Chocolate Coconut Bars

My husband loves these chocolate coconut bars!  He requests them for special occasions.  They're essentially a no-bake cookie base topped with coconut buttercream and a thin layer of chocolate.  The first time I made them with Oreos, like the original recipe over at Taste of Home says, but they were so over the top sweet that I've made them with Nabisco Famous Wafers since.  They're still very sweet, but not as sweet as with Oreos.  Someday I would like to make them with chocolate graham crackers, but I can never find them at the store when I'm planning to make these.  My husband has a huge sweet tooth though and you probably won't mind all the sugar if you do, too!

 

The recipe below has a few changes from the original, other than the type of cookies used.  I basically added more coconut flavor.

 

Also, if you ever find yourself needing a coconut buttercream, you could use the coconut filling recipe and end up with a really delicious frosting!  Just double the recipe and only add powdered sugar until it reaches a normal frosting consistency.  As written, the filling recipe is quite stiff, which is needed for this bar recipe, but less powdered sugar will change that.

 

Note that the cream of coconut is not canned coconut milk, it's the sweetened goopy stuff used in mixed drinks.  The brand we purchase is called Coco Real.

 

Chocolate Coconut Bars

 

cookie base:

3 C Famous Wafers crumbs or chocolate graham cracker crumbs (this is about 1 1/2 packs of wafers)

2 C sweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 C cream of coconut

2/3 C butter, melted

 

coconut filling:

1/3 C butter, softened

4 Tbsp cream of coconut, or more as needed

1/2 tsp coconut extract

3 C powdered sugar

 

chocolate layer:

1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

4 tsp canola oil

 

To make the base layer, just stir together all of the base ingredients until well combined.  Press it evenly and firmly into the bottom of an ungreased 9 by 13 dish.  Refrigerate for an hour so it can firm up, then make the coconut filling.

 

To make the coconut filling, beat together butter, cream of coconut, and coconut extract, then mix in the powdered sugar.  It will be quite thick, you want it to be thin enough to spread but still pretty thick so it doesn't squirt out the side of your bars when you slice them.  Add more cream of coconut if you need to thin it any more.

 

Spread the coconut filling evenly over the cookie base and set aside while you make the chocolate layer.

 

To make the chocolate layer, melt the chocolate and oil together however you'd like: over a double boiler, or on 50% power in the microwave for 1 minute to start with, then 20-30 second increments afterwards, stirring between stints in the microwave.  Don't let the chocolate get too hot or it will seize.

 

When chocolate is melted, pour it over the bars and spread with a spatula.

 

Refrigerate bars until the chocolate has firmed up.  After that, you can store the bars at room temperature.

 

Cut into pieces and enjoy!

 

Yield: about 12 servings

Chewy Chocolate Fudge Caramel Frosting

I know it may not sound like a good thing for frosting to be chewy, but trust me on this.  It's not chewy like gummi bears, but chewy like a homemade caramel candy, with a solid helping of chocolate.  It starts out the perfect glossy spreading consistency, then firms up into a thick, fudgy texture.  How could that not be good?  Let me note that I have no idea how well this would work with a layer cake where the frosting has to stick to the sides, but it works well on cupcakes or spread over a 9 by 13 inch cake left in the pan.

This frosting is also astonishingly easy to make and only has two ingredients: chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk.  It's the fudge frosting from Joanne Fluke's titular fudge cupcake recipe.  I was excited about trying the cupcake recipe for months because I've had a lot of luck with her recipes and love all things raspberry (the "secret" ingredient in the cupcake batter is raspberry syrup), but didn't care for the cupcakes themselves.  They weren't very chocolatey, but were both dense and dry.  Sorry, Joanne.  The frosting, on the other hand: divine!  Make it!

Chewy Chocolate Fudge Caramel Frosting

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

Pour sweetened condensed milk into a medium sauce pan and heat over medium, stirring frequently, just until it's hot and bubbly.  Remove from heat and wait for the bubbles to subside a little (about 30 seconds), then dump in the chocolate chips.  Stir mixture until chocolate chips are melted and the frosting is thick, glossy, and very smooth.  Spread immediately over cake or brownies.  

Dark Chocolate Banana Muffins

Ooh, these muffins are a treat!  Soft, cakey, sweet, very chocolaty (there's half as much cocoa powder as flour!), and even pretty to look at with their high crowns.  They're basically cupcakes without frosting, studded with chocolate chips instead.  The banana flavor isn't particularly strong, either, so they may be a good choice for someone who isn't a banana fan.  Someone like me!  I loved these, even with the banana. 
 
The recipe is from Our Best Bites.  I found it months ago, and was just waiting until I finally had 3 over ripe bananas.  My husband has one for breakfast most mornings, but he's done a great job lately of finishing the bunch before any of the bananas turn brown.  The original recipe called for applesauce and artificial sweetener, but I used oil and real sugar instead, plus a lot more mini chocolate chips.  I wasn't trying to make a low calorie muffin, so why not make them as tasty as possible?

