Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cake

Undoubtedly, you know what Saturday is. I mean, how could you not? If one more person asks me what I'm doing for The-Holiday-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, I might have to end it all.

Now I'm not one of those girls you'll find with mascara-stained cheeks sobbing over a bottle of red wine and a pint of ice cream, but I still find the whole thing kind of tedious. Restaurants are overpriced, the food usually falls flat, and it's nearly impossible to navigate the streets without bumping into some starry-eyed, star-crossed lover on a mad dash to buy roses (hey, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, am I right?).

Instead, I want to have a day filled with delicious things. Things I make myself. Though if I'm being honest here, there might be an extra-large Domino's pizza heading to my door, if I play my cards right. This chocolate yogurt snack cake is the perfect thing to make. You can have a slice for breakfast, another for lunch, and then polish of the rest of the cake for dinner. And no one can stop you.

Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
200 grams semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt (ideally Greek or Icelandic, for a thick texture)
1 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons Brandy

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch loaf tin, line with parchment paper, and grease parchment. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and sea salt. In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, melt the chocolate with 1/4 cup coconut oil. Once melted and smooth, remove from heat. In a large bowl, whisk together remaining 1/4 cup coconut oil, yogurt, brown sugar, eggs, and almond extract. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Gently fold in dry ingredients. Pour into prepared baking tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth and light. Add coconut milk and almond extract and beat to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture and beat to incorporate.

In a large bowl, whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and Brandy and whisk to incorporate.

Once cake is cooled, ice and serve with brandied whipped cream.

More Snack Cakes
Mango Bread
Blueberry Cardamom Crumb Cake
Strawberry Almond Crumb Cake

Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

Filling out countless applications for jobs and post-grad programs, you come across the same questions over and over again. They're all looking for someone different, someone who stands out, but their applications are all the same. It really feels like they're all looking for the same person.

One thing that everybody wants to know, apparently, is how you would describe yourself in three words. Let me tell you. It is not an easy question to answer. So, while I'm still not sure that I can tell you about myself in three words, I can give you three for this post and these cookies: short and sweet.

Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

Makes about 15 cookies

1 1/4 cups oat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup smooth almond butter

1/4 cup almond milk

6 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup Marcona almonds, roughly chopped

1/4 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate

2 tablespoons cacao nibs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together oat flour, rolled oats, salt, and baking soda. In a measuring cup, whisk together almond butter, almond milk, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Make a well in the center of the oat mixture and pour liquid mixture into well. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Gently fold in almonds, chocolate, and cacao nibs. Scoop dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a disk. Place in freezer for 30 minutes until firm. Once firm, scoop out using a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop onto lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes until firm and golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Do you ever get something, whether it be a word or a song or a person, so stuck in your head that it's all you can think about? My brain is currently preoccupied with this song by Glass Animals called Gooey. Now it's not because I like the song all that much, though it is pretty catchy. The only reason this song has been running through my head for the past month or so is because the words 'peanut butter vibes' appear over and over again.

And, as any of my friends can attest, I have a penchant for peanut butter. When I was considering which recipe I would use for my re-entry into blogging society, I just so happened to be listening to that very song, and I knew it had to be something chock full of peanut butter. My apologies to those of you with nut allergies (I'm looking at you Hannah and Courtney), but I can honestly say this is one of the best ice creams I've ever made.

The base is creamy and heady with a deep chocolate flavor. The chocolate base is rippled through with a sweet-salty peanut butter swirl and studded with chocolate covered pretzels and tiny nuggets of buttery toffee. Too rich? Never. After all, I like my ice cream like I like my men: rich and fat.

Happy 4th to all- I hope it's full of peanut butter vibes.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Makes about 1 Quart

For the peanut butter swirl:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (something like Skippy or Jif works best)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 light brown sugar

3 tablespoons corn syrup

For the ice cream:

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup caster sugar

Pinch of sea salt

5 egg yolks, lightly beaten

Chocolate covered pretzels, roughly chopped

Toffee, roughly chopped

To make the peanut butter swirl: In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine peanut butter, heavy cream, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Stir until sugar has dissolved and mixture comes together. Transfer to a heat-proof container and chill until ice cream base is frozen. If you have any extra left, it is equally good poured over vanilla or caramel ice cream.

