The best kind of justice.. edible!

If you’ve enjoyed the recipes we’ve tried over the last few months then you might want to head to the Sweet Justice web site. Representing Trade Aid’s range of Fairtrade baking products, the site has LOADS of yummy sounding things like Double Chocolate Banana Berry Muffins, Chocolate Chilli Mousse and Chocolate Cashew Biscotti.. well worth a look if you’re trying to procrastinate studying or looking for inspiration! And if you feel like reading instead of baking, there’s also lots of info about Fairtrade cocoa producers..

Mighty mousse – only for the brave!

This recipe is not for the faint-hearted.. or the diet-minded. It has only three main  ingredients: chocolate, cream and eggs. It is pure and unadulterated, smooth and  delicious and rich. The recipe comes from a tiny restaurant in a tiny town on the pebbly east coast beaches of the USA, a carefully guarded secret smuggled to New Zealand,  hidden for decades in the kiwifruit orchards of the Bay of Plenty only to emerge now,  transformed and glorious to YOU, reader, I can only say: use it wisely..

7 oz Fair Trade chocolate (I used Scarborough Fair dark chocolate)
5 eggs
1½ cups of cream (whipped to chantilly)
2 T instant coffee dissolved in 2 T of rum
Melt chocolate gently in a double boiler. Blend egg yolks with coffee and rum and stir into chocolate. Beat egg whites until stiff and stir ¼ into the choc mixture. Fold in the remaining whites. Fold in the whipped cream. Refridgerate. Lick the bowl, hee hee..

chocolate cake for vegans

Set oven to 190°C
A. 1 ½ c flour
1 c Fairtrade sugar
1/3 c Fairtrade cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

B. 1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c cold coffee or water
2 tsp vanilla

C. 2 Tbsp cider vinegar

Sift ingredients in A. Mix ingredients in B together and combine with A. Grease and line cake tin. Add cider vinegar (C), stir in gently and then pour into cake tin.  Bake 25-30 mins.

Chocolate Icing:

1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp soy milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract

another way to make your flatmates love you.. afghans!

they were so good and now they are gone.. sigh.. But if you want to butter up your flatties (or friends or whanau) here’s the recipe: Cream 200g butter with a half cup of sugar. Stir in 1¼ cup flour and ¼ cup cocoa. Fold in 2 cups of cornflakes (I used crumbled weetbix and that worked well too). You might need to add a Tbsp or two of water to get the mixture to spooning consistency. Spoon onto a tray – it will be crumbly but it will stick better after cooking. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes. Cool. Makes around thirty, depending how much mixture you sample.. Next, chocolate icing! Break up 200g fair trade chocolate and melt gently in a double boiler (or a metal bowl sitting above steaming water) with 25g butter and ½cup cream (I used milk and it worked fine too). Keep stirring until smooth. When it is cool, beat until thick and spoon onto cool biscuits. Add a walnut piece to each one.

fudge, glorious fudge..

mmm yum, sugary chocolatey goodness… All you need is: two cups fair trade sugar, thirty grams butter, half a cup of milk, and one tablespoon of fair trade cocoa. Melt this together in a saucepan. Let it boil for 4 minutes – it will boil vigorously but don’t stir it. Take it off the heat as soon as your stopwatch goes off! Add a rough teaspoon of vanilla essence and a bit of rum essence if you have it (it’s nice) then beat with electric beaters until it is thick. It is best to grease and paper the bottom of the tin you are using, and it’s really good to use a loaf tin, then you end up with a slab of chocolate fudge an inch thick, so good!

fair trade puddin’…

If you need to suck up to your flatmates then  chocolate self-saucing pudding could very well be the best way to do it.. and its a good opportunity to try fair trade cocoa too (available from the Trade Aid shop, 133 George St, just near the Octagon for $5.99).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cream 100g butter and 3/4 cup sugar until fluffy. Add a splash of vanilla and an egg and beat well. Add 1 and 1/4 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder and a few tablespoons of cocoa, mix and scrape into an ovenproof dish. Mix a litre of boiling water with 1/2 a cup of soft brown sugar and 3 tbsp of cocoa (more if you like it super chocolatey) then pour over top of the pudding mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes or until it is springy but it’s still good when it’s a little underdone – just gooier and fudgier… yum!