Carmelitas

If you're new here what I say next may change the way you look at me....I don't like chocolate.  Not when I'm emotionally distraught and not even when it's "that" time.  Chocolate just doesn't do it for me. Before blogging I thought I didn't like caramel either. In the years that I've been blogging I have learned a few things about myself.  I don't like milk chocolate, a piece of good dark chocolate isn't so bad, and that Smucker's caramel is NOT the same thing as homemade caramel! Who knew?! Well I know now and let me just tell you I love me some homemade caramel. 

I've drooled over photos of carmelitas for years but never made them because the recipes all called for caramel squares.  I still wouldn't have made them if I had not found a bag of caramels in the pantry this weekend.  Luckily I did as these bars are insanely good.  Not just good, insanely good and the only thing I would change, and remember this is coming from me, a non chocolate lover, is to cut back on the chocolate chips.  Other than that these are pure caramel perfection. Don't be like me and wait to find an expired bag of caramels.  Buy a bag and make them now! 

Carmelitas,Lulu the Baker

32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda (I added)

1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, sea salt and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

*A stint in the fridge will help them cool off if you're pinched for time. They shouldn't be served cold, but all of that molten caramel takes a long time to cool down. They should be stored and served at room temperature.

**If you want to use homemade or store-bought caramel sauce in place of the caramel/cream mixture, use 1 1/4 cups of sauce. (I'm gonna give homemade a try & will update the recipe.)
***To make a 9x13" version, simply double the amounts. 

Flourless Chocolate Cake With Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Did you do a quick double check to see if you were on the right blog? lol Yes, you read that correctly.  Chocolate, here on 3B’s.  :)  It doesn’t happen often but it does happen.  See here and here.   I know that for some of you it doesn’t happen often enough.  And that is why you are now seeing a flourless chocolate cake. (Naomi, I made this cake before I saw your/my tart.  Had I seen it first I would have been ALL over it!)  I’m trying to keep my chocolate lovin’ peps happy. For those of you that are  raisin lovers don’t hold your breath for them as it ain’t happenin’!  Sorry.  :)

So about this cake.  I’d like to say that it changed my opinion on chocolate but it didn’t.  That’s not to say you chocolate lovers wouldn’t go crazy for it;  just that it didn’t have me or the kids rethinking our position of chocolate.   (94% of the 259 reviewers would make it again)Because we found the cake super rich and chocolatey we topped it with whipped cream and Faith’s delicious spiced (and tart) cranberry jam.  Once we did, the cake slices were quickly eaten with no complaints of it being too chocolatey.

The flourless chocolate cake recipe is from Epicurious and the spiced cranberry jam/sauce is from An Edible Mosaic.  If you haven’t been to Faith’s blog yet you need to stop and click here.  She has a wonderful variety of recipes and lovely photos to go along with them.

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Here’s Babygirl in her Halloween costume.  She was a Hogwarts's student.

Everyone meet Jeter the newest member of our family. We’ve had him for almost a month and needless to say Babygirl is beyond thrilled!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream & Brownie Sundae

Hi, everybody! I'm Michelle from One Ordinary Day and I'm excited to be Ingrid's guest blogger today. She's off enjoying her vacation, and while she's away it seems like the perfect time to make something dark and chocolaty. Are you with me?

There's a lot of pressure when you're writing for someone else's blog... I don't want to spell any words wrong. I want to share a great recipe with you. I want to make my friend happy. And I really want to make a good impression. With those things swirling around in my head, I just couldn't quite make up my mind about what to bake. My indecision turned out to be a good thing, because instead of posting only one recipe, I'm sharing two! It's a two-for-one! Come to think of it, if I give you the recipe for my chocolate sauce then you're really getting three recipes. Woop!

Let's start out with the brownies. You can definitely use a boxed mix, but if you have the time to make Ultimate Brownies, you won't be disappointed. The name says it all. They are seriously good and pair perfectly with this ice cream. Come to think of it, they pair perfectly with anything and everything. But since you can find that recipe on my blog, let's move on and meet the real star here. Chocolate-peanut butter ice cream. Hello, new best friend.

I love peanut butter. My kids and I could possibly starve if peanut butter was taken from us. I swear, at least one person eats a peanut butter sandwich in our house every single day. And chocolate? I can't even describe my baby girl's love of the stuff or how smitten Sam and I are with anything dark and fudgy. Jim's got a sweet tooth too, and he would surely never turn down dessert. So it comes as no surprise that this sundae was a hit with all of us.

This chocolate-peanut butter ice cream recipe comes straight from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. The man knows his ice cream. His recipes never disappoint, and this one has the added perk of requiring no eggs and very little prep time. And, people, I can't even put into words how delicious this ice cream is. Is it appropriate to use the word "luscious" when you're describing ice cream? Yes? Good, because this is absolutely luscious!

Don't let summer pass by without building a big, beautiful sundae with all the trimmings. It's the perfect way to end a sunny day.
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Recipe: Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream
The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 c. half and half
1/4 c. unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 c. granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 c. smooth peanut butter

Whisk together the half and half, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil. (It will start to foam up.) Remove from heat and whisk in the peanut butter, stirring until thoroughly blended.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions. (I find that chilling the ice cream mixture in an ice bath is the fastest way to get to eat my ice cream. I fill a big bowl with ice and water, then set my saucepan inside. You can also just use the fridge, but when I'm craving ice cream, I want to use the fastest method I can!)

Makes 1 quart.

Recipe: Homemade Chocolate Syrup

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. water
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Whisk cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a pot until combined. Add water and whisk or stir until well blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove syrup from heat and allow to cool. When cooled completely, stir in vanilla extract until well combined. Pour syrup into an airtight container and refrigerate.

Makes approx. 1 3/4 c. of syrup and will keep nicely in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

S’mores Snack Cake

 

Seriously good and relatively easy.  For those of you that may not know, besides loving all things cinnamon, blondie, and banana loaded I’m also very fond of s’more-ish treats.  (I’m pretty sure its the warm melty roasted ‘mallows that gets me.) 

A while back Debbie from Mocha Me blogged about a s’mores snack cake  baked. She said while she enjoyed the cake it didn’t quite hit that s’mores note.  After thoughts of it lingered, I finally decided on how to get  that “s’mores” flavor I love.  I think I nailed it with my adaption.  Or at least that’s how I took the almost empty pan.  I did manage to snag this piece to photograph.

Click here for the original recipe as seen on Mocha Me or here for a printable version of mine. Note, for decorative purposes I stuck a graham cracker in the center and drizzled more chocolate on top.  Babygirl ate this piece and said it was better than her first one. 

Miss Karolyn’s Cake

If you read my last post, you’ll probably recognize the name Miss Karolyn.  She took all the photos in my last post and the ones here and here. 

Karolyn is my children’s sitter and has been taking care of them after school and during the summer’s for the past five years.  We are very fortunate to have her as the children’s caretaker and also as a family friend. What I didn’t mention is that Karolyn is our resident chocolate lover.  Being that we’re not fond of chocolate she’s stuck eating bread pudding and bars.  :)  This past Tuesday was her birthday and for her birthday I made her this glorious chocolate hazelnut cake I found on Bake or Break.

The cake turned out splendidly considering I only made one slight boo-boo……I forgot to fold in the 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate!  Luckily it already had 14 ounces of nutella so it was still chocolate-y.  While Karolyn loved the cake, I tasted a slice and thought it would have benefited from the chocolate that I forgot to add in. It was chocolate-y but not that rich, decadent over the top chocolate taste you expect to get with a cake that has no flour in it other than 1/2 cup of ground hazelnuts. 

Click here for a printable recipe and my notes on toasting, peeling, and grinding hazelnuts.

Black Forest Cupcakes

Monica and I are at it again and have baked up another “cupcake” from Martha Stewart’s Cupcake cookbook.  Our first cupcake though in Martha’s cookbook was one we found off on Bake or Break and baked together.  For Monica’s birthday I sent her Martha’s cupcake cookbook and hinted that perhaps we could bake some of the cupcakes from it together.  These black forest cupcakes are our first official ones and my choice.

I’d like to tell you that I loved these cupcakes but the truth is they’re chocolate and as you know I’m not a fan.  With that said though Miss Karolyn, our “resident” chocolate lover loved them and thought they were perfect!  Truthfully except for the chocolate the cupcake itself  was perfect.  It was moist and not too dense. Tender but not crumbly.  They stayed fresh for a few days. I baked them on Friday night and I just put together another one for us to share. The cupcake tasted just like it did the first night.  While the cupcake part was stellar the pastry cream was so-so and the ganache was well, ganache, only as good as the chocolate you use. The one thing I did like about the ganache was the addition of corn syrup which kept it from hardening.

Some of you who know me may be wondering why in the world I chose these cupcakes (I wondered that myself a few times) but cherry filled desserts are making the rounds with cherry and chocolate seeming  to be the favorite.  I’d never tried the two together and thought to give it a try.  I also wanted to try making pastry cream.  With this cupcake I’d get to kill two birds with one stone so to speak.  Funny enough but neither one of those things stood out in this recipe.

I only made a third of the cupcake batter and baked mine in a bigger version of this mini cheesecake pan. Monica graciously cut the recipes into thirds for us so we wouldn’t have 30 cupcakes hanging around.  I made six king size ones.  If any of you are interested in the 1/2 and 1/3 recipes of ganache and pastry cream I’d be happy to forward them to you.

Okay, if you haven’t already go check out Monica’s Black Forest Cupcakes as her photos are sure to be even better than mine.

Technorati Tags: cherries,chocolate,cupcakes,ganache,pastry cream

Easy Oreo Cake

I saw this easy Oreo Cake a couple of months ago on Dine and Dish and immediately thought of my Dad, Larry.  I baked and served it to him the Friday my parents came into town for Father’s Day from NC.  My Dad loved it all but the rest of us had varying opinions.  I personally loved the filling and thought the ganache went well with the cake.  The cake itself while extremely moist and tender was chocolate and as most of you know I’m not a fan nor are my children.  My Mom on the other hand said the cake and filling were great but didn’t care for the ganache which she thought was not sweet enough.

Now I have  to tell you a funny story.  The following day on the request of my mom I took the left over cake to my aunt’s house where a bunch of us were meeting for an impromptu luncheon.  On the way there I had to pick up  the Twins from my brother’s house. Well, when Devon hopped into the car and saw the left over cake he was appalled.  He right away asked me, “Mom, what are you thinking?!  You can’t bring a half eaten cake to a “party”!”  I explained that it was okay but he still thought it odd. He’s a funny kid.

Let me tell you, that half eaten cake was quickly gobbled down and the only negative comment said was that there wasn’t enough for (everyone to have) seconds. My Aunt Toni whose house I was visiting doesn’t generally like sweets and she requested a second slice so she could save it for later! 

Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake

*This is the recipe as found on Dine and Dish but I’ll be honest, the ingredient list doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  You see in step #1 it says to “Prepare and bake cake mix in two (9-inch) round cake pans as directed on package”.   I read the backs of both Betty Crocker’s and Duncan Hines’ mixes and the amount of eggs, oil, and water called for on the packages are not the same as the amounts listed in the recipe. Or is it just me that doesn’t get it? If it is me you’re gonna have to break it down for me ‘cause I’ve read and re-read this several times.  My alterations are noted in (red).

1½ hours | 20 min prep

SERVES 16

• 1 (18 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
• 1/4 cup oil (1/2 C. which was the amt the box called for)
• 2 eggs (3 eggs which was the amt the box called for)
• (1/3 C. of water, the recipe did not call for any water but the box did)
• (1 C. of buttermilk, the box actually called for 1 1/3 C. of water but I substituted the buttermilk for part of it)
• 4 Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate baking squares
• 1/4 cup butter, cut up
• 1 (8 ounce) package Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups thawed Cool Whip
• 12 Oreo cookies, coarsely crushed

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F Prepare and bake cake mix in two (9-inch) round cake pans as directed on package. Cool in pans 5 minute Invert onto wire racks; remove pans. Cool layers completely.
2. PLACE chocolate and butter in small microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2 minute or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool 5 minute
3. BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add the whipped topping and cookie crumbs; mix lightly. Place 1 of the cake layers, top-side down, on serving plate; spread with the cream cheese mixture. Cover with the remaining cake layer, top-side up. Spoon glaze over top of cake. Let stand until set. Store in refrigerator.

Technorati Tags: cake,chocolate,cool whip,cream cheese,ganache,oreos

S'mores Bread Pudding

When you have bread going stale what do you make?  Why bread  pudding of course!  And if you're me S'mores bread pudding to be exact! :)

I remembered drooling over Peabody's photos of her S'mores Bread Pudding awhile back and new this was the perfect opportunity to give it a go. 

 

I checked out the recipe since it had been a while and I couldn't  find the printout in the stack of ten thousand sheets I have lying in a mountainous pile.What I found after checking the recipe was that she used a Hot Chocolate bread.  Well, I wasn't making one and the whole point of the bread pudding was to use up my leftover baguette.  Not to be deterred I decided to adapt the recipe to suit my purpose and taste.  I think I did pretty good though I'm sure had I followed her recipe I would have also been happy. 

S’mores Bread Pudding (my adaptations in red)

1 Guatemalan Hot Chocolate Bread (recipe follows)- cut up into square pieces (I used 1 loaf of french bread.)

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
½ cup whole milk  (I used 2%)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

10 graham crackers
¾ cup mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet Guittard chocolate chips)
2 cups marshmallows (give or take, the amount is really up to you, I used minis)

Butter a 8-x-8-inch pan.  (1 souffle dish)
Whisk together the heavy whipping cream, milk, sugar, egg yolks, egg and vanilla extract. Set aside, this is the custard mixture.  (I cut up my baguette and added it to the custard mixture.   I left the bread soaking in the custard and stirred it occasionally until most of the custard was soaked up by the bread.)
Sprinkle bread pieces on the bottom of the pan so that the pan is covered. (I layered the custard soaked bread, graham crackers, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips in the souffle dish.  One layer of bread pudding, one layer of graham cracker, liberally sprinkled with mini marshmallows,chocolate chips, and another layer of bread pudding followed by the graham crackers.)  Break graham crackers in to pieces (I keep mine in whole pieces. Just breaking off pieces to fit my dish.) and sprinkle evenly half of them on top of the bread. Sprinkle evenly half of the chocolate chips as well. Add 1/3 of the custard mixture and press bread down so that the custard soaks in. You may need more custard depending on how dry your bread is. Then add bread pieces again, followed by remaining graham crackers and chocolate chips. Add another 1/3 of the custard mixture and again press the bread down to make sure all the bread pieces get soaked with custard. Keep adding the custard until all of the piece are soak through with custard. You will most likely have both bread pieces and custard left over (I didn't have any of either leftover), feel free to make a mini one.
Place dish in a water bath and bake at 350F for 1 hour. After the first 20 minutes, place aluminum foil on top of the bread pudding to prevent the graham cracker pieces and top of the bread from browning too much.
When the bread pudding comes out of the oven, immediately (I added more chocolate chips and then the marshmallows) spread marshmallows on top to allow them to melt. You can use a kitchen torch (Joe used our kitchen torch) or place under a broiler to get the toasted marshmallow look. Top with chocolate syrup (The kids and I don't do a lot of chocolate so we left off the syrup.) and serve warm (or hot or cold for me).

The sitter, Miss Karolyn and the twins really liked the it.  Babygirl was too slow so she missed out.  Devon, my unofficial taste tester said it was good but that the Bananas Foster one was better.  (I think it was the Bananas Foster sauce that put it over the edge!) I admit to liking this better after it cooled substantially. When I first tasted it still warm (hot) from the oven I didn't like how "wet" the bread still was  (I DO NOT like mushy, soggy  textures! EW!) but after it cooled to room temperature it was perfect, moist with a yummy custardy flavor but not soggy.

I broke out my new kitchen torch and (finally) used it or rather Joe did to toast the marshmallows.  I was a little timid and kept worrying we'd burn the house down or at least each other.  He did a good job.  Did ya see all those lovely toasted marshmallows?

**Please let me know if I missed something in the recipe or if I didn't explain myself well.

Don't forget to answer my question with your opinion and enter my giveaway!

Technorati Tags: giveaway,s'mores,marshmallows,chocolate,graham crackers,bread pudding

S'mores Brownies two ways

I'm sure it's not a shock to read that I love s'mores (desserts).  Here's the crazy thing, I've never had an actual s'mores. You know,  everyone's fave campfire treat, the kind with the marshmallows roasted over an open fire. I've made toaster oven s'mores and many other s'mores like desserts but never the real deal.

These first S'mores Brownies were pretty good and were made using a boxed brownie mix. Unfortunately I overcooked the brownies and thus the graham cracker crust a bit.  The brownies sit atop a  graham cracker crust and  its crowning glory is a yummy layer of oven melted marshmallows.  Sandwiched between the two (should have been) a gooey fudgy brownie. Sounds good right? So you know I was bummed when I sampled one and found my brownies were not gooey or fudgy. 

I made these for Devon, one of the twins to take to school along with a pan of white chocolate blondies but because they didn't turn out as well as I wanted I didn't send them. Against my better judgement Devon convinced me to send in two for his teacher to try.  (He came back with the message....she liked them!) I didn't follow a recipe just an idea of what I wanted.  

The second S'mores Brownies I made were inspired by the ones I saw on the blog, Joy the Baker.  Being that the Twins had baseball practice and it was moved indoors I figured I would take the brownies to practice but after taking them out of the oven I realized that they would be a bit messing to cut and serve.  I took the recipe's concept of adding marshmallows and graham cracker pieces into the batter to make it "smores" and instead of making homemade brownies I used a box mix.  (Original recipe provided below) I did add a bit more marshmallows and graham cracker pieces which lead to their being a tad difficult to cut.  While I liked these, especially warmed up and topped with vanilla ice cream, I wasn't crazy about them.   I've come to realize while the concept of a s'mores brownies is a good one it doesn't translate well.  In both of these the brownie was the dominant taste. Don't get me wrong some (brownie lovers) might enjoy both of these  but for me s'mores are more about the gooey marshmallows and graham crackers than the chocolate.  If you want something that is reminiscent of those yummy campfire treats give these a S'mores Bars or even these.

S’mores Brownies

     adapted from Bon Appetit, October 1991

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands
• 12 big marshmallows  (I also diced 6 additional marshmallows and stirred them into the batter. These marshmallows dissolve when baked, so you can leave them out, or throw them in.  Up to you!)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9×13-inch baking pan with 2-inch-high sides. Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl. Stir butter and chocolate in a medium sized bowl over a  heavy  saucepan of simmering water.  Stir chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers.  Pour batter into prepared pan. Dot with 12 large marshmallows.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30- 40 minutes minutes.

Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool.  Cool for at least 20 minutes than slice with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky.  Serve or wrap individually in wax paper for storing.

Answer this question to enter this giveaway.

Technorati Tags: s'mores,bars,brownies,marshmallows,graham crackers,chocolate

Thank you(s) are in order

Unbelievably in March I won THREE different giveaway!  I probably should have played the lotto. 

The first giveaway I won was Grace's Barney Butter.  Unlike many I'm not a fan of peanut butter and will shy away from it unless paired with chocolate, so I was super psyched to be selected as one of the Barney Butter winners on  A Southern Grace. 

Barney Butter is an almond butter.  It is healthy and yummy alternative to peanut butter.  To read more about the health benefits of it click here. 

 

As soon as my jar of Barney Butter arrived I quickly grabbed a spoon, broke the seal, and dug into the jar of crunchy almond butter.  I admit to preferring almond butter over peanut butter when straight from the jar but I'm still unconvinced that I like it with chocolate over peanut butter. 

The following night Babygirl and I slathered some of the almond butter on to graham crackers and topped it all off with a dollop of marshmallow fluff!   Oh, man, talk about good! We wolfed those down as we played cards.  The other dessert I made was one I saw on Sydney's blog, The Crepes of Wrath.  I made some changes to the recipe and have noted them in red.  The bars were made for Babygirl's art teacher's birthday. She said her art teacher shared them with everyone and that there were no complaints.  :-)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
from Velvet Lava

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (1/2 cup, 1 stick)
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (1/2 cup almond butter)
3 cups powdered sugar (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used 18whole graham crackers to make the crumbs)  (9whole graham cracker sheets)
1 2/3 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (1 cup semi-sweet)

1. Line and grease a 9×13 (7"x11") inch pan with aluminum foil. In a food processor, grind up your graham crackers (unless you have store-bought crumbs).
2. Add the butter, peanut butter, and sugar to your crumbs and process until a ball forms (you can also beat everything together in your mixer if your processor/blender/whatever can’t do it).
3. Press the mixture into the pan. I found that using my hands worked best.
4. Over a double-boiler, or carefully in the microwave or in a small sauce pan over the stove, melt the chocolate chips, stirring often to prevent burning. Spread the melted chocolate over peanut butter mixture.
5. Chill in refrigerator for about an hour. (When I pulled my bars out of the fridge the chocolate looked like it had bloomed and had dots when it came to room temp. You can see them in the photos.) Allow to come to room temperature before cutting into squares. Store in the refrigerator, or better yet, the freezer! Makes 20-24 bars.(I cut mine smallish so I got about that many.)

I would make them again but I'm not certain I'd use the almond butter.  I think I'd like to try them with peanut butter.

The second giveaway I won was over at  Bunny's Warm Oven.  The  name that was selected would win a $20 Macys gift card which happened to be me!  I haven't used it yet. I'm saving it for something special!

The last  giveaway I won was on A Duck in Her Pond. Though it was totally awesome that I won the other two giveaways this one was special.  I won a short story/book written especially for me by Duckie!  She has been working on it and sent me a rough draft the other day.  I'm so excited and can not wait to see and read the finished book. 

Thanks, Grace, Bunny, and Duckie for the chance to win such cool prizes!  For a chance to win a couple of (I hope) cool prizes please click here and leave me your opinion! 

Technorati Tags: almond butter,Barney Butter,bars,peanut butter,chocolate,giveaway

Not more cake.....

Yes, more cake but this is the last one for a few posts.  I actually made this cake before I made the Double Layer Chocolate Cake and the Red Velvet one.  Monica at Lick the Bowl Good called it Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Coca-Cola Cake.  That's a mouthful. I made this for the Twins' baseball coach's birthday and just called it Old Fashion Coca-Cola Cake. 

I have to tell you I much prefer this "chocolate" cake over the double layer one.  I don't think this is a true "chocolate" cake.  It's more along the lines of a red velvet.   You may find this shocking or not.Especially after reading my last post but  the frosting made the cake for me. It was a chocolate one but following Monica's suggestion I added a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to it and oh, man I was scraping the pot clean to get the last little bits if it.  I usually have no problem walking away from anything chocolate especially chocolate cake but not this time I actually ate two and half pieces of it in two days.   While all the kids liked this and some actually ate two (Will three, :-)) pieces the parents I think enjoyed it more.  In the car ride home the Twins mentioned that their teammates said it was good but it wasn't the best thing I've made.   

On another note:  Thanks for your letting me know what books you have read that have been good.  I'm starting a list, so that next time I go to the bookstore I'm not wondering around like a big dufus.

Baseball update:  The Twins played four baseball games this weekend two on Saturday and two on Sunday.  We won all four games! One was a come from behind (by four points)in the last inning to tie the game and then win it in the tie breaker inning.  Jalen drove in two runs to tie the score and Devon was supposed to sacrifice bunt to move the runner over but instead he beat out the throw and later scored the winning run.  Yay, GO STING!  I'm going to try and get a current photo of the whole team and the twins to post. 

Hope everyone had a happy and green Irish  food filled St. Paddy's Day! 

Daddy, I love and miss you. Hope you had a WONDERFUL birthday!!!!

Technorati Tags: cake,chocolate,frosting,news

Double Chocolate Layer Cake

Okay, I lied, no lemon curd today instead you get cake, chocolate cake. On a previous post Charity from Sweet Charity Pie left me a comment asking if I'd like to collaborate with her on a cake. My response was YES. I'm a scaredy cat baker and doing something like this would help propel me out of my comfort zone. Because it was her idea and she'd been craving chocolate cake we went with Ina Garten's Double Chocolate Layer Cake.

The recipe was surprisingly easy. I followed the it with my only change being the size of the cake pans I used. I baked it in 3 six inch pans turning it into a triple layer chocolate cake. I had some extra batter and made 5 cuppycakes as well. I made the frosting that went with the recipe but like Charity I didn't add the egg yoke or the coffee. Instead of using all semisweet chocolate I used 3 oz of Starbucks Mocha Dark Chocolate.

I almost forgot to tell you...the cake, it was actually pretty good and definitely moist. As some of you may remember I don't like chocolate especially chocolate cake. I think a big part of that dislike was that I hadn't had a "good" cake made with quality chocolate and not from a box. While I am not running to the kitchen for another slice of cake I wouldn't turn up my nose if offered one. Please hop over to visit Charity and see how hers turned out.

The photos are courtesy of my sitter, Karolyn. Thanks Miss Karolyn!

Technorati Tags: chocolate,cake

She says brownies, I say blondies!

Miss Bunny from the blog, Bunny's Warm Oven mentioned in an email that she had a peanut butter brownie recipe that she thought my family would enjoy.  She also said that it was made in one pot!  The idea of dirtying only one pot had me making a batch that night for the Twins' baseball practice.  It didn't hurt either that Bunny recommended them.  Folks, Bunny, I'm sorry but these aren't brownies.  They're blondies!  Peanut butter blondies and they are GOOD.  Better than good.  I've already made them two times and I'm thinking about making up another batch.  Besides being terrific these bars were quick and easy to put together!  

I followed the recipe with my only change being instead of using vanilla extract I used vanilla bean paste. I really like how blondies taste using it instead of regular extract. I also tested my blondies (not brownies) two minutes earlier than called for and took them out when the tooth pick still had a few moist crumbs clinging to it. They were purrrrfect!  I hid a few for a photo shoot when I had a moment and they were still moist and yummy.  I actually (third day) warmed up the last one in the microwave and topped it with some Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream.  I don't even know how to describe just how good it was.  

   

I don't have photos but I also made this recipe which I saw on Bakerella.  The brownie part was good, nice and moist but I the "cookie" was dry. Unlike Bakerella I didn't add a frosting.  If you click here you'll see that Nikki of Pennies on a Platter  also made them but used peanut butter cookie dough instead of chocolate chip cookie. 

FYI~ Sorry if I haven't stopped by and commented.  I've been crazy busy! Both Twins had a project due tomorrow and one of the Twins has TWO MORE due THIS Friday.  Oh and in case you were wondering two of the three projects were just given this past Monday.  After Friday things should settle back down & I'll catch up on my reading & commenting.

LiveJournal Tags: bars,brownies,blondies,chocolate,peanut butter

Peanut Butter Mousse Bars

I LOVED this dessert!  With that said I have to tell you a something about myself.  I'm not a fan of chocolate or peanut butter.  I won't eat peanut butter on it's own and well, unlike many I don't go gaga over chocolate.  Yeah, I'll eat a brownie if it's been kicked up a notch but that's about it for me.  If and when a recipe calls for chocolate I use  dark and when I can, I'll leave it out all together.  Here's where I'm  really strange.  I like peanut butter and chocolate together.  A lot which is why (along with yummy pictures) I decided to give this a try.   

I initially was going to make this to bring to the Twins' baseball practice, but I ran out of time and made them Cheater Snicker Brownies instead.  Am glad I ran out of time!  I would have gotten one little piece had I brought them to baseball. Greedy but true!  This was soooo good!  And I LOVED the peanut butter mousse!  It was "lick the bowl" good!  I wanted to but I restrained myself and used the spatula to get every last little bit of it.

 Okay, back to this delish bars.   Another thing I loved about the bars was how lovely they looked after cutting them.  You can clearly see the contrasting layers.  The ganache topping didn't  harden up so much that it cracked when cut making for a smoother cut.

This bar recipe comes to you courtesy of Dianne's Dishes who as you may remember is my blogging Mama!  Please check her out she has  a lot of great recipes, including gluten free ones, and healthier ones for those of you making a lifestyle change.  You want bread ?  She's got bread! Take a look!

On another note:  Baseball did not go as well as we would have liked this weekend.  We won both our games yesterday but lost today's which was the one that mattered.  The Twins' personally did NOT have their best stuff though Jalen did a good job pitching.  In 1 & 2/3 innings he struck out 4, walked 2, hit a batter, gave up only 1 hit & did not give up a run. We ended up 2 & 1.

LiveJournal Tags: peanut butter,chocolate,peanuts,mousse,graham crackers,ganache,bars,brownies