To make the ice cream: In a large saucepan set over medium heat, whisk together heavy cream and cocoa powder and bring to a simmer. Once the cream is simmering, remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Transfer chocolate mixture to a large, heat-proof bowl and set a strainer on top. In a small saucepan set over low heat, heat milk, caster sugar, and salt until sugar has dissolved. Once warm to the touch, quickly whisk in egg yolks. Continue to stir over low heat until custard coats the back of a spoon. Pour through strainer into chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Chill ice cream base until completely cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Once frozen, fold in chocolate covered pretzels and toffee. In a quart-sized container, layer 1/3 of ice cream. Drop tablespoons of peanut butter swirl over ice cream and swirl through with a knife. Repeat until all ice cream and peanut butter swirl has been used. Freeze until ready to eat.

More Frozen Peanut Butter Treats

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Popsicles

Peanut Butter Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Chocolate Peanut Butter Gelato

Chocolate Almond Tart

Getting home after a summer eating in New York has been a shock to my system. Months of gobbling up almost every tasty morsel in sight had to come to an end some time, I suppose. Most of the time, I'd be conscious and eat well, but I just couldn't resist a goat's milk ice cream here and a lobster roll BLT there. Can you blame me?

 Walking through the door of my house greeted by both my dog and the wonders of central air conditioning, I knew my days of over-indulgence were over (well, at least for the time being). My lovely, well-equipped kitchen was a sight for sore eyes after a summer of rolling out cookie dough with a water bottle and hand-creaming butter. While the fridge is well-stocked with kale and cilantro and lentils and the cabinets overflowing with all kinds of grains and dried fruit, there is a dearth of fun food- though everything my mom makes is actually really delicious.

It's been nice detoxing. I'm starting to feel like a real human again. But, for all of the great bits about being healthy, I still get that little itch, usually right after dinner. Sometimes a peach will hit the spot. Other times, a cup of chai tea does the trick. And as for those other times? Well sometimes my sweet tooth is far too insatiable a beast to be tamed by fruit and tea.

Because I'm trying to let my body recover, I'm doing my best to avoid the two tubs of gelato currently residing in my freezer. Instead, I'll opt for a slice of this chocolate almond tart. It's by no means dietetic, but it doesn't leave you feeling sluggish and have you jonesing for a snickers thirty minutes later. After all, I'll be free to stuff my face in two weeks once I get to London.

  Chocolate Almond Tart

Makes one 9-inch tart

2 cups gluten-free oats

1/4 teaspoon table salt

10 pitted dates

1/2 cup almond butter

5 tablespoons almond milk

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup dark chocolate

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Almond flakes, for decoration

Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling over the top

In a food processor, pulse oats and salt into a fine meal. Add dates and almond butter and pulse until combined. Add almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and pulse until dough comes together into a ball. Press dough into a 9-inch tart tin. Meanwhile, set chocolate and coconut oil in a heat-proof bowl set over simmering water until melted. Pour chocolate mixture over dough. Sprinkle almond flakes and sea salt over chocolate. Cover tart and freeze until ready to serve.

  More Raw Desserts

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Salted Caramel Pots de Creme

Raw Banana Nut Bread

S'mores Ice Cream

As my girl LDR (Lana Del Rey, for the uninitiated) will heartily agree, there comes a point in the summer when you begin to feel a bit restless...a summertime sadness, if you will. I find myself languishing around my apartment, scrolling endlessly through my idiotic Tumblr feed- please don't judge me- and staring blankly into my industrial-strength fan.

Honestly, I know I can't complain. But then again.......it is one of my most favorite activities. So, here I go. I am not now, nor have I ever been, a summer girl. I find the heat oppressive, the humidity daunting. I say this every year, but dear god it still manages to surprise me every time.

More or less, the only thing that keeps me going in summer, I'm fairly embarrassed to admit, is ice cream. I'm lucky enough that the Van Leeuwen truck is almost perpetually parked right in front of my apartment and that top-notch gelato is not more than a five minute walk from my doorstep. When desperate times call for desperate measures and the sun has long since set, my little corner bodega calls me out into the heat for a pint of pistachio ice cream.

 Finally, though, my little home is outfitted with one giant ice cream maker. So, now I can say so long to over-priced ice cream that's gone way too fast. Because I can make my own.

