Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Blender Pudding

Vanessa and I were thrust together our freshman year of high school by way of the alphabet. She (Rubio) and I (Ramos) were seated next to each other in 6 of our 8 classes that first quarter; a fact that we found very annoying as we Did. Not. Like. Each. Other. 

Forced to spend our days together, we eventually started talking, first out of necessity ("Do you know what page the Spanish assignment is on?"), then familiarity ("You cut your hair--it looks great!"), and finally, friendship ("Want to go to the mall after school?").

Soon we began to realize that we were a lot more alike than we'd wanted to admit--we both were smart and pretty, but confidently nerdy in a way that made us seem a bit odd in an environment where most kids went with the crowd. We both had artistic inclinations and loved to daydream and play; when the other kids were going to football games and parties, we spent most of our evenings and weekends holed up in my bedroom memorizing scenes from movies, listening to jazz, and occasionally even dressing up in costumes (I have photographic evidence of this nonsense).

Looking back, it seems like we were always playing, so much so that we occasionally forgot where we were--much to the befuddlement of our classmates.

Since we shared a lunch period, the two of us would typically buy our food and then eat together. One of our favorite snacks was the chocolate pudding they sold in the cafeteria. It was 50 cents for a small white Styrofoam bowl, piled high with silky, dark pudding that quivered ever so slightly when shook. It wasn't always available, but on days that it was, we'd each get a bowl and eat it with a plastic spoon, scraping up the last bits before returning to class.

Somehow along the way, we decided to see who could finish her bowl of pudding first. While the other girls picked at their salads and whole wheat sandwiches, Vanessa and I--oblivious to the stares--challenged each other to pudding eating competitions, which we excitedly called "Pudding Races!".

We soon found that racing through a bowl of simple pudding was too easy, so we upped the stakes, adding what we called "obstacles"--aka peanut m&m's--to slow us down. We'd buy one yellow bag from the vending machine and carefully count out the candies to make sure we each got an exact amount. Then we stirred them into the pudding, counted off loudly, and proceeded to eat as quickly as possible. Occasionally, we'd have to penalize each other (for example if one of us started eating too early) by tossing in an extra obstacle or two in the other one's bowl.

It was as delicious as it was ridiculous, and we'd usually end up laughing hysterically and wiping pudding spills off our Catholic schoolgirl uniform sweaters. Occasionally, there would be some coughing and choking. (Those obstacles were dangerous!)

[If you're wondering: Yes, we did both end up taking two gay male friends as our dates to senior prom, thank you very much.]

A few days ago, I found myself craving that same chocolate pudding and decided to recreate the combination of chocolate and peanuts by adding smooth natural peanut butter to a bittersweet chocolate pudding base. I used the same technique I use in my No Bake Pot de Creme, making the entire batch in the blender for a recipe that takes a mere 5 minutes (if that!)

The results: a thick, silky pudding redolent with peanut butter flavor. The dark chocolate keeps the pudding just this side of bitter for a distinctively adult take on that long-ago treat.

I'd suggest not racing through this bowl; it's much too good for that, but definitely share it with a friend.

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Thanks for reading & sharing!   

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Blender Pudding Recipe
Unlike many pudding recipes, which require that you stand and stir for several minutes, this recipe is made almost entirely in a blender in a matter of minutes. The results are silky and luscious. The heat from the heavy cream cooks the eggs, but I still recommend that you start with good quality pastured eggs that you can trust.  Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (use semisweet chocolate for a sweeter pudding)
3/4 cup natural unsweetened smooth peanut butter (only ingredients should be peanuts and salt; you can use sweetened kind, but note that it will make the final pudding a little sweeter)
2 large eggs (preferably pastured eggs)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream (do not substitute with milk or it won't work)

Directions
Combine chocolate chips, eggs, vanilla, and salt in a blender and blend for 2 minutes until the chocolate is finely chopped. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until bubbles start to form. Pour the hot milk over the chocolate and egg mixture, and add the peanut butter. Blend again for 3 minutes, allowing the heat from the milk to melt the chocolate and peanut butter, and cook the egg. Let blend until all ingredients are completely blended and the mixture is silky and shiny (depending on your blender, you may have to occasionally use a spoon to move things along), about 3 minutes.

