Brownies. Really Good Ones.

Do you ever have those days when you just NEED brownies? I do. They don't happen very often, but when they do, brownies are pretty much all I can think about until I have some of my own. This week, I had one of those days.

On the weekend, I had seen an episode of America's Test Kitchen that started with an experiment--a head-to-head blind taste test comparing homemade brownies to the kind you make from a box. The box brownies won by a landslide. I was inclined to agree. I was raised on box brownies--my grandma used to make them and then cover them with chocolate frosting (and she would sometimes let me have a brownie for breakfast... if mom wasn't around), and no matter how much I want to stop using mixes, I was pretty sure the grandma brownie standard would never be met with real ingredients. I've tried various brownie recipes before, and while they all have awesome chocolate flavor, the texture tends to be lacking--dry, crumbly, and nothing like you get from the box stuff. Turns out the Test Kitchen folks came to a similar conclusion, and were determined to come up with a recipe that would rival the mix. My mind was sufficiently blown as I watched this play out, so I knew it wouldn't be too long before I tried the recipe myself. Four days later, I had a giant pan of these in my kitchen.

I'll go ahead and call myself a fairly well qualified brownie tester. These did NOT disappoint. So much so that my good intentions of sharing were shattered after the second bite.

This recipe is very easy to throw together, and if you have a moderately well-stocked kitchen, you probably have all the ingredients already (which is VERY handy when you're snowed in, I might add...). The real challenge--believe me--is waiting TWO AND A HALF HOURS for them to cool completely. That was torturous, but worth it in the long run. I cut all the brownies into reasonable portions before packing them away. If brownies are your weakness, I would strongly recommend doing so--if I hadn't, I'd be passing a quarter of the pan off as "one brownie".

Better-than-Boxed Brownies

-1/3 c. Dutch processed cocoa powder
-1 1/2 t. espresso powder
-5 oz. boiling water
-2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
-4 T. unsalted butter, melted
-5. oz. vegetable oil
-2 large eggs
-2 large egg yolks
-2 t. vanilla extract
-2 1/2 c. sugar
-1 3/4 c. flour
-3/4 t. salt
-3-6 oz. bittersweet chocolate pieces or chips (I used ~3 oz. of chips)

1. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and espresso powder. Add the boiling water and whisk, then add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted.
2. Add in the melted butter, oil, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla, whisking after each addition until the mixture is smooth.
3. Whisk in the sugar until smooth, then fold in the flour and salt with a spatula until combined. Add in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour batter into a 13"x9" baking dish that has been lined with aluminum foil slings and coated with non-stick spray. Bake on the bottom rack at 350* for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached.
5. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 90 minutes. Use the foil sling to lift the brownies out of the pan, and let rest on the rack for an additional hour, until completely cool.


I was ready to go at this with a spoon.


Giant brownie or tiny plate? You'll never know...

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes

In the fall and winter, I have a tendency to want to add spice to everything. So instead of a regular chocolate cake recipe, I opted for this chocolate spice cake recipe. I coupled it with a chocolate cinnamon buttercream frosting, and I was totally in love.

This recipe makes a weird batter, but the texture of this cake is unbelievable. The molasses flavor really jumped out--I ended up using organic molasses for these, and it seems to have a stronger flavor than the kind I normally buy; I'd be interested to try this again with the "normal" kind too, just for the sake of comparing. Either way, I don't think these will disappoint.

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes
-5 T. softened butter
-1/4 c. Dutch process cocoa powder
-1 t. baking soda
-2/3 c. boiling water
-1 1/4 c. flour
-1/4 t. salt
-1 t. ginger
-1 t. cinnamon
-1/4 t. nutmeg
-1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
-1 egg, room temperature
-2/3 c. molasses

1. Add baking soda to the boiling water. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and spices.
2. Beat together butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in the egg. Add molasses and hot water.
3. Gradually add in the flour mixture until well combined.
4. Divide batter among 12 lined baking cups. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes, rotating tin halfway through.