  

 

Dark Chocolate Banana Muffins

 

3 very ripe bananas

1 egg

2/3 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 C canola oil

1 C flour
1/2 C cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C mini chocolate chips, plus more for on top

   

Preheat oven to 375 and line a 12 well muffin tin with muffin papers.  Set aside.

   

Place bananas and egg in stand mixer and mix until bananas have broken down.  Mix in sugar, vanilla extract, and oil until smooth.  Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and mix just until well combined, scraping down the bowl partway through.  Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

   

Divide batter evenly between muffin papers, and top each dollop of batter with a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

   

Yield: 12 muffins

Secret Recipe Club: Oreo Brownie Trifle

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Making Memories with your Kids.  The blog is written by Erin, who is a school counselor and mom of two super cute kids.  I'm very fond of Erin's blog and have been visiting it since I was first assigned it a couple of years ago and made Pop Tart Cookies.  Since then, I've made her Coconut Macaroons and Snickerdoodles, plus a couple others.  I actually made a recipe she made for a past SRC tonight for dinner, and made a casserole of hers last week, which I'll post about soon.  Erin's blog is very playful, for lack of a better term, and she makes all kinds of incredibly delicious looking and at times off the wall recipes that really appeal to my off the wall self.

 

So, my original plan was to make Slug Candy.  It's just too hilarious.  I will still make it sometime, but decided now wasn't ideal for a number of reasons too boring to go into.  My next plan was to post about the Chicken Broccoli Casserole I made last week, but my camera up and died on me.  Since I don't have a cell phone (weird, I know), I had no way to photograph it.  That meant I was forced (forced!) to make another recipe for Secret Recipe Club since the post had to have a picture.  Lucky for me, I managed to scrounge up a cell phone to photograph SRC Take 2, which is Oreo Brownie Trifle.  It's a terrible picture, but better than the MS Paint rendition I would have had to make if I didn't have the cell phone, so I'm happy.

 

I had my husband pick between this, Snickers Brownie Trifle, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup S'mores.  He loves Oreos, so chose this trifle, surprising no one.  I'm definitely going to make those PB S'mores soon, though!  You really should take a stroll through the dessert section on Erin's blog, it's quite the treasure trove.

 

The trifle turned out well.  It's very sweet and a little goes a long way!  I did have to change the recipe a little, sorry, Erin.  My husband is lactose intolerant and can't have sweetened condensed milk, so I left that out and used lactose free milk instead.  I also sorta halved the recipe because the full batch would have been a LOT of trifle for two people.  The recipe is still essentially the same, though!  It's sure to please kids and Oreo lovers everywhere.  I will definitely make it again when I want something over the top and fun.

  

Quick Note:  You can use vanilla or cheesecake pudding mix if you can't find Oreo. 

 

 

Oreo Brownie Trifle

 

1 box brownie mix that makes an 8 by 8 pan, plus ingredients on box

about 15 Oreos

4 serving size box of instant Oreo pudding mix

1 1/2 C milk

8 oz tub Cool Whip, divided

 

Prepare and bake brownies according to directions on box, set aside and cool completely.  Cut into small cubes.

 

Whisk together box of pudding mix and milk.  After it sets, fold in half of the Cool Whip.

 

Layer 1/3rd of the brownie cubes in a trifle dish.  Top with 1/3rd of the pudding mixture, then dollops of 1/3rd of the Cool Whip.  Sprinkle with 5 crushed Oreos.  Repeat layers twice more, starting with brownies and ending with Oreos.  

 

Cover trifle and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

 

Yield: 10 servings
   

An InLinkz Link-up

S'more Treat Bars

I found this recipe on the Macaroni and Cheesecake blog while looking for a s'more bar recipe, and made them immediately.  I did make a few small changes (mini chocolate chips and more marshmallows), but the gist is definitely the same.  These bars are a great choice if you're looking for a dessert that is really easy to make and love both Rice Krispie treats and s'mores, like we do!  About half of the bars went to our neighbor as a thanks for helping us move our new couch, but my husband and I polished the rest of the pan off over about 3 days.  Yum!

S'more Treat Bars

12 oz box Golden Grahams cereal

5 Tbsp butter

16 oz bag mini marshmallows, divided

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 C mini chocolate chips

Place the mini chocolate chips in the freezer a few hours before you make this recipe.

Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and set aside.

Place butter and all but 3 cups of the mini marshmallows in a large pot and melt over medium-high heat, stirring until fully melted.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.  Stir in cereal until evenly coated, then add the additional 2 C marshmallows and 1 C of the frozen chocolate chips.  Stir very quickly and just enough to evenly distribute the additions, you don't want them to melt too much.  

Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish.  Grease your hands (nonstick spray works great for this) and evenly press the cereal mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 C mini chocolate chips on top of the bars and press down again so they'll stick.

Let bars cool completely, then cut into squares.  These keep well covered tightly and stored at room temperature for a few days.

