some of you know that i stay away from that evil enemy....sugar. it is a hard road to do so. its everywhere...not just in the sweet form found in candies and cookies and brownies et al. but its other not-so-obvious form called bread, pasta, rice and corn. its hard i tell you!!! so like most red-blooded women i need chocolate from time to time and unsweetened chocolate is about as edible as burnt hair. so what do i do?!?!?! i make "brownie batter", faux brownie batter is more like it. lets call it brouxnie batter. one sweetener i allow myself (in small doses) is called agave nectar. its a syrup made from the cactus plant and ..it...is sweeeeeeet! it is pretty flavorless to me although some say it has an aftertaste. i have yet to detect it. not like honey, or barley or rice syrups which are, to me, incredibly strong. so agave is the winner. it also has the lowest glycemic index of all sweeteners. not including those chemical renditions of sugar which i stay away from on principal. so i take my favorite cocoa powder from green and black's and pour about 2 1/2 tablespoons into a small bowl, followed by a pinch of sea salt. i then add enough agave (about 2 teaspoons) to emulsify it, or turn it into a paste. then i add a few tablespoons of heavy cream and incorporate it. the consistency at this point should be like what you would pour over your ice cream. of course you can start eating straight away (and i do) but you should wait at least 20 minutes when it will set a bit (thank you heavy cream) and turn into a truffle-y consistency or a brownie..excuse me...brouxnie batter. for someone like me who loves chocolate like i love my own child but can't eat the real thing b/c of all the sugar this is a fabulous substitute. i do think the best cocoa powder is worth getting for this and the addition of salt takes it to another level. chocolate loves salt. and when its that time of the month and you NEED chocolate or you might kill someone, this is a very easy and fast thing to pull together and it literally can be pulled together in less than 5 minutes. and this really is for those moments when you need something and there is nothing available unless you get in your car and drive somewhere. plus such a small amount is needed to suffice. truly!! a few tablespoons and i feel a bit sick to my stomach. thankfully!! then i can move on to something salty. which as we ALL know only leads right back into the kitchen for another tablespoon of brouxnie batter.
4 comments:
Yummmmmmmmy! But I think you discussed two favorite things here, agave nectar being the second. I also love agave nectar but insist on the light color one rather than the dark which has a more distinct flavor.
Will definitely try the brouxne batter as even tho I am post-menopausal I still have the same issues only ALL month! Thanx.
pretty clever on the "aux" part.
i have been using agave nectar for some time now...you mentioned "flavorless"....i started out buying the dark (i think that's all harry's farmer's market" had) and it does have an after taste...but, i ran across "light" eventually and was VERY pleased with the flavor...it is almost flavorless.
in fact, i just threw out a bottle of dark because of the taste.
This soooo helps to further enable my sweet/salty/sweet/salty/sweet/salty craving spiral. Make it for me.
xoxo
Thanks for the tip, while I am not a fan of Green and Black's chocolate bars, I do buy the cocoa powder exclusively. I will definitely try your recipe soon. as you mentioned...it is that time of the month.
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