How do you take your coffee in the morning? I prefer my coffee to be a dark roast blend and I drink it black.  I like jet fuel.  Sometimes I add some cream or milk if I have more coffee later in the day, but most days I simply drink a wee too much black coffee.  Why so much coffee talk? Well, it turns out that these cookies are incredible with a piping hot cup of jet fuel.  The flavor is rich and the texture is decadent.  I used all brown sugar to add a deeper flavor and I used a local whole wheat flour from Upingil Farm.  They're the kind of cookie that I can have one and feel very satisfied, not that I'd mind having more.

So here's what you'll need:

Ingredients
-1 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup almond butter
-1/2 cup butter
-1 egg
-1 1/4 whole wheat flour
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
-3/4 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-additional white sugar for dusting

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter, almond butter and brown sugar together.  Add in the egg and mix.  In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder.  Mix with the butter mixture.  Using a small spoon or cookie scooper, shape a small amount into approximately 1 inch balls and roll the cookie ball in the white sugar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Enjoy!

Chances are that you have a lot of zucchini coming your way right now if you started a garden this year or if you're like me and your garden flopped in the midst of having a baby, then you have wonderful friends who give you fresh veggies from their gardens.  Either way, it's zucchini season here in New England and I'm here for it.  I love zucchini season.  Dinners, muffins, breads and more!

This recipe will take one bowl and about one hour from start to finish.  I used a high powered blender to puree the zucchini but you could also shred it if you don't feel like pulling out the blender or food processor. Let's get to it!

Ingredients
-3/4 cup zucchini puree or shredded zucchini
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 eggs
-3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
-1 tsp espresso powder
-1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Puree or shred your zucchini.  Prepare a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the zucchini, oil, vanilla, eggs and sugar.  Then add the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, salt and baking powder.  Use a fork to lightly mix together the dry ingredients and then thoroughly stir together the wet and dry ingredients. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Bake for 45-50 minutes.  Test the bread by inserting a toothpick or knife and it should come out mostly clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes and then remove the loaf to a baking rack to finish cooling, slice and enjoy.

One of the things that I've enjoyed about this quarantine period is that I've been forced to get creative with pantry meals, snacks and desserts.  My usual recipe development has more come from a place of "this is what I want to make and this is what I need so let's go to the store and get those things."  The current situation is very different.  We are only making grocery trips when we need to and my husband has been doing all of the grocery shopping so that I stay out of the stores while expecting (although this week I found a local market that is doing curb side pick up and I'm going to go for a drive later today- times are definitely different when getting out into the car feels like an outing). 

This brownie recipe was developed with all things in my pantry and I have been using up a bottle of Tahini more lately when I noticed that it's pretty creamy....and I had a small amount of chocolate chips left and I wondered if I could melt the two together for a brownie ganache.  It turns out that I can and that it's really good.  The brownies are pretty sweet with both white and brown sugar and the tahini ganache sort of balances it out with a nutty flavor.  I wondered if my kids would back away from it once they tried them but nope.  They each stole an extra brownie when I wasn't looking.

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

For the brownie (makes approximately 1 dozen)
-1/2 cup butter at room temperature
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-3/4 cup flour
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1 tsp espressor powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp baking powder

For the Ganache
-1/2 cup tahini
-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, use a stand or hand mixer to cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).  Add in the eggs one at a time and mix together.  Add in the vanilla and mix together.  Add all of the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients and mix them together with a fork before turning back on the mixer to incorporate them with the wet ingredients.  The batter will be thick...almost frosting like.

Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon or rubber spatula to spread and smooth the batter evenly throughout the pan.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.  This baking time leaves them fudgy and a small amount of batter coming out on a toothpick when inserted.  Allow to cool completely in the pan.

Once cooled, prepare the ganache by adding the tahini to a small pot on medium heat.  Allow to warm up and then add in the chocolate chips.  Stir continuously until the chocolate melts into the tahini and completely blends together.  Pour over the brownies and spread evenly with a spoon or spatula.  Place the ganache topped brownies in the fridge to chill and set for about an hour.

Lift the parchment paper up and out of the pan, slice into 12 squares and enjoy!