It's no fun to not be able to eat chocolate on the most chocolatey of all holidays. But that doesn't mean your sweetie has to go without treats. Here are a few ideas to make the day a little more festive.
But first a word on white chocolate. I think that Talmudic scholars will spend centuries debating the meaning of the phrase, "White chocolate (no cocoa) is okay." This remark is found in David Buchholtz's Bible-like "Heal Your Headache," whose migraine-trigger-avoidance diet is widely revered by migraineurs/euses the world over. The problem with this statement is that white chocolate, by federal law, has to include at least 20% cocoa butter, or else it is not white chocolate. It doesn't include cocoa solids, but that's not what Buchholtz said. He said, "no cocoa." But the other faux white chocolate, which contains no cocoa butter or solids (I found some "classic white" chips by Ghirardelli) contain all sorts of other possible pitfalls and no-nos. Like whole milk power and non-fat dry milk, both of which could have MSG sneaking in there. On the other hand, all the real white chocolates I could find (and the faux also) seem to always contain soy lecithin, which again could hide MSG. When grappling with this conundrum, and highly motivated to get some sort of chocolate-like substance back into my life, I just tried it. I can handle either fairly well, and the real seems to be slightly better. Taste test wise, I actually like the Ghiardelli better than the Green & Black, despite their attractive vanilla bean bits. In any case, you may have to just ask your migraine-suffering honey whether he or she can handle white chocolate, as I think that's what it comes down to.
Biscotti
I've been experimenting with biscotti options and have come up with a few keepers. In the absence of both chocolate and nuts, your go-to flavoring would logically be the citrus, lemon department. But you can't have citrus either. This annoyed me quite a bit, as it seemed to systematically rule out all the possible recipes I could find. In fact, lemon has maintained a high rank in the things that I miss. Then one day I came upon something that suggested that lemon verbena could be substituted for lemon zest in many recipes. So I began to search for lemon verbena. I could not find it either fresh or dried in any store anywhere. I could not even find the seeds to grow my own (although I later learned it doesn't propigate from seed). Finally I ordered two little plants from an online herb purveyor, Hirt's, and now they are growing on my windowsill. Which brings me to the following recipe, modified from Alice Waters.
White Chocolate, Ginger and Lemon Verbena Biscotti
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together and set aside:
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Beat well together in large bowl until smooth:
3 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
Then add the flour mixture and stir well. Then stir in:
1/2 cup minced fresh lemon verbena
3/4 cup minced crystallized ginger
3/4 cup chopped white chocolate
Form the dough into two three-inch wide, ten-inch long logs on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or Silpat. Give them some room between them as they tend to spread. Try to keep them narrow. If they get too wide, the biscotti will be too long and will break. Sprinkle with coarse or Turbinado sugar on top if you have some handy. Bake for 25 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool about ten minutes on the sheet. Lower oven to 300. Gently lift cooled loaves to cutting board and slice into 1/2-inch slices. Place the slices back on cookie sheet (you may need another sheet also), cut side down. Bake for ten minutes at 300, turn slices over one by one, and then bake on other side for another ten minutes. …. and voila! Beautiful, delicious, specialness.
Variation…
Omit verbena and ginger. Add one scant tsp cardamom to flour mixture. Add 3/4 c no-sulfur dried cherries and 3/4 c white chocolate. Yum!
And there's this, modified from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey:
White Chocolate, coconut, cranberry cookies
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Cream together:
1 c (2 sticks) butter
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
Then add:
1 large egg, room temp.
2 T milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Add the flour mixture and blend well. Then stir in:
6 ounces chopped white chocolate
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup no-sulfur dried cranberries
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.
My honey gave me some white chocolate pretzel haystacks this morning and that was a lovely surprise. Happy Valentine's Day all!
XO