Chocolate Snack Cakes

Beautifully photographed and filled with nostalgic recipes of favorite childhood snacks and treats, Lara Ferroni's Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk (Sasquatch Books, October 30, 2012) is a must-have cookbook for anyone, especially parents. Using whole-grain flour and less-processed sugars, Lara has developed recipes that are more nutritionally superior than the more commonly store-bought processed versions. Filled with classic recipes such as Toaster Tarts (Pop Tarts), Chocolate Mint Wafers (Girl Scouts Thin Mints), and Cheesy Fish (Gold Fish Crackers) using real ingredients, Lara's cookbook is fun and delightful in every way.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Lara about her cookbook. I've posted our interview as well as her recipe for Chocolate Snack Cakes (Ding Dongs, anyone?) below. 

Alice: I love the byline of your Real Snacks book, "Make your favorite childhood treats without all the junk."  How were you able to bump up the nutritional value of the treats in the book from its more familiar store-bought counterpart? 

Lara: The first way was simply leaving out a lot of things all the chemicals you can barely pronounce or things that have to have numbers next to them (polysorbate 60). The non-food stuff. Then, instead of using grains and sugars that have been highly refined, I used whole grains and less processed sugars. Not only did this change improve the vitamins and minerals you get from these snacks, I think it makes them taste better too. 

Alice: I appreciate how you included a descriptive summary of various flours and sweeteners in the book.  I noticed many of the recipes you call for use either all-purpose or spelt flour. Can you tell me the difference between the two and how they compare in flavor and texture in baked goods? 

Lara: Spelt flour is actually an easy substitute for all-purpose flour (especially the unbleached kind), and the differences are pretty subtle. Spelt is slightly lower in gluten, so it's easier to keep baked goods like cakes from getting tough from over-mixing. And, it has slightly more protein and dietary fiber and a smidge less starch, but not so different that it's hard to bake with. Spelt flour tastes very similar to whole wheat flour.  

Alice: It is not often you find a cookbook devoted to snacks and treats which also include vegan and gluten-free options. As far as flavor is concerned, is there much of a difference between the regular, vegan, and gluten-free options of any given recipe? 

Lara: Most are very similar and I doubt that anyone would really know that the variations were gluten-free or vegan. In fact, in some cases, I might have just gone with the gluten-free or vegan versions as the main recipe, except that there are typically specialty ingredients needed that aren't necessarily common for most kitchens. There are a few that are different though, although delicious in their own way. I avoided using any store-bought vegan cheese because it's so often so full of things I'd rather not eat so any of the cheesy recipes are good but can't taste quite the same. The exception there is the vegan Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips (Doritos), which I make all the time and don't really miss the cheese at all with all the other flavors going on. 

Alice: Thank you, Lara!

Feel free to visit Lara on her site, LaraFerroni.com.