Tasty chocolate recipes for fall

Fall is one of my favorite times of year to whip up some delicious goodies in the kitchen and I love nothing more than the smells of spices and baking in my home!

One of my favorite ingredients - and I know I’m not alone in saying this – is chocolate. I mean, who doesn’t love something deliciously moreish like chocolate brownies or a divine chocolate fudge cake to indulge in?

I’ve been doing some online searches to find some fabulous fall recipes that use chocolate. Here’s what I came up with:

Chocolate, Pumpkin and Stout Brownies

In the weeks after Halloween, you can pick up pumpkins from the supermarket for pennies! I’m always tempted to buy a few and experiment with them in the kitchen, and I couldn’t be happier to find a recipe – courtesy of Organic Garden -  that makes use of this abundant, cheap ingredient.

The only thing I have reservations about is using the stout in this recipe. I imagine that it will give the brownies a wonderfully deep flavor, although I’m not sure kids will enjoy it. Depending on how many discount pumpkins I pick up, I might have a go at making several variations!

Chocolate and Ginger Cake with Bourbon Sauce

What could be a better combination than chocolate and ginger for fall?! This is one of Martha Stewart’s recipes, although again it uses alcohol as an ingredient, which I’m not sure kids will like. In place of the bourbon sauce, I was thinking of making a traditional ganache - which is made using melted chocolate and heavy cream. For decoration, I think some whipped cream and strawberries would really bring this cake to life.

I’m always been keen to use as many Fair Trade ingredients as possible when I’m baking, so I was delighted when my research brought me across a company where I could buy loads of supplies in one place. You can find a full selection of FairTrade ingredients perfect for making cakes, including essential items like sugar, online at Traidcraft. They stock a wide selection of organic and Fair Trade products, and they even offer free delivery.

However, in my excitement at finding a supplier that has lots of Fair Trade goodies, I didn’t realise that this was a UK company. Unfortunately, their free delivery doesn’t include transatlantic travel, so I’ll have to find another source. Those lucky British bakers!

Chocolate Pots

 I don’t know what’s going on, but I seem to be intrigued by all things British when it comes to chocolate recipes! Gregg Wallace is famous in the UK for hosting the popular cookery show Masterchef and he is responsible for this gorgeous chocolatepot recipe. This takes little preparation, but makes a fantastic sweet treat for the end of dinner parties. The recipe has been created specifically for a brand’s website, although you could make this with any kind of chocolate – including Fair Trade brands!

November PBS Sprout Update!

It’s November so it is time for another PBS Sprout update! I am a member of the Sprout Band of Bloggers so I get the opportunity to share what’s up on Sprout each month. November of course means Thanksgiving is coming.

PBS Sprout has a really cool programming schedule for Thanksgiving week. You can tell them what your Sproutlet is thankful for. It might even be on the scroll at the bottom of the screen starting Monday November 23rd 2009. On Thanksgiving morning your Sproutlet can call in with a grown up Sprout and speak live to the on air host and tell them what they are thankful for. That would be so cool to do. If your Sproutlet calls in make sure you have your family and friends watching Sprout too for your child’s debut.

There are all kinds of really cute Fall and Thanksgiving crafts to make. There are many things to keep your kids busy and they could be used to help decorate your table for Thanksgiving. Some of the crafts are place cards, napkin rings and even woven placemats. There are also some really cute coloring pages too. I really like the Sprout’s Thanksgiving Coloring Page because it has all of our favorite Sprout friends on it.

I hope you all watch Sprout with your kids and visit Sprout Online there is so many great activities  for your Sproutlets to do. Parents check out Sprout for Parents for great resources on parenting and other interesting things.

Noah and I will be watching on Thanksgiving week. We hope to hear and read what you are thankful for. We will be also on the lookout for our homemade hand turkey that we had so much fun making and sending in to Sprout.