Candy Bar Brownies

Yet another recipe from Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen mystery series, this time from The Cream Puff Murder!  This is more of an idea than a recipe, but it sure is a good idea.  We polished off the pan of brownies in a day and a half, even though they're very rich.  My husband, the chocolate and brownie lover, said these brownies seemed more like a candy bar than a brownie!  They're good at room temperature, but best a couple of hours after they come out of the oven and are still a little bit warm because the chocolate in the middle isn't completely set up yet. 
 

Quick Note:  The original recipe said to use a mix for a 9 by 13 pan, but to bake it in an 8 by 8 pan.  I used a mix for an 8 by 8 pan and have no regrets, they were perfect.  I fear the larger mix in the smaller pan would have overflowed.  Also, the recipe said to use a plain mix, but I used one with a caramel swirl and we loved how it turned out!  If you can't find a mix with a caramel swirl, you can try swirling in 1/4 C caramel ice cream topping, but no promises on how it will turn out.  I tried doing this recently with Twix brownies and used Smuckers Salted Caramel sauce and the caramel kind of boiled off and disappeared into the batter.

Update 8/15/16: I made these a different way, and they were even better.  I used a regular brownie mix, put chopped peanut butter cups and Hershey bars in the middle according to the directions below.  After the brownies were done baking, I made a caramel sauce by melting 5 oz (by weight) soft caramels with 1/4 C milk over medium-low heat.  I poked some holes in the brownies with a meat fork, then poured the caramel sauce over top.  They were awesome brownies!  So gooey and chocolaty that they were best eaten with a fork.  Good alternative if you have a little more time on your hands and want an over the top brownie or if you can't find a mix with caramel swirl.

 Candy Bar Brownies

 

1 8 by 8 box brownie mix with a caramel swirl (I used Duncan Hines Salted Caramel)

ingredients specified on brownie mix

2 giant size milk chocolate Hershey Symphony candy bars, or other chocolate candy, chopped up
 

Preheat oven to temperature specified on brownie mix and grease an 8 by 8 baking dish.
 
Prepare brownie mix according to box instructions, and spread half of the batter in the prepared baking dish. 
 
Top with the chocolate bars, breaking them as necessary to fit.  You want it to be one flat layer and will have some chocolate left over, but I don't see that as a problem!
 

Spread remaining brownie batter on top of chocolate so it's covered.  Drizzle the caramel evenly over the brownie batter, then use a butter knife to swirl it through the batter.
 

Bake brownies according to box directions.  They're done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.  The melted chocolate may get on the toothpick, but you should be able to tell the difference between melted chocolate and raw brownie batter.
 

Let brownies cool until just a little bit warm (about 2 hours), then serve.  Cover leftovers with foil.  You can serve leftover brownies at room temperature or warm them up in the microwave for a few seconds.

Crazy Cake

This cake is so good that I made it twice in less than a month!  First to bring it to a dinner with friends, then for a potluck that actually featured most of the same people, but I didn't hear any complaints.  The recipe is from the Ben and Birdy blog, and it's one I've been intrigued with for years and am so glad I finally made it.  You know it's good if I make it twice in such a short time period!  The first time I topped it with sweetened whipped cream and sprinkles like in the pictures over on that blog.  It was really, really good that way, but I decided to try a double batch of this frosting this time.  Either way is delightful.

This recipe apparently has its roots in the Great Depression because it was a reliable way to get a fantastic cake without eggs or butter.  It's often called Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake.  Whatever you call it, it's awesome!  The first time I used all whole wheat flour (just wanted to try it out) and Hershey's Special Dark cocoa.  The cake was basically black from the cocoa and everyone loved it.  The second time, I tried white flour and normal cocoa.  Also fantastic!

Note that this cake is vegan if you serve it with a vegan icing, vegan iced cream, sprinkle it with powdered sugar, or just serve it plain.

Crazy Cake

2 1/4 C flour (white, whole wheat, or a mixture)
2 C white sugar
1 C cocoa powder (regular or dark)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp vinegar
2/3 C canola oil
2 C cold water

Preheat an oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients and pour the vanilla extract into one well, vinegar into another, and oil into the third.  Pour the cold water over top and whisk thoroughly until the batter is smooth.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.  Let cake cool completely before frosting, or you can just let it cool for half an hour or so and serve warm cake topped with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream and sprinkles.

To make sweetened whipped cream, just beat 2 C cream until soft peaks form, then beat in vanilla extract and powdered sugar to taste.  Continue beating it until stiff peaks form, then stop immediately because you don't want to accidentally start turning your whipped cream into butter!

Triple Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Fudge Icing

I don't use cake mixes much.  Not because I dislike them per se, it's just that I don't bake cakes that often and when I do, I usually want to make it from scratch!  This particular recipes uses a cake mix as a base, and you add a bunch of other ingredients to it, then top it with peanut butter icing.  I've made it I think 3 times over the past 5 years.  It's really very good, the chocolate cake is dense (in a nice way!), very moist, and very chocolaty because of the added chocolate chips.  I love the mini chips.  They kind of melt into the cake, adding lots of extra flavor and gooey chocolate, and stay soft.  The cake recipe is from AllRecipes, my only change is to replace half the oil with applesauce.
  

