#I think its like chocolate pudding with crushed up Oreos or something

[microwavepopcorn]

[vanathema]

Suggestions for halloweeny black-coloured ingredients or desserts, if you don't want to use activated charcoal for whatever reason because charcoal ice cream is a lie

disclaimer: I am not a chef.

Long post under the readmore:

Black cocoa powder A kind of Dutch-processed cocoa powder: Looks like charcoal, actually has a flavour! There's some things to be aware of when using black cocoa - unlike regular cocoa powder, it's low in acidity, which means if the recipe relies on that acidity to react with baking soda, it won't work; also unlike normal cocoa, it's much lower in fat, which will also affect the recipe.

What this means is, instead of completely substituting black cocoa for normal cocoa in a recipe, go for either a 50/50 split, or maybe one-third black to two-thirds regular. It’ll still end up darker than the original, while keeping the intended texture.

(If you're not using black cocoa for baking - dusting it over chocolate truffles, say - then don't worry about it.)

Oreo cookies or any of its knockoffs I feel like everyone was making oreo cheesecakes and oreo ice-cream cakes and then stopped cold? When did that happen? Anyway, try using oreos to make cookie butter (smashing the biscuits to crumbs, adding water, sweetener, and oil, and blending it into a smooth spreadable paste) which you can use like nutella. It’ll end up looking even darker than the original, almost like tar.

Black sesame paste To be honest, I'm not familiar with Japanese black sesame paste. But if you can find it, you can use it on both sweet and savory foods - black sesame ice cream sounds really good. I've seen recipes to make black sesame paste at home instead of ordering a jar online, though I wouldn't if you don't have a high-powered blender or don't want to use a mortar and pestle.

This is not the same thing as black tahini (tahini uses hulled sesame seeds, sesame paste uses unhulled & roasted), although that's also an interesting ingredient option (I've never tried tahini cookies, but they're apparently a thing?).

Maangchi recently posted a recipe for dasik (Korean pressed cookies) that includes one with crushed black sesame seeds and honey.

Black rice pudding Bubur pulut hitam in Indonesia, khao neow dam in Thailand, might also be labelled as black sticky rice / black glutionous rice / purple rice pudding. There's a bunch of other Asian variants. Generally served with coconut milk. I don’t think it’s served with mango like white sticky rice desserts often are, but if you like mango, knock yourself out.

Grass jelly Also called cincau - it's a fragrant, dark-brown almost-black jello. You might have seen grass jelly sold in soda cans, or as a milk tea topping like boba.

If you can't find it...

Coffee jelly I've found just-add-water coffee jelly powder, but if you can't find it, you can make it with strong black coffee (the stronger the better), sweetener, and gelatin or agar. It should be stiff enough to cut into cubes. Eat with whipped cream or ice cream, or on its own.

Just straight up food colouring Assuming you aren't allergic to it, why not? I don't know when it became gauche to admit to using store-bought food colouring instead of boiling onion skins or making spinach purees or steeping cornflower petals. Decades of innovation and invention means we can just use a bit of paste out of a bottle instead of having to alchemically formulate it yourself. It's fine. It’s going to be fine.

Food colouring gels or pastes tend to be stronger than liquids (i.e., you'll need less pigment to colour a dish, which means it’s cheaper overall). Gels are also preferred because liquid dyes can throw off the moisture levels for a baking recipe. On the other hand, liquid dyes are cheaper and easier to find at a grocery store.

If you can't find black, you can try to mix blue, green, and red together; try 1 part blue, 2.5 parts green, 3 parts red.

Granted, to make something properly jet-black, you'll still need a decent amount of pigment - not enough colouring tends to end up greenish-grey, too much colouring and some people might taste an off-flavour. (This is also why red velvet cakes sometimes taste a bit odd.) It'll help if you're adding black pigment to something that isn't pale to start with, like brown or grey - trying to turn frosting from white to jet-black is an exercise in annoyance. Also, ice cream will always end up a shade or two lighter after being churned and frozen.

If this all bothers you, consider:

Accept that every single food photo you've seen in the last twenty years or more has been colour-corrected or doctored in some way

I've had activated charcoal ice cream. It was, shock and horror, slate-grey and not vantablack like some foodie blogs made it seem. It also tasted like regular old vanilla. (A few years ago you could get gold-leafed charcoal ice cream in Kensington Market at twelve goddamn dollars a cone, which makes me very tired.) Food photography is a bed of lies and deceit. If you've made something that doesn't look like something you saw on pinterest, it's because it likely never existed that way. Either it was photoshopped, or the actual food was modified to fit the Aesthetic with no thought to how edible it ended up being. This can mean anything from literally drawing on grillmarks on steaks, to horrible fondant crimes committed to cakes.

