#Choctoberfest – Page 2 – The Pajama Chef

Welcome! Read on to learn about #Choctoberfest 2017. Scroll down to enter a GREAT giveaway! 🙂

Welcome to #Choctoberfest 2017!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year, because it is the official start of #Choctoberfest. This is the third annual food blogger celebration of all things chocolate, made possible thanks to our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar and the other sponsors listed below.

Over 70 bloggers are participating in #Choctoberfest 2017 and will be posting 200+ chocolate recipes over the next week. Keep your eyes peeled, visit any of the blogs listed below, or use the #Choctoberfest hashtag on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to follow along. You can also check out our #Choctoberfest Pinterest board, where we post chocolate recipes all year long.

You can also enter to win our #Choctoberfest prize pack. Thank to our amazing sponsors who are contributing the following items for the prize:

$100 gift card to Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table from our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar
1 case of granulated white sugar (40 pounds), 1 case of light brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of dark brown sugar (24 pounds), and 1 case of powdered sugar (24 pounds) from our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar
16 oz Barlean’s Butter-Flavored Coconut Oil, 9.52 oz canister of Chocolate Silk Greens, and 8oz bottle of Essential Women Omega-Swirl Chocolate Mint from our silver sponsor Barlean’s
300-piece Lindt LINDOR Truffles gift bag (you choose the flavors!) from blog sponsors The PinterTest Kitchen

This prize pack is valued at over $450! To enter, simply follow participating sponsors and bloggers using the below Rafflecopter giveaway link.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stay tuned to see the delicious recipes bloggers have cooked up using Imperial Sugar and Barlean’s products. Thank you also to Davis Chocolate and Rodelle for being #Choctoberfest shoutout sponsors! Watch Instagram and Facebook to find out more about about their chocolate products.

Here is a complete list of all the bloggers participating in #Choctoberfest 2017, so you can see the recipes they are posting throughout the week:

The PinterTest Kitchen ♥ Fix Me a Little Lunch ♥ Savory Moments ♥ Crumbs in my Mustachio ♥ House of Nash Eats ♥ Bake It With Love ♥ That Recipe ♥ Hardly A Goddess ♥ Cooking With Carlee ♥ A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures ♥ Body Rebooted ♥ Cindy’s Recipes and Writings ♥ The Redhead Baker ♥ Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice ♥ Sweet Coralice ♥ Seduction in The Kitchen ♥ Cooks&Books&Recipes ♥ Everyday Eileen ♥ Under My Apple Tree ♥ Family Around The Table ♥ Bottom Left of the Mitten ♥ The Spiffy Cookie ♥ Fairyburger ♥ Join Us, Pull up a Chair ♥ Jonesin’ For Taste ♥ Jane’s Adventures in Dinner ♥ Take Two Tapas ♥ Jennifer Bakes ♥ The Unlikely Baker ♥ Hostess At Heart ♥ Karen’s Kitchen Stories ♥ Kate’s Recipe Box ♥ Kelly Lynns Sweets and Treats ♥ Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen ♥ Chocolate Slopes ♥ Little House Big Alaska ♥ Makes, Bakes and Decor ♥ 2 Cookin Mamas ♥ That Skinny Chick Can Bake ♥ Books n’ Cooks ♥ Mildly Meandering ♥ Living Ideas ♥ Restless Chipotle ♥ Get the Good Stuff! ♥ The Weekday Gourmet ♥ An Affair from the Heart ♥ West Via Midwest ♥ Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt ♥ The Bitter Side of Sweet ♥ Cookaholic Wife ♥ Daily Dish Recipes ♥ For the Love of Food ♥ The Saucy Southerner ♥ Cook’s Hideout ♥ By the Pounds ♥ Tramplingrose: Cooking, Baking & Ranting in Small-Town South Dakota ♥ Sarah Cooks the Books ♥ Chef Sarah Elizabeth ♥ Fantastical Sharing of Recipes ♥ Sarah’s Bake Studio ♥ The Pajama Chef ♥ Frankly Entertaining ♥ Long Distance Baking ♥ Palatable Pastime ♥ The Freshman Cook ♥ The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine ♥ A Day in the Life on the Farm ♥ Wendy Polisi ♥ Tampa Cake Girl ♥ My Southern Sweet Tooth ♥ Canning and Cooking at Home ♥ Full Belly Sisters ♥ SuperSizeGuy.com ♥ Our Good Life ♥ The Life Jolie ♥