The peanut butter icing is from the Southern Plate blog, I changed it to use all butter instead of a mix of butter and shortening.  The icing is perfect for this cake!  It's thick, fudgy, sweet, and firms up rather than staying spreadable like regular frosting.  The chocolate and peanut butter flavors work fantastically together and neither overpowers the other.  This cake is a great choice for a peanut butter-chocolate lover!

Triple Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Fudge Icing
  

Chocolate Cake:

 

1 box devil's food cake mix (use the biggest you can find, mine was 16 oz)

6 oz box instant chocolate pudding mix

1/2 C water

1/2 C vegetable oil

1/2 C applesauce

1 C sour cream

4 eggs

12 oz bag mini chocolate chips
  

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.
  

Mix together everything except chocolate chips until smooth, then stir in chocolate chips.  The batter will be thick.  Spread it in the prepared baking dish and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean (the chocolate chips will prevent it from being completely clean), about 45 minutes.
  

Allow cake to cool completely before making icing.

Peanut Butter Icing:
 

1 1/2 C sugar

4 Tbsp butter

7 Tbsp milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 C peanut butter
  

Stir together sugar, butter, milk, and salt in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high, stirring frequently, until it comes to a boil.  Set a timer for 2 minutes and let the mixture boil that entire time, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon.  When the time is up, remove immediately from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and peanut butter until smooth.  Quickly spread the icing over the cooled cake, it will set up rapidly.

Ina Fridays: Brownie Pudding

This month's Ina Friday assignment was for a dessert, and with my husband's birthday coming up, I quickly decided to make him Brownie Pudding.  The guy loves brownies, chocolate, and batter, so it seemed like a perfect choice. 

I had to halve the recipe because I didn't have baking dishes that would have worked for the whole recipe (you need to make a water bath), used vanilla extract instead of the seeds from a vanilla bean, and did not have the optional framboise.

Regardless, the brownie pudding turned out really well!  It has a crunchy, sugary crust on top, then the inside is insanely chocolaty (there's more cocoa than flour in it!), soft and chewy near the edges, and delightfully gooey at the center.  I think I may have baked it a smidgen too long because the center was not actually runny, but it doesn't seem to have hurt things one bit.  My husband gave this 10 stars and had two large servings.  Most definitely a repeat, and better than any molten chocolate cake either of us have had at restaurants.

As a plus, this is super easy to make with pretty impressive and very yummy results!  And since you serve it warm (with ice cream, no less), unlike with a cake, brownies, cheesecake, or pie, you don't have to wait for it to cool before serving.

Brownie Pudding

1 stick butter

2 eggs, room temperature
1 C sugar
1/3 C cocoa powder, plus 1 Tbsp
1/4 C flour
seeds of half a vanilla bean (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1/2 Tbsp framboise liquer, optional (I did not have this)
vanilla ice cream to serve it with

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a flat, 1 quart baking dish that fits comfortably inside of another baking dish (you're going to make a water bath).  In the bowl of a stand mixer, place eggs and sugar.  Attach paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and light yellow.

While the sugar and eggs mix,sift together the cocoa powder and flour.  Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and add the cocoa powder-flour mixture, vanilla, and Framboise.  Mix only until combined.  With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the cooled, melted butter.  Again, mix just until combined.

Pour batter into the prepared baking dish.  Set baking dish inside the other baking dish and place it in the oven.  Fill the larger baking dish with enough hot tap water to fill it halfway up the side of the dish.  Bake until a toothpick inserted 1 1/2 inches from the side of the baking dish comes out mostly clean, about 45 minutes.  Do not over bake. 

Let the brownie pudding cool for 15 minutes, then serve with vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 4 servings (recipe says 3, but 4 or even 6 is more realistic)

 Here's a list of the other bloggers that participate in Ina Fridays!

•   Alyce @ More Time at the Table
•   Ansh @  Spice Roots 
•   Barbara @ Moveable Feasts  
•   Bhavna @ Just a Girl From AAmchi Mumbai..
•   Chaya @  Bizzy Bakes
•   Linda,  @ Tumbleweed Contessa
•   Mary @ The Egg Farm
•   Minnie @ The Lady 8 Home
•   Mireya @ My Healthy Eating Habits
•   Patti @ Comfy Cuisine
•   Peggy@ Pantry Revisited
•   Rocky Mountain Woman @ Rocky Mountain Woman
•   Veronica @ My Catholic Kitchen

Carmelitas

Somehow or other I came upon the recipe for Carmelitas on the Lulu the Baker blog a couple of weeks ago.  I look at a lot of recipes, but sometimes there's one that I must make immediately!  Hop over there to check out the pictures, don't the Carmelitas look amazing?  They look so good that I sent the recipe to my mom, and it turns out she's been making them since she was in high school in the late 1960s!  Apparently Carmelitas won a Pillsbury Bake Off competition back then.  How in the world I've made it to 28 years old without having a) eaten ones my mom made, and b) even having heard of them, is a complete mystery.  That had to be remedied at once!  I'm not a football fan at all, but figured the Super Bowl was a good excuse to make them.

