Raw Chocolate Pudding Recipe

I’ve always been a fan of trying new and weird foods. Raw oysters? Yep, tried ‘em when I was 7 and fell in looove. Ranch dressing on pizza? Oh yeah, love it. Chocolate avocado ice cream? Yes, and ate the whole bowl. I loved the chocolate avocado ice cream so much that I knew I had to figure out how to recreate it so that I could make it in the comfort of my own home and not have to pay for overpriced presentation. When I stumbled upon a raw chocolate pudding recipe made with avocados from the new site Mother Magazine I knew I had to try it. So I did; although I did change up the recipe just a tad to fit my taste buds. It’s seriously gold, easy to make, and you’ll never want a chocolate pudding cup from the refrigerated section again. Like never ever ever.

Here’s how you make it…

Ingredients:

2 large avocados 3/4 cup agave (or maple syrup) 1/2 cup cocoa powder 3 tablespoons coconut oil 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Put all your ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. {It's really that easy, but I hand mixed the ingredients together first so that the blender could do it’s job better.}

The best part about this recipe is that it’s raw chocolate pudding. That means that you aren’t putting unnecessary gross things into your body, plus you’ll fill up faster because raw foods are awesome like that. This recipe make about 2 servings worth of normal pudding, but you could most likely share it with about four people because it’s so filling.

If you try this recipe, be sure to Tweet / Instagram a picture (and tag us) so that we can see your awesome chocolate pudding!

xox ~chloe

The World's Best Bourbon Slush Recipe

I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm about to share with you the recipe for the world's best bourbon slush: a mint julep slush. I hadn't even heard of a bourbon slush until this week when Chloe and I were hanging out with Christy and Missy making cute Derby fascinators and bow-ties... you know, the sort of thing you do around Kentucky Derby time in Louisville. Christy, of The Bourbon Blush and definitely in-the-know about all things bourbon, shared her morning of Derby routine, which of course included her sought after sweet tea bourbon slushy recipe. Not being a bourbon drinker until recently (I found one I love!) I was curious. So we chatted bourbon, slushies and Feast BBQ while pinning, gluing, and playing with feathers.

Feast BBQ is well-known around Louisville for having fabulous, sinful Bourbon Slushies (known as Bourbon Slush, Bourbon slushy, and Bourbon slushies - take your pick of spellings). They might possibly be the "best in the world," and this little secret is spreading like wildfire. The type of slushies rotates year round (Frozen Mexican Hot Chocolate with Bourbon Slushy anyone?) and in April the slushy was, fittingly, a Mint Julep Slushy in honor of  the Kentucky Derby. The recipe was published by Gilt so I whipped it up in no time at all, tasted and mmmm, delish!  Make up a batch of these slushies and I can pretty much guarantee that your guests will all be asking for the recipe. And the wildfire will keep spreading.

Mint Julep Slush Recipe

• 4 oz. Bourbon
• 6 oz. ice
• 6 oz. brown sugar simple syrup (combine equal parts (1:1) sugar and water in a bottle and shake vigorously until sugar is completely dissolved)
• 2-3 dashes of Fee Brothers Min & Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters
• Fresh Mint

1. Rub the inside of a glass with the mint. Typically Mint Juleps are served in silver julep cups, but these might more fitting in mason jars.

2. Blend everything together except for the mint.

3. Pour your slushy and garnish with mint and a straw.

And while we're talking Bourbon recipes, if you need something to snack on why not try Maker’s Mark Mint Julep cookies that are served right at the distillery.

Maker’s Mark Mint Julep Cookie Recipe

Cookie:

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup finely ground oats
• 2 cups Andes Mint Chocolate Candy pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and mint chocolate candy pieces. Gradually add to butter mixture until incorporated. Scoop out with a two ounce scoop and place 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool and add bourbon fudge topping.

Bourbon Fudge Topping:

• 2 cups melted chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semisweet, whichever you prefer)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup Maker's Mark Bourbon

Melt chocolate in double boiler, remove from stove. Add sweetened condensed milk and bourbon and mix until incorporated. Top cooled cookies with warm fudge and enjoy.

Mint Julep Slush and Maker's Mark Mint Julep cookies seem like the perfect way to have Derby day anytime! Enjoy!

Milk & Cookie Shot Recipe

The rage with cronuts by Dominique Ansel's Bakery are are being followed up by his hugely popular milk and cookie shot. Recreating his cookie shot is right up there at the top of our list of favorite recipe posts (along with how to make glitter lollipops and the best cake pops) we've brought y'all, because somebody (us!) had to taste test every single chocolate chip shot to make sure it was up to par. And we now have a signature dessert to bring to book club, Kentucky Derby parties, wedding showers, well… just about any party. And clean up is a snap: just down the milk and eat the shot glass. Couldn't be easier. Although there are a variety of recipes we tested, we're sharing our winner: the most simple one that didn't leak and didn't involve an extra layer of glaze to seal the cookie. (But there are glazes below.)

Ingredients: chocolate chip cookie mix mini popover pan tinfoil corks shot glass flour milk

Directions: Follow the directions of your cookie mix or use your own chocolate chip cookie recipe. However, add flour to your mix after you have completely mixed yours together. We added between 1/4 - 1/2 cup to ours in order to create a dense cookie mix. Then mix in the flour.

Roll out some of the dough about 1/4" thick and use the shot glass to cut circles. Place the circles on the bottom of each popover mold.

Take pieces of dough and roll into a ball, then a log shape, then flatten and place in a the popover mold being certain to attach it to the circle on the bottom so that no milk will leak through the seam. You'll see that our cookie shots are rather thick. This is intentional! They are thick and dense (and yummy!) and why no glaze is required.

Take your cork and roll it in tinfoil, then place it in the center of each cookie shot. This will prevent the cookie shot from falling into the center.

Bake until brown, or like us - the maximum time suggested, and let cool.

If you would rather have a thinner "shot" wall, then you might need a glaze. Whichever you choose, be sure to coat the inside of the "shot" well so that there are no cracks and pour off any excess. You can use:

• dark chocolate and melt it. Pour and coat bottom and sides, then chill.
• magic shell for ice cream. Coat all sides and bottom, let harden
• confectioner's glaze: a little bit of confectioner's sugar + a small amount milk + vanilla. It should have the consistency of thick paint. Paint it on the inside with a clean paintbrush. Chill overnight, then bake for 5 minutes (so you might want to initially bake your shot for the minimum amount of time or until just barely brown).

Add milk (or kahlua or...) and enjoy!

FYI:  we let our chocolate chip cookie shot hold milk for 4 hours in the refrigerator for the sake of testing. We couldn't wait any longer in our taste testing gorge-fest to see how long these would last. They were far and away the best cookie shot glass recipe we made: no leaks, fabulous consistency & no need for a glaze. Plus, we realized that if the milk sits a while, it makes them taste like chocolate chip cookie cake. Yum.

Enjoy and let us know how your shots taste!