Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’

Let’s stay fat!

Haha, just kidding. But that’s what this entry feels like, in opposition to so many health-conscious and weight-loss centered food blog entries right now. Yes yes, so many people resolve to lose weight this week, which is fantastic. Yet I’ve been doing that since last New Year’s and I’m doing great. So I know I can derail, regardless of a diet frenzy right now, and do just fine.

And oh me oh my, what better way to derail than by skipping the tracks and soaring straight into one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever tasted. I finally bought the Baked cookbook for myself this holiday and couldn’t put it down the rest of my break. Every recipe sounded tantalizing and although often being lengthy, not intimidating.

This was the recipe that grabbed me the most (next to the s’mores nut bars, which no doubt will be next) and as a final farewell, my sister and I made this glorious confection the day before I left Kansas City. It came together rather quickly (especially the frosting, which was such a breeze) and filled the kitchen with the most delicious, malty chocolate smell.

We all devoured the cake after a dinner of indulgent pizza, and everyone agreed it was one of the best chocolate cakes ever, but only very light on the root beer flavor. Yet the cake is so moist and tender and the frosting is beyond to-die-for. So I still highly recommend this cake, but if you really want the root beer to sing, adding a teaspoon of root beer extract or even a splash of root beer schnapps definitely wouldn’t hurt. (And come on, when does adding schnapps to anything hurt?)

Sugar sugar sugar.

Do not measure the foam.

Mmmm, dark chocolate. There is no bad here.

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Everyone’s feeling the pressure right now. Your to-do list is a mile long before you have to fly home or plan your holiday party or go to a handful of cookie exchanges. Presents need to be wrapped (or bought – eek), dinners need to be planned, and oh my God is Christmas really less than 2 weeks away? In short, you have no time, but the necessity or urge to have baked goods is still staring you in the face.

Well, fear not! These “turtles” are your savior in their speed, ease, and deliciousness.

I almost balk at calling this a “recipe” because it’s really not – you almost don’t cook anything (it could easily be done in the microwave even) yet it still impresses everyone come dessert time.  My mom gets these every year at her cookie exchange, and although I often giggle at their laziness in comparison to the other froufrou cookies they inevitably are the first thing gone from the tin. Because they’re amazing. Salty and sweet and chocolatey and just perfect. It’s like a chocolate-covered pretzel on crack and every bit as addictive as the analogy says.

Festive wrapping.

All laid out.

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Hooray hooray for autumn desserts! I know my previous apple dessert could be considered my autumnal dessert christening, but I’d much rather prefer this were it because it’s just so much tastier, but not that much more complicated! I got to act as office dessert dealer fairy once again this week and made these to celebrate my coworker Kara’s birthday.  She seems to have a sweet tooth to match mine, so I knew I wanted to do something ultra rich, decadent, and of course, chocolatey.  Since I’ll be making cupcakes for Halloween in a few weeks (ooh, preview!) I decided to go with this, because honestly: cheesecake + pumpkin + chocolate = how can you go wrong?

The original recipe calls for chocolate wafer cookies and for some reason my local grocer only carried these ridiculously overpriced froufrou ones ($5.69 for 9 ounces of cookies! are they insane?!) so I decided to go a more frugal route. Luckily I remember once reading a recipe on The Pioneer Woman Cooks which had you use chocolate Teddy Graham cookies to make the base of a chocolate crust. Already being a huge fan of them, I figured killing two birds with one stone (make the bars, satisfy my own sweet tooth) was the smartest route.

Plus it’s so fun to pulse up little animal-shaped cookies.

And now to go on the complete flipside of the previous no-fuss dessert post, we have these.  Ditching frozen puff pastry and sliced apples for tempered chocolate and homemade salted caramel, let’s just call the previous post a warm up for more ambitious dessert pursuits!

My coworker and friend Dave is a home beer-brewer with his friend Jon and together they make Layger Brewhaus and annually reveal their beers at an October beer-tasting party. Beer-to-food pairing being one of my favorite gastronomic delights, I asked if I could make something to bring and pair with one of the beers. Dave said yes and naturally I drifted towards the beer that sounded the best to me, the hazelnut amber. And since I love pairing chocolate with beer, I thought the idea of a salty-sweet truffle (kind of like playing off pretzels with beer) paired with a warm, rich beer would be awesome.

And it was.

Making these was a trial. The original recipe I tried to use was just terrible so I ended up using Ina Garten’s method for caramel and then combining the Bite-Sized Dessert recipe with another off of Epicurious. I won’t even detail how many times I had to make the caramel before I got it right (6! I wish I was kidding!) but once I got that out of the way, it really was a breeze and just time consuming more than anything.  Thankfully they were totally worth it because the inner texture is rich and thick like any good truffle, and the outer shell has that perfect semi-hard snap before biting in. Combined with the lightly salty caramel and the few topping grains which melt in your mouth as you devour the truffle, they really are a special treat to be savored. And shared!

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me.

Before you read any further, put your scale in the closet. Get out some elastic-waist pants.  And get ready to indulge.  Because my favorite indulgent treat is exactly that — indulgent.  And you can’t enjoy it if you’re thinking about the calories, fat, and amazingness contained within.

Back? Alright then!

Peanut butter is truly my biggest indulgence.  I allow myself a tablespoon a day to satiate my love of it, so naturally, my favorite treat has peanut butter. And chocolate.  Of course.

And when those two things come in cupcake form… well… does it get better?  My birthday is today but I made these Thursday evening to bring in Friday for work.  I know it sounds ridiculous and elementary school class-like to bring in treats on your own birthday, but luckily I share my birthday with my co-worker Dave, so it didn’t look too odd.  Not that anyone even noticed because, well, did I mention they’re chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting? And I even brought milk in for everyone to enjoy them with?  It’s the only way to do it.

So please excuse myself while I go celebrate my 24th year with more chocolate and peanut butter than I normally eat in a 3 month span.  Happy Birthday to me, indeed!