  S'mores Ice Cream
Adapted from Oh, Ladycakes
Makes 1 quart

For the ice cream:
2 14-oz cans full-fat coconut milk
4 graham crackers, finely ground
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 graham crackers, broken into pieces
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the ice cream cones:
12 plain sugar cones
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 graham crackers, finely ground

In a medium saucepan, whisk together coconut milk, ground graham crackers, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Stir in graham cracker chunks, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Transfer mixture to a bowl and let cool completely in fridge or over an ice bath. Once mixture is cool, churn in an ice cream maker according to instructions. Meanwhile, you can assemble your s'mores ice cream cones. Place chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water. Stir until completely melted. Roll the ends of each ice cream cone in melted chocolate and then roll in graham cracker crumbs. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let cool in fridge until chocolate is set. Scoop ice cream onto prepared ice cream cones, and enjoy!

  More S'mores Recipes
S'mores Cookie Bars
S'mores Cake
Ultimate S'mores Bar

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm such a cookie monster. It's kind of awful. I honestly blame Sesame Street. I mean, they basically taught a love of cookies along with the ABCs, right? Right. So who am I to blame for my undying affection? I wouldn't be surprised if some celery-wielding, health-nut mother started a petition to pull Sesame Street off the air because it inspired an affinity for a certain sweet, round little number (or perhaps because it turned her child into a sweet, round little number).

While I surely won't be banging on Bert and Ernie's door recommending they try a juice cleanse any time soon, there are times when my cookie-mania leaves me feeling a bit more like Oscar the Grouch than I'd like to admit. But then again...

There are those other moments, those glorious, sugar-fueled moments, when only a cookie will do. Cookies like these are my half-hearted solution to my moral dilemma. I'm going to be perfectly frank here. These aren't little nuggets of health, by any means. But a few steps in the right direction (no butter, no dairy, whole wheat), at least leaves me with a semblance of virtue.

  Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg and 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup unsweetened, dried, shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together coconut oil and brown sugar. Beat in egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips and dried coconut. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until dry to the touch and golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.

  More Coconut Recipes
Coconut Cake
Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread
Bill Granger's Coconut

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Banana bread seems to be sort of a thing. Do you know what I mean? It seems like every self-respecting person, most particularly those who gravitate toward yoga, granola, and Lululemon, feel like there is nothing better than a great, hulking slice of banana bread.

 I think it's the fact that bananas feature in the title of this breakfast (or afternoon, or evening, or anytime really) snack that makes it so popular. That fruit quotient makes banana bread consumers feel just virtuous enough to justify an extra slice or two (shall we call them slivers?) down the gullet.

To be perfectly honest, I never really got it. I felt that anything that included cooked bananas was, well, revolting. Throughout high school, so many of my friends brought in their moms' "famous banana bread." I was so thankful anytime a tin of it made its way through the doorway at Ashley Hall because I wasn't even remotely tempted. A tray of oatmeal cookies? A plate full of coffee cake? Forget it. I was a gonner.

 But banana bread? I turned my nose up every time. I thought everyone was crazy. Until a week ago. After one of my friends broke her thumb and had to have surgery in Scotland- God forbid- my flatmate, Arden whipped up a batch of banana bread as a little pick-me-up. She sweetly wrapped up half of the bread, and, quite devilishly, left the other half on the counter for Caitlin, Cokie, and I to devour.

I circled around the bread. Paced back and forth in front of it, eyeing it. I don't like banana bread, do I? I'd pretty much run out of food at this point, and it did smell awfully good. How bad could it be? So, I inched a little closer. I pinched off a corner. And. Oh. My. God. It was a divine revelation. I'd been missing out for years. Banana bread is delicious!

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you? So, while I'm painfully behind the times, I'm sure you have your own recipe for banana bread. But let me implore you to try this one. Because it is really, really good. I mean, knock your socks off good. What have you got to lose?

  Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Adapted from Orangette
Makes 1 loaf

For the batter:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the topping:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, mash bananas well until only small chunks remain. Add eggs one at a time and whisk to combine. Whisk in vanilla extract.  Slowly stir in dry ingredients until just incorporated. Carefully fold in chocolate chips, but do not overmix. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Stir together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle mixture over top of batter. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

  More Banana Recipes

Spiced Banana and Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Banana Layer Cake with Passionfruit Cream Cheese Icing

Banana Cream Cheesecakes

Peanut Butter Blossoms

I suddenly realized that summer is almost here. I was sitting in my garden last night at seven, and it hit me. It was still light outside. What??? I swear that only a few days ago the sun was dipping under the horizon in the late afternoon and would refuse to rise until well into the morning. Getting out of bed was pretty difficult.