(Tangential example - I've looked at checkerboard cookie recipes, and some of them are disproportionately high in flour and low in sugar and fat; this is to make them more foolproof (less likely to puff or spread in the oven), but ends with a pretty-looking but not very tasty cookie. These cookies are generally meant to be pretty crunchy, but some of these crappier recipes would be like eating bisque clay. TIP: RESTING/CHILLING DOUGH MATTERS, neglecting to do so is usually the reason why a cookie spreads  instead of keeping its shape. Resting times also matter if the recipe has baking soda or baking powder; if it sits unbaked for too long then whatever chemical reaction the baking soda was supposed to trigger will peter out. This has been a PSA.)

Are there cooks and bakers who actually can produce pretty food that also tastes good? Sure yeah. But accept that you are a home cook and not that chocolate guy, and don't worry too much about it. Be proud of the food you cook, you don’t need to prove anything to anyone.

But also:

Take advantage of colour perception So, okay, most of my suggestions will either produce something dusty-grey or dark brown, not true black. This is why you match it with another colour to trick your eyes into thinking it's darker than it really is. Maybe don't use green, since your brain will see green and brown and think "dirt", but white or red or orange for halloween should work just fine (maybe even purple, if you can get it to not look muddy). Getting pure colours for any of these, whether for frosting, cookie/cake batter, or whatever, is much easier than trying to make jet-black, and can make for a pretty striking effect.

Have a happy Halloween. Stop eating charcoal, if your doctor hasn’t prescribed it.

[bookwormcheerleader]