I followed Lulu the Baker's recipe exactly, except doubled the recipe.  My husband and I had pretty high hopes for the Carmelitas, and let me tell ya- they did not disappoint!  So much gooey, creamy caramel.  So much chocolate!  Delicious oatmeal cookie base!  They are truly divine.  I sent my husband to a Super Bowl party with most of the Carmelitas, where they were promptly gobbled up.

Quick Note:  I have included vanilla extract as an optional ingredient.  The recipe I followed had no vanilla, but I feel it would be an excellent addition.  Also, next time I'm going to try cutting the cream back to 1/2 cup.  As amazing as the caramel is, I like my caramel to have a bit of a chewy quality and this did not.  It was perfectly gooey and thick and wonderful, I'm just really curious about how the Carmelitas would taste with less cream in the caramel!  Will update this post if/when I ever get around to making them that way.  They're quite perfect as is though so I'm not sure how much I can improve on perfection.

Carmelitas

1 1/2 C butter, melted
1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 C quick oats
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips
18 oz soft caramel candies (I used Werther's brand, the store was out of Kraft)
1 C heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.  Place the butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, oats, flour and baking soda into a medium mixing bowl and stir until combined.  Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.  Bake until the base is golden, about 15 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and top evenly with chocolate chips.

Place caramel and cream into a medium sauce pan and heat over medium, stirring frequently, until completely smooth.  Pour evenly over cookie base.  Evenly sprinkle the remaining cookie dough over the caramel and return the baking dish to the oven.  Bake until the top is golden, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Let bars cool completely (about 12 hours) before cutting, it takes quite a while for the caramel to cool down, for the cookie base to solidify properly, and for the flavors of the chocolate and caramel to meld nicely.  You can speed up the process by sticking the pan in the refrigerator, just be sure to let it sit out for about half an hour before attempting to cut up the bars.

Yield:  About 16 to 24 servings, depending on how small you cut the bars.

Cookies and Cream Cake

My husband's parents were in town for Christmas, and they love Oreos, so I decided to make this cake!  The cake itself is just the recipe from the back of the Hershey's cocoa can.  If I recall correctly, it was the first from scratch cake layer cake I ever made about 10 years ago.  It always turns out perfectly: moist, yummy, chocolaty, and stays good for several days.  Easy to make, too!  The frosting is slightly adapted from a recipe called "Cookies and Cream Brownies" on The Girl Who Ate Everything blog.  It's really, really good!  Fluffy, great flavor, and just all around amazing, especially on top of chocolate cake!  Definitely will be making this one again, and I'll add crushed Oreos to the cake batter as well.

Quick Note: I made this as a 9 by 13 cake, but think it would work fine as a layer cake.  Just pour the batter into two 9 inch pans and bake a few minutes less, just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Make the frosting after the layers have cooled, and stick the cake in the refrigerator right away so the frosting can firm up some more.

I decorated my cake with red and green sprinkles and the penguins for Christmas!

Cookies and Cream Cake

Chocolate Cake:

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C flour
3/4 C cocoa powder
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 C milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
1 C boiling water
Optional: 10 lightly crushed Oreo cookies (not completely pulverized)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 pan.  In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients.  Beat in eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically.  Bring the water to a boil and immediately beat it into the batter.  Batter will be thin.  If you're using the Oreos, stir them into the batter.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes.  Let cool completely before frosting.


Oreo Frosting:

2 sticks salted butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon milk, plus a little more if necessary
12 oz powdered sugar by weight, plus a little more if necessary
10 Oreo cookies, crushed

Place butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment until well combined, about 1 minute.  Add powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk, and beat on low until powdered sugar is incorporated.  Increase speed of mixer to medium-high and beat until frosting is very fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add more milk or powdered sugar, just a little at a time, if the frosting is too thick or thin.  Scrape down sides of mixing bowl and mix in crushed cookies.  Serve immediately or cover the cake and refrigerate a few hours- it's great either way.  Just be sure to store the cake in the refrigerator because the frosting has cream cheese in it.

Yield: Enough to very generously frost a 9 by 13 cake.

Graveyard Cake

Well, darn!  So much for sharing several Halloween recipes.  I attempted to make Candy Corn Pizza (less horrifying than it sounds, look here at Our Best Bites) but somehow or other after it baked, the mozzarella was the same color as the cheddar.  Delicious, but unimpressive and not worth blogging about.  Then I was going to make Spider Melt Sandwiches, but we ended up having pizza instead.  Then on actual Halloween night, I wasn't feeling well so didn't make my standard Mummy Fingers.  I have the ingredients for the spider sandwiches so will probably just make them anyway, and if they turn out well I will either post the recipe in a couple of days or wait until next year.  The Mummy Fingers- which somehow escaped getting posted last year, too- will wait as well.

