Brownies of Agreement

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
• 3/4 cup salted butter plus extra for the pan
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly butter a 13×9″ pan. Combine butter and chocolate in a large glass bowl. Heat over a double boiler (or in the microwave), stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are melted and combined. Cool slightly. Add sugar and vanilla, mixing well. Add eggs. Add flour and stir until just combined. Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are slightly wrinkled and skewer inserted in center comes out moist and crumby. Cool until bottom of the pan is barely warm to the touch. Invert onto large cutting board and cut into squares. Yields 16-18 generously-sized squares.

In the absence of eggs, the reaction of baking soda and vinegar provides the leavening needed for a light, fluffy cake. This recipe can be used as a base for any number of mix-ins – add chocolate chips for a chocolate chip cookie cake, cocoa or melted baking chocolate for a simple chocolate cake, cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins for a spice cake, or galangal, pepper, coconut, and ginger for an eastern flavor.

No-Egg Company Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° F; lightly grease a 13×9″ pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring until just combined. Pour into pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

Quick Chocolate Spice Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 5 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 2 tablespoons whole milk

Mix together butter, salt, cinnamon, sugar, and cocoa until ingredients are well-combined and butter is evenly distributed. Slowly add coffee and milk, adding more milk if needed to achieve desired consistency. Spread on cooled cake.

Brownielicious Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pounds plus two tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 pounds semisweet chocolate chips
• 6 ounces cocoa powder
• 7 eggs
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup plus three tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F; grease and flour two 13×9″ pans. Toss 1/2 pound chocolate chips with 3 tablespoons flour and set aside.

Melt the butter and one pound of the chocolate chips together (use your preferred method: microwave or double boiler are fine). Set aside to cool. In a very large bowl, stir together the eggs, coffee, vanilla, and sugar. Mix in the cooled chocolate and set aside to cool completely.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa. Add to the cooled chocolate and mix well. Stir in the floured chips and pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tester is almost clean. Cool, cut, and enjoy.

There was a storm rolling in yesterday, so it was a bit warm and sticky. We were craving something sweet, but didn’t want to fire up the oven, so I started digging through my no-bake recipies for somethign quick and easy. This recipe started life as a no-bake peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe, but once set, Mer immediately declared it “oatmeal fudge”. Chocoholics can add 1/4 cup cocoa to the mix to make chocolate peanut butter oatmeal fudge.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Fudge

Ingredients:

• 3 2/3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/3 cup powdered milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter

In a large bowl, combine oats, peanut butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered milk; mix until few lumps remain and peanut butter is well-distributed. Set aside.

Melt butter and sugar in a sauté pan or shallow sauce pan over medium heat; stir in water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture boils. Hold at a rolling boil for 90 seconds. Carefully pour hot syrup over oat mixture and stir to combine. (This takes a bit of elbow grease.) Once mixed, gather the dough into balls (portion control is up to you) and place on sheet pans lined with silicone baking mats, parchment, or waxed paper. Flatten with a spatula and set aside to cool.

At room temperature, fudge will set in about 30 minutes; refrigeration speeds up the process.

Funny Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 9″ pie shell (store-bought or your favorite recipe)
• 7 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
• 1 -1/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons hot water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 pinches salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk or light cream
• 1 egg, beaten

Melt 7 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Whisk in water. Continue to cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside and preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine flour, baking powder, and remaining sugar and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine thoroughly. Cut in remaining butter with fingers. Stir in milk and vanilla. Stir with wooden spoon or electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add egg and continue to beat for 45-60 seconds. Pour into pie shell. Gently reheat fudge sauce if necessary and pour evenly over batter.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean and cake is springy to the touch. Serve warm or room-temperature.

It may not have the greatest of names or be the heat-laden stew that some people enjoy as chili, but this recipe is a staple around these parts. A reader on one of our other blogs asked me for this recipe; it was then that I discovered that I hadn’t posted it here. For shame. So here, in all its glory, is my own personal kick-ass chili recipe.

A few notes: yes, there is chocolate (well, cocoa) in my chili. It tastes good, I swear. Do not try to use a crappy beer for this. If you’re in the northeastern US, don’t use anything less than Yuengling. If you’re elsewhere…use something you couldn’t afford in college and you should be fine. Finally, this recipe is very filling and makes a very large batch. Break it down into small containers and freeze it – it’s great to re-heat on a chilly night.

Dani’s Kick-Ass Chili con Carne

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds ground beef
• 28 ounces canned diced or crushed tomatoes with garlic
• 28 ounces canned diced or crushed tomatoes, plain
• 1 large onion, diced
• 12 ounces tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• Oregano, chili powder, cumin, and garlic to taste
• 1 pound cremini (“baby bella”) mushrooms, rough chop
• 2 cups beef broth
• 10-12 ounces good quality beer

Brown the beef with the onions and mushrooms. (Add butter or oil if your meat is too lean.) Combine all ingredients in large stockpot and cook over low heat for at least 2 hours or until reduced to desired consistency. Serve over your favorite starch (we like rice or cornbread) and with your favorite toppings.

When I’m not craving fresh vegetables (as is my habit during the summer), I’m lured to the comfort of my favorite classics. Crème brûlée whips up easier than one would think, and this one has a special surprise – a layer of molten chocolate under the crispy sugar crust and smooth custard.  It’s not as fast or as easy as microwave comfort cake, but it’s well worth the extra effort.

Vanilla Crème Brûlée with Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp simple syrup
• 1/2 cup grated bittersweet chocolate
• 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
• 11 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Melt the chocolate in a small glass bowl, either over a double boiler or in the microwave. Whisk in simple syrup and pour into the bottom of 6 ramekins. Chill. Preheat oven to 300° F.

Place the cream and half and half into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the scrapings and shell of the vanilla bean. Set heat to medium and slowly bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and 5 tablespoons sugar. Remove vanilla pod from cream and slowly whisk into the eggs, a spoonful at a time until the eggs have come to temperature. Set cream and egg mixture inside a larger bowl that is half-full with ice water and continue to whisk until mixture has cooled.

Pour custard into prepared ramekins.  Lay a cotton towel in a large roasting pan and arrange ramekins in pan so that sides are not touching.  Set pan onto oven rack and carefully pour water around ramekins so that the final water level reaches halfway up the side.  Gently slide pan into oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until just set.  Remove from water bath and chill 3 hours or overnight.

To serve, sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar on top of each custard and caramelize with a kitchen torch.

Makes six custards.

I have a few new recipes lined up to try, but in case you are in the mood for a sugar-riffic weekend, here are some old standbys and new favorites from the Catch the Spoon archives to get you started:

• Magical Mint Cookies
• Nutmeg Sugar Cookies
• Date Squares
• Bacon Cookies

Happy belated holidays to one and all! After the semester ended, Mer and I got to work on our holiday baking. We split our projects between family traditions and our own take on other bloggers’ recipes. Our other projects included Mer’s Date Squares, our version of the Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies from Never Bashful with Butter, and our version of the Ginger-Cinnamon Caramels posted at The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy.

Concluding our Holiday Baking Recap are my Magical Mint Cookies. This recipe holds a special place in my heart and stomach, as it is the first recipe I ever remember “creating”. I tweaked a basic cookie recipe to use ingredients that I had on hand, and served the results to the girls that my mom worked with. The cookies looked disgusting – flat, wrinkled, and brown – but damn, they tasted good. While they haven’t gotten any prettier over the years, my Magical Mint Cookies have become a holiday tradition.

As a special bonus, these cookies freeze extraordinarily well. I like to keep a batch in my freezer all year, and I toss one or two into the microwave for 30-45 seconds to warm them up and make them gooey when I’m in the mood for a treat. they also make great ice cream sandwiches!

Magical Mint Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 10 oz. mint chocolate chips or chopped mint chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Slowly beat in eggs and vanilla. Beating with a wooden spoon or with mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients one cup at a time until just combined. Stir in chips.

Using a small small disher, drop dough onto greased or non-stick cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-9 minutes, but do not overbake – cookies will be very soft. Cool on pans until cookies have firmed and can be transferred to wax paper without the edges collapsing. Cool completely before storing.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Happy belated holidays to one and all! After the semester ended, Mer and I got to work on our holiday baking. We split our projects between family traditions and our own take on other bloggers’ recipes. Stay tuned for my Magical Mint Cookies, Mer’s Date Squares, and our version of the Ginger-Cinnamon Caramels posted at The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy.

Today’s recap is our version of Muffin’s bacon chocolate chip cookies with maple glaze, posted in the first week of December at Never Bashful with Butter. We tweaked the basic cookie recipe a bit, changed the nuts, and used a completely different glaze. The result was a delightful surprise: not only were they delicious, but they didn’t just taste like bacon cookies. They stood well on their own as a dessert, and made for a fabulous conversation piece at the holiday gatherings we attended.

Bacon Cookies with Maple Glaze

Ingredients for cookies:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 2 cups bacon bits

Ingredients for glaze:

• 4 tsp butter
• 4 tsp real maple syrup
• 1 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Stir in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Stir in chips, nuts, and bacon. Using a small small disher, drop dough onto greased or non-stick cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool on wax paper laid over newspaper or kitchen towels.

While cookies cool, combine butter and maple syrup in a small heavy-bottomed sauce pan and whisk until butter has melted and liquids are well-combined. Whisk in confectioner’s sugar. Drizzle warm glaze over cooled cookies. Allow glaze to set completely before packaging.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

So, what yummy goodies did you create this holiday season? Tell us all about it in the comments.