Adventures in Brewed Chocolate

What to do with brewed chocolate when you aren’t drinking it? Be adventurous and experiment! Culinary genius extraordinaire, Hannah of BitterSweet, generously shared her own recipe for “Brewed Chocolate Cheesecake.” Be sure to also check out Hannah’s book, “My Sweet Vegan” for phenomenal recipes and photos.

 

 

 

Here is Hannah’s recipe and posting from her blog:

Brewing Up Something Sweet

Having thoroughly enjoyed a good number of cups of Brewed Chocolate since writing the review, it was only a matter of time before it became an ingredient in one of my desserts. Straddling the line between coffee and chocolate, it wasn’t hard to find complimentary flavors to pair with it… Namely, chocolate and coffee!

Letting the brewed chocolate shine in a simple cheesecake base, it would have been easy enough to make it like a traditional dessert, but after witnessing so many inspiring plated works of art being assembled, I simply couldn’t contain my desire to follow suit.

The “crust” is sprinkled on the side in the form of cocoa-coffee soil, veganized from this recipe just by using margarine instead of butter. A few drops of clear caramel sauce complete the plate, while the cheesecake itself is topped with whipped soy cream and a broken chocolate mendiant with cacao nibs. Pretty simple still, but a whole lot more fun than just a plain old cheesecake, if you ask me!

Of course, with extra cheesecake, I decided to play around with a second presentation, much more like an individual trifle. The soil is scooped into the bottom of a glass, which is then topped by smaller cubes of cheesecake, and then a whole mendiant. This is one that I can definitely see making again for a larger crowd, as it’s just as much work as making regular old parfaits.

You could certainly bake the crust into the bottom if you’d prefer, but this is one recipe that is delicious however you serve it. It only makes a very small amount, so if you’re planning on having company, I would suggest doubling the recipe and baking it in an 8 x 8 pan instead.

Brewed Chocolate Cheesecake

1 8-Ounce Package Vegan “Cream Cheese”
1/4 Cup Vegan “Sour Cream”, or Pureed Extra-Firm Silken Tofu
1/3 Cup Brewed Chocolate
1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and lightly grease an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.

Begin by beating the “cream cheese” in your stand mixer until soft and creamy. Add in all of the other ingredients, and mix thoroughly until completely smooth and homogeneous. Pour the cheesecake mixture into your prepared pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes, until set around the edges but still wobbly in the center when tapped. Let the cheesecake cool completely in the pan, and then chill, covered, for at least 2 hours until cold all the way through. Cut into squares or cubes and serve as desired.

So I quit ‘em and found Cabaret

I’m so excited that we are now launching our blog! From time to time, we will be posting blog entries from our wonderful friends, sharing their unique voices and experiences with Brewed Chocolate. Please email us, we love hearing from you! For our inaugural post, we have a guest blogger, the lovely Eileen. Thank you for sharing, Eileen!!

Cabaret Brewed Chocolate came into my life very soon after I started giving up things that were bad for me. Coffee. My ex-husband. Rubber shoes with holes in them. I’m not saying any of those things are bad in general, they were just bad for me. I kept going back to them because they were easy to slip into, hard to let go of, and I had somehow come to equate being awake with being on edge. None of these things got me to the place I was trying to get to, that place of true comfort, happiness and awareness.

So I quit ‘em.

How can it be so difficult to get something that you know isn’t good for you out of your system?  Some things are easy to get rid of.  Here’s what you do:  you throw them in the garbage can/recycling bin/box marked “To Donate.”  Some things you cut back on gradually.  Some things, you try to convince yourself that you are free of them, even though they still have a key to your house, even though everything about the situation feels wrong now, but at least you know this life.  The unknown, that is much scarier.  But one day you just can’t take it anymore.  And the Big Change that has been three, five, six years in the making, happens very suddenly.  And then you feel elated.  And then you feel sad.  And then you feel angry.  And then you feel hopeful.  And then it is lunch time. 

Soon you will begin meeting your friends in restaurants and talking. Talking talking talking. Someone will convince you to sign up for Facebook. If you are anyone other than me you will start dating immediately. You will cut your hair and you will detox. You will redecorate, and your home will finally look like the place you want to live in. Beloved friends and relatives will come to stay with you because there is room for them in your heart and your house now. Work projects that you thought were dead will unexpectedly become revitalized by brilliant creative people and surprising box office results. An excellent friend will invite you to her birthday dinner. You will go with the intention of dropping by for half an hour and end up staying way past your bed time. And if you are very lucky, you will be introduced to something that is delicious and healthy and makes you feel very, very good…

The first time I tasted Brewed Chocolate was late at night, at the home of said excellent friend. It was a lovely post-birthday dinner gathering of awesome people and two awesome dogs. One rockin’ chick had the good sense to mix up some Cabaret and whiskey. We all had a sip. Here’s what it tasted like: a campfire. Smoky. Earthy. Sexy. Strange but familiar. All grown-up yet child-like at the same time. Layers upon layers of tastes and smells and feelings – just from one sip.

I was intrigued. I read on the product’s website that this chocolate beverage could be mixed with liquids other than whiskey – like hot water or warm milk – and may give you “a pleasant sensation of calm,” “ gentle lift of clear energy,” or a “glow of well-being.” I ordered two jars.

I’m thrilled to report that brewed chocolate is everything I’d hoped it would be and more. I drink it every morning – add about two teaspoons of the syrup to half a mug of hot water. It’s like chocolate-flavored tea and it keeps me awake and happy and calm all day. Really. I get things done around the house. I get things done outside of the house. I write a lot. I exercise a little. I connect with more people than I have in over a decade for sure, maybe ever. For the most part I can honestly say that I now live in the moment, instead of tormenting myself about the past or worrying about the future. And I do all of these things in a serene, energetic, glow-y way. This may not sound like a full, exciting day to you, but for me it’s freaking Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras where you also get work done. Mardi Gras where you get work done, remain sober, and don’t flash people. You know what I mean. And I’m not proclaiming that it is solely the brewed chocolate that is making me feel this way, but I know it’s doing something. And this stuff, this syrup, this marvelous concoction, it doesn’t make me break out, it doesn’t make me fat, and it doesn’t give me the runs. Hallelujah! Some genius created this, but I feel like a genius for drinking it.

Let me tell you a little more about my experience with this stuff. I’ll be sitting there, sipping my cup o’ Cabaret – chatting with a wonderful house guest perhaps, or reading a magazine – drinking it slowly, because it is hot and tasty and must be savored – and then about twenty minutes later I will have an empty cup in my very steady hand and realize that my head and body are filled with positive thoughts and pleasant sensations. That happy awake feeling, it just sort of sneaks up on me. And it is a most welcome Surprise.

Sometimes true comfort, happiness and awareness just sneak up on you like that, I suppose. But only if you get the bad stuff out of the way first.

* Eileen Walls has written scripts for Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., Lifetime and Paramount. She lives in Los Angeles and is too happy to worry about the fact that the grammar in this piece is appallingly imprecise.