Ibarra is a brand of Mexican table chocolate that is one of the most well know, and most widely available brands of Mexican chocolate. Ibarra chocolate is sold in thick, octaganal tablets and is made with sugar, cacao nibs, lecithin and cinnamon flavoring, which gives it a little spice. The most unusual thing bout this chocolate is that it has a gritty texture, thanks to a very generous amount of coarse, undissolved sugar in the chocolate. The chocolate, unlike regular chocolate bars, is not meant to be eaten in small pieces. Instead, it is meant to be used to make spicy Mexican hot chocolate by dissolving it into hot milk or water.
Ibarra has dramatically increased in popularity and availability over the past few years and is now available in most large grocery stores, where it can be found with other hot chocolates. It is also available at Mexican and specialty stores. In addition to making a tasty hot chocolate, the chocolate can also be chopped and incorporated into all kinds of baked goods – from cookies to cakes – to give them a spicy Mexican chocolate flavor.
Snow White is a classic children’s story and the original Disney movie is a favorite across generations. I have a feeling that the new Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs Cakelet Pan from Nordic Ware is likely to become a favorite with many people, too. The pan is one of the most detailed cakelet pans that I’ve seen, with the whole body of each of Disney’s seven dwarves and Snow White reflected in a magic mirror. The pan is heavy duty cast aluminum with a nonstick finish inside, for easy release of the cakelets. Each cakelet cavity holds up to 5 ounces of batter, which makes the finished cakes slightly larger than your standard cupcake.
To get the maximum amount of detail in your cakes with this pan, you’re going to want to grease and flour your pans before adding your batter. A denser cake batter, such as a pound cake, is going to give you more definition than an airy sponge cake will, and tapping the cake pan on the counter after filling it will help knock out any air bubble before baking.
The cakes will not necessarily need to be decorated to get the full effect of the Disney designs, but they can be frosted to give them a little bit of color and increase the “wow” factor of these Snow White characters. They’ll definitely impress at a birthday party over a batch of plain cupcakes!
Someone recently asked me what my favorite thing to bake was and I was stumped because it is difficult to narrow it down when I like so many things! The truth is that I like to bake just about anything, but if I have to pick, I would say that brownies are one of my favorite things to bake. They’re easy to bake, huge crowd pleasers and you can put many different spins on them to change their flavor completely. These Banana Brownies with Cacao Nibs, for instance, definitely stand out from your average brownie.
The basic brownie batter here is one that I use often, made with melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder for a strong chocolate flavor. I added mashed banana to the brownie base, along with chocolate chips and cacao nibs. Cacao nibs are chopped up pieces of roasted cocoa beans. The nibs usually go on to become chocolate, but they can also be added to chocolate bars and baked goods for a little crunch and a slightly toasty, nutty, chocolate element.
These brownies are pretty amazing and a fantastic change of pace from your standard brownie recipe. They are super moist and fudgy, yet still tender, and they have a great balance of chocolate and banana flavor. I used dark chocolate chips, but semisweet are a good choice here, as well. The cacao nibs add a crunch, but are more subtle than a big pecan or walnut is going to be, and they enhance the overall chocolatiness of the brownies. You might have to look to a specialty baking store to find the nibs, but if you want to skip them you’ll get good results by using walnuts or pecans in this recipe, too.
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Quick breads are breads that are made without yeast, hence they are “quick” to prepare. You probably think of banana bread or pumpkin bread when you think of a quick bread, as sweet quick breads are a brunch staple, but there are many savory quick breads out there that make a nice addition to other meals – like this Cheddar Onion Quick Bread. The bread mixes up in a few minutes and bakes in less than an hour, which means that you can even fit it in on a busy weeknight to have fresh, homemade bread along with dinner.
This bread could not be any easier to make, and the resulting loaf is delicious. It has a light, but moist, crumb and packs in a lot of flavor. The onions cook right in the bread, so you get a very sweet onion flavor in the finished bread, which compliments the cheddar cheese nicely. Both sweet onions and regular onions will work beautifully. I tend to use sweet onions, but use what you have on hand. The cheddar also adds a few streaks of orange here and there in the loaf for color as well as flavor.
This recipe could be easily adapted to use other types of cheese – pepper jack would be something spicier, for instance – to suit your preferences and what you have on hand. However you make it, it goes well with all kinds of savory dishes – and since it is so easy to throw together, there is really never a bad time to whip up a loaf. I like to keep it simple and serve it with soups and salads. Classic tomato soup and gazpacho are two of my favorite pairings with this bread. It is good plain and even better when you smear it with a little bit of butter. The bread can be sliced and toasted, as well, to add a little crunch to it.
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