Recipies from MuseCon Parties

We had a party up at WisCon, and several folks asked for the recipes for the goodies we served there.

xap's Dark Chocolate Pomegranate cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
7/8 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (14 Tab, 1 cup minus 2 Tab, 1-3/4 sticks, pick your term-of-preference)
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup pomegranate molasses (aka pomegranate syrup)
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 ounces dark chocolate chips (or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped)
1 to 1-1/2 cups pomegranate arils (depending on your tastes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract; beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed, until just combined. Do not overbeat.

By hand fold in chocolate and pomegranates. Chill (usually around 1 hour) Drop rounded spoonfuls of sticky dough on baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and cracked, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Note on the molasses - it's popular in Middle Eastern cooking and can be found in Middle Eastern and Kosher grocery stores as well as online. You can also make your own (recipes online; involves pomegranate juice, sugar, and boiling)

Organic, Gluten Free Six Layer Bars

1/2 C (1 stick) butter
1-1/2 C old fashioned rolled oats
1 C chopped walnuts
2 C semi-sweet morsels
1-1/3 C flaked coconut
14 oz sweetened condensed milk

Melt the butter and pour into an 11"x17" cookie sheet. Make sure it covers the entire bottom. Sprinkle oats evenly. Sprinkle chopped walnut evenly. Spread the semi-sweet morsels evenly. Sprinkle the flaked coconut evenly. Notice a theme here :-)

Finally, the drizzle the sweetened condensed milk evenly. Here's a trick. Warm the can to about 85-90F and it will pour much more easily!

Bake at 375F for about 15 minutes until golden brown on top. Cool 5 minutes and cut. If you wait until cool before cutting they will be difficult to cut and nearly impossible to remove from the pan. Makes however many bars you cut them into.

Dry Ice Ice Cream

7/8 C sugar
32 oz half-and-half (milk and cream)
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
12oz dry ice

Before starting, grate the dry ice. If your lumps are much larger than sand, you may find a special cold crunchy surprise in your ice cream. Use a coarse cheese grater. I've found that deerskin thinsulate gloves allow me the hold the dry ice during grating. You'll also need a bowl and a spoon. The bowl can be any material, but I'd recommend a wooden spoon.

Blend the sugar into the half-and-half and add the vanilla. Slowly add the dry ice "snow" into the mixture while stirring. If you add it too fast it will bubble the mixture out the bowl and all over you. Keep adding until you reach soft serve consistency. Stop and take a look. If you don't see any bubbles, then the dry ice has completely sublimed and it's ready.

Like ice cream, but prefer something milk free? Substitute soy milk or almond milk. If it already has vanilla in it, you will need to reduce the amount you add.

Dry Ice Sorbet

You can do the same thing with fruit juices. The only restrictions is it must contain at least 14% sugar (naturally occurring or otherwise). Too little sugar and it will freeze hard.

Any natural juice (orange, mango, pineapple, etc) has sufficient sugar. Experiment and enjoy.

Sweet Potato Custards

2 largish to 4 mediumish sweet potatoes (~2-2.25 lb, or 3 cups after blending)
2 sticks Earth Balance soy spread (or other margarine or butter of your choice), softened to room temperature
1.5 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
0.25 cups white sugar (optional)
4 eggs
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp salt
Cinnamon (nominally 2 tsps; Capricon batch had 3.5-4 tsp)
Ginger (nominally 1 tsp; Capricon batch had 2-2.5 tsp)

Boil sweet potatoes in enough water to cover, ~30-45 minutes. Cool and slip off the skins (including the yellowish layer that wants to come off with the outer brown layer). Slice crossways & whip briefly in blender or food processor to get a smooth texture.

Cream together soy spread and sugar. Stir in remaining ingredients and beat well. Transfer to mini parchment paper cups, 2ea 9-inch pie shell, or an assortment of custard dishes and 7-inch ramekins. Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. (Note: baking arrangement does not appear to affect cooking time. Cook same amount of time for mini-cups, shells, etc.).