I made Katie’s Fudge Babies a couple of times, and they make an excellent snack. But those babies are packed with a lot of nuts and dates, which is healthy and at the same time, calorie-dense. Since I don’t have the luxury to eat as many babies as I wish (acne + belly), I decided to “lighten” up the recipe a little bit, and used leftover chocolate cake instead of half the amount of walnuts. What I came up has about 25% less calories than original fudge babies, but is as yummy as they are. To make them even more tastier (and to add more calories, unfortunately) I decorated my fudge hearts with some white chocolate, and it was literally heavenly! So, go ahead and use your leftover cake! And be sure to use white chocolate, if you don’t mind extra 10 calories per serving; because it really fires up the taste.

Fudge Hearts with Leftover Cake

20-25 servings

adapted from Chocolate-Covered Katie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup mashed leftover chocolate cake (you don’t need to add any liquid)
• 2 cups pitted dates
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder (6, if you use non-chocolate cake)
• zest of 1 orange
• melted white chocolate, for decorating

Directions:

Blend everything (except white chocolate) in a food processor.

Shape small balls. If you have chocolate molds, press the fudge into molds and leave them in the freezer for a couple of minutes. This will make the fudge easier to separate from the mold.

Decorate the hearts with some white chocolate.

]]> http://kitchenimpromptu.com/leftover-cake-fudge-heart/feed/ 2 http://kitchenimpromptu.com/bruschetta-pizza/ http://kitchenimpromptu.com/bruschetta-pizza/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:28:16 +0000 ulya http://kitchenimpromptu.com/?p=98

My homemade refrigerated pizza stock is over now, and I am too lazy to make new pizzas (Waiting for the dough to rise is nervecracking!) And yesterday, when I needed something that can satisfy my usual “pizza-cravings”, I made these bruchetta-pizzas, and they require bread instead of pizza dough. This quick dish is also my parents’ favorite for a Sunday brunch at home.

I didn’t use too much cheese for the topping, but for a more pizza-like taste, you can double the amount. Enjoy!

Bruschetta-Pizza with Thyme, Olive and Walnuts

2 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of whole-wheat bread
• 1 large tomato
• 80 gr. (3 oz.) mozzarella (you can double it if you like your pizza cheesy)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste* (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon water
• handful of walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 5 green olives
• fresh thyme
• pepper
• salt

* Tomato paste (“salca” in Turkish) is a commonly used ingredient in Turkish cuisine. It is basically concentrated tomato puree. Follow this link for more information, or order from Amazon.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Mix all the ingredients (except bread, mozarella and the olives) in a food processor. This will be the pizza sauce.

Place bread slices in a pan. Spread the pizza sauce on the slices evenly. Sprinkle the tops with mozzarella and sliced olives. Place a few pieces of fresh thyme for a better look & smell.

Cook for 10 minutes (or until the cheese is melted) in the oven.