Now, my favorite pastime, napping, is looking a little less appealing. Forget the fact that the sun is pretty unforgiving in shining through my window, leaving my room awfully bright. I'm just so excited to be outside. Don't get me wrong, it's not warm here yet. But mark my words- if the temperature rises even a few more degrees, we'll all have a hard time dragging ourselves back inside.

So, I say make some cookies, pack a picnic, and enjoy the sun.

  Peanut Butter Blossoms
Makes about 20 cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 egg at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Granulated sugar, for rolling
Chocolate, for pressing into cookies

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, beat together peanut butter and egg. Add brown sugar, baking powder, and vanilla extract and mix until thoroughly combined. Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on baking sheet and press fork into each ball of dough to create a cross-hatch pattern. Press one piece of chocolate into each cookie. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and firm to touch. Let cool on a wire rack.

  More Peanut Butter Recipes
Banana Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Muffins
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Layered Peanut Butter Brittle Ice Cream Pops

Chewy Salted Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chewy Salted Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now that was a mouthful, huh? And, if you're lucky, you just might get a mouthful of cookie too. A mouthful of ooey-gooey, robustly sweet, chocolate-studded cookie. Sound pretty good, don't they? Well, let me tell you, they most certainly are.

I have this compulsion. I don't like to publish blog posts with mediocre photos (don't get me wrong, I am fully aware a number of my photos haven't been exactly glorious), but these cookies were just too good not to share. I'm currently in Amsterdam visiting my dad. In rushing out of the house to catch my plane last Friday, I simply forgot to grab my camera. 

This left me snapping photos left and right on my shiny, new toy- my iPhone 5. While it doesn't have quite the same satisfying heft or take nearly as lovely photos as my trusty Nikon, I have to say, it takes pretty decent pictures. So, here is my disclaimer. These photos were taken with Instagram. But Instagram's cool, right?

Chewy Salted Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon table salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

Sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In another small bowl, stir sugar and molasses together until no lumps remain. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse sugar mixture and butter. Add egg and pulse to incorporate. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract and pulse until just combined. Add dry ingredients and pulse until fully incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop dough by the heaping tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown and the tops are dry to the touch. Let cool on a wire rack.

More Molasses Recipes

Ginger Molasses Cookies

Pumpkin Molasses Cupcakes

Overnight Molasses Granola

And, in case you were wondering, here's a photo of Daen HQ Nederland

Peanut Butter-Nutella Swirl Cookies

So my flatmate Cokie has been dying to get on the blog. I can honestly say I'm surprised this has enough cache for someone to actually want to be mentioned. But I guess her deep-seated desires could stem from the fact that both of my other flatmates have been mentioned. Or we could chalk it up to her incessant need to be the center of attention. Just kidding.

 Cookie, I mean Cokie, has provided a lot of fodder for jokes around our flat as of late. Someone, and I certainly won't say who, created a Facebook for Cokie's alter ego. Cookie George Morphis Halitosis swiftly stormed the St Andrews social scene, making friends with people the real Cokie could only dream of befriending. A short while after, a Twitter feed, known as Rich Cokie of Twitter,  sprung up, detailing the ridiculous things that come out of the mouth of this Buffalo-native.

After placating her with promises that she would 'one day' grace the homepage of Baking the Book, I thought it was finally time for Cokie to be formally introduced. So, here she is. Cookie Cokie Hasiotis. And, what more fitting way to celebrate this internet debutante than a batch of what she has dubbed "the best cookies in the world."

  Peanut Butter-Nutella Swirl Cookies
Makes about 5 dozen cookies

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 jar Nutella
1 cup dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and peanut butter until fully incorporated. Add sugar and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat to combine. Beat in vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Drop Nutella by the spoonful over dough and fold in, careful not to overmix. The Nutella should remain streaky. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop dough by the tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cool on a wire rack.

  More Nutella Treats
Mini Salted Nutella Tarts
Banana Nutella Cake with Nutella Frosting
Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Salted Caramel Pots de Crème

You can't very well end a meal without dessert. Whether it's a glamorous five-course meal complete with tinkling china and sparkling crystal or a half-hearted, half-microwaved Pot Noodle, I feel like you just have to end on a sweet note. It doesn't have to be anything grand. A small square of dark chocolate or an apple usually suffices.

