EASY BLACKBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP PIE for Labor Day

Labor Day Weekend is coming up. When I was growing up Labor Day weekend meant the last weekend before school started. We'd go down the shore or up to the mountains, or just kick back at a neighborhood barbecue. Sometimes we'd go to the country and pick blackberries for jam and pies. When I moved to California, I found blackberries everywhere at this time of year -- by the roadside, in the fields, and later in my own backyard! They were a bit of a bramble, prickly bushes, but the blackberries were, oh so, sweet and plentiful!

I used to make an awesome Blackberry Apple Pie, but since this is a Chocolate blog, and this is Labor Day Weekend, I'm recommending this easy and delicious Blackberry Chocolate Chip Pie. I adapted a recipe I found at Allrecipes. com, and there was a caveat with the original: "Adjust the ratio of berries and chocolate chips to suit your preferences." Well, that's wise, so you might want to make it several times, just to get it right. FYI: whatever you decide, the attempts will still be great!

EASY BLACKBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP PIE

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) package pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I use Trader Joe's pie crusts if I don't make my own)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups blackberries
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Place one pie crust in bottom of 9 inch pie plate.
In bowl, mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Gently stir in blackberries and chocolate chips. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Transfer to pie crust in pie plate.
Put second pie crust on top, and secure to bottom crust by pressing with fork, or fluting with fingers. Bake 35 minutes in preheated oven, until top is golden brown. Cool slightly before slicing.

Fudgy Greek Yogurt Brownies: National Yogurt Day!

I can never have too many brownie recipes, can you? Since today is National Yogurt Day, here's a recipe for Fudgy Greek Yogurt Brownies. These brownies are very goey-fudgy. 

Fudgy Greek Yogurt Brownies

Ingredients 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted  

1/4 teaspoon salt 

2/3 cup melted and cooled unsalted butter 

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 

3/4 cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt, room temperature 

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 °F 

Line 8"×8" pan* lined with parchment paper. 

In medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside. 

In large mixing bowl, stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Once combined, add yogurt, and stir until just combined. 

Add dry mixture to wet and stir just until almost no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix! 

Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips. 

(The batter will be gooey and not like most brownie batters)

Put batter into prepared pan, and use spoon to even out, a

Bake for 20-24 minutes or until middle is no longer jiggly. 

Cool before cutting. 

These are very fudgy. Chill to firm up. 

*This recipe can be doubled, and you can use a 9 x 13 pan

NUTTY CHOCOLATE BLUEBERRY CHERRY TRAIL MIX: Trail Mix Day

Today is National Trail Mix Day! Nature is so beautiful, and I'm lucky to live in a gorgeous area with wooded and bayside trails. I often take along Trail Mix, and it's easy to make your own. There are an infinite number of combinations. No right or wrong. I use a lot of dried fruits and nuts from Trader Joe's, but you can mix whatever you have. I always add mini-chocolate chips.

Trail mix is perfect to take on a hike, as snacks for school, or throw some into your next oatmeal cookie dough for an out of this world taste treat. The following trail mix is also good for the heart. Blueberries have the highest antioxidants of almost any dried fruit, and you all know the benefits of dark chocolate. Most of the nuts in this trail mix recipe are salted, but if you want to be really healthy, cut back on the salt. And, of course, you can add anything else you'd like to the mix: other nuts, coconut, other berries.

NUTTY CHOCOLATE BLUEBERRY CHERRY TRAIL MIX

2 cups roasted salted peanuts
1 cup roasted salted almonds
1 cup roasted whole cashews
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (the darker, the better)
1 cup dried tart cherries
1 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

Mix together. How easy is that?

TOASTED MARSHMALLOW FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE: Toasted Marshmallow Day!

Today is National Toasted Marshmallow Day, and, of course, you can make S'mores--and all the variations. But how about something other than Smores? Something easy and great for the Gluten-Free Folks? The following Flourless Chocolate Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Topping is fabulous!

You can use your favorite flourless chocolate cake recipe or try this easy Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe. For the Marshmallows, I recommend using high quality marshmallows or making your own. If you only have 'regular' marshmallows, that will work, too.

Toasted Marshmallow Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients 
8 ounces dark chocolate (70-75% cocao) 
1 cup unsalted butter
1-1/2 cup sugar
6 large eggs (room temperature)
3/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa
25 marshmallows 

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F
Butter 10-inch spring form round baking pan. Line bottom with buttered wax paper.
Break chocolate into pieces.
In double boiler or metal bowl over saucepan of simmering water, melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth.
Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture.
Add eggs and whisk well.
Sift cocoa over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.
Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 35-40 minutes, or until top has formed thin crust and toothpick comes out moist but not wet.
Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes.
Remove springform sides. Leave cake on bottom of pan.
Put cake (still on springform base) on cookie sheet.
Top with marshmallows while still warm (leave an inch free around edge - they spread).
Put cake back in oven at 375 for 5 minutes--until marshmallows are 'toasted'
Remove from oven.

Tip: If the marshmallows are not toasted enough, use a mini-torch (one of my favorite kitchen tools) to toast.

Cool on rack.