Chocolate-Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
-1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
-1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
-3/4 c. cinnamon
-1/8 c. milk
-1/4 c. butter, softened

1. Combine sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. Add in butter and milk. (Adjust the consistency with more sugar or more milk, as needed.)

Welcoming Spring! (...with Devil's Food Cupcakes)

I'm back again, after another long hiatus--same excuses as last time! This semester has been something else. Until June, the once-monthly post explosions are probably going to be the norm.

Last month, some friends hosted a cook-off. That night I became wildly impressed by the culinary abilities of the people in my department! Anyway, my contribution was a dessert (what else?)--it was early March then, so I may have been jumping the gun a bit, but I was eager to welcome spring. That inspired the butterfly cupcake project! I knew I wanted to try the Swiss Meringue Buttercream again, but I was feeling pretty indecisive about the cake, so I ended up with some Devil's food, some yellow, and a handful of marble cupcakes.

This was an interesting experiment for me--the Devil's food and yellow cake recipes were from two different sources, but were almost identical in terms of ingredients and process, so I assumed they'd be fairly similar with respect to texture. Wrong. They were about as different as possible. Both tasted good, but the Devil's food had a beautiful crumb, and the yellow... less so. I'll probably try it again (perhaps when I'm not making two batters in tandem?), but for now we'll stick with the chocolate.

Devil's Food Cupcakes
-1 1/2 c. cake flour
-1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
-1 t. baking soda
-1 t. baking powder
-1 t. salt
-3/4 c. Dutch-process cocoa powder
-3/4 c. hot water
-1 1/2 c. unsalted butter
-2 1/4 c. sugar
-4 eggs
-1 T. vanilla extract
-1 c. sour cream

1. Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine hot water and cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.
2. Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan, stirring. Remove from heat, pour into a mixing bowl, and beat for 4-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and cocoa mixture.
3. Alternate additions of flour mixture and sour cream; beat just until combined.
4. Divide into lined cups. Bake for 20 minutes at 350* F, rotating tins halfway through.

Hard to tell in this photo, but the Devil's food baked really beautifully--see how nicely they domed? And the yellow cakes were kind of flat.

Buttercream. A weakness of mine.

Some chocolate and candy butterflies (which took shockingly long to make--I wanted to document the process, but that would have required about 18 more hands). Also, I was going for more of a yellow frosting color; something weird happened there, but I think it still worked.

Happy spring!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Another muffin! For the record, I've actually tried other muffin recipes lately that don't involve chocolate; I just don't have photographic evidence of those...

This recipe was very quick and easy, but I wasn't terribly enamored with the final product. They were a little dense and dry. If I try them again, I think I'll lower the baking temperature after the first 10 minutes. Still good for a chocolate fix, though, and they looked nice!

Chocolate Chip Muffins
-2 eggs
-1/2 c. granulated sugar
-1/2 c. light brown sugar
-1/2 c. vegetable oil
-1 t. vanilla
-1/2 c. sour cream
-2 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Add in oil, vanilla, and sour cream.
2. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Spoon into lined cups. Bake at 400* for 20 minutes. (Perhaps 400* for 10 minutes, and 360* for 10 minutes.)

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

I've been on a bit of a muffin kick for the last couple of weeks. Of the handful of recipes I've tried, this was by far my favorite. They rise quite nicely, and the coffee flavor was perfect. I think they would have been good even without the chocolate chips, but they were an added bonus!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins
-2 c. flour
-1 1/8 c. granulated sugar
-2 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 c. butter
-2 t. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch-process)
-2 packets Starbucks Via*, or 2 T. espresso powder
-2 eggs
-2/3 c. milk
-1 t. vanilla
-1 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Melt the butter, and mix in cocoa powder and coffee. Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
2. Whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add the butter mixture and the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
3. Spoon batter into lined cups. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes
(*I used the Starbucks Via this time; it's great for baking!)

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Back again with a handful of posts! The semester is nearing its end, and finals are in full force. I'm taking a bit of a break from paper-writing now to offer a few more recipes....

I saw the recipe for these in a magazine while