Mast Brothers

So, I know Christmas is pretty long past for most people, but Dan and I just finished enjoying one of his presents the other day. This year, like most other years, he found a couple of Mast Brothers chocolate bars in his stocking (from me) and we were both super excited.

Mast Brothers chocolate is one of my favorite things in life, combining chocolate with little else, wrapped in gold foil and then again in gorgeous Italian paper. Each bar has its own beautiful design printed on the paper and I often have difficulty picking the bars for their flavors as opposed to their wrapping. (I'm one of those people that do judge books by their covers.) A friend of mine has been to their location in NY and got to witness the wrapping of the chocolate bars. That image has haunted me ever since and I'm pretty sure it might be my dream job.

Apart from the aesthetics, the chocolate is amazing. Mast Brothers source from small cacao farms around the world and then they do the rest: sorting, roasting, winnowing, stone grinding, aging and tempering. The result is an amazing bar that usually has four ingredients or less: our Christmas bars had cacao, cane sugar, black truffles, and sea salt in one and cacao, cane sugar, and sea salt in the other. And they were incredible! So, new project for Swings and Arrows readers: try Mast Brothers chocolate as soon as possible!

Have a sweet weekend!

-Alissa

Delicious Impostors

Avocado Chocolate Mousse recipe here. 

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest in the middle of the night while Graham is blissed out breastfeeding, and I've been pinning up a veritable storm of sweets lately. While scrolling through my collection to find something quick to cook the other day, I discovered a minor but noticeable trend among my interests: food disguised as other food. Which is not to be confused with the Sneaky Chef movement, a sentiment I am wholly against—how are you supposed to teach kids healthy eating habits when you aren't telling them what you're slipping into their chicken nuggets? No, this comes from the same magical land of cauliflower pizza dough and spaghetti squash pasta. Keep those nutritious ingredients right up in front, I say! I whipped up the avocado chocolate mousse for our anniversary picnic on Sunday and have to admit it tasted wonderfully decadent considering it had none of the heavy cream, sugar, or egg yolks the dessert typically calls for—nothing but good fats here. Next on the docket: raw egg-less bean-full chocolate chip cookie dough!

Chickpea Cookie Dough Dip recipe here.

Flourless Double Chocolate Black Bean Brownie recipe here. 

- Cathleen

[Images and recipes courtesy of Refinery29, Chocolate-Covered Katie and Chowdivine]