Friends of Hutchison held an exciting bakeoff last month at the Mile End Library. As a founding member of the group and sometime food blogger, I was eager to bake something for the event. I decided on my mini buttermilk muffins. My nieces and nephews go crazy for this, I make them about once a year and they're always so excited to receive a generous ziploc bag full of these. They're bite-sized, tasty and the perfect chocolate hit you need at least once a day (right??).
"When you can't resist taking another one, you know it's good!" said my father about this recipe.
The recipe for these actually comes from the lid of a Quaker Oats canister my sister bought a few years ago. They're simple, quick and easy to make (like most of the recipes I enjoy making). What I love about these in particular is that they're 'healthy' (oil vs butter, mostly oatmeal with a little flour) so I don't feel bad eating more than one. They're crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, with just a small hit of chocolate to satisfy the taste buds. A family favourite. You know the feeling you get when you want to bake, but then you picture all the dishes you`re going to have to wash after and lose interest? Worry no more. This is a one-bowl, NO mixer recipe. Ingredients you should have in your pantry, easy technique, minimal cleanup: happiness!
The reason the word 'dairy' is in the cake's name is because according to Jewish dietary laws, milk and meat cannot be eaten together. Therefore, after having a meat meal I would have to wait an allotted amount of time before eating it. Vice versa, after eating this cake, I would have to wait a (considerably less than after meat) appropriate time as well. Therefore, a food's status (meat, dairy, or pareve which means neutral) has to be known. This is a moist, tasty chocolate cake. You will love it. Just-crispy edges, soft chewy chocolatey inside, powdery sweet coating…. As a chocoholic I adore this cookie. Growing up I always heard it called ‘crinkle cookie’, I suppose due to the crinkled look it has as the cookie bakes and ‘cracks’ and the icing sugar topping becomes zig-zaggy (if that isn’t a word I just invented it). As an adult, my best friend Charlotte (aka Cupcake Princess!) told me it’s her favourite cookie to make but she called them chocolava cookies. Whatever you decide to call it, this confection is a delicious chocolate explosion, so a couple of weeks ago when my brother Chef Ari (expert on all things cooking) sent me this recipe, titled 'Chocolava Cookies' I knew I had to make it.
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