(M)ole!

Yes, I am aware that the above photo is a rather sub-par. Unfortunately it's the best I have at this particular juncture for a recipe that, while you may not realize it yet, you really want.

First of all, if you do not like spicy chocolate, you are dead to me. Just turn around and walk away now.

When I was in Charlottesville, I frequented a restaurant with face-sized margaritas and surprisingly good Mexican food. I mean, come on, it's in the middle of Virginia, what are the odds? Anyway, I invariably ordered the enchiladas drowning in mole sauce and ate every bite on the plate. Much to my chagrin, the plate was several times larger than my stomach, so the remainder of the evening was spent curled up in the fetal position contemplating an early death. Worth it.

Upon moving away, however, I decided that it was time to learn how to make my very own mole sauce with the hoped-for side effect that I would be able to moderate my consumption thereof. This has... sort of... worked. On the one hand, I do not eat enough in an single sitting to philosophise on the merits of lying face down on the kitchen floor to counter the internal stomach pressure. On the other hand, this just means that I eat it for dinner one night, and lunch and dinner the next or until someone in the house has polished it off.

We'll say it's a wash.

Bomboloni- Italian for Fried Dough

This has been a big week for me. Huffington Post made me a legitimate blogger and my first articles went live, the ACC (lawyers, not sports) picked up my antitrust primer, and even AboveTheLaw, comment trolls and all, noticed me. While I'm at it, there's a book here.

Crazy stuff.

Anyway, I decided to celebrate by making something extremely delicious and extremely unhealthy. Not to mention that anyone who says that they don't like fried dough is either lying or selling something. But... well... why stop at frying things? Why not also stuff them with dark chocolate? Oh yes, I went there.

I did, in a sudden burst of generosity/realization that I would eat them if they stayed in my house, take the batch in to the contract job I've been working this week. My coworkers were kind enough to demolish the pile in short order.

Behold.

Macaroons

Ooof. I have been slow on the update. Many apologies. Whilst away, I can assure you that I have still been cooking, though decidedly less frequently since I've been on a short contract project. Yesterday, however, I woke up with the all consuming urge to bake, so I perused the internet, various cookbooks, and my head until something struck my fancy. What was it, you ask?

Chocolate dipped coconut macaroons.

I can actually hear my dad make yummy noises upon reading that. I have never before made macaroons, however, as it turns out, not having the foggiest clue what I'm doing no longer stops me. So, off to the store I went to pick up some shredded coconut and melt-worthy chocolate. Of course, upon arriving at the store, I completely forgot whether I was supposed to be using sweetened or unsweetened coconut... and ended up with both, just to be safe. Also, since I was supposed to have 8oz of coconut and the bags are in multiples of 7oz (Why? Why would you use 7? It makes no sense, you never need anything in multiples of 7!), I ended up throwing in a handful of the unsweetened anyway. Mine turned out well, but in the future I would actually scale back the coconut to egg white ratio, so the recipe I'm giving you is tweaked to reflect that. Also, it allows you to purchase just one bag of blasted coconut and not have to worry about measuring. Tada.

On to the tastiness!