Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

I have been craving brownies, and decided to make some for tonight, when we go see a movie with friends.  But I wasn't really into some of my family or other recipes, and went on the hunt for a fairly simple brownie recipe with ingredients I already had.  I found this one at simplyrecipes.com, and holy cow it is amazing!  The brownies are thick, dense and so full of chocolate!  This might be my go-to recipe for brownies from now on!

*Update: these are seriously amazing.  They are dense, moist and basically taste like fudge.  They were a huge hit!  Everyone told me they were the best brownies they ever had!

10 Tbl. (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. + 2 Tbl. unsweetended cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2. flour

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with rack in the lower third of the oven.  Line the bottom and sides of an 8" square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, spray with nonstick spray.
2.  Cut butter into pieces and place in a medium heatproof bowl.  Set bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water.  Stir butter until it has mostly melted, then add cocoa, sugar and salt to bowl.  Stir until mixture is smooth and well-combined.  Remove from skillet and set aside until mixture is only warm, not hot.
3.  Stir in almond and vanilla extract.  Add eggs one at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon.
4.  Stir in flour, until flour is no longer visible, then beat for 40 strokes with wooden spoon.  Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
5.  Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out only slightly moist with batter.  Let brownies cool, lift out of pan and cut into pieces.

perfect!

so moist

yummy!

Irish Chocolate Guinness Cake

For St. Patrick's Day, in addition to corned beef, our friends requested I make this cake.  I agreed because I really love making cakes and it looks like it'd be a delicious, moist cake.  Plus I can't say no to a recipe with cream cheese frosting.  I'm a sucker for the stuff.  Anyways, this cake is delicious.  It's very thick, moist and easy to eat.  It's so very good, so good that Zak didn't want me to give any away to our friends!

Cake
1 c. Guinness
1/2 c. butter, cubed
2 c. sugar
3/4 c. cocoa
2 eggs
2/3 c. sour cream
3 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

1.  Grease a 9" spring-form pan, then line with parchment paper.  Set aside; set oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Melt butter in a small saucepan.  Once butter is mostly melted, add beer and stir until butter has completely melted.  Remove from heat.
3.  In a large bowl, combine sugar and cocoa.  Add in beer mixture and stir until smooth.
4.  In a small bowl, beat eggs.  Add vanilla and sour cream, mix well.  Add to large bowl with beer and chocolate.
5.  Mix in flour and baking soda until completely smooth.  Pour in prepared pan.
6.  Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, until toothpick is inserted in middle and comes out clean.
7.  Cool completely on wire rack, still in pan.  Once cake has cooled, remove from pan and place on cake plate.
8.  Beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Slowly add in powdered sugar and heavy cream and beat until smooth.
9.  Frost cake and refrigerate.  Bring to room temperature about half an hour before serving.  Store leftovers in fridge.

delicious

a thick, moist piece of cake!

Seriously 'Sinful' Cheesecake Brownies

I heart cheesecake brownies. They are more or less, my number favorite dessert. It is hard to describe my love from them. I try to not make them often because I will sit and eat the whole pan in one sitting. So, moderation is the key. I made these because our friend Mat did a lot of help with our car recently and wanted to make a little something for all of his help. I got this recipe from food.com and it did not disappoint.

brownie

6 Tbl. unsalted butter

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate (or semisweet; I used a combo of semisweet and milk)

2/3 c. sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 c. flour

1 Tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. chocolate chips (I used a mix of milk, semisweet and white chocolate, just to see)

pinch of salt

cheesecake

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 large egg yolk

5 Tbl. sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Line an 8" or 9" pan with foil (trust me, you'll regret it if you don't..), lightly mist with non-stick spray.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. In saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, pour into heatproof bowl.

4. Add 2/3 c. sugar, and then eggs.

5. Mix in flour, cocoa powder, salt, then vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

6. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, yolk, 5 Tbl. sugar and vanilla until smooth.