Divide into individual pudding cups, and let chill 30 minutes before serving (will thicken as it chills). Leftovers will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but will thicken as they chill because of the peanut butter: you can let sit at room temp for about 20 minutes or so before serving to get the silky texture back.

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My Nora Ephron Problem

A few years ago, when I was working as an editor at Hearst, one of the writers from the international magazine I worked with emailed and asked me if I would answer a few questions about New York for a travel article they were writing from the point of view of a young local woman in her 20s.

“Of course!” I replied, because I love to talk about myself.

I eagerly shared my tips for getting around the city and my favorite places to eat. At the end of the questionnaire, they included a few short questions like: “What’s your favorite New York City song?” and “What famous woman embodies what New York City means to you?”

I don’t remember what I wrote for the song, but I do remember choosing Nora Ephron as my inspiring successful woman who embodies what New York City means to me. I sent it back and forgot about it, until the next day, when my editor mentioned the interview and asked to read my answers.

“Nora Ephron, Alejandra?” she asked, and I realized that the answer was perhaps not exactly the right one for the hip young target.

When the magazine went to print, they ended up replacing it with some other girl’s choice: Carrie Bradshaw. (She's not even real!)

But my answer still stands. Because Nora Ephron wrote the New York that inspired me.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my mom, listening to her music and watching her movies. I didn’t really know the connecting thread just yet, but there was something about the lifestyle depicted in movies like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle that drew me in. When You’ve Got Mail came out, my mom bought the VHS and we watched it over and over again. My dad rolling his eyes each time and asking, “How many times have you seen this?”

If any of those movies is ever on, we stop and we watch.

Of course I enjoyed and wanted the love story, but even more, I wanted to be Kathleen Kelly, with a life surrounded by books, a large plush bed, rugs to warm up hardwood floors, funny colleagues, and a smart man to meet up with for ice cream and conversation.

She was my kind of lady: talkative and witty. Heartfelt and honest. Playful and unapologetic.

In fact, all of Ephron's women were my kind of ladies. They made me laugh. But, more importantly, they felt familiar.

In college, armed with my first credit card and an eBay account I started buying stacks of musty magazines from the 1960s and 70s. I liked the old yellowed Esquires, full of smart writing and outdated advice that I followed anyway. It was in them that I read Nora Ephron’s essays, which somehow said a whole lot while in the guise of talking about little nothings. I loved how her words bounced from one idea to another to another with digressions and personal asides, like friends lingering at a table long after the check has arrived. Even when I couldn't relate to the specific subject (small breasts, for example) I could relate to that kind of thinking.

The magazines made me crave more, so I ordered her books, like Heartburn, her roman à clef (with recipes!) about a food writer who catches her husband cheating, which I read while cooking my way through my own broken heart. Or Crazy Salad, a terribly interesting collection of essays about women and women-things, which I still keep buried at the bottom of my purse, ready to reread during the dull moments.

(Actually, I didn’t even buy that book; I borrowed it from a library half a dozen years ago and never returned it. A crime I admit to having committed on multiple occasions.)

I’ve always been a bit odd and nostalgic; as a teen I’d spend hours watching AMC, back when it was American Movie Classics and played nothing but black and white movies all day long. I once watched 5 movies in a row on a summer weekend and mentioned this to a friend in my 7th grade classroom, still buzzing on snappy dialogue and happy endings.

"That's 10 hours of movies," she exclaimed, horrified.

While my friends longed for the guys from *NSYNC, I nursed crushes on Gregory Peck and Cary Grant—handsome men who had long since died (or were just about to). I carried stacks of strange books around, and listened to an awful lot of old people music. Once, my parents had my favorite radio DJ wish me a happy birthday on air in the morning before school; I excitedly walked into class that day, eager for the reaction from friends, but the only person who had heard the announcement was my middle-aged teacher.

I had fantasies of going off to the city to write clever and important things while typewriters clacked in the background.  At night, I imagined, I’d go on dates with a charming, yet infuriatingly neurotic man, who wore a suit well, ordered a good cocktail, and would ultimately win my heart with his conversation.

I think I love Nora Ephron so much because both her stories and her story made those black and white dreams seem possible and—even more importantly—not the least bit silly. Those Ephron ladies that were my kind of ladies? They were each a little bit nostalgic, a little bit old-fashioned, a little bit odd.

