Cookie Dough Topped Brownies

These are pure indulgence! Thanks to http://www.melskitchencafe.com/ for this amazing recipe!

Cookie Dough Topped Brownies
Brownie Layer:
1 12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup (2 cubes) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and remove from heat when chips are fully melted. In the same pot, blend in the sugar. Then add eggs, blending fully one at a time. Add flour and salt and beat until air bubbles form in the batter. Pour into a greased 9 X 13-inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 325 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes. Cool completely and then top with the cookie dough layer.

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown Sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
In a small bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls over cooled brownies; carefully spread over top (this can be tricky but I found the best way is to slightly wet my hands and pat the dough down gently so it doesn't pull up the brownies). Cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Cream Soda - Toffee Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. molasses
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda (not diet)
3/4 cup toffee pieces
1 recipe Brown Butter Frosting

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 2 1/2 inch muffin cups with paper baking cups; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/4 tsp. salt; set aside.
- In large mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add sugars; beat until well combined. Beat in eggs, one at at time, on low until combined. Beat in molasses and vanilla.
- Alternately add flour mixture, buttermilk, and cream soda to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until combined. Stir in 1/2 cup of the toffee bits. Fill cups 3/4 full. Bake about 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool on racks for 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool. Frost; top with remaining toffee bits. MAKES 18 (but recipe doubles well)

Brown Butter Frosting:

For brown butter, in saucepan heat 1/4 cup butter over medium-low heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes; cool. In bowl beat 1/4 cup softened butter with mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Add cooled brown butter; beat until combined. Add 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, and dash salt. Beat in 1 to 2 Tbsp buttermilk until spreadable. Use immediately. If frosting begins to set up, stir in a small amount of boiling water.

I made these for a Relief Society Birthday Party thing this week, mainly choosing the recipe based on the fact that I don't like toffee very much, and therefore, wouldn't be tempted to eat them. Wrong! They are FANTASTIC! I'm sure they are awful for you, but I think once in while we all deserve a little treat. :)

Black and White Chocolate Bark

This is going to be a quick one because I'm afraid we haven't tried much that was new in the past 2 weeks--busy with the holidays.

Black and White Chocolate Bark

2 C white chocolate, chopped
1 C dark chocolate, chopped
3/4-1 cup of any kind of nut or dried fruit you'd like to top it with, I used slivered almonds

--Lay out a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet (or silpat).
--In a medium-sized microwave safe bowl, melt the white chocolate (heating in 30-60 second intervals and stirring frequently until smooth. Do NOT heat until it has melted in the microwave--either it will be too hot or burned). In a small-sized microwave safe bowl, melt the dark chocolate (same method as white chocolate).
--Pour the white chocolate onto the prepared parchment paper and spread out slightly. Drizzle the dark chocolate over the top and gently smooth the chocolate into an even layer. Chocolate will probably be somewhere around 8x8 inches.
--Sprinkle nuts and/or dried fruits on top of chocolate and place baking sheet in the refrigerator until chocolate is set.
--Break up into pieces before serving.

---My note: This was super easy to make and looks really pretty. I kind of swirled the white chocolate up into the dark chocolate, which made for a prettier look, rather than just one layer of chocolate on top of another. The almonds tasted really good with this, but the person whose recipe I used liked dried cranberries and pistachios, so go with whatever you like. Also, make sure you use good quality chocolate, stuff that tastes good. If you're going for chocolate chips, which I admit, in the quest for something really easy, I did, I would recommend Guittard chips--they taste good, and their white chips are pretty tasty, too. Make sure the white chocolate contains cocoa butter in it. Wrapped up in some pretty paper and ribbon, this also makes a tasty treat to give away.

Easy Sugar Cookies

OK guys, here it is. And sorry, no picture. This recipe is inspired by one of my favorite food blogs called Baking Bites. It was originally the Vampire Cookie recipe, but we just used it as a sugar cookie recipe. It's super easy, and even the dough tastes good. I think it's probably too sweet for frosting, but sprinkling some colored sugar or sprinkles on top is fun.

Easy Sugar Cookies

3/4 C butter, softened

1/2 C sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp almond extract

1 1/2 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

Colored sugar or sprinkles, optional

-In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and extracts. Add flour and salt to the bowl and mix them into the butter-sugar mixture at low speed until dough is just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

-Divide dough in half and keep the portion you are not using in the refrigerator.

-Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes. Dust with sugar or sprinkles, if using, and lightly press into cookies.

-Place cookies on baking sheet, bake for about 10 minutes, until cookies are set.

-Cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

-My note: Not really sure exactly how much this is supposed to make. Maybe about 15-20 cookies. But the scraps re-roll easily to make more, and the cookies come out a little firm, but not hard and crunchy, which to me is what a cookie should be. And like I said, really easy to make.

Brown Sugar Brownies

This brownie recipe is one that has taunted me for about a year now. I kept wondering, what would the difference be between brown sugar and regular old sugar. Finally, I decided it was just time to try the recipe instead of letting it take up space, wondering if it would be good or not. That's the trouble, there are so many great recipes out there waiting to be tried, and for some reason or other I often find myself stuck in the mode of making the same old things over and over. So here's to a renewed commitment to try new things several times a month.

Brown Sugar Brownies

1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened
2 eggs
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 C flour
1 C coarsely chopped walnuts

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
-Grease an 8x8x2 pan.
-In large bowl beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at time. Beat in chocolate, then flour. Stir in nuts. Pour (scrape) into pan. Bake 25 minutes (I usually check to see if it's pulled away from the sides of the pan a bit and for the smell. Don't know why, but I can usually tell if something chocolate is done by the smell.) Cool in pan and cut into bars. Makes 24.

My note:

OK, so I followed the directions, but I think I've finally encountered my first recipe that needs to be adjusted for altitude. It came out of the oven with a nice size to it, but as it cooled it shrank and the brownies were about 1/2 inch tall. Maybe. So will I make these again? DEFINITELY! They taste amazing, more like a really good flourless chocolate cake than brownies. And the flavor is not too sweet, a nice dark chocolate flavor. I think they would taste great with chopped up hazelnuts, or maybe even almonds. But next time I'll try adjusting for altitude.

Oh, and my baking guru, Nick Malgieri, claims that if you want to double a recipe for an 8x8 pan, you can, just bake it in a 9x13 pan.

Chocolate Waffle Stompers

In celebration of starting to feel closer to being done with school, I am taking some time to get back into recipe posts. This recipe is one that I promised to give Adair, but forgot about, and am now just getting back to. Basically it's really great chocolate waffles, that are really almost like eating brownies in waffle form. And yes, the batter is pretty thick. I got this recipe from a class at Ace Hardware, and someone said that they've made them with some mint or peppermint flavor in the frosting and that it was very good that way, too. Or have them with peppermint ice cream. They're not too hard to make, either. The teacher of the class used a Belgian waffle maker, but regular works, too, just make sure you spray or butter the waffle maker so they don't stick. Another note on the batter, because it is thick, you have to drop some batter in each square of the waffle iron and kind of spread it a bit. I'm labeling this as a dessert, though I suppose if you wanted it could be a really intense breakfast. And so without further ado:

Chocolate Waffle Stompers

3 squares unsweetened chocolate (3 oz.)
1 Cup butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 Cups sugar
2 Cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 Cup nuts (such as pecans), optional

Melt chocolate and butter together. In a bowl beat eggs and sugar. Add flour, salt, vanilla, and nuts if using. Blend well. Pour chocolate mixture into egg mixture and blend together. Drop batter in each waffle square heated to medium (not entirely sure what that means, I don't really pay attention to that part of the directions, I say 'til the waffle iron is ready) and bake/cook 1-2 minutes. Make one to test it first, see how it works with your waffle iron. Frost while warm.

Frosting

1 square (1 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp butter
1/3 Cup milk
1/2 Cup sugar
1 1/2 to 2 Cups powdered sugar (to desired consistency)

Melt first 4 ingredients together. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Then drizzle or spread over waffles.

Red Cake

In honor of Derk's 40th birthday (yes, you read that correctly!) I am posting a recipe for red cake, which in other parts of the world is known as "Red Velvet Cake." When we were younger (MUCH younger!) for every birthday our mom would make us red cake. Our Grandma also would make this and it's a cherished family recipe. Derk has actually made it himself which is quite impressive! He says the frosting is more like a science experiment!

So, Happy Birthday, Derk and I hope everyone enjoys the recipe for Red Cake!

Cake

1 cube butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbsp cocoa

2 1-oz bottles red food coloring

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 1/2 tsp soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until combined. Make paste of cocoa and food coloring, add to creamed mixture. Put vinegar with soda, fold in with vanilla, buttermilk and cake flour. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Frosting

1 cup milk

5 Tbsp flour

2 cubes butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cook milk and flour together until thick. Cool. Beat 2 cubes butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Add cooled flour mixture. Continue beating until consistency of whipping cream.

York Brownies

I kept thinking, I'd better post a dessert because that's what I like to do best. And in thinking about which one to pick, I thought I'd stick with a really good but really easy one. These are really good brownies that have york peppermint patties in the middle and are REALLY good, and easy. Sorry, there's no picture to go with them. But you should still give 'em a try!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) of melted butter
3 cups sugar
1 T vanilla
5 eggs
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
24 mini peppermint patties

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease 9 x 13 pan

Stir melted butter, sugar, vanilla together. Add eggs. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Blend well. Reserve 2 cups of batter. Pour remainder in pan. Place patties evenly over batter. Cover with remaining batter and bake for 45 minutes-I usually give them a look at 40 minutes. And don't cut them until they are completely cooled, otherwise you'll get a gooey mess. Plus, they really do taste better when they've cooled down.

The trick here is not to overbake or they'll get a bit too crunchy. It's hard to describe how to know exactly, though you can kind of smell it. But, if they are underbaked that's OK, I've taken them out a little early and they were still good. Sometimes with chocolate, especially brownies, they taste a bit better a little underdone. You should be OK with 40-45 minutes.