Hopefully this awesome cake will make up somewhat for the boring and unfestive spirit on the blog!  Every Halloween, I want to make some kind of spooky dessert, and for some reason that dessert almost without fail ends up being Graveyard Cake or Graveyard Cupcakes.  I figure it's pretty much tradition now, so decided to do it again this year!  Usually I use a cake mix since it's the decorations that are the star, but this year I wanted to try something different and used the base for the Mississippi Mud Cake from the Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice blog.

Poor Reeni will probably be horrified at what I did to her cake- left off the marshmallow/ganache/coconut/pecan/cherry topping and used just melted chocolate chips and food coloring tinted canned frosting (sorry, Reeni!), but I couldn't help myself!  The cake looked so, so good and I wanted to make it immediately when I ran across the recipe a couple of weeks ago, but the only chocolate cake I was planning on making anytime soon was my traditional Halloween graveyard cake.  Sadly, chocolate ganache and those other yummy toppings do not look like a graveyard, so I had to change things up a bit.  Used just chocolate chips instead of the ganache because I wanted to safely store the cake at room temperature for a few days and ganache has cream in it, and purchased frosting simply because so far I have never, ever found a recipe for homemade vanilla frosting that I thought tasted okay (not a fan of the powdered sugar flavor).  If you decide to make this cake, though, you are more than welcome to make both the ganache from the original recipe and homemade vanilla frosting, or you can jump over to the original recipe and make a Mississippi Mud Cake the way it was intended to be made!

Justifications aside, this is a really good cake.  Reeni said her cake was dense and brownie-like, which is of course what I expected, but mine ended up being fluffy and soft and moist and perfect.  The thin layer of chocolate on top really enhanced the chocolate flavor, and the frosting just made it even better.  Next time I will definitely make the cake with the ganache and marshmallow fluff because I can only imagine it is amazing, too!  And although I was quite happy with the amount of chocolate in the cake, real chocolate lovers could even use 3/4 C cocoa.  My other favorite chocolate cake recipe (uh, the one on the box of Hershey's cocoa) uses 3/4 C cocoa for the same size cake so I don't see how it could be bad!

Update:  Amazingly, this cake stayed yummy and moist for a solid week.  Homemade cakes usually get stale really fast, but not this one!  It will be my go to chocolate cake recipe now, no more boxed mix.  The only reason I used the boxed mix anyway was because they stay good a lot longer.

Graveyard Cake

Cake:
1 C butter
1 C hot water
1/2 C cocoa
2 C sugar
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t espresso powder (optional, I didn't have this and didn't want to buy it)
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1/2 C sour cream
1 t vanilla extract

Topping:
about 1 C chocolate chips
1 jar vanilla frosting (or about 1 1/2- 2 C of your favorite vanilla frosting recipe)
green and black food coloring
Milano cookies
pumpkin shaped candy corn
about 5 Oreo cookies, pulverized in a blender

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.  Place butter in a medium bowl and microwave until melted.  Stir in hot water and cocoa powder.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking soda, optional espresso powder, and salt.  Pour in cocoa mixture and mix just until combined.  Add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract, and beat just until smooth.  Don't over mix.  Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

As soon as the cake is done, pour the chocolate chips on top.  About a cup is good, you can just eyeball it and use more if you want, but keep in mind a thick layer will be harder to stick the tombstones through!  Place cake back into oven and let the chocolate chips melt for a minute or two.  Make sure not to walk away or you risk doing horrible things to the chocolate chips!  When the chips have melted enough, they will look very shiny.  Remove the cake from the oven and do one of my all time favorite kitchen activities: Evenly spread the melted chocolate over the surface, while imagining the opening credits of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and humming "The Candy Man Can" and wonder why you don't melt chocolate chips onto things more often just so you can spread it around.  After you finish having fun, set the cake aside and let it cool completely before decorating.

To decorate, place a couple tablespoons of frosting into a small plastic bag and add a bit of black food coloring.  Squish it around to mix, snip off the very tip of a corner of the bag, and pipe "RIP" (or whatever you want) onto the cookies.  Alternatively, you could probably use more melted chocolate chips for this.  Set the cookies aside and mix the frosting with green food coloring.  Spread over cake, then use a spoon to make the frosting look like grass by touching a spoon against the surface of the frosting and pulling upwards.  Do this all over the cake.  Carefully press the tombstone cookies down through the layer of chocolate, then sprinkle Oreo crumbs in front to look like freshly turned soil.  Place candy corn pumpkins around tombstones.  Enjoy!

Yield: About 16 servings

Chocolate Ice Cream

If you love ice cream and have never had homemade, I really suggest that you invest in your very own ice cream maker.  I am honestly rather skeptical when people wax poetic about how much better homemade everything is because that often simply is not the case much for many things.  Homemade salsa?  Yum, definitely better than the jar!  Homemade bagels?  Good maybe, but difficult to make as well as a great bagel bakery, plus they take a ton of time and effort.  I'd rather leave the bagel making to the professionals.  However, ice cream is one of those things that really IS better when made at home.  As much as I love Ben and Jerry's, it doesn't compare to fresh, homemade ice cream.

