I'm dreaming of a chocolate Christmas

I haven't done much Christmas baking this year, but what I have done has featured chocolate, an ingredient I'm falling more and more in love with. I made the aforementioned Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkles for a cookie exchange at work. They were a big hit, nicely balancing the chocolate with not too much sugar and just enough hazelnut flavor.
I carried the theme further a few days ago by cooking my first Nigella Lawson recipe: Chocolate Gingerbread. I've been curious about this British cooking sensation for awhile, and I thought this recipe might be a good introduction to her culinary skills. My husband makes Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread often (recipe from the Simply in Season cookbook). I've always thought that chocolate would mix well with the spices. I compulsively reduce sugar in recipes, and I managed to follow this one exactly, keeping all the sweetness intact. I also skipped the frosting, as I feel like too often frosting doesn't add any flavor--only an extra layer of sugar that isn't necessary. We ate the gingerbread while celebrating Christmas with my in-laws yesterday. It was a success with some plain vanilla ice cream on the side. It also stayed moist for two days (it was made on Thursday and consumed on Saturday without too much dryness...the ice cream helped).
Merry Christmas! (and may all your Christmases be chocolatey...)

dinner tonight

I recently received a late birthday present from my dear sister Janna. She gave me a terra cotta pizza stone, made from red clay from Alfred, New York (my hometown). When I was a kid I thought terra cotta was invented in Alfred, but since I've grown up I've learned that the ancient Greeks invented it. Alfred at one point had a fairly large and well-known terra cotta factory, though. All of that aside, we used our new pizza stone tonight! My husband, being part Italian, insists on perfect pizza, so he was the chef. This was our first real try, and we realized achieving pizza perfection will be a life-long quest. Being the first time around, it wasn't bad, though the crust was almost cracker-like, dry and chewy. For my husband, though, that is much better than having an overly soft, doughy crust.

nibbles from the last month

An apology to the 3 or 4 people who read this...I know it has been over a month since I last posted! Life is hectic, we've been traveling, Thanksgiving, etc. I have a few small items that have been accumulating in my culinary thoughts but alas, no pictures.
1. Our souls and stomachs were fortified from a recent trip to Lancaster, PA, where we stocked up on Weges, my family's favorite sourdough hard pretzels. These are very hard to find in New York, probably due to not having enough German Mennonites around up here. Some Wegmans in the Rochester area used to stock them, but I think I was the only one buying them, so they were taken off the shelf. I am forced to let my longing build up over several months, then satisfy it all at once in a Weges binge. I limited myself to two bags this time, which is probably wise. I enjoy them with apple cider, with cheese, after a bowl of ice cream, really anytime or anyplace.
2. My husband and I collaborated on baking a delicious Bittersweet Chocolate Tart a few weeks ago. Okay, so he did all the work and I supervised, but the tart was my idea to make in the first place. The recipe is from the Joy of Cooking and is beautiful in its simplicity: a buttery tart crust filled with melted bittersweet chocolate (something like two and a half bars) mixed with one cup of cream and one egg. Not even any sugar. We took it over to our friends down the street and enjoyed its heart-stopping goodness together. Definitely a dessert to impress any chocoholic or to take along to a dinner party. Eat a slice of it with a glass of milk.
3. My thoughts are turning now to Christmas and all the delicious gluttony it entails. I miss the treats my mom cooks up at home (fudge, caramels, all manner of cookies, chex mix) but I don't really feel like doing all of that work just for my husband and I. Besides, we get to eat all of that when we go home for Christmas. I do have a few things on my baking list though. I'm determined to try the Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkles from the December issue of Gourmet, and maybe, if I get ambitious enough, the Salted Chocolate Caramels from the same issue. The combination of sweet and salty gets me every time.