Chocolicious

Just when you think Minnesota is finally ready to say goodbye to winter, you get this..

I have my fingers crossed that Mother Nature is possibly pulling an early April Fool’s joke? It’s most likely not the case, but hey, a girl can hope right?

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Lately I’ve been cooking more than usual, so be ready for a flood of new recipes, videos, and product reviews.

How about starting today with 4 recipes? I taught yet another cooking class for my town’s Community Education program this past Friday.  The theme?

Chocolicious!

First, take a look at my other classes here:

• Dessert First (February 2011)
• Christmas Cookie Swap (December 2010)
• A Cup of Comfort (November 2010)

Chocolate Bread with Chocolate Butter

Ingredients:

• Butter, for pans
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• Chocolate Butter, recipe follows

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

• In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla at medium-low speed with an electric mixer until combined. Beat in the chocolate morsels and pecans. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Shield the bread with aluminum foil to prevent excess browning. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with rich Chocolate Butter, if desired.

Chocolate Butter:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons hot fudge topping

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• In a small bowl, beat the butter and fudge topping at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Cover, and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Chicken with Cocoa Tomato Sauce 

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, plus 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, for cooking
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 pint tomato sauce
• 1 pint diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Yellow or white rice, cooked and kept warm

Directions:

• Season both sides of chicken breasts with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. In a cast iron skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned, about 10 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from pan to a plate and set aside.

• Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, onion, and garlic to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, cocoa, oregano, basil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Stir until well blended. Return the chicken to pan, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn chicken over and continue cooking, covered for 15 minutes. Arrange the chicken on a serving platter and serve over rice.

Recipe adapted from Paula Deen

 

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

Ingredients:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts
• Chocolate and honey flavored graham crackers and fruit

Directions:

• In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese and butter.

• Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the confectioners' sugar, cocoa, brown sugar, and vanilla.

• Beat until well combined. Add the marshmallows and chocolate morsels. Stir to combine well. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

• Form the mixture into a ball, then roll it in walnuts.

• Arrange the cheese ball on a serving platter and serve with graham crackers and fruit.

Recipe adapted from Paula Deen

Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies

(aka better than crack brownies)

Ingredients:

• 1 batch brownies (boxed mix)

• 1/2 cup salted peanuts 1 cup chopped

• Reese’s peanut butter cups

• 1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

• 1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

• 1/2 tablespoon butter

• 1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

Directions:

• Mix brownies according to directions, and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Remove and top with peanuts and peanut butter cups, and bake for 4-6 minutes more.
• While they are finishing baking, melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Stir in cereal. Remove brownies from oven and evenly pour chocolate mixture over top.
• Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is

And here’s some more random shots from the night…

 

 

 

What is your favorite chocolate recipe?

Two Toned & Tasty

2012 was a crazy movie guys! Did anyone else see it? If not, you should rent it..it really gets you thinking as to what you would do on your last day alive. Say you love the ones close to you or the ones you haven’t said I love you to in a long time? Resolve meaningless conflicts? Make right things you’ve done wrong? Who knows, but whatever you’d do, try to do a few this holiday season since it is the most wonderful time of the year! (insert song here!)

So brownies are good and so are cookies, so what do you get when you combine the two? A double delicious dessert! I based this off of this recipe, but of course had to put a Christmas twist on it. Try these—they’re half box and half homemade.

Christmas Cookie-Topped Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 box Betty Crocker brownie mix, and ingredients called for on box
• 3/4 c Nestle swirled holiday chips
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbs water
• a pinch of cinnamon

Directions:

• Mix together the brownie and cookie ingredients separately. 
• Pour the brownie batter into the bottom of a parchment paper lined 9x13 inch pan. 
• Drop the cookie layer over the top of the brownie layer. 
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Do you have any combos for brownies that you make?

Sorry posting/commenting has been a little MIA—tis the season for busyness.

Sweet Summer Eats

  I swear, the Minnesota weather is just so shocking—it’s actually sunny and warm at the same time—this never happens! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are—I know the East Coast has been having some pretty drab weather, so hopefully this’ll blow your way! I have been enjoying the bounty of fresh summertime fruit, and now I am going to be sad when winter comes and the prices sky rocket once again! I’m still doing the last of the unpacking this weekend, but next week I hope to be up and baking in my kitchen! I have some awesome recipes that use fresh fruit for you guys, so thanks for hanging in there!

