Chocolate buttermilk pie--SINGLE SERVING AND HEALTHY

 

did i ever mention how much i love chocolate? and not just any chocolate; DARK chocolate. the most wickedly dark and decadent stuff, the higher the percentage the better, solid bars of thick black velvety chocolate with barely any creaminess from milk or sweetness from sugar. oh, those are the BEST stuff, guys. chock full of solid cocoa, pure and heavy with the resonant roasty notes. mmm.

well for those that prefer milk and white, don't fret! the paragraph above is mostly misleading. this pie? it isn't bitter and black, heavy and thick. it is a zippy little pie, the top pale glossy chocolate, mapped with rustic craters and cracks, dotted with little flecks of cocoa, surrounded by golden browned crust. oh my goodness. i swoon, friends! i swoon! 

ladies and gentlemen, for about the first time in history: a HEALTHY chocolate buttermilk pie! and SINGLE SERVING TOO. all you southern ladies up there, hitch up your crinolines and calicos and skedaddle over quick!

dear mum,

i remember strapped in the car while you ferried me home from kindergarten with my brother, the lush feathered green of trees flickering past in a haze of greenery through the glass of the window, the leather strap of the seatbelt resting comfortably across my stomach, the fingers of one hand wrapped around the sticky peeled wrapper of a stick of almond-studed nougat, my mouth opened in a shriek of laughter as we rocketed down that particular hump in the road that sent our bellies in an abrupt free fall and my hair flying around my face, teeth gummed with sticky candy sweetness.

i remember the room shrouded in the cool darkness of mid afternoon, the curtains yanked across the sunlight which seeped into the room slyly from beneath the hem of fabric, the cassette player spinning audio stories about the kangaroo who saved the train and the Irish giant with the clever wife, my eyelids drooping with the heaviness of sleep and the softness of pillow nestled against my cheek, with you by my side equally slipping into the haze of dreams.

Coconut Strawberry Cheesecake Bars--healthy and single serving!

oh my. will you look at that. a long, creamy golden oblong, rounded at the edges, transitioning barely perceptibly to pale ivory near the base, topped with deep scarlet blooms of strawberry. is it pretty or is it pretty? and i'm telling you, the judge-a-book-by-its-cover thing is totally false. this tastes SO GOOD. rich cheesecake filling on top of a thick coconut macaroon crust, studded with roasted strawberry bursting with flavour and fabulosity.

are you drooling yet? i am. oops.

BROWNIE MOUSSE PIE--single serving & healthy

i've been chocolated out. i never thought i'd say that, but i have. if you've been following my instagram feed (@tumblinbumblincrumblincookie) you would notice that at almost every line of pictures there will be the presence of a smattering of chocolate chips, or the rich dark velvet of cocoa, or something of the sort. now after this? my chocolate craving is satisfied.

but oh, what a thing of beauty this is. dark nutmeg brown crust, so beautifully crisped you can almost hear the crunch and snap of it between your incisors. the seductive glimmering shiny allure of the brownie mousse filling. yes, you got that right--BROWNIE MOUSSE. so called because of the thick luscious brownie like thick mousse consistency oozing goodness beneath the burnished, cocoa surface that is just fragile enough to break and reveal the incredibly decadent goodness beneath under the slightest pressure of your knife or fork.

this is it, friends. so good. oh my gosh. chocolate heaven.

HEALTHY SINGLE SERVING CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

okay. i'm sorry, i really am. all those swirls and curlicues and frilly cursive is really too much. it looks horrible. i'm sorry. but you must know that in that period of time in which i edited the above photo i was still floating on the post-consumption-of-the-BEST-chocolate-chip-cookie-in-my-life high/euphoria. i saw little rainbow unicorns dancing everywhere. they had diamonds on their butts and long crystal horns. oh, and there were puffs of glitter. sparkling plumes of glittering fairy dust. they smelt like chocolate. everything smelt like chocolate. oh, and everything had a rosy tint. did i tell you that? everything looked soft and sweet and welcoming. like marshmallow soft.

okay, i'm aware i have gone on a long ramble. but honestly. this was the best chocolate chip cookie ever in my life. not to mention ITS ALL FOR ME. and healthy too!

good grief. i want to marry this cookie.

healthy single serving carrot cake cheesecake!

the crust belies its name--it is not crusty; it is not brittle; it is not crisp. it is instead a layer of nutmeg brown carrot cake, topped with a generous cheesecake layer--pale soft ivory swirled through with creamy, golden orange hues. it is a palette of autumnal shades, and when removed from the oven releases a beautiful golden aroma of tickling spice, caramelised honey, fragrant carrot.

i tell you, this thing is addictive. once i lifted the first forkful to my lips, tasted the supernova of flavour fizzing in joyous sparks on my tongue, the lovely and harmonious marriage of creamy cheesecake and soft spiced carrotcake melodious, singing the song of ecstasy. i couldn't stop, couldn't be deterred in my mission to just keep experiencing all the goodness in my mouth, till every last crumb was licked and gone, the tines of my fork shiny and unblemished.

the healthy carrot cake cheesecake, ladies and gents!

healthy single serving reese peanut butter cup pancakes!

labour day. a day to celebrate labour, which i started off with a right bang--laboring over a stove, spatula in hand, flipping circles of golden batter that eventually became that stack, that labor of love you see above. and hey, i'm not complaining.

reese peanut butter cup pancakes. the holy unity of dark, decadent chocolate and roasty toasty peanut butter, married in this formidable stack of soft, fluffy peanut butter pancakes bronzed by the griddle slathered with oozing peanut butter sauce and velvety chocolate sauce, dripping over the sides and slowly dribbling their way in a salivating manner down to the ceramic.

now, if only someone could make pancakes into a candy!