It is always something of a relief to see a bit of yourself on paper.

I live in New York and I've created my own way here. It’s not Nora Ephron’s on-screen New York; real New York is rarely that continuously charming. But there are bits of it here and there that remind me:

A front stoop. A brownstone. A conversation at the next table over.

I can’t pass the stunning Apthorp without thinking about her New Yorker essay about living there (until her $1500 rent went up to $12,000 and she and her family were forced out and across the park to the East Side).

[I love that story, by the way. I love that even Nora Ephron was priced out of her New York. God, this city!]

In her essay on Dorothy Parker, Ephron wrote:

"The point is the legend. I grew up on it and coveted it desperately. All I wanted in this world was to come to New York and be Dorothy Parker...the woman who made her living by her wit.
I have spent a great deal of my life discovering that my ambitions and fantasies--which I once thought of as totally unique--turn out to be cliches, so it was not a surprise to me to find out that there were other young women writers who came to New York with as bad a Dorothy Parker Problem as I had.
I wonder, though, whether any of that still goes on."

I didn't come to New York with a Dorothy Parker Problem; I came here with a Nora Ephron problem. But I don't think that's very much of a problem at all.

When I read that she had passed, I heard myself say "Oh no!" out loud even though I was sitting here alone. I rarely care about "celebrity" deaths. It sounds terrible, I know, but it's the truth. It's possibly because the celebrities I most admire are very old (so it's expected), and the ones that die young usually do after several years of living their lives in incredibly stupid ways (so, once again, it's expected).

But hers was a life full-lived. And her absence on the page and on the screen is one that I, and many, will feel.

It breaks my heart that there will be no new stories to delight and inspire. But I am ever so thankful for the ones that did.

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Say it with cake

"If you want it badly enough, and are willing to make some changes in your life to cause it to happen, you too can take over the world... or do anything else you really want to do. Yes, you really can have it all. The only things you’ll need to give up are assumptions, expectations, and the comfort zone that holds you back from greatness." Chris Guillebeau

Last week I brought a chocolate cake into work. Not so unusual in my world since I'm always bringing a chocolate something-or-other to the office, but this one was special—two round 10-inch layers of moist, dark chocolate cake filled with chocolate raspberry cream all encased within a thick layer of wavy cocoa frosting. I set it on top of the work station near my desk and sent a message out to everyone in our department letting them know there was cake available. In the email, I noted that the name of the cake was my "special announcement cake."

That got them alright.

Within a few seconds, nearly everyone had come by to find out the news. I pointed to the cake, on which earlier that morning I'd used my pastry bag to pipe out a buttercream message.

“I’m Leaving HMI,” the message said. HMI being short for Hearst Magazines International, where for the past four years I’ve worked as a magazine editor.

My coworkers were surprised—some laughed, some were sad that I was leaving, some took photos with their iPhones. All were excited about the announcement and (naturally) the “paper” on which it was printed. As we sliced the cake, I told them about my plans. I summed them up easily. I simply said, "I'm going to focus on my food thing."

No explanation needed. Everyone seemed to know. And of course! For they've stood by for the past four years, eating my cakes, reading my blog posts, granting me days off so that I could moderate panels at food blogger conferences, attend special tapings of the Martha Stewart show, and get my photo taken for magazine articles about me. They've sent me links to Food Network casting calls, and asked me for help with meatloaf recipes. And when I told my bosses (a couple days earlier with a proper meeting and computer-typed letter, not just cake frosting), they guessed before I said it and were supportive, understanding, and not the least bit surprised.

So now you're the only ones left to tell. (And, I have to say, the ones I've been most excited to share this with.) Starting around 5:01PM on April 1st, I will officially make the move to self-employment, exchanging the security of a steady paycheck and fancy job title for the opportunity to pursue the dream that’s been slowly growing and forming and crystallizing in my head for the past several years.  I'm leaving the comfort zone (which, less face it, has grown increasingly less comfortable the more I realized what I really wanted out of life) and am going for greatness.