Recently Brandi from Bran Appetit featured some Healthy Brownies made from scratch that look great! Unfortunately I haven’t fully stocked my pantry yet, so I had to turn to a boxed mix to get my brownie fix. Of course I didn’t go straight for one filled with icky addictives, etc. I tried out the No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix which I had been eyeing up for quite some time now. I wasn’t sure how they’d turn out seeming how they are fat free, and brownies without fat do not always taste like a real brownie. A little about these:

No Pudge! FAT FREE Original Fudge Brownie Mix first appeared on the shelves of a few New Hampshire stores in August of 1995. Since then we have grown to the point where we have distribution in thousands of grocery and natural food stores across the country. We continue to work hard to expand that distribution so that one of these days, our mixes will be available to everyone right in their local store. Until then, our mail order business makes sure that anyone who wants No Pudge! can get it.

If your not a plain fudge-flavored fan, you can get their cappuccino flavored, raspberry fudge, or mint. All you do is add yogurt and a little vanilla extract if you choose and your on your way to a heavenly plate of brownies! You bake em’ in a 8 x 8 pan, and for 1/12th of the package—only 120 calories and no fat!

 

 

My thoughts: These were beyond good! I had heard previous raves about these, but didn’t know if they could be really all that good tasting. The texture, taste, even down to the heavenly aroma that filled my kitchen. It brought me back to the days when mom would have Betty Crocker brownies waiting for me when I’d get home from school. But, now a healthier alternative—it really couldn’t get any better! =) So please, if you see these anytime, anywhere, get a box stat!

Of course you need something to wash these thick and chewy brownies down with—how about trying this?

I recently decided to give MetroMint’s CherryMint water a try. They were on sale, so I figured now or never! Plus I have recently been on a extreme cherry kick! But minty water? I wasn’t so sure. Good thing I like to take risks occasionally—it was like nothing I have ever tasted. It’s actually one of those things where you should just try it, because me trying to describe it may be kind of loopy. It’s like a stick of minty gum that leaves your mouth feeling refreshed, yet there is a surprisingly strong hint of cherry flavoring that follows. Not artificial tasting at all! And the ingredients list is sure dandy too: purified water, mint, cherry essence. A great no-cal refresher for the hot summer days!

And if those brownies didn’t seem to quiet your chocolate craving, or maybe you can’t find em’ in the first place(although you can order online)—you can always count on some kind of snack bar to be at your beck and call. Recently I received a box of Lemur Peanut Choco Drizzle Crispy Rice Bars to try from the lovely folks at Nature's Path. Immediately I noticed the slew of good for you things about it—Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Whole Grain, Wheat Free, No Trans Fat, and only 8 g of sugar!

My chew review: This tasted like a clone of a Rice Krispy Bar with peanut butter and chocolate to add an extra yum factor! Good thing I got a whole bunch of these, because they truly are super—just be careful you don’t leave em’ in your hot car like I did—they melt! Oops! And isn’t that little lemur just the cutest?

What’s your new or old favorite summer sweet treat?

[[Healthy]] Brownie Bowl!

There's nothing better than sitting in class & blogging! Lets just say it makes the time go by way faster! The class which is Tech.Foundation is actually fun because it involves design work on and off the computer. But no matter how fun the class, 2 hours can make me antsy. Anyhooo..today I opened my fridge and noticed I still had a VitaBrownie stuffed in my freezer[[Definitely need to get home to stock up]] A brownie seemed like something I could use to concoct another yummy bowl to share w/everyone! So then the birth of my new "Brownie Bowl" took place. My inspiration was the Brownie Batter Blizzard at DQ that looks ever-so-tempting, but oh-so-unhealthy. So I based it with one container of vanilla Dannon Light&Fit yogurt like the last bowl instead on vanilla ice cream in the DQ creation. I then added 1/4 C pumpkin(I always do just for the vitamins, but you could sub some PB for all ya PB lovers out there, or just add more vanilla yogurt) Then I poured in about 2 TBS(?) of Walden Farms Maple Syrup to add some more volume. Next came the VitaBrownie all crumbled up to equal pure goodness, and last but not least, I knew I had to add in some Annie's Cinnamon Bunny Grahams(a handful) for more crunch factor. All together now-->Ok, so it's a little(or a lot)different than the DQ Blizzard, but it's totally on the same track and would be good for a snack,dessert,light lunch or whatever your fancy is. I think trying to recreate restaurant favs that are unhealthy to healthy dishes that you can tweak to your liking is soo fun.

What are your fav restaurant re-creations?!