Cookies, Desserts, Recipes

Chocolate Biscotti for #Choctoberfest

October 21, 2016October 21, 2016 Sarah

Deep, dark, rich chocolate biscotti studded with dark chocolate chunks and topped with crunchy almonds! Thank you to Imperial Sugar for providing the product used in this recipe! All opinions are my own.

Last recipe for #Choctoberfest! Be sure to enter the giveaway now if you haven’t already! You don’t want to miss this. 🙂 These past two weeks have been so fun and so delicious! I’ve shared Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler, Banana Espresso Chocolate Crumb Cake, Salted Caramel Mocha Overnight Oats… and now, to end the week, some tasty Chocolate Biscotti!

Ben loves it when I make biscotti. Those crunchy little biscuit-cookie hybrids are the perfect excuse to eat cookies for breakfast! 🙂 I know that breakfast cookies are a thing… but they sound a little weird to me, if I’m being honest. But biscotti on the other hand? Sign me up! They’re just so exotic and fancy that I can’t resist them!

In my past biscotti dealings I’ve stuck with more neutral flavors: pumpkin and almond. This time though, I went all out: chocolate biscotti that’s been amped up with vanilla and almond extracts for maximum flavor, dark chocolate chunks that melt just a bit when you dunk that baby in your coffee [ohhh yeah], AND topped it all off with sliced almonds and a bit of sea salt. This biscotti is a chocolate lover’s dream!! It’s perfect for dipping in your morning [or afternoon or evening] coffee, but kiddos would love it dipped in milk or even hot chocolate for a double dose of chocolately deliciousness!

To make this biscotti, I used Imperial Sugar. Imperial Sugar served as the Gold Sponsor of #Choctoberfest this year. They were generous enough to send me 40 pounds of granulated sugar, plus a silicone baking mat and a cute apron to use during my #Choctoberfest baking. You can find Imperial Sugar on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. What I love about Imperial Sugar, aside from their excellent sugar products, is that they are based in the southeast… so they are somewhat of a local company for me in Nashville. Fun! It’s be a great time baking with Imperial Sugar and chocolate over the past couple weeks with #Choctoberfest. I hope you’ve enjoyed it too! Happy weekend! 🙂

two years ago: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
four years ago: Mom’s Lasagna
five years ago: Pumpkin Brownies
six years ago: Pumpkin Chicken Tacos, or My Misadventures with Spicy Food

Chocolate Biscotti

Servings: 30
Time: 90 minutes
Print

from David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

2 cups [280 grams] all-purpose flour
3/4 cups [75 grams] good cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature if you can [I forgot and all was well!]
1 cup [200 grams] granulated sugar – I used Imperial Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks – any kind of chocolate chips would work too
~1/3 cup toasted and sliced almonds
sea salt, for sprinkling – optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then fold in chocolate. Batter will be thick! Use a mixer if you like.

Divide batter in half, and shape each half into a log the length of the baking sheet. Press almonds into the log, gently flattening log into more of a rectangular shape. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.

Bake for 25 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Then, remove logs to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, slice into 1/2 inch thick pieces, about 15 per log. Place cut-side down on baking sheet and return to oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the biscotti feels mostly firm. They will harden further as they cool, so you can error on the side of caution for baking time.

Cool completely on a cooling rack before storing in an air-tight container. Serve with a dunking beverage–coffee, hot cocoa, or milk. Enjoy!