When I was growing up, we had a hand crank one and every once in a while made a batch, which was of course a ton of fun for a little kid.  Then when I was in high school, Amazon.com was having a big sale on Cuisinart ice cream makers and I convinced my mom that it was time for an upgrade.  Her favorite food is ice cream so not much convincing was necessary!  I can't remember ever having a batch turn out poorly.  I made regular flavors like chocolate, but also coconut cream ice cream and kiwi sorbet.  You can even use an ice cream maker to make slushies using any liquid.  7Up with a bit of coconut extract added is my favorite!  Sadly, I hadn't made any ice cream since I moved out of my mom's house 7 years ago as she was unwilling to part with it, but my husband's parents gave us a Cuisinart ice cream maker just like the one my mom has.  Our ice cream maker is great and I highly recommend it, though there's a new model out that comes in all manner of beautiful colors.

For the first recipe in our ice cream maker, I decided to go with good ol' chocolate since my husband is a complete chocolate fiend.  I slightly altered this recipe I found on AllRecipes- added more chocolate and strained the mixture to make completely sure the finished product wouldn't have lumps- and it is just perfect.  Creamy, rich, deep flavor, and chocolaty but not overwhelmingly so.  The vanilla adds a wonderful touch.  It is quite easy to make, too, so a great recipe if you've never made ice cream before!  You can either serve it fresh from the ice cream maker, in which case the texture will be more like soft serve (which is how I prefer it!):

Or you can scoop the ice cream into a container and freeze it for a few hours until it's firmer and scoop it up then (how my husband preferred it):

Either way, you can't go wrong with this recipe!  We will definitely have it again and I am really looking forward to experimenting with new recipes.  Up next will be either cake batter ice cream (again, for my husband), cherry ice cream, ginger ice cream, or mint cookies and cream ice cream.  So many choices!

Chocolate Ice Cream

3 egg yolks
3/4 C sugar
2 T cocoa powder
1/4 t salt
1 C milk
3 oz (by weight) semisweet chocolate chips
2 C heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract

Beat egg yolks with a fork in a 1 C measuring cup, set aside.  In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.  Whisk in milk.  Heat over medium, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a simmer.  Remove from heat and quickly whisk about a tablespoon of the mixture into the beaten egg yolks.  Once incorporated, whisk in another tablespoon, then another, then start whisking in slightly large additions.  Continue until you have 3/4 C of egg yolk mixture.  Briskly whisk egg yolk mixture back into pan.  Return to stove and heat over medium low, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened- about 2 minutes.  Don't let the mixture boil.  Remove pan from heat and set aside for a minute so it can cool slightly, then whisk in the chocolate chips.  Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve and refrigerate until completely cooled, about 2 hours.  When you're ready to make the ice cream, whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla extract.  Freeze mixture according to the directions for your ice cream machine.

Yield: 6 servings

Chocolate Chip Muffins

There are two kinds of muffins: the healthy, not too sweet kind (like the wonderful bran muffins I made recently), and the kind that are basically cupcakes without frosting.  My husband loves muffins and he tends to prefer those of the cupcake variety.  Several days ago I got it into my head that I should make chocolate chip muffins.  Found a recipe on AllRecipes, whipped it up, and ta da!  Delicious muffins, and definitely the "dessert for breakfast" type that my husband likes so much.  We both really enjoyed them while they lasted, which sadly wasn't that long since the batch only makes 9.  The original recipe says to make mini muffins and I think those would be really good and cute too, but last time I sent him to work with cute food (the manatee cookies!) he kind of belly ached about it.  No complaining happened with these muffins though because they're really good and I suppose the size is adequately mannish.  They're packed with chocolate chips, as you can see, and they have a flavor like chocolate chip cookies which isn't surprising since the ingredients are the same.  They are a tad denser than your standard muffin and I doubt the batter would be particularly tasty sans chips, but it stands up nicely to the chocolate and, well, no complaints here!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2/3 C mini chocolate chips
1/4 C butter
1/2 C milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin.  In a glass measuring cup, melt butter in microwave.  Set aside to cool while you mix up the batter.  In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients, including mini chocolate chips.  Pour in slightly cooled butter (cooled so it doesn't melt the chocolate chips), then use the same measuring cup to measure the milk.  Pour that in, then crack the egg into the measuring cup and beat it until mostly smooth.  Pour into bowl with the rest of the ingredients.  Stir batter just until everything comes together, being careful not to over mix.  Spoon batter into muffin tin.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.  Good warm or room temperature.  The muffins stay nice for a few days but are best served within a day or two.

