quinn's place

here’s an indulgent chocolatey summer delight!

although - i’m discovering that maybe i am one of the only youngish people who truly loves an almond joy? it has been made clear to me in my peer research that not a lotta people like almond joys at all - in fact, it seems that many people despise almond joys. to that i say - boooo.

ya know what else i like? black licorice. i am a grandma.

so this one goes out to you, 3 other people besides me who love almond joy!!

this recipe started off being a bit on the healthier side, like an almond joy smoothie, but then i decided to trash it up with some fudge and shredded coconut on the rim of the glass. it was a good move.

related: i always loved a mocha coconut frappuccino from the ‘bux. if you’d like to veer in that flavor direction instead, omit the almond butter, add a bigger pinch of espresso powder, and definitely add the coconut extract to the mix.

chewing the texture of the fudge and the coconut with each gulp of this frozen beverage treat really makes this a full-blown dessert! what fun.

i made this before using dates and i think they really add great body, texture and sweetness to this cold drink. it will turn out fine without dates, but give it a try if you’ve got ‘em! this is a beverage for us old-souled 30-something grannies-at-heart, after all.

Frozen Almond Joy

Makes 2 Beverages

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1/3 cup almond butter
1 can very cold unsweetened coconut milk or coconut cream
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
2 TB. honey or agave nectar
4 large soft dates, pitted (optional, but recommended)
1/8 tsp. espresso powder (optional, but recommended)
1/8 tsp. coconut extract (optional)
2 TB coconut oil
ice
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup hot fudge, softened

Instructions -

Spread the hot fudge on a small plate and twist the rim of each glass into the chocolate, then twist into a plateful of sweetened shredded coconut to coat. Let sit in the fridge while you blend the beverage.

In a blender, add the almond butter, cold canned coconut milk, cocoa powder, sea salt, agave, and dates. Blend very well until the dates are pulverized very well into small bits. Add the espresso powder and coconut extract (if using) and coconut oil. Blend again until very smooth. Lastly, add 1-2 cups of ice and blend until entire mixture tastes smooth and cold. Add additional honey or agave to sweeten, if necessary.

Stick the whole blender in the freezer if you have time - let the mixture chill for 15 minutes and quickly pulse again to reincorporate.

Immediately pour the frozen almond joy into the prepared glasses. Enjoy immediately with a spoon or wide straw!

this is all to say - please don’t be too hard on yourself when taking on big baking or cooking projects. i worry for people who are so scared that something won’t turn out perfectly that they won’t even make an attempt at a recipe. you must learn somehow!

i cook and bake frequently, and do not consider myself an advanced cook or baker whatsoever - there is still so so so much endless learning to be learned.

[ps. i know the title of this post is grammatically incorrect, but it rings much better than writing ‘badly’ and ‘well.’ (ok, DAD?!) 😜]

i’ve made a version of babka once before - but here’s how this loaf went down:

where i went right:

the brioche dough turned out perfectly! i followed the ‘chocolate krantz cakes’ recipe in yotam ottolenghi’s jerusalem cookbook and cut the recipe in half as to make only 1 loaf. not sure why the written recipe yields 2 separate loaves. because 2 is more than 1, i suppose.
i finished the whole process even though i knew i’d messed up a few key things along the way.
it tasted good!

where i went wrong:

i did not use high-quality chocolate, like a goon. i made this on a snow day (cozy!) and did not want to venture out to buy nice chocolate bars, so i used a combination of semi-sweet chocolate chips and cocoa powder. i do not recommend this. it looks decent after melting, but once i added the powdered sugar, it became a bit thick and crumbly. you can really tell once i started twisting my goofed up braids that the chocolate quality was not up to par.
since i halved the original recipe, i was supposed to adjust this part to roll up only ONE large dough log with chocolate spread inside (like a cinnamon roll). instead, i kept following the original recipe instructions and made 2 separate logs, sliced each of them in half vertically, yielding 4 long pieces to be braided into my desired single log loaf. do you follow? i had gone too far with the final pieces to be braided and decided that i would just braid all 4 pieces somehow into one dense loaf. i’m not sophisticated enough to maneuver a 4-stranded braid, but it came together, kinda.
keyword: dense. brioche is supposed to be fluffy and a bit airy. the tightness of the 4 pieces braided together did not allow the loaf to rise again - i think it was all too tightly compacted and twisted together. the final babka loaf should have been significantly taller after baking.

here’s where you can really see that chocolate i used was not high-quality. it should be much smoother and less chONky looking.

but - i know exactly where i went wrong, what i learned from this process, and how i would approach it differently the next time i make a babka recipe.

and that, my friends, is the beauty of failure. failures are just building blocks of knowledge.

i wouldn’t even call this a “failure,” because it still tasted very good, just dense - we ate the whole thing on a snowy weekend. how glorious is that?