For more chocolate, click on the link below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Breakfast, Oatmeal, Recipes

Salted Caramel Mocha Overnight Oats for #Choctoberfest

October 20, 2016October 19, 2016 Sarah

Dress up your oatmeal to taste just like your favorite fall mocha… and add some extra caffeine too, because we all need more of that, right? Or is it just me? Ha. Thank you to Caveman Coffee Co. for providing the product used in this recipe! All opinions are my own.

Dress up your oatmeal to taste just like your favorite fall mocha... and add some extra caffeine too, because we all need more of that, right? Or is it just me? Ha. Thank you to Caveman Coffee Co. for providing the product used in this recipe! All opinions are my own. #sponsored

Oatmeal and coffee… these two items have filled my plate, err bowl and mug, since #BabyVolde was born in May. Breakfast is important, yo. Oatmeal is a healthy breakfast choice for anyone, and there is some anecdotal evidence that it helps with milk supply for breastfeeding moms. So I’ve tried to eat a bowl most days because it can’t hurt, right? And I love oatmeal so there’s that too. 🙂

You know what else I love? Coffee. Mmm, coffee! I’m drinking some now, actually. I think coffee has become more important lately since baby life=not a lot of sleep for the parents. Our sleep journey has been up and down–the first two to three weeks, he wouldn’t sleep unless held. By about two months, he was pretty much sleeping through the night [don’t be mad!]. That lasted, with a few bumps in the road, until four months. Over the past month we’ve been on a downward spiral with lots of wakeups alllll night long. Womp womp. Oh well, things have got to get better soon, right? But until then… lots of coffee! A cup of coffee at home, a travel mug at work in the morning, maybe an iced coffee in the afternoon… just depends on the day. I’m not a crazy coffee drinker by any means but I do love my coffee more than I did before! So putting it in oatmeal was just the natural choice, along with chocolate for #Choctoberfest too! Don’t forget to enter the giveaway before Friday, btw!! 🙂

This isn’t my first rodeo with chocolate oatmeal, but it is the first time I’ve made overnight style. I know cold oats sound weird, but they are refreshing and it is great to not have to make breakfast in the morning! For this version, I paired the mocha base of the chocolate and coffee with a teensy bit of salted caramel. The result? Fabulous overnight oats like your favorite fall coffee beverage!

The sweet drink from coffee shops is certainly a treat, but dare I say that I like this version better? It’s not quite as sugary but still has that classic mocha + caramel pairing, with a hint of salt and a bit of indulgence to start your day. Salted Caramel Mochas have been my surprising go-to coffee shop order this fall [I used to be a PSL girl all the way], and now that I can enjoy those flavors in my oats, I am one happy girl! Hope you enjoy these as much as I have been! ❤

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t brag on how good the Blacklisted coffee from Caveman Coffee Co. is. This small batch coffee is rich and flavorful. Sometimes dark roasted coffee is too intense for me, but I love this kind! They also sent some Cacao Butter for me to play with–I can’t wait to bust it out in the kitchen! So fun. Thanks to Caveman Coffee Co. for sponsoring this event! Please check them out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

one year ago: Coconut Oil Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
two years ago: Pumpkin Bagels
three years ago: Peanut Butter Apple Oatmeal Cookies
four years ago: 30 Minute Chicken Tortilla Soup
five years ago: Sweet and Sour Chicken
six years ago: Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Salted Caramel Mocha Overnight Oats

Servings: 2
Time: 5 minutes + overnight to rest
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adapted from my base recipe for Maple Berry Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coffee – I used Caveman Coffee Co. Blacklisted
1/2 cup milk
6 tablespoons plain or vanilla yogurt
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
salted caramel sauce – I used Trader Joe’s Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce
mini chocolate chips

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together coffee, milk, and yogurt. Stir in oats and cocoa powder. Divide between two bowls or mason jars, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, top each serving with salted caramel and mini chocolate chips. I like it with about 1/2 teaspoon of salted caramel sauce and mini chocolate chips, but feel free to adjust quantities to your taste.