i was tagged by @trevorfindsthestrals (LOOK i finally got internet access on my laptop again!! Sorry it took so long) 1. Coffee or tea? tea, i had my first cup of coffee on like thursday last week 2. Black and white or color? black or soft, but not pastel, colours 3. Drawings or paintings? idk, whatever is more moving in that moment i guess 4. Dresses or skirts? dresses because i never know how to match with a skirt 5. Books or movies? how DARE you make me choose, i think books, but i wanna make movies (potentially havent really explored that yet) so it seems like the wrong answer 6. Pepsi or Coke? i dont drink fizzy drinks 7. Chinese or Italian? definitely italian on an everyday basis but i LOVE chinese too 8. Early bird or night owl? its almost midnight and i havent started my reading for tomorrow, that counts as an answer right? 9. Chocolate or vanilla? chocolate, unless its a milkshake 10. Introvert or extrovert? introvert, i don’t really like people 11. Hugs or kisses? ive never been kissed so hugs 12. Hunting or fishing? aesthetics of hunting but uh with fishing you can not put a hook on the line and just kinda sit there and chill without looking like the animal lover that your family judges you for being 13. Winter or summer? yes. idk im probably more of a summer person, but i also really like the implications of winter in that everything has to die in order to be reborn, plus i can’t really breathe in the heat, but i also have poor circulation in my extremities so the cold sucks ass 14. Spring or fall? spring, i like the crisp air of fall dont get me wrong, but the rebirth and the petrichor after a spring rain with a crisp breeze that doesnt chill you is just so relaxing 15. Rural or urban? i grew up in the woods so rural but i need to at least be kinda close to a hospital to avoid panicking  16. PC or Mac? pc 17. Tan or pale? is this preference, cuz i dont have one of those, but i am so white that i was the same color as my cheer uniform in high school 18. Cake or pie? cake, i dont like pie crust 19. Ice cream or yogurt? frozen yogurt tbh, it jsut tastes fresher and less heavy 20. Ketchup or mustard? my brother likes to mock me for how much i loved ketchup when i was like 7 as if it was yesterday 21. Sweet pickles or dill pickles? i dont like pickles 22. Comedy or mystery? can we do a hybrid where its like theyre fighting crime but have no ability to act serious, cuz im basically writing a comic book like that with @spectralflutterbeast 23. Boots or sandals? i live in a colder wetter climate so usually boots, but i love sandals 24. Silver or gold? i like white gold typically because its often a mix, it has the matching ability of silver with the warmth in color of gold 25. Pop or Rock? i grew up on steve miller and journey from my mom and simon & garfunkel from my dad 26. Dancing or singing? all i can think of is my shitty karoke the other night, so uh dancing, at least i don’t suck more at that when im drunk 27. Checkers or chess? checkers is easier and i could probably actually win, but chess is more likely to hold my attention 28. Board games or video games? we used to do family board game nights (im currently holding the winnign streak for clue because any games played without everyone dont count) (my extended family is also obsessed with card games, its how we bond, we talk shit and play cards) 29. Wine or beer? wine if i have to have one of these, i dont like fizzy stuff ever so no beer but wine dries out my mouth 30. Freckles or dimples? i have freckles, and i love it when people have dimples 31. Honey mustard or BBQ sauce? i guess bbq 32. Body weight exercises or lifting weights? idk what body weight exercises includes but i have always liked lifting weights, its something im fairly good at 33. Baseball or basketball? BASEBALL IS THE BEST I LOVE IT, i miss playing it so much but its been too long for me to feel comfortable joining an intramural team 34. Crossword puzzles or sudokus? sudoku...i think 35. Facial hair or clean shaven? preference right, um stubble.... im not big on full beards (probs cuz my dad has always had one, seriously pics from when he was 20 we are the exact same but he has a beard, he says he hasnt shaved his upper lip since he was 16) clean shaven is nice too tho 36. Crushed ice or cubed ice? i prefer no ice, but if i have to i like that ice you get in hospital cafeterias 37. Skiing or snowboarding? never been 38. Smile or game face? smirking, its the happy medium 39. Bracelet or necklace? i feel naked without any piece of my jewelry (watch on right wrist, a bracelet on my left, a necklace for me to fidget with, both sets of earrings) 40. Fruit or vegetables? fruit 41. Sausage or bacon? bacon 42. Scrambled or fried? scrambled unless its on toast 43. Dark chocolate or white chocolate? dark chocolate 44. Tattoos or piercings? i have two sets of piercings and i just got my first tattoo last month 45. Antique or brand new? antique unless its something i would feel like i couldnt be comfortable using, i always wind up with a very eclectic mix 46. Dress up or dress down? dress down, never really have a reason to dress up 47. Cowboys or aliens? cowboys, space gives me anxiiety 48. Cats or dogs? dogs 49. Pancakes or waffles? depends on who is making the pancakes 50. Bond or Bourne? uhhhh what 51. Sci-Fi or fantasy? fantasy 52. Numbers or letters? letters 53. Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? lotr tbh 54. Fair or theme park? fair, i grew up in puyallup (look it up, i can even sing the old theme song) 55. Money or fame? money, i want to buy my parents and aunt nice things 56. Washing dishes or doing laundry? laundry (no icky wet food pieces!) {this is what @trevorfindsthestrals had i just could not have said it any better myself} 57. Snakes or sharks? ummm snakes? cuz theyre smaller and i can run from them if theyre dangerous 58. Orange juice or apple juice? orange 59. Sunrise or sunset? sunsets seem more satisfactory to me 60. Slacker or over-achiever?.....i dont’ know how to answer this question 61. Pen or pencil? pencil, unless im worried about it smudging, then i bought some erasable pens for that 62. Peanut butter or jelly? peanut butter is more filling but i make jam every year so theres that 63. Grammys or Oscars? oscars 64. Detailed or abstract? why cant we do both, like a painting that is overall abstract but the closer you get the more you see the things that make it what it is, ya know, like life 65. Multiple choice questions or essay questions? idk multiple choice questions are harder to get wrong for not having enough info about a particular topic, but im good at and enjoy bsing things 66. Adventurous or cautious? i wish i was more adventurous but insecurities 67. Saver or spender? yes 68. Glasses or contacts? i dont wear either 69. Laptop or desktop? laptop 70. Classic or modern? what medium 71. Personal chef or personal fitness trainer? i would like a personal trainer until i get back in the habit of it and then i would jsut need a gym buddy 72. Internet or cell phone? cell since you cna get internet on your phone 73. Call or text? social anxiety so texting  74. Curly hair or straight? mine is beach wavy 75. Shower in the morning or shower in the evening? ive been showering in the morning because i like what it does to my hair 76. Spicy or mild? spicy please 77. Marvel or DC? wonder woman was my first favorite character, like about the time that bugs life came out because i obviously had two and the other was Flick  78. Paying a mortgage or paying rent? rent, i like assurance but i dont like permanence 79. Sky dive or bungee jump? never been but uh im not that trusting so i probably am jsut gonna go with a no 80. Oreos or Chips Ahoy? chewy chips ahoy 81. Jello or pudding? jello 82. Truth or dare? im a chicken so truth 83. Roller coaster or Ferris wheel? roller coaster, ferris wheels are all of the fear with none of the fun 84. Leather or denim? I NEED BOTH I CANT CHOOSE 85. Stripes or solids? stripes and fat people lol no, solids for me 86. Bagels or muffins? bagels probably 87. Whole wheat or white? whole wheat 88. Beads or pearls? pearls, my mother was a jeweler for 13 years, i cant not 89. Hardwood or carpet? hard wood in a hall, tile or linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom and then carpet everywhere else 90. Bright colors or neutral tones? uhhhh for what, cuz it really depends  91. Be older than you are or younger than you are? i want to be like 34, not rn obviously, im enjoying being 20 and stupid, but i feel like 34 is a good age, of course thats abotu how old my bros were when i idolized them so that might be reflective of that 92. Raisins or nuts? raisins, partially because every time my dad sees nuts he says nuts for the nutty and it has become a conditioned response for me now 93. Picnic or nice restaurant? picnic 94. Black leather or brown leather? brown 95. Long hair or short hair? mines somewhere in the middle 96. “Ready, aim, fire” or “Ready, fire, aim”? wtf does the second even mean 97. Fiction or non-fiction? fiction 98. Smoking or non-smoking? i have asthma 99. Think before you talk or talk before you think? i wish i could think before i talk more than i actually do 100. Asking questions or answering questions? i like to listen to people imma tag: @kiavachiisanoob @warriorsatthedisco @colecast1 and anyone lookinng for an excuse to do one of these