When I started this blog a little over three years ago, I had an inkling. I knew my passion and I knew that there was something else, something more, that I was meant to be doing.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but starting this blog was the thing that ultimately helped me figure this out. Through this blog I’ve found my voice, I’ve developed my skills, and I’ve met people and received opportunities that have now made this next step possible.


My plan for now is this: As of April 4th I’ll be blogging 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, here on Always Order Dessert. The focus will continue to be original recipes, but with added content—entertaining ideas, inspiration boards, bagged lunch ideas, cookbook reviews, and video tutorials (and lots of other things I dream up along the way).  Instead of a part-time hobby, I'll be treating this blog like a full-time job; I'll be spending my days developing and testing recipes, improving my photography skills, writing, editing, and constantly bringing you new and inspiring content. A few months ago, I was talking about my blog with someone who had asked me about my traffic. I responded with my not-so-shabby numbers and added, “imagine what they would be if I could do this full-time!” With this move, I plan to find out.

Along with the blogging, I’ll be freelancing for both print and web with a focus on food and lifestyle article. I have a few things already in the works, but am of course open to more. (If you have any opportunities or ideas, please send them my way!)

I'm also going to finally (!!!) finish that book proposal that I have started and thrown out and restarted at least half a dozen times over the past two years. I sometimes kick myself that this has taken so long, but I’m also a very big believer in timing and I know that the only reason why I haven’t felt completely satisfied with what I’ve written yet is because the time has not been right. Each time I go back and revise or start totally from scratch, I get a little closer to finding my book--the one I'm meant to share with you.

And (as if that weren't enough), I'm also working on a couple special projects that I'll be sharing with you all in the coming weeks.

It's a lot, and I know I'm going to be working longer and harder than I ever have before in my life, but it's the work that I want to do, and I know that it will ultimately pay off.

I have so much more to say about this change. So much to say about the people who inspired me to just go for it, the ideas that I've been working on, and the people who have made this possible, but I think that all deserves its own post.

Stay tuned, and for now, have some cake.


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New to Always Order Dessert? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates by filling in your address in the box on the right. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 

Dark Chocolate Layer Cake w/ Chocolate Raspberry Filling
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, March 1999 (via Epicurious)

Ingredients
For the Cake:
4 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate
1.5 cups hot brewed espresso
2 cups granulated white sugar
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup grapeseed oil
1.5 cups light buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate raspberry filling:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners sugar
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves

For the frosting:
3 cups confectioner's sugar
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
6 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Directions:

First make the cake:
Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease and flour two 10" round pans
  
Finely chop the chocolate and place in bowl. Pour hot espresso over the chocolate and stir until completely melted and smooth. Set aside.
  
Into a large bowl sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thick and pale yellow. Add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide the batter between pans and bake about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  
Invert cakes onto racks and cool completely.

Make the filling:
In the base of a mixer, cream together the butter, milk, salt, vanilla extract and confectioners sugar until fluffy. Beat in the melted semisweet chocolate. Fold in the raspberry preserves until evenly distributed. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill until ready to use (rewhip if necessary before filling cake).

Make the frosting:
In the base of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together about half of the confectioner's sugar, the 2/3 cups cocoa powder, 1/2 cup butter, half of the milk, the salt, and the vanilla extract until fully combined and creamy (about 5 minutes). Slowly beat in the remaining confectioner's sugar and milk, and continue to beat for about 5 more minutes until smooth and fluffy. Use immediately to frost cooled cake, or cover tightly with plastic wrap

To Assemble:
Place one layer of the cake on a serving dish. Use a pastry bag or zip-loc with the end cut off to pipe a one-inch ring of frosting around the cake. Fill the center with the filling (you may have extra). Top with the second layer of cake. Frost the cake entirely. Keep cake chilled before serving and store leftovers in the refrigerator.

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What I Want This Year

After all my active campaigning for the Shorty Awards, I decided today that I want to take a couple minutes to share a few words about the way I use Twitter to both expand Always Order Dessert and my own personal brand, but even more importantly, about my (many!) goals for the site this year. This is a little different from my usual posts, but one that I hope will fill you in a bit on how I see and use and view my presence here on the Web.

I joined Twitter back in June of 2007 when I heard about it from a fellow blogger in the NY Bloggers Meetup group I created and used to run. He was raving about it so I decided to check it out. My first tweet was something along the lines of "Just setting up my Twitter..." but, I confess, that was probably about it for the next year or so.