7. Distribute cream cheese mixture across top of brownie mixture, then swirl together with dull knife.

8. Bake for 35 minutes.

9. Once cool, lift foil out of pan and cut into pieces.

soooooo delicious

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I found this recipe on some blog that looked intriguing. I had never thought about making oreo cookies from scratch before, but after this recipe, I think I will from now on. They taste a little different than the store ones, but in a way that I can't describe. I don't know. They were pretty good and are great with milk. I will say one thing though: make tiny, like dime-sized cookies on the baking sheet, because these things expand like you wouldn't believe. It took a few pans to get them down to the average oreo size. Oh, and this recipe will make something like 50 or so small cookies. We have a ton of them leftover.

Cookie:
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetend cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. + 2 Tbl. butter, room temperature
1 egg

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt and sugar.
2. Beat in the bugger and egg, continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Make little balls (dime-sized, seriously) of dough and flatten slightly on hand (they also turn out very thin and crispy), place about 1 inch apart on greased pan.
4. Bake for 8 - 9 minutes at 375 degrees, set on a rack to cool.

Filling:
1/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 c. vegetable shortening
2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste, which is what the blog author used)

1. Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and mix at low speed.
2. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.
3. Turn mixer on high and beat for 2 - 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
4. The blog author talked about using a piping bag or something to place the filling on a cookie; I just took a small spatula and spread it on the bottom cookie and made sure the top cookie was about the same size, and gently pressed them together.

yum! (see the different sizes? yeah, these things get big quick)

Tuxedo Chocolate Cake

This. Cake. Is. Fantastic.

However, it takes a fair amount of time to make, it is huge, and one piece is probably a fair amount of your caloric intake for the day. But it is worth it, because it it divine. Here we go.

Cake:

4 c. sugar

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

4 c. flour

1 Tbl. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. buttermilk

1 Tbl. vanilla

1 c. unsalted butter

1 c. canola or vegetable oil

2 c. water

4 large eggs

Whipped Cream Filling & Frosting:

4 c. chilled whipping (heavy) cream

1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

Chocolate Glaze:

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

1/2 c. whipping (heavy) cream

1/4 c. Lyle's Golden Syrup OR Dark Karo (corn) syrup [the Lyle's stuff is apparently British, so I did some research to find a reasonable substitute]

2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Prepare three 9-inch round cake pans; lightly grease pans with shortening, line with parchment paper, and then lightly grease the top of the paper and dust with flour.

2. In a (very) large mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; whisk together to mix.

3. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk and vanilla.

4. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, oil and water. Heat over low heat until the butter is melted, stirring often.

5. Pour the butter mixture into the sugar/cocoa mixture. Using an electric mixer or a wire whisk (which works just fine), stir until combined and smooth.

6. Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly to break up the eggs, then add to batter, stirring until combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and stir until everything is thoroughly combined.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake 40 - 45 minutes or until center tested with a toothpick comes out pretty and clean.

8. Place pans on a wire cooling rack for 15 minutes, then remove cakes from pans to cool completely. Make sure they are cooled completely before frosting, at least one hour.

9. In a large mixing bowl (it works a little better if you chill the bowl and mixing tool beforehand), beat the 4 c. whipping cream until soft mounds form. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until thick and stiff.

10. Place one cake on the plate you are going to use, thickly spread some of the whipper cream over the top. Top with the remaining cake layers, coating the top of each with the whipped cream. Cover the sides of the cake as well, and make it as smooth as possible over the top and sides.

11. Refrigerate the cake at least one hour to stabilize the whipped cream before glazing.

12. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.

13. In a small saucepan over medium low heat, heat the 1/2 whipping cream until it is hot and just beginning to steam.

14. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate, stirring until it's completed melted. Add the Golden Syrup (or dark Karo corn syrup) and vanilla, stirring until completely melted.

15. Pour the chocolate mixture into a pitcher, or liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout and let it cool for 8 - 10 minutes (if it sits longer than that, it will thicken up too much to pour over the cake, so set a timer).

16. Slowly pour the glaze over the cake. Cover the top entirely, then let some of the glaze drizzle down the sides, allowing some of the whipped cream to show through.

17. Refrigerate the cake until the glaze is set and the whipped cream frosting is firm at least one hour. To serve, slice the cake with a long serrated knife.

cooling

I used foil pans, since I didn't have enough pans, so it was kind of a challenge...I had to fill in the gaps with extra whipped cream

more or less frosted

with the glaze, ooh

look how lovely!