Dirt Cupcakes for Earth Day

So I was thinking about dirt cupcakes for Earth Day. Something for the kids (and the kid in all of us). I know I have a recipe for cemetery cupcakes I use at Halloween, but I couldn't locate it. In the meantime, I found a great recipe for Dirt Cupcakes with terrific step by step illustrations at the Bumbling Baker.

Materials Needed:

12 chocolate cupcakes

1 1/2 chocolate frosting

Oreo baking crumbs

Gummi Worms

Directions:

1. After baking up a batch of chocolate cupcakes (The Bumbling baker halved Martha's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes, recipe HERE), allow them to cool completely. Then, frost each cupcake with chocolate frosting, or with buttercream that's tinted brown or black. You don't want the frosting to be noticeable once the cupcakes are dipped in the cookie crumbs.
2. Use Oreo baking crumbs to coat the frosted cupcakes. You could always break apart a bunch of Oreo cookies and finely crush the cookie bits, but it's a heck of a lot of work, and these are supposed to be EASY.

3. Put the cookie crumbs in a shallow bowl so it's easy to dip the cupcakes.
4. Dip the cupcake in the cookie crumbs.
5. Making sure you really get it in there.
6. Don't forget to roll the sides of the cupcake in the crumbs too.
7. Until you can't see any frosting and the cupcake is totally coated.
8. Grab a wooden spoon, and use the end of the handle to poke a hole deep into the cupcake.
Then pop a gummi worm in the hole.

I saw a lot of other recipes on the web, but I liked this one the best. Haven't tried it yet, but the ingredients look right, the directions are simple, and I love the looks of 'dirt' on top with one single worm.

So now you have choices of chocolate for Earth Day. Be sure and read my previous posts on earth-friendly chocolate.

Mud Pie for Earth Day

My previous blog was about Earth-Friendly chocolate: what makes chocolate earth-friendly, so today I thought I'd give a recipe for Mud Pie, the perfect chocolate treat for Earth Day. The following recipe from the evite blog is a variation on the traditional Mud Pie. It's easy and delicious.

Mud Pie

• 1½ cups chocolate wafer cookies, crushed into tiny pieces
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 pint coffee ice cream, softened
• 1 tablespoon Kahlúa
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• 1 cup whipping cream, plus 2 tablespoons
• ½ cup dark corn syrup
• 12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

Combine chocolate wafer cookies and butter and press into 9-inch pie plate. Place in freezer. Mix ice cream, Kahlúa and brandy. Whip 2 tablespoons whipping cream, fold into ice cream mixture, and pour into pie shell. Cover and place in freezer. Meanwhile, bring 1 cup cream and corn syrup to a simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Cool until lukewarm, about 20 minutes. Pour sauce over mud pie and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours.

Earth Friendly Chocolate

With Earth Day coming up on April 22, I thought I'd put together a list and information about earth-friendly chocolate also known as eco-chocolate.

What makes chocolate earth-friendly?

A little background: There are issues related to chocolate that need to be taken into consideration. First the demand for chocolate is so great that there are forces at work (human forces) to clear more and more of the rainforests to accommodate single crop cacao tree plantations. This leaves open sunny fields that lower the levels of plant and animal diversity. Along with that is the fact that some plantations use large amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides that devastate not just the land but animal and bird populations--and other plants.

Another big problem with cacao production is child labor. Although this is not an environmental issue it is being addressed by environmentalists and humanists. 284,000 children between the ages of 9 and 12 work in hazardous conditions on West African cacao plantations. Many cacao workers in Ivory Coast (more than 40% of world's cacao is grown there), are underage and overworked. Read more. This is where fair-trade advocates have targeted the large producers to improve working conditions. To read more about conditions and responsible scientists and environmental groups, go here.

So what earth friendly chocolate should you eat on Earth Day?

Look beyond the word "organic." Opt for "fair trade certified"

Choose chocolates made from local ingredients. Hawaii is the only U.S. state that produces cacao: The Hawaiian Chocolate Company is absolutely terrific since it's truly bean to bar on the big Island, so that's a great one!

Don't forget to check out if the brand uses recycled paper with no plastic inserts or plastic coating.

Here are a few on my own list, but there are many more, and I look forward to comments.

Republica del Cacao
Dagoba
Scharffen Berger
Green and Black
Pralus
Theo
Cacao Anasa
Yachana Gourmet
Charles Chocolates
Hawaiian Chocolate Company
The Grenada Chocolate Company
Rapunzel

As well as brands of organic chocolate bars, there are several non-organic companies that have organic lines.

O.K. so I know you're either feeling a bit guilty by now or very virtuous, but here's something chocolate you can do without any of the calories. Adopt a chocolate tree. For $49, The Foundation for Integrated Education and Development (FUNEDESIN) offers a certificate of adoption, two bags of Ecuadorian chocolate and 10% off the regular price of Yachana Lodge tours.

Want to read a real earth-friendly chocolate story? Two Brits went from the U.K. to Africa driving a truck that's using 2000 liters of biofuel produced from waste chocolate. Now that's really using everything chocolate!