Then, sometime in the middle of 2008, I started up again. I honestly don't remember why; I just remember that I suddenly really liked it. I loved the instant connection with people all over the globe. I followed every food blogger, food writer, chef, etc., that I could find and reveled in the direct access that I now had at my fingertips. I started conversations with bloggers I had previously only read, and it wasn't long before we were chatting regularly and helping each other out with recipes and ideas. The phrase "my Twitter friend" became a regular part of my vocabulary.


I know there are plenty of people out there who think it's a waste of time, but it really isn't. I've had some pretty incredible things happen in my life 100% because of Twitter. I've met great people that I now consider my friends. I've been invited to events I would have never heard about. I've gotten dinner reservations that I couldn't get through the phone. I made a pretty important Mashable list of Foodies to follow on Twitter that brought Always Order Dessert and my writing to the attention of reporters, publicists, and agents who have encouraged me to take further steps with my career. Even simply being linked to a great article or story that inspired me or moved me in some way--a link that I would have never seen had I not been on Twitter. These things (and a heck of a lot more) are proof to me that this site is anything but a waste of time.

I use the site to communicate and share about my day and what I'm doing. I also ask for help. Twitter can sometimes be like an amazing global customer service. Any question you have, guaranteed, there is someone out there who can answer it. Usually several people! I try to foster this by answering as many questions as I possibly can, and generously (I hope!) sharing my own different kinds of expertise (or even just experience) with the community.

If I had to pick between Facebook and Twitter, I'd pick Twitter without hesitation. I'd pick it because no other medium (not even this blog) gives me the kind of direct one-on-one communication with so many people. If you ask me something on Twitter, I will answer you. If you just drop me a note to say hi, I will respond. If you ask for help with a recipe or for suggestions on what to do with an ingredient, I'll gladly give it.


I will let you know right away that I'm not one of those people who instantly follow everyone back, but I have a good reason. Since I want Twitter to be about more than just collecting "friends," I need there to be some kind of connection before I will take that step. I really like to have at least some kind of basis before I follow someone. I want to open the conversation first. But I promise you that if you respond to me a few times or send me a quick hello and introduce yourself and are open in a way that's beyond simply sending out links or self-promotion, then I will follow you, guaranteed. Every now and then I send out a message that says "introduce yourself" and when I do it's because I really do want to know who is following me. I want to get to know you!

(And if you notice that we've been chatting, but I'm still not following you. Well then just ask me to! I probably just assumed that I already was. That's the amazing thing about the Web: nearly everything you want can be yours just by asking. The trick is figuring the who and how, of course)

I should also note that I'm the same way when it comes to e-mail. If you ever have any recipe questions, ideas for something you'd like to see on the site, questions about what to do with an ingredient, or are even looking for some party planning or entertaining ideas, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Seriously. I freaking love answering those kinds of messages. Sometimes it might take me a few days to get back to you if I've gotten a lot of mail, but you can totally just forward me the note and follow-up. Nudge me all you want!


I've got a lot planned for Always Order Dessert in 2010. It's my goal to post twice as many original recipes as I did last year. I've already started working on articles about entertaining (primarily about entertaining in small apartment spaces like the one that I, and probably most of you, live in) that I'm really excited to share with you. I'm planning more videos, playlists, and events. It's my dream to have this site become major this year and I hope you'll all stick along for the ride.

I'm not sure if I've ever shared this with you guys, but I love this blog. I mean that. I love what I do here more than anything else that I do in my day (I'm including the cooking as part of what I "do" here). I joke around about it, but this site is totally my baby. Even when I'm at work and totally committed to what I'm doing there, the plans and ideas keep unfolding in the back of my head. Over the holidays I took a lot of time to think about the things I want to achieve this year and I've laid them all out here. You're welcome to take a look. Let me know what you think. Let me know if you have any ideas.

One of the best things about always ordering dessert after a great meal, besides the deliciousness of course, is that it gives you a little more time to relax and extend the conversation.

So let's do that. Let's keep talking. And (most importantly!) let's have fun!



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New to Always Order Dessert? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates by filling in your address in the box on the right. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me.

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Thankful

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