Yield: 9 muffins (or approximately 18 mini muffins according to the original recipe)

Oreo Truffles

This recipe is from Southern Plate and I first made it last year. They're super easy to make and quite tasty, my husband in particular likes them. You wouldn't think the ingredients are only Oreos and cream cheese with chocolate on the outside! I made little baggies of Oreo Truffles, Peanut Butter Truffles and Coconut Rum Balls for my husband to give his coworkers- all guys- and these Oreo Truffles in particular were a hit. They're great made dipped in either regular chocolate almond bark or white chocolate almond bark.

A few tips:

-Almond bark's other name is chocolate candy coating and it doesn't actually have almonds in it. It's basically low quality chocolate but is just fine for this type of thing. You can find it in the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips and it basically looks like a very thick chocolate bar and is scored so you can break it into pieces. The grocery store we usually go to doesn't always have it but WalMart does.
-Parchment paper is amazing. You can bake cookies (and biscuits!) on it without them sticking (even without greasing it) and truffles come off it perfectly! Buy some if you don't have it already.
-To speed things along you can put more than one truffle in the container of chocolate at a time.
-A plastic fork with the middle tines broken off is perfect for lifting the truffles out of the chocolate.
-A toothpick works great for nudging the truffle off the fork and onto the parchment paper.

Oreo Truffles

16 oz Oreo cookies
8 oz brick cream cheese at room temperature
16 oz almond bark/candy coating
chocolate sprinkles (optional but good if you're making Peanut Butter Truffles too)

Pulverize Oreos in a food processor until you have fine crumbs. Place them in the bowl of a stand mixer along with the cream cheese and beat on low until well combined. Form mixture into balls the size of walnuts and refrigerate for an hour or so. Tear off a big sheet of parchment paper and place it on your work surface glossy side up. Heat the almond bark according to the directions on the package. Place the balls in the chocolate and use a spoon to pour chocolate on top. Lift them out of the chocolate with the plastic fork and scrape the excess off on the side of the bowl/container. Place on the parchment paper and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles if you're using them. Let the chocolate set then store in a covered container in the refrigerator. They'll keep for about 2 weeks.

Yield: about 24 truffles.

Chocolate Oatmeal

For some reason my husband associates Halloween with oatmeal. I don't know where the association comes from since he says he didn't usually have it for breakfast on Halloween when he was a kid or anything, but that's okay! I'm willing to roll with it. When he told me he wanted oatmeal for breakfast on Halloween last year I was happy to oblige and found this chocolate oatmeal recipe. I've changed it a bit (surprise!) and we love it. You could also add a touch of cinnamon or top individual bowls with mini marshmallows if you want.


Chocolate Oatmeal

2 C water
1/2 C milk
1 C old fashioned oats
1/4 t salt
1/2 C brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 C chocolate chips

optional: whipped cream and chocolate chips for garnish

Bring the water and milk to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Stir in oats and salt and simmer, stirring frequently, until oats are cooked and thickened (3-5 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. If desired, spoon the oatmeal into bowls and top with whipped cream ghosts with chocolate chips for eyes.

Yield: 4 servings

Fudge Icing

For a teaching with technology class I'm in I had to create a survey for my classmates to fill out. Unsurprisingly, I picked desserts for my topic and promised to bring in the class's favorite dessert. The options were cookies, ice cream, cupcakes, pie and brownies. Then they were to pick their favorite type of each dessert (ex: peanut butter cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookes, etc). Brownies ended up winning (I was the only one who picked cupcakes!) and fudge iced brownies were the preferred type of brownie, so that's what I brought in to class today!

To be honest, I just used a big box of brownie mix for the brownies. It's the one baked good that to me without fail tastes better from a box than homemade. I did make this delicious fudge icing myself though, from this recipe. It's perfect! Easy to make, delicious, soft but not runny, creamy, glossy, chocolaty... YUM! The recipe says it's for brownies and it was perfect on them, but I think it would also be great on a cake baked in a 9 by 13 pan. I don't suggest trying to use it for a layer cake though because it's really runny at first and you'd probably either end up with a big mess or icing that's set up too much to spread.

Quick Note: Boil the icing for exactly 30 seconds and start counting once the mixture has reached a rolling boil. If you start earlier it will be too soft. Also be sure to pour it over the brownies or cake right after you take it out of the oven because some reviewers complained about the icing separating from the brownies or cake otherwise.

Sorry about the ugly picture, there weren't a lot of brownie survivors left to photograph. They went over quite well with my class and several other students and the teacher brought in cookies when they heard I was bringing brownies.


Fudge Icing

1 1/2 C sugar
6 T butter
6 T milk
1 C chocolate chips
1 t vanilla extract

Combine sugar, butter and milk in a small sauce pan and heat over medium-high, stirring with a wooden spoon frequently at first and constantly once it starts to simmer. Once the mixture comes to a rolling boil, let it cook for exactly 30 seconds while you stir. Remove from the heat, let it cool until it stops boiling, then stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour over still piping hot 9 by 13 pan of brownies or cake and spread to cover. Let set for several hours before serving.

Yield: Depends on how big you like your brownies or cake!