If I wanted to healthify this, I would make this date caramel sauce to use in place of the traditional caramel sauce. 🙂

Click below for more chocolate recipes!

An InLinkz Link-up

https://static.inlinkz.com/cs2.js

Desserts, Other, Recipes

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler for #Choctoberfest

October 14, 2016October 13, 2016 Sarah

Wonderfully rich, this old-fashioned chocolate cobbler will be your chocolate dessert of choice this winter! It is so easy and so ooey gooey–chocolate lovers won’t be able to get enough!! Thank you to Barlean’s for providing the product used in this recipe! All opinions are my own.

Wonderfully rich, this old-fashioned chocolate cobbler will be your chocolate dessert of choice this winter! It is so easy and so ooey gooey--chocolate lovers won't be able to get enough!! Thank you to Barlean’s for providing the product used in this recipe! All opinions are my own. #sponsored #Choctoberfest

You guys. This dessert. It is ahhhh-mazing! It is phenomenal! It is seriously a MUST MAKE. It’s like brownies and chocolate lava cake got together and had a baby and THIS is the result. Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler is to die for! I didn’t know chocolate cobbler was a thing–but it is–and it is so worth it! I’m thankful for Choctoberfest’s role in bringing this dessert into my life.

Have you heard about Choctoberfest? It is this fun blogging event I’m participating in this week and next. Through next Friday, October 21, you should go here to enter an awesome giveaway for an assortment of chocolate products from our wonderful sponsors, including Barlean’s–this great company with a mission to be a “Pathway to a Better Life.” As part of their sponsorship of this event, they sent me some tasty products to try–Barlean’s Greens Powder – Chocolate Silk Flavor, Essential Woman Omega Swirl Chocolate Mint Flavor, and Barlean’s Butter Flavored Organic Coconut Oil. So far I have only used the greens powder–you can mix it into milk to drink hot or cold, like chocolate milk or hot cocoa… or use it as a healthier cocoa powder substitute which is what I did below! I can’t wait to bake with the chocolate mint swirl [can you say, Christmas cookies anyone?] and with the butter flavored coconut oil. Perfecto! So fun to try new-to-me healthier versions of products I already use. 🙂 Though I received these products for free, I was not compensated in any other way and was not asked to provide positive feedback.

Barlean's - a sponsor of #Choctoberfest

What’s so great about this dessert–besides its obvious chocolately goodness is the fact that it is super easy to make. Basically you mix some dry ingredients, some wet ingredients, and then combine. Put in the pan, top with some sugar and cocoa powder, top with hot water [yes, plain ‘ole hot water — but I bet hot coffee would be good too], and bake. Forty minutes later… this lovely dessert is piping hot and ready to go!

The edges are crispy like a brownie, but when you cut into it, all this luscious, rich chocolate rushes out like the filling of a lava cake. #sogood I’ve never had anything like this before. Serve it up with vanilla ice cream, and boy oh boy… you will be sure to enjoy! 🙂

two years ago: Homemade Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
three years ago: Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cake with Nutella Frosting
four years ago: Apple Peanut Butter Muffins
five years ago: Pumpkin, Sausage, and Spinach Lasagna
six years ago: Southwestern Pepperjack Baked Penne

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler

Servings: 8
Time: 60 minutes
Print

from The Kitchn

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons Barlean’s Greens Powder, Chocolate Silk Flavor
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup milk
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups very hot water
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions:

Grease an 8×8 inch baking dish or any medium sized casserole dish. I used a 10 inch round casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together flour, sugar, Barlean’s Greens Powder – Chocolate Silk Flavor, baking powder, instant coffee, and salt in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, butter, and vanilla. Pour liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and fold together to combine. It will be a thick batter like brownies!

Transfer to prepared baking dish and smooth out if necessary.

Evenly sprinkle with brown sugar and cocoa powder, then top with chocolate chips. Pour hot water over top and do not stir.

Bake for 40 minutes, until edges are crisp and center is just barely set. Cool for 10-15 minutes before serving warm with ice cream. Enjoy!

Want more chocolate? Click the link below for lots of great new recipes today!

An InLinkz Link-up

Cakes, Desserts, Recipes

Banana Espresso Chocolate Crumb Cake for #Choctoberfest

October 12, 2016October 13, 2016 Sarah

This Banana Espresso Chocolate Crumb Cake is just the thing if you want a quick dessert with plenty of delicious fruit and chocolate flavor. The crumb topping makes it extra special!

This Banana Espresso Chocolate Crumb Cake is just the thing if you want a quick dessert with plenty of delicious fruit and chocolate flavor. The crumb topping makes it extra special! #Choctoberfest

I think we need a little dessert around here, don’t you? Most of what I been up to in the kitchen [and sharing on the blog, when I have had the chance] this summer has been savory… dinner, mostly, just to keep us fed amidst the newborn days. But lately I’ve had the urge to bake! I think pregnancy made me into more of a chocoholic than I have ever been before, but I still love me some fruity desserts too. 🙂 The best desserts are those that combine fruit and chocolate into one lovely package… like this banana cake that’s studded with chocolate chips and laced with a little bit of espresso flava! It is absolute PERFECT for Chocotoberfest!

Psssst…. don’t forget to enter the giveaway here. 🙂

This Banana Espresso Chocolate Crumb Cake is just the thing if you want a quick dessert with plenty of delicious fruit and chocolate flavor. The crumb topping makes it extra special! #Choctoberfest

I think that we can all agree that sometimes we buy extra bananas just to have them on hand for baking. Or is that just me? Haha. Anyways, this banana cake is a fabulous way to use up extra bananas languishing on your counter or popped in the freezer. It is a banana cake for people who like bananas–the flavor is definitely present, but if you aren’t the biggest banana fan on earth, don’t worry, as it is also tempered by the rich chocolate and coffee flavors too. There’s something in this cake for everyone! I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize how perfect the sugary/spicy/salty crumb topping on this cake is also. Don’t omit the salt! It definitely adds a hint of something special to this cake… enjoy!

This Banana Espresso Chocolate Crumb Cake is just the thing if you want a quick dessert with plenty of delicious fruit and chocolate flavor. The crumb topping makes it extra special! #Choctoberfest
two years ago: Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice
three years ago: Cream of Broccoli Soup with Cheese
four years ago: No Bake Tropical Energy Bites
five years ago: Garlicky Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil
six years ago: Pillow Cookies

Banana Espresso Crumb Cake

Servings: 12
Time: 60 minutes
Print

from The Sweets Life

Ingredients:

3-4 mashed ripe bananas, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup [1 stick] unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/4 cup half and half
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour [can use 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour & 3/4 cup all-purpose flour if you wish]
1 tablespoon instant coffee [or 1 1/2 packets of Starbucks Via or other packaged instant coffee]
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

for crumb topping

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4-1/2 teaspoon coarse salt [I used Kosher salt–use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon depending on how salty you like things]
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8×8 or 9×9 square pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together bananas, sugar, butter, half and half, and egg. In a larger bowl, whisk together flour, instant coffee, and baking soda. Fold wet ingredients into the dry, stirring until just moistened. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

In another bowl, make the crumb topping by mixing together flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over dry ingredients, then toss with a fork gently until crumbs form. For larger crumbs, toss less. Sprinkle evenly over cake batter.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and top is golden brown. Do not overbake–sometimes it can be hard to tell with banana baked goods whether they are done or not, so if you are in doubt, take it out and let it cool a little bit and check it a few more times.

For clean slices, cool before cutting. Slices of this cake reheat well in the microwave!

Check out other chocolate recipes of the day for Choctoberfest at the link below!

An InLinkz Link-up