Watermelon Granita

What a sad life... too much watermelon... well, there must be some way to get rid of it. Right?

4 c. seedless watermelon, cubed
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tbsp. lime juice

Puree ingredients until smooth; DO NOT use a food processor unless you want sticky pink liquid all over the counter. Pour into freezer-safe 8x8 pan. Cover. Place in freezer. Come back in an hour - see, you can study and cook at the same time! - and whisk with a fork. It will probably not be remotely frozen yet. Return to freezer, this time for three hours or until ready for consumption- bet you can finish that pesky essay - and flake with a fork until the pink, watermelon-flavored brick achieves roughly the texture of shaved ice. Return to freezer in between quality control sessions, since otherwise you'll have to start all over again from the puree stage, keeping in mind that you'll have to re-flake it after it comes out of the freezer because it will have frozen solid.

A very refreshing, very easy, very low-calorie summer dessert that proves I can achieve deliciousness without butter, flour, chocolate, or an oven. Take that.

Strawberry mochi cake

This is the cake I made for Sunday Night Dinner a few weeks ago. I was looking for a way to use one of the five pounds of mochiko I have in my room, and I found a yummy looking recipe here (courtesy of Kirbie's Cravings). I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was a total success! The cake has a unique texture, sticky and chewy like mochi but light like a cake. The blog authoress has also used blueberries or cherries directly subsituted for the strawberries.

This recipe uses "sweet" or "glutinous" rice flour, which is sometimes also called "mochi-ko" after the Japanese. (Despite the name, it is actually gluten-free!) It can be found at Asian supermarkets or online, and possibly at whole food stores. It is very different from normal rice flour, so be careful!

Ingredients

• 16 oz (1 pound) "glutinous" or "sweet" rice flour
  
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 (12 ounce) can (or 1 1/2 cups) evaporated milk
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups fresh strawberries, cut into small cubes (I used frozen)

Directions

1. Cream the butter with sugar. It helps to melt the butter a little first.
2. Mix in the evaporated milk to the butter/sugar mixture.
3. Mix eggs into the mixture.
4. Mix in the rice flour, baking powder and vanilla.
5. Stir in the strawberries.
6. Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 pan. (I recommend using foil--this stuff is hard to scrub off)
   
7. Bake for approximately 1 hour at 350 degrees.
8. Let cake completely cool, allowing the mochi to set, before cutting and serving.

Waffles

1 cup whole wheat or buck wheat pancake mix (not just flour!)

1 egg

1 milk

3 tablespoons

Great additions: small chopped up strawberries, apples, whole blueberries, raisins, and/or nuts (pecans best, walnuts alright)

Mix together non fruit/nuts ingredients until smooth and evenly mixed. Electric mixers work well. Once the soft ingredients are smoothly combined, add in fruit and nuts and stir in. PAM the waffle iron; once it's hot, ladle the batter in, making sure it will fill the whole surface, but not overflow too much. Leave inside for a few minutes, usually between 5-10 minutes (depending on the iron).

If you multiply the recipe, reduce the liquid to pancake mix ratio, as the batter gets too liquidy at the higher size otherwise. The right consistency should leave a dipped finger (clean, obviously!) with a slight coat, not lumpy nor watery.

Chocolate Whipped Cream

Ingredients:
1 pint (2 cups) whipping cream
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Directions:
Combine ingredients in a bowl and chill for one hour. Beat until stiff.

Chocolate Decadence Cake

Another SND success! This cake is dense, moist and extremely rich. The recipe is originally from allrecipes.com but has been slightly altered.

Ingredients:
12 oz (2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips
4 (1-oz) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped (OR 3/4 cup cocoa powder and 3 Tbsp oil)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, melted
1 3/4 cups white sugar, divided
1/2 cup water
7 eggs, separated

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease your pan(s) very well (see below for the type of pan). If you like, you can line the bottoms with parchment, which might make it easier to remove the cake but tends to stick to the cake when you cut.

2. Put the chocolate chips and chopped chocolate (or cocoa powder/oil mixture) in a bowl. Add the melted butter.

3. Heat water and 1 1/2 cups sugar in a saucepan until it boils. (You can also do this in the microwave--but be sure to stir it occasionally to let the sugar dissolve). Pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth.

4. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 1/8 cup sugar until thick and creamy. Stir this into the chocolate mixture.

5. In yet another bowl, whip the egg whites with 1/8 cup sugar until they form soft peaks. This takes quite a while--I highly recommend an electric mixer. Gently fold the whites into the chocolate mixture.

6. Place the cake pan(s) on a jelly roll pan or a cookie sheet with 4 edges. Pour the batter into the pans, and put them carefully in the oven. Before shutting the oven carefully pour water into the jelly roll pan or cookie sheet, making a water bath.

7. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Be careful when you open the oven--the water bath makes a lot of steam. Carefully remove the cakes and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for several hours. The top of the cake will fall.

8. To remove the cake from the pan, run a knife around the edges of the pan. Then dip the cake in hot water (I used a 9 by 13" pan for this). This will slightly melt the edges of the cake, making it easier to lift from the pan. It's still a pretty messy process, though--don't be surprised if some of the edges stick or the top crumbles.

9. Enjoy!! This cake is excellent on its own, or with whipped cream of any variety.

**Note on pan size: the original recipe called for one 10" round pan. If you're using a pan with tall sides, like a springform, this will probably be okay. If you're using shallower pans (pie pans) then you'll need two; in this case size doesn' t matter so much.

S'morbs!

This is a cross between a rice krispie treat and a s'more. I am not certain of exact quantities, but here's a run-down of the ingredients I used when I made them yesterday:

6 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter

10 oz. + 4 regular marshmallows

1 box graham crackers, honey flavor (three of the plastic sleeves)

Several handfuls chocolate chips, for melting

Pulverize graham crackers until they resemble coarse meal; use a food processor or a rolling pin, depending on your frustration level. Set aside. Melt butter in a deep saucepan, then add marshmallows, stirring to combine. When marshmallows are just melted, remove from heat and pour in the graham cracker crumbs, stirring until the mixture is homogeneous and incredibly sticky. Shape into walnut-sized balls (or orbs, if you will) and set on a baking sheet, preferably covered with something like aluminum foil to avoid having to wash the baking sheet, to cool. Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over cooled s'morbs.

I melted a few chocolate chips with the marshmallow mixture, which was good, and I think rolling the graham cracker goo around a chocolate chip center would also be delicious. The lovely Hh was good enough to photograph the finished product, so feast your eyes before you feast your stomach:

Gospel's Root Beer Recipe

You must print out the following VERBATIM, including this introduction:

TAKE:
2 lbs unrefined sugar (the brown, tasty kind)
2 lbs granulated sugar (the white, crunchy kind)
1 lb. (a standard-size 16 oz. bottle) molasses
1 gallon of water per pound of sugar
1 (or more!) deal of root beer/sarsparilla/birch beer extract
A whosawhatsits of CO2

PUT:
The water in the keg. Hot. Really hot. Hot as it comes out of the faucet.
The sugar in the water. Stir it around a bunch with a long stirring implement (one should be bought for this purpose. 3+ ft. long)
The extracts in the sugarwater. To taste, it is obligatory that all pledges/new members participate in the tasting process. Remember: the "root-beer-iness" gets sharper as it ages!
The lid on the keg. Try and get a solid seal. You can tell if it hisses when you fill the thing.
The CO2 into the keg. Then, pull the ring to let the CO2 out of the keg.
The CO2 into the keg and let it out a bunch of times. Like 5. This ensures maximum CO2-ness.
The keg somewhere cold.

WAIT:
For a while. Like, a week. Fill with CO2 often. Roll the keg around as much as possible.

MAKE:
Alison (for future Xenians, insert name of current president emeritus here: ___________) tap the keg.

DRINK:
But very...very...carefully...

Love,
Gospel, President Emeritus of Xenia, President '06-'07, VP '05-'06, Russian Pledge Chair, '04-'05, and Way Too Into the Fact That He Did Those Things.

Please sign below to indicate that you have READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS, and so will NEVER PESTER GOSPEL FOR THEM AGAIN