New Accidental Recipe: Carob Kisses

aka Carob ‘Hershey’ Squirts:

OK, today’s recipe is the result of ANOTHER mistake! Click here to see last weeks Disaster-turned-success.

I wanted to bring Miss Janetha something home-made but Plan A (nut butters) were making my Vitamix die, so I needed a plan B. (I did end up with a batch of pecan butter, for the record).

Anyway, I wanted to make something along the lines of HEAB's Maple Oaties (because, trust me--- they are aMAZing), but I didn’t have any maple syrup and I didn’t want to use too many oats.

When the V-mix cried Uncle with the almonds, I sure as heck was NOT going to waste $15 worth of organic almonds! So I transferred what was now almond meal into a bowl and proceeded to make SOMETHING…ANYTHING out of it!

You’ll soon come to learn that I am an ‘improv’ gal in the kitchen. For someone who was previously obsessed with weighing and measuring, I find I ironic that for some recipes, my M.O. is more like ‘a little of this’ and ‘a pinch of that’. Bad for relaying recipes to my readers...Bad, Bad blogger!

Here was my Plan B: Just start throwing things into a bowl. But before I give you the recipe, I want to show you some photos of these little gems. Take a gander a these…

Cute, right?

I fashioned them after Hershey’s Kisses, but when I was finished I realized that they looked like turds. So I have nicknamed them Carob ‘Hershey’ Squirts. And since I hadn’t measured a thing, I will give you general ideas of amounts used...

OK here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• A Sh*tload of almonds
• A Cr*pload of dried coconut shreds
• A scant B*ttload of agave syrup
• A Medium Plop of Oats
• A Small Plop of Carob Powder (roasted is tastiest)
  

Method:

· Beat the cr*p out of the almonds in a machine that isn't so expensive that it won’t force you to sell your car in order to buy food when it breaks. A food processor can handle the job.

· 'Dump' dry ingredients into bowl and mix together

· 'Squirt' agave onto the 'pile' (just BARELY enough to hold mixture together without being too moist)

· Dawn latex or vinyl gloves (no, trust me on this- you want to do this, really. Muck under the nails=not good)

· Form little kisses or poop-shaped mounds on a nonstick surface.

Then you have a choice:

· If you want them raw (all of the ingredients above can be RAW, isn’t that great!?), then just refrigerate or freeze and enjoy.

· If you want them baked but dry, then put them in the oven at about 325F. Bake til desired consistency is reached.

· If you want some hot, steamy carob turds then use a steamer (in batches) or steamer oven if you have one for 15-20 minutes.

My New Toy: The Steamer Oven:

Actually this oven is a triple threat: a microwave, a convection oven and a steam and steam/convection oven. It was a splurge for the kitchen remodel (photos will follow I promise, when we move out of boxes and make order!) So we've been using it a lot.

I didn’t want these little guys to dry out so that is why I chose the steamer function. If you look closely, you can see them inside. Am I the only one who find them sooo cute!?

Follow along with me in negotiating this menu- it cracked me up. (BTW, you KNOW I didn’t read the instructions as usual. Bad, bad):

OK, Automatic Sounds good. Less work for me, right?

Balanced? I should think so- it has a few carbs, some healthy fats, and protein- yes I’d say it’s balanced.

Brunch? Well, SURE! Why not! In fact, I’d be inclined to say that this is the Breakfast of Champions!

So here they are…hot and steamy ‘Hershey’ squirts. Aka Carob Kisses

On the cooling rack

On the world’s tiniest plate

I knew that I had to enforce portion control here as most of these were for gifts. But I DID have to try them, you know, for (ahem) quality control purposes.

Cut in half...Mmmmm, moist and very, very delish if I do say so myself...if you don't believe me, ask the lovely Miss Janetha!

I had the little turd and a mighty maple oatie in my Greek yogurt for a brekkie that held me for hours.

Have I yet mentioned in this post that cat hair is good for the digestion? I mention this in nearly every recipe post :-)

Aww, here they are... in their cute little box for Janetha in which I received Katie's fudge babies. I'm all about recycling adorable treat-containers. BTW, Please go visit Katie's site and click your brains out for Operation Chocolate Covered Kindness, yah?

Here's a slightly fuzzy pic of me and Janetha- sooooo sweet, fun, and cute in person, as predicted!

Then I put the rest in this cool container (love the clamps!) Notice Katie’s fudge baby hearts are each nibbled upon. This is the joy in having a hubby who does not like nuts, coconuts or nut butters! In other words:

THEY’re MINE!! ALL MINE!!

So once again, the accidental baker got lucky. Honestly, these Carob Cacas are cr*ptastically delish and sooo easy to make.

Q: Have you had disasters that turned out to be actually something very cool? Kitchen or otherwise.