Amano Chocolate Buttercream

We all know cake is just a vehicle to get more frosting in our mouths. To that end, I recently had a powerful need to frost a moist, rich yellow genoise cake with a buttercream worthy of such a noble platform. Standard issue chocolate frosting involves dry, dusty cocoa whipped into powdered sugar and butter. In contrast, nothing can replace melting premium chocolate and beating it into a mixture generously endowed with unsalted butter, powdered sugar, Tahitian vanilla, and a splash of cream. Sure, some purists dislike the chalky texture of uncooked frosting due to a lacing of cornstarch in the powdered sugar (to keep it dry and fluffy). But, for ease of preparation raw buttercream cannot be beat. Just plop the heart-stopping ingredients in a standing mixer and whip until you have a fluffy frosting. No thermometers, no whipping egg whites, just one bowl, and beaters to lick in less than 5 minutes.

So, a-whipping I went. And the critical component, of course, was the chocolate. Rather than degrade all those calories with mediocre couverture, I decided to spring for the good stuff: Amano chocolate. To be fair, Amano is the sponsor of all my tastings at speaking engagements and I do have a box of this premium chocolate sitting in my house—just begging to be used. It’s an unfair advantage, I know. But I broke into my stash because there is a reason Amano is the “winning-est” chocolate in the world. Amano Chocolate tastes INCREDIBLE. It is single-sourced from the best plantations, roasted, ground, and poured in small production batches by fanatical chocolatiers. Each variety has a complexity of flavors and notes totally different from the others. Who knew Orem, Utah, has a hidden factory that would make Willy Wonka jealous. To get your hands on Amano Chocolates you can visit their retail store in the industrial side of Orem. It is well-worth the trip to see truffles so beautiful they should be in a museum. While you are there, I highly recommend you indulge in the free tasting of chocolate bars to discover the remarkable diversity of flavors—all in the name of science, of course.

Amano Chocolate Buttercream

Yield: Frosts a 13 x 9-inch cake or two 8-inch rounds.

1-pound powdered sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream, or more

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch kosher salt

1 2-ounce bar Amano chocolate (any variety), broken into small squares

Melt chocolate in the top portion of a double boiler over medium-low heat, stirring frequently with a spatula. Remove from heat and set aside. In a large standing mixer, pulse powdered sugar and butter until combined. Add all remaining ingredients and beat on high until fluffy. Add more cream if mixture is dry. Frost immediately, or keeps in a sealed container in refrigerator up to three days. Bring to room temperature before using.

The Amano Factory Store is located at:
450 South, 1325 West
Orem, UT 84058

801-655-1996
amano@amanochocolate.com

www.amanochocolate.com

Summer Hours: 10:00am - 8:00pm, Monday through Saturday
Winter Hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm, Monday through Saturday

Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy

What Size is Your Soul?

What size is your soul? And does your body match its outline? When your body doesn’t match your magnificent soul, there will be problems. Namely, we become dissatisfied with our bodies. This incongruence between our spiritual dimension and physical dimension creates weight issues, beauty issues, and eating disorders. It can also contribute to extreme fashion statements such as: gothic clothing, tattoos, piercings, and other tendencies.

While coaching a client this week I recognized the desperation associated with this disparity between her true profile and the one she wears on the outside. She felt uncomfortable in her own skin. Like a suit that doesn’t fit well; puckering in the wrong places and getting in the way. Over the course of the previous week she had sabotaged her weight loss with binges and escapes. When pressed for a reason, she confessed it was motivated by fear of success. She was panicked at the thought of losing weight and going into uncharted territory as a “thin” person. She didn’t know who she would be if she lost weight. I reminded her she was actually resuming her “original” size. Her true self, or soul, was the perfect size for her. With better balance and health the unneeded weight would be stripped away revealing her good ole self underneath. With peace and relief she understood that rather that embracing the unknown she was, in fact, becoming whole—going home.

Replace fear with faith in your body—warts and all. We were designed to be in balance, which means to function as well as possible given limitations outside of our control. Some things we cannot prevent, but we can feel gratitude for the working parts and manage well the things under our control. Even when working through diabetes, grief, allergies, and other wild cards we can revel in the perfect design of a body that wants to be honored with healthy connections.

Never be afraid of healthy changes to your body. Rather, celebrate your brilliant soul as you assume the size, shape, power, and profile you always were.

Tres Hatch is the author of: Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy

Porcini Garden Burger

Unlikely, though it may be, one of the best veggie burgers I have had in a long time came from a joint famous for its generous use of bacon and other meats. I am referring to Skillet Café in Seattle, which I previously blogged about to share the delights of their now-famous (and Costco featured) Bacon Jam—cured bacon mixed with caramelized onions and reduced balsamic vinegar. Although Bacon Jam was originally made popular by Skillet’s mobile kitchen in an Airstream trailer, the new Skillet Cafe scored impressive points with this farro-based “burger,” infused with slabs of porcini mushrooms and lounging on a brioche bun worthy of brioche calories. Equally impressive was the grilled cheese sandwich. Basic, true-to-form, it was slabs of cheddar and gouda oozing out from between giant slices of perfectly toasted bread. Comfort food done right is truly a comfort and Skillet does not disappoint. Even the cobb salad was terrific with a perfectly soft-cooked egg on top of meaty hand-cut bacon slices. Sure there is eventually lettuce at the bottom, but who am I kidding? Presenting the egg in this way allowed the yolk to coat the other salad components, elevating them—similar to the way a true Carbonara sauce allows the richness of egg yolk to carry an otherwise simple dish. I washed it all down with a “Peach-Basil Fresca.” This delightfully refreshing concoction consists of pureed fresh peach, orange juice, lime juice, fresh chopped basil, and soda water. It is served over ice. As I rounded the back corner of the restaurant I happened upon the chef vigorously mixing up this drink in a 20-gallon bucket. He confessed to adding a bit of sugar to the mix, but used a deft hand because it was neither too sweet nor too watery.

As a tip of my hat to this luscious meal, I am sharing the recipe below for “Meatless Garden Burgers.” It has been adapted from the original recipe in my book: Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy, by Tres Prier Hatch.

Skillet Diner

1400 East Union Street, Seattle, Washington 98122
(206) 420-7297
sunday-thursday: 7am - 12am
fri & sat: 7am - 2am

Meatless Garden Burgers with Porcini

Makes about 36 4-inch patties

Have you ever thought, “I bet I could make that”?

This recipe came from reading the ingredients of a very tasty commercial grain and vegetable burger and deciding to make my own version. According to the judging panel at my house, the homemade burgers win! Believe it or not, these vegetarian babies taste better to my kids than burgers made from ground beef. They freeze well and can be plunked into the frying pan direct from the freezer.

5 cups cooked brown rice

2-ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

1-pound fresh white mushrooms, finely chopped

4-ounces sliced porcini mushrooms, soaked in boiling water until reconstituted

1-ounce cheddar cheese, shredded

1-ounce Parmesan cheese, shredded

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal, uncooked

1 cup barley, cooked al dente, cooled

½ cup bulger wheat, soaked in 1-cup boiling water (optional), drained

½ medium onion, finely minced

2 tablespoons green or red bell pepper, finely minced

2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted in ½ cup boiling water, drained

1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

1 teaspoon turmeric (for color)

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg, whisked in a small bowl with a fork

olive oil for frying

Make Patties

Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Using large paper towels, squeeze as much moisture as possible from diced mushrooms, onion, bulgar wheat, bell pepper and sun-dried tomatoes. Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl. Porcini mushrooms will be the only large chunks in the mixture. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste. Using a wide spoon, scoop ½-cup handfuls of mixture into your hands. Form into balls approximately the size of an egg. Compress slightly. Flatten into 4–inch patties of uniform ¼-inch thickness. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet until all the patties are formed.

Bake sheets of burgers for 20 minutes, until cheese starts to ooze and patties start to brown. Cool completely on parchment. Bag patties and store in freezer until ready to use. They keep frozen for up to one month.

To Serve

Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan. Fry patties in batches, leaving space between them so patties will brown. When golden crisp on one side, flip garden burgers onto the other side. Serve patties on toast or buns with mayonnaise, ketchup, lettuce and tomato.

Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy.

Ode to Harry Potter--Chocolate Sticky Pudding

Without exception, this is the most sinful dessert I have eaten in a long time. Here in the US it often called a chocolate cobbler, but in truth it is a classic English Sticky Pudding. Harry Potter may love his traditional treacle pudding (gooey, sticky cane syrup caramel), but in this version chocolate offsets the sweet and boosts the indulgence factor by a huge margin.

So, what is a chocolate sticky pudding? It is a the marriage of a blondie cookie crust, atop swirls of fudgey chocolate sauce, served warm and spooned into a bowl with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. With a pedigree of two sticks of butter and plenty of sugar, it hits the right note of comfort rich and toothsome sweet.

This recipe’s stock went way up with me when I realized the whole thing went into the oven in about 3 minutes. Just add hot water—literally. As the recipe indicates, resist the

urge to stir in order to get a beautiful marbled crust. Pouring boiling water over a batter seems counter-intuitive, but remember, you are making chocolate sauce while your oven does all the work. This is the perfect dish to toss in the oven right as your dinner guests arrive and pull it out just in time for dessert. So in honor of the final Harry Potter movie’s release, please enjoy my ode to Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Moldywort.

Chocolate Sticky Pudding

Serves 8

2 sticks butter

1 ¼ cups sugar

1 ½ cups self-rising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup milk

For chocolate layer:

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the two sticks of butter in oven in a 9 x 13-inch casserole. In a medium bowl mix the 1 ¼ cups of sugar, flour vanilla and milk. Pour the batter over the butter, but do not stir (it won’t seem like enough batter but don’t worry). In a small bowl stir to combine cocoa and remaining 1 cup sugar. Sprinkle over top of batter. Do not stir. Pour the 2 cups of boiling water on top of the whole dessert (don’t stir) and bake for 30-45 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Serve warm.

Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy.