Tag Archives: Chocolate

Boozy Bourbon Brownies

Posted on by Laurie

A little something for National Bourbon Day …

(Not for children)

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Boozy Bourbon Brownies

Makes about 25 small rich brownies

Ingredients:

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. dried currants

2 T. bourbon

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 T. natural cocoa

1/4 t. salt

2 lg. eggs

1/2 c. granulated white sugar

1/2 c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed

Boozy Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting (Recipe below)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter and flour a 9” square baking pan or spray with baking spray.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter together, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool.
  3. Combine the currants and bourbon. Set aside.
  4. In  small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
  5. In large bowl, beat eggs and white sugar together until pale, thick and creamy. (This takes about three to four minutes on high speed. Do not underbeat.) Beat in dark brown sugar and then beat in chocolate mixture. On lowest speed, beat in currants and bourbon.  Then beat in dry ingredients just until they are incorporated. Pour batter into baking pan. Spread evenly.
  6. Bake for about 32 to 37 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out almost clean and the brownies feel firm to the touch.  Place baking pan on a wire rack to cool.
  7. Before serving, cut brownies into squares and remove from pan. Frost tops of brownies with Boozy Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting.

 

Boozy Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to frost one 9” square pan of baked goods or to decorate about 30 cookies.

Ingredients:

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 T. + 2 t. Bourbon, or to taste

 

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Beat until perfectly smooth. Taste. If desired, slowly beat in more Bourbon. Use to frost baked goods.

 

Have a great weekend!

Valentines’ Mocha

Posted on by Laurie

A special after-dinner coffee made with dark chocolate and chocolate vodka. Don’t forget to dip your strawberry in the whipped cream before drinking! Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Valentines’ Mocha (serves 2)

1 c. fresh-brewed, good decaf coffee

1 oz. dark chocolate

1 oz. chocolate vodka

1 T. dark brown sugar

1/4 c. heavy cream

2 large, ripe strawberries (cleaned and stemmed)

cinnamon sugar

1. Place coffee, chocolate, vodka and dark brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until chocolate and brown sugar are melted and blended into the coffee.

2. Meanwhile, whip cream until it holds soft peaks.

3. Pour coffee into two glass coffee mugs. Garnish mugs with strawberries. Top with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Banana Brownies

Posted on by Laurie

This is a brownie recipe that I love because the brownies are super moist and let me make use of extra bananas, and an added bonus is that they freeze well. I just made a batch to put out for guests!Image

Banana Brownies

Not overly sweet or overly chocolatey, these have the added flavor and moistness of banana.

3/4 c. + 2 T. all-purpose flour

2 T. Dutch-process cocoa

1/4 t. salt

4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped or just over 3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1-2 lg. eggs (use 1 for denser brownies, 2 for cakier brownies)

1/2 c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 c. granulated white sugar

1 c. mashed overripe banana (about 2 lg.)

1 t. vanilla extract

3.75 oz. chopped milk chocolate or 3/4 c. milk chocolate chips

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter and flour a 9” square baking pan or spray pan with baking spray.
  2. In  small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
  3. Melt chocolate and butter together, stirring frequently. Set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, beat egg(s) and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in banana and then chocolate mixture. On lowest speed, beat in dry ingredients just until they are incorporated. Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Spread evenly.
  5. Bake for approximately 40 to 45 minutes or until firm on top and starting to pull away from edges of pan. (Do not rely on a cake tester.) Place baking pan on a wire rack to cool.

Tip: Freeze overripe bananas so that you have them available whenever needed for baking. Thaw and then peel before using.

Serving suggestion: Sift with confectioner’s sugar before serving or tuck into banana splits.

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Chocolate Anisettes

Posted on by Laurie

ChocolateAnisettes

Chocolate Anisettes

A variation on traditional Anisette Cookies

Makes about 36 Cookies

3/4 c. + 2 T. all-purpose flour

2 T. Dutch process cocoa

3/4 t. ground aniseed

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. vegetable shortening

1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 lg. egg

1 t. orange extract

Anisette Glaze

nonparaeils to decorate (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, aniseed, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In large bowl, beat shortening and confectioner’s sugar until well combined. Beat in egg and then orange extract. Beat in dry ingredients.

4. Scoop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls and place 2″ apart on baking sheets.

5. Bake for about 14 to 16 minutes or until lightly browned. Right before taking cookies out of the oven, make glaze. (Recipe below.)

6. Place baking sheets on a wire rack when you remove them from the oven.  Working one cookie at a time, immediately glaze cookies with Anisette Glaze and then sprinkle with nonpareils, if using decorations.

Anisette Glaze

A citrusy, licorice-flavored glaze.

1 1/3 to 1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 t. orange extract

1/4 t. anise extract

2 T. boiling water

1. Place 1 1/3 c. of confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Stir in extracts. Gradually stir in just enough boiling water to make a thick, pourable glaze. Stir in more sugar if needed and keep stirring until perfectly smooth.

2. Working one at a time, spoon glaze over warm cookies. If decorating with nonpareils, immediately sprinkle them over glaze. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Chocolate Rum Raisin Cookies

Posted on by Laurie

Have a lovely holiday weekend, everyone!Image

Chocolate Rum Raisin Cookies

Soft chocolate cookies flavored with rum.

 Makes about 26 cookies

3/4 c. raisins

1/3 c. golden or dark rum

2 T.  water

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. Dutch process cocoa

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

3/4 c. + 2 T. granulated white sugar

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1 lg. egg

2 t. rum extract

1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips or  2 1/2 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate

  1. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring raisins, rum and water to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for about 12 minutes or until the raisins are well-plumped and the liquid has mostly evaporated. Set aside to cool.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  3. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  4. In large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and rum extract. On lowest mixer speed, beat in dry ingredients until well combined. Fold in raisins and chocolate.
  5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes or until just set and lightly browned on the bottom. Place baking sheets on wire rack and allow cookies to cool.

Serving Suggestion: Drizzle with Sweet Chocolate Glaze and then with White Cookie Icing. (Recipes below.)

Sweet Chocolate Glaze

1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted (still warm)

4 to 5 T. half-and-half or heavy cream, divided

1 – 2 t. dark or light rum, optional

  1. Place confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Set aside
  2. Heat half-and-half or cream until just at a simmer. Stir 3 T. of it into sugar until perfectly smooth.Then stir chocolate into sugar mixture. If needed, slowly stir in just enough more warm half-and-half or cream to make a perfectly smooth glaze. Stir in optional rum, if desired.
  3. Drizzle over baked goods right away.

Pure White Cookie Icing

1 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 T. milk

2 t. light corn syrup

  1. Place confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Stir in milk and light corn syrup until perfectly smooth. The mixture will be a little on the thick side, but should pour from a spoon in a slow, smooth stream.
  2. Drizzle or pipe onto cooled baked goods right away. (This is thick enough to pipe thin lines but not thick enough to pipe firm shapes.)

Travel Theme: Sweet

Posted on by Laurie

Thank you to Where’s My Backpack for this week’s Sweet challenge!. This challenge is just to my taste. Enjoy!

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Fiesta Cookies*

Makes about 36 medium size cookies.

Soft, piped cookies lightly flavored with chocolate and spices, decorated with icing and nonpareils.

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/8 t. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter

3/4 c. + 2 T. confectioner’s sugar

1 lg. egg

1 t. almond or vanilla extract

1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted

Icing of your choice

Nonpareils

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together butter and confectioner’s sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. On lowest mixer speed, beat in dry ingredients and then chocolate.
  4. Using a heavy duty pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pipe cookie dough onto baking sheets, spacing cookies 1 1/2” apart. Cookies will not rise, spread or change shape while they bake.
  5. Bake for about 5 to 7 minutes or until set. Place baking sheets on wire racks and allow cookies to cool before decorating.
  6. Once cookies have cooled, decorate with icing and nonpareils.

Suggested shapes for piping: thick bars, stars, hearts, and wreaths.

 * Recipe from my cookbook, Confectionately Yours: A Collection of Cookies, Candies & Yummy Confections.

Banana Mocha Coconut Muffins

Posted on by Laurie

The other morning, I had a guest on an almost vegan diet; so I made these delicious muffins which one would never know were free of dairy products and eggs. I hope that you enjoy the recipe!

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Banana Mocha Coconut Muffins

3/4 c. sweetened shredded coconut

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. granulated white sugar

2 T. instant coffee or 2 t. espresso powder

1 T. baking powder

1 c. mashed ripe bananas

1 c. coconut milk

1/2 c. canola oil

1 T. coconut rum

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, preferably miniature ( use vegan chocolate if needed)

1 recipe Coffee Coconut Milk Glaze (below)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spread coconut on a baking sheet. Toast in oven for 3 to 4 minutes or until just starting to turn golden at the edges. Remove coconut from baking sheet and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, prepare 12 standard muffin cups or 10 four-ounce ramekins with baking spray.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, 2 T. of the instant coffee or 2 t. of the espresso powder, and baking powder. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together bananas, coconut milk, canola oil, and rum. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips.

5. Divide batter into ramekins or muffin cups. Using the back of a spoon, shape each cup of batter into a slight mound. Bake 15 to 20 minutes for 12 muffins or 20 to 25 minutes for 10 muffins. Muffins are firm to the touch when done.

6. Meanwhile, prepare Coffee Coconut Milk Glaze. Glaze muffins immediately upon removing from oven and  then sprinkle them with toasted coconut.

Coffee Coconut Milk Glaze

1 c. confectioner’s sugar

2 T. coconut milk

1/2 t. minced orange or lemon zest

1/2 t. instant coffee or 1/4 t. instant espresso powder

1/2 t. coconut rum, light rum, or orange or lemon extract

1. In a small bowl, slowly stir coconut milk into confectioner’s sugar. Stir in coffee, then zest, then rum or extract. Stir until smooth, then warm glaze to dissolve coffee.

Cupid’s Arrow (A Valentine’s Martini)

Posted on by Laurie

 

For the February issue of The Morning Star’s newsletter, I wanted to create a Valentine’s recipe that would be both easy and fun. With the recent popularity of Chocolate Martini’s, I decide to create my own version of this dessert cocktail – an enjoyable little project if I do say so! This is what I came up with …

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Cupid’s Arrow

– makes 2 strong cocktails –

3 oz.  Chocolate Vodka (I use Cupcake Devil’s Food Vodka)

2 oz. Raspberry Liqueur (I use Pallini Raspicello)

2 oz. Chocolate Liqueur (I use Meletti Cioccolato)

Half-and-half

Dark chocolate

Fresh raspberries

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add vodka and liqueurs. Shake well. Strain into two chilled martini glasses. Drizzle a little half-and-half over the top of each. (It will sink to the bottom then raise to the top, creating a marbleized effect.) Shave a little chocolate over the top of each cocktail then garnish with fresh raspberries. Enjoy!

Tips: Chill glasses in freezer for ten minutes before serving. Use chilled ingredients. The drink should be served very cold, but you do not want it diluted by melting ice.

 

What Is It About Cupcakes & Summer?

Posted on by Laurie

We can’t help ourselves – we just keep making cupcakes this summer. Yesterday’s were Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and chocolate sprinkles. The cake recipe came from the wonderful cookbook More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World-Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen. We improvised the frosting recipe and it was sooooo good. Chilled, the frosting is like peanut butter cheesecake. (Recipe below.)

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

(makes enough for 24 cupcakes)

20 oz. cream cheese, softened

12 oz. unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

approximately 12 oz. peanut butter (I use The Bee’s Knees Peanut Butter by Peanut Butter & Co.)

approximately 1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

(1) Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Beat in peanut butter. Beat in sugar to taste.

(2) Decorate cupcakes (or other baked goods). Chill until serving.

Two Little Chefettes Monthly Cooking Challenge: Chocolate Chips

Posted on by Laurie

I was thrilled when I read that the theme for this month’s cooking challenge by Two Little Chefettes is Chocolate Chips. I have so many recipes that I love that call for chocolate chips. I considered entering one of my recent chocolate chip recipe posts (Bill’s Blondies, Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, or Forgot Me Not Cookies); but since I have been writing about the heat lately (It’s Scorching Hot …, 96 and Going to Havana), I decided instead to use my recipe for Blondies Caliente. Yum!  Enjoy! Thanks Bebe and Ridha for putting together the monthly challenge! By the way, at the bottom of this post is my recipe for Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting which goes so well with these blondies.* So you get a 2-for-1 on this challenge!

Blondies Caliente

Makes about 16 blondies

Blondies with a kick. When used in baked goods Chipotle adds heat a little stronger than that of ginger, but with its own distinct flavor. These blondies are delightfully aromatic when warm.

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground chipotle pepper

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted

1 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 lg. egg

1/2 t. orange extract

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. semisweet or dark chocolate chips

1/2 c. chopped honey-roasted peanuts

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8” square baking pan.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
  3. Place the butter in a medium size bowl. Stir in the sugar. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 1 minute. Beat in the egg, orange and vanilla extracts until the mixture is light and fluffy. (This takes several minutes. Do not underbeat.) On lowest mixer speed, beat in dry ingredients and then chocolate chips and peanuts.
  4. Spread the batter evenly in the baking pan. Bake for about 24 to 26 minutes or until blondies start to pull back from the edge of the pan and the center feels almost firm to the touch. Do not overbake. Cool and then cut into squares.  If desired, chill before serving.

Variations: Substitute chopped Mexican chocolate for chocolate chips. Substitute peanut butter chips for honey-roasted peanuts.

Serving Suggestion: Frost with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting before serving. (Recipe below photo.)

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to frost one 8″ or 9” square pan of baked goods.

This speckled pale brown frosting goes well with chocolate, orange, and nut flavorings.

6 oz. cream cheese softened

1/2 c. + 1 T. confectioner’s sugar

1 T. + 1 t. milk

1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. vanilla extract

  1. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in remaining ingredients until perfectly smooth again.
  2. Frosting can be spread on cooled brownies, blondies or cookies right away. If using frosting for piping decorations, chill for at least 4 hours first.

Be sure to refrigerate confections frosted with cream cheese frosting.

*Both of these are recipes that I developed for my cookbook Confectionately Yours: A Collection of Cookies, Candies & Yummy Confections.