But why shouldn't it be grand? If your meal is simple, a special treat afterward can make everything feel all the more special. If your meal is a more lavish, more Henry VIII affair, well, I wouldn't expect you to serve up a pint of Ben & Jerry's. We're all gourmandes here, right? (And if you do spring for the Ben & Jerry's, I promise I won't tell!)

The only problem I run into with dessert is the aftermath. I always eat pretty healthfully, but when the waiter slaps that dessert menu on my placemat, I'm a gonner. I make up for all of my careful choices and good intentions in one fell swoop of crème brûlée. What seems like a great decision in the moment, leaves me comatose, rubbing my belly, refusing to move for hours. In order to avoid the sluggish set-in, I try to go light, unless it's a special occasion.

Which is why a pot de crème is such a perfect choice. Wait, what? Pot de créme, healthy? Something seems off, no? Pots de créme, usually made rich with heavy cream, egg yolks, and lots of sugar, aren't generally wearing halos. Particularly not when they're topped with sticky, sweet salted caramel. But can I tell you a secret? These are vegan. They're free of refined sugar. And they're gluten free. There are no weird ingredients. It sounds too good to be true, but thankfully, they're just too good. Go on, get to the kitchen. What are you waiting for?

Salted Caramel Pots de Créme
Serves 4
Originally posted on Small Kitchen College

For the chocolate cream:
1 ripe medium avocado, pitted and with the skin removed
5 tablespoons natural, unsweetened cocoa powder
5 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
5 pitted dates
2 tablespoons agave
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the salted caramel:
5 pitted dates
3 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons almond butter
Sea salt

For the chocolate cream: Place the avocado,cocoa powder, coconut oil, dates, agave, and vanilla extract into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until completely smooth. Divide evenly between four ramekins.

For the salted caramel: Place the dates, coconut oil, maple syrup, and almond butter in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until very sticky. This will take a few minutes to get the proper consistency. Divide between the ramekins and smooth over the chocolate cream. Sprinkle sea salt over top. Chill in fridge for at least thirty minutes before serving.

  More Salted Caramel

Chocolate Salted Caramel Hazelnut Pie

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Cake Shots

Salted Caramel Chocolate Pudding Cake

Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches

Summer is finally winding down. And while I'm probably more excited than I should be that Fall is coming and that I get to go back to school (ask me in a month and a half, and I certainly won't be quite this thrilled to be at school), there is one thing I'm definitely going to miss. Ice cream. Now I know you can eat ice cream any time of year really, but it's just not the same.

 So in a final salute to the warmer months, I have ice cream sandwiches for you. Don't get me wrong, I think the good old store-bought ice cream sandwiches with the chocolate wafer sandwich really can't be beat. It's so hard to improve upon a classic, so I was happy these went in a slightly different direction. Almost whoopie pie-like, these sandwiches are a nice balance of sweet and salty, cakey and smooth.

There's a greater cookie-to-ice cream ratio in these than in traditional ice cream sandwiches, but that's ok. The cookies are so good on their own, that I'm sure no one will complain. The oats add a nice heft to the cookies, and there are just enough chocolate chips to keep things interesting. So, for nine months, I will say farewell to the ice cream sandwiches of summer, ready to hunker down with gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate for a little while.

P.S. For anyone who's still rattling around Charleston, my freezer is full of these babies...

 Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches
Makes 1 dozen sandwiches
Adapted from Sprouted Kitchen

1 1/3 cups oat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup natural peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Fleur de sel, for sprinkling
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together oat flour, salt, and baking powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and beat to incorporate. Add honey and peanut butter and beat until smooth and fully combined. Beat in dry ingredients. Fold in oats and chocolate chips. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop scoops of dough onto lined baking sheets. Sprinkle Fleur de sel on top of cookies. Place baking sheets in oven and bake for 15 minutes, until lightly browned and dry on top. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Once cookies have cooled completely, scoop vanilla ice cream onto one cookie and sandwich with another. Repeat with remaining cookies. Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and freeze until ready to eat. Remove from freezer 5 minutes before eating.

More Ice Cream Sandwiches
Chocolate Doughnut, Nutella, and Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches
Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Sandwiches
Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches