ate the first batch. Never let cupcakes cool on top of a coffee table when a hungry dog is prowling!

We planned on using Alice Medrich's classic chocolate brownie recipe, modifying it slightly and adding a cream cheese filling. Then we realized that shipping cream cheese baked goods at room temperature was probably not a good idea. Instead, we settled on making Medrich's best cocoa brownies.

We used Valrhona cocoa powder and the brownies turned out great. They weren't too sweet and they had a deep, bittersweet chocolate flavor. Our only issue was the brownies were on the thin side. We would have doubled the recipe had we known. Are they the best cocoa brownies as the name suggests? Well, they're pretty damn close, but we prefer the taste and texture of the chocolate bouchons a little more.

Anyway... Jeff, Aimee and Ava, when you receive the package, besides the original item I was sending, you'll find a little tin of brownies. I hope they are still good and fresh. And I hope you can find a little comfort in them. I love you guys!

a

Last year, we watched the Barefoot Contessa make chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing and thought it was a brilliant combination. We actually made them for dessert in our first post (scroll down) on the site. They were a big hit, so we made them again this past Sunday.

Although we loved Ina's union of chocolate and peanut butter, we thought her cupcake recipe had too many ingredients. I'm sure the cake part tastes great, but we would have bought sour cream and buttermilk, used half, and eventually thrown the rest away.

Instead, we turned to one of our favorite chocolate cupcake recipes by Gale Gand (BTW, her fudgy frosting is killer). We love the simplicity of the cupcake batter... no eggs, no butter, no mixer required.

For the peanut butter frosting, we reduced the sugar and butter, because we don't like overly sweet icings and there's plenty of creaminess from the peanut butter. The final change was the substitution of coconut cream for the heavy cream, since we had already opened a can of coconut milk for a morel sauce that evening.

The cupcakes were scrumptious with a moist and tender cake. The frosting had a great peanut flavor and wasn't too sweet. We had the SNDsters top their own cupcakes with cacao nibs and M&M minis. And once again, they were enjoyed by all.

As we discussed the modifications and ingredients with the SNDsters, we realized that the cupcakes were almost vegan. I believe the only thing you need to do is substitute margarine for the butter. Since the peanut butter is so creamy, I don't think anyone would miss anything. If you do make these as vegan cupcakes, let me know how they turn out.

a

The first time I was offered a tofu chocolate chip cookie, I made a funny face, probably the same look that some of you are giving me right now. With a little hesitation, I took a bite and much to my surprise, the tofu cookie was really good. Ever since then, I've always looked forward to eating the cookies made by our friend, Jeanne. In fact, I like them so much, I've made football game bets with Jeanne, pitting her tofu cookies against my chewy chocolate chunk cookies.

The recipe was created by Jeanne's friend, a certified nutritionist, who wanted to make a healthy alternative to traditional chocolate chip cookies. Butter is not used in the recipe and is replaced with peanut butter and cream cheese. In addition to the soy protein from the tofu, the cookies are made with high-protein egg whites and the aforementioned peanut butter. Lower glycemic index (GI) oat flour is used instead of all-purpose flour. The oat flour is also higher in protein and is gluten-free.

We made the tofu cookies for the first time last week and used white whole wheat flour instead of oat flour, which we couldn't find at the local supermarkets. We thought about using all-purpose flour, but decided to stay true to the healthy intent of the recipe and went with the whole wheat. The tofu cookies were good with predominant flavors from the whole wheat, peanut butter and Valrhona 61% chocolate chunks. I don't think anyone would be able to tell that the cookies contained tofu.

There are definite differences between the oat and wheat flour cookies. I prefer the taste of the oat flour cookies, but I like the texture and crumb of the whole wheat cookies. Since oat flour doesn't contain gluten, it doesn't rise and the cookies are a little more dense. The next time we make the cookies, I'm going to try a 50/50 mix of oat and whole wheat flour.

After eating the tofu cookies for the last few days, Hungry Bear and I decided that the cookies would be a great energy bar alternative. They are relatively low in sugar, a good source of low GI carbs and contain a decent amount of protein. And since they are homemade, you know exactly what's in them and they contain no preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, palm kernel oil or other questionable ingredients. On a long bike ride, I would definitely prefer eating a chocolate tofu cookie over a Cliff bar or Powerbar.

Don't hold me to these exact numbers, but I calculated the nutritional value of the tofu cookies compared to some of my favorite chocolate energy bars and regular chocolate chip cookies. The serving size of the Cliff energy bars are 68 grams, the Balance bar is 50 grams, and the chocolate chip cookie is 55 grams. For comparison sake, I used 68 grams, about 1.5 cookies, as the serving size for the tofu cookies.

Tofu Cookie and Energy Bar Nutritional Comparison

The tofu cookies have less protein than the protein powder/isolate stuffed energy bars, but they also have less calories for a 68 gram serving size, which means you can eat more cookies!

I don't think tofu chocolate chip cookies will ever replace my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but they are a good healthier alternative. Compared to processed energy bars, the tofu cookies are superior in taste and natural nutrition. The next time you are on a long bike ride or need a post workout boost of energy, grab a few homemade tofu chocolate chip cookies instead of that processed bar.

Updated February 27, 2008: I added the nutritional breakdown for my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe to the chart.

a

I never use nuts in my chocolate desserts. I wouldn't dare put them in our chewy chocolate chunk cookies or in our brownies. Call me nutty, but I like to keep our chocolate desserts pure and simple.

The one nut I'll make an exception for is the macadamia nut. I love the richness and creaminess of this nut. As I was flipping through some cookbooks, I stumbled upon Jamie Oliver's two-nuts chocolate torte recipe, which uses almonds and walnuts.

The recipe looked simple enough, so I used it with a few changes. The first modification was substituting macadamia nuts for the almonds and walnuts. When I walked to the local supermarket, the only macadamia nuts available were roasted and salted nuts. I figured it would be okay, since most cake recipes ask for around a teaspoon of salt. Since macadamia nuts are higher in fat content than almonds and walnuts, I cut the amount of butter. The final change was the addition of vanilla extract to enhance the chocolate flavor.

Jamie's recipe uses a 375°F baking temperature for "about 1 hour." Hmm... that seems too long at 375°F. After over-baking a couple of desserts, I've become very conscience of oven temperatures and times. I have also discovered my old oven runs 25 degrees hotter than indicated by using an oven thermometer.

With some skepticism, I threw the torte in the oven and set the timer for 40 minutes. After 35 minutes, the wonderful aroma of chocolate baking was interrupted by a burning smell. I immediately removed the torte out of the oven. The inside was fine, but the bottom edges were very slightly burnt. Damn it, Jamie! I knew the baking time was too long.

Luckily, the torte was saved just in the nick of time. Despite the over-baked edges, the torte was still good, with a nice nutty chocolate flavor. The texture is moist, dense and a little crunchy from the macadamia nuts. I will definitely make this torte again, but use a lower baking temperature of 350°F. 375°F for "about 1 hour"... bullocks!

a

On a cold day, nothing beats a warm chocolate pudding cake for dessert. This is our "go to" dessert during snowboarding trips. It's easy to make and doesn't require a mixer, which may not be available in a rental house kitchen. After a long, chilly day outside, this old-fashioned dessert really hits the spot!

I saw this recipe on a Martha Stewart show many, many moons ago. Please don't ask me why I was watching it. I'm not a fan of Martha, and I never intentionally watch her show, but the pudding cake caught my eye while channel surfing. Well, anyone can get my attention if these words are spoken... warm, chocolate, pudding, cake.

The recipe used to be on her website, but I can't find it now. Fortunately, I copied it to take along on our boarding trips. We modified the original recipe by reducing the amount of brown sugar in the batter and adding 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chunks.

The chocolate pudding cake is spectacular. It's a cross between a spongy cake and a gooey pudding with a crispy, chewy top layer. This simple dessert has a rich, intense chocolate flavor, especially if the bite has a melted chocolate chunk in it. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and you'll be in heaven!

All of the SNDsters wish you a...  Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Belated Hanukkah or Happy Festivus for the rest of us!

a