Blog Posts by YumSugar

YumSugarSource: Treat Yourself to 8 Chocolate Trends

What's chocolate looking like as we enter 2013? Imagine nut-butter fillings, tea-infused ganaches, and bean-to-bar chocolates - to name a few delicious decadences. Get ready to feast your eyes on the most captivating bars, bonbons, and truffles. What are you waiting for? It's time to treat yourself to eight chocolate trends!

• Puffed Grains: Brown rice and quinoa, whether toasted or puffed, has made its way into chocolate bars - giving chocolates a toasted flavor and a Nestlé Crunch-like consistency. One of our favorites? Alter Eco Dark Quinoa ($4) is 60 percent dark chocolate and studded with fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth quinoa puffs.
• Bacon : When Vosges released its bacon and chocolate bar a few years back, it shocked and offended vegetarians and serious confectioners alike. Yet finally, the world has embraced the amazing smoky/sweet combination, as many (if not most!) chocolatiers have created their own versions of something

Source: A Little Love Goes a Long Way: Basic French Macarons

Perhaps it's the rainbow of cheerful hues, the adorable two-bite size, or - most likely - the perfect crisp-chewy texture, but I just can't get enough of French macarons. Even when I'm stuffed to the gills, I can always make room for these tiny, delicate pastries.

True, macarons can be temperamental (meringue is the capricious culprit), but they do respond wonderfully to patience, encouragement, and a loving touch. So before you dismiss the idea of making these little lovelies at home, we've found a basic recipe that breaks down the uncooperative veneer of the elusive macaron.

Although part of the same happy pastry family, the French macaron should not be confused with the coconut macaroon. They are similar in concept, but differ greatly in execution: while both entail adding dry ingredients to a delicate egg white meringue, the one "o" macaron uses finely ground almonds as its base and requires much more

Source: Learn the Starbucks Fundamentals to Home Coffee Brewing

Are you a Starbucks regular who's vowed to start saving money and making your own coffee at home instead? If so, there are still a number of ways you can ensure you've made the perfect cup of coffee, even by Starbucks standards. I enlisted the help of Certified Starbucks Coffee Master Zach Mercer, who outlined the company's fundamentals for home brewing. According to Zach, all you've got to do is keep in mind that there are four important factors that affect the quality of your home brew. Find out what they are, and keep reading to see his recommendations for making coffee at home.

• Water. Source the best H20 you can find. At any given Starbucks, water goes through a triple filtration process as a baseline; use filtered water whenever possible.
• Proportion. The general guideline is 10 grams of coffee (about two good tablespoons) to six ounces of water. Zach's done the math: this equals about 0.12 pounds of

YumSugarSource: 9 Inventive Recipes For the Kale-Curious

We've all heard about the bounty of benefits a heaping helping of kale has to offer our stomachs and taste buds, but actually putting the dark, leafy green on your plate is a whole different story. Most of the time people are curious about kale, but they're just not sure how to cook it up. We've taken the hassle and heartache out of the process, and here is our delicious offering: nine yummy recipes that incorporate some kale into your next culinary endeavor.

• Pomegranate-Hazelnut Winter Greens Salad: Swiss chard and lacinato kale make for quite the dynamic duo in a pomegranate-hazelnut Winter greens salad, perfectly fit for the season.
• Kale Chips: Grab a bundle of Tuscan kale and bake up these simple and savory kale chips. But beware - you'll be craving this crunchy snack constantly!
• Lemony Kale Salad with Feta: We're not sure what's better about this pine nut and feta-topped kale salad from Fresh Tart: its

Source: Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Try 6 Tips For a Better Bowl

Oatmeal may never have the magnetic allure of luscious chocolate cake or breakfast brethren like lofty dutch babies or loaded breakfast burritos. Still, one need not resign to a bland or gloppy bowl: I start almost every day with a bowl full to the brim and have yet to grow bored. Here are a few tips that are too good not to share.

• Don't forget the salt: While the instructions on the tub of oats might imply that salt is optional, quite frankly it's not. Your bowl of oatmeal shouldn't taste salty (unless, of course, you're trying a savory iteration, like the one below), but adding a hefty pinch will help enhance flavors whether nutty, sweet, or creamy. Just make sure to season to taste after it's done cooking; if you add it at the start, the oats will release less of their starch, and the resulting texture won't be as creamy.
• Skip instant oats: These flaky par-cooked fragments might simmer up quicker,

YumSugarSource: The 15 Cookbooks From 2012 We Just Can't Put Down

Last year was a banner year for cookbook publishing, making the task of narrowing down our top picks of 2012 an arduous task indeed. While plenty others could have made the cut, shop our favorite 15, bound to inspire culinary creations whether you're trying to get more vegetables on your plate, try out foreign cuisines, or dive into comfort classics (or something in between).

• Modernist Cuisine at Home: Immensely more practical for the home cook than the much-lauded (but woefully expensive and laboratory-technical) first cookbook by Nathan Myhrvold, Modernist Cuisine at Home ($140) wowed us with its in-depth explanations of the science behind cookery, top-notch photography, ingenious recipes, guide to sous-vide cookery, practical tips, and glossary of go-to ingredients and equipment necessary for the task at hand.
• Herbivoracious: Whether you're a staunch vegan or simply looking to bulk up your meatless mains

Source: Cooking For Shorter Days and Longer Nights

Winter's officially begin, and it's clear as you-know-what that nights have become much longer, and days, shorter. The earlier sunset can often translate into not wanting to cook at night: coming home to a pitch-black house and cooking dinner from scratch can be daunting during these cold weather months. On the flip side, however, eating out every night can be harmful on wallets (and waistlines!). With a little bit of planning and prep work, we can all look forward to delicious home-cooked meals. Here are five tips for Winter weeknight cooking.

• Prep on the weekends. After your weekend trip to the grocery store, wash and prepare your produce for the week ahead. Greens should be rinsed, wrapped in paper towels, and stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. If possible, avoid pre-cutting produce, as fruits and vegetables rapidly begin to lose nutrients once they are cut.
• Live by the one-pot meal. Cooking meals in only

YumSugarSource: Culinary Resolutions, Week 1: Eat Lighter

For many of us, today marks the first workday of 2013. But that's not all: it also happens to mark the beginning of our brand-new series, Six Weeks of Culinary Resolutions, in which, in an effort to improve ourselves over the course of the New Year, we master a different gastronomic goal each week.

To kick things off, we'll be focusing on eating lighter this week. Sure, holiday merrymaking brings to mind menorahs, tree lights, sleigh bells, and stockings - but it also conjures up images of yule logs, cookie swaps, standing rib roast, and way too much eggnog. It may not be possible to erase December's overindulgences, but healthier cooking in January is as close as we'll ever get.

Stay tuned all week to learn about lighter cooking techniques, wholesome grains, and of course, our favorite healthy recipes.


Related Content:
Natural Detoxing Tips to Kick Off the New Year
Detox Deliciously: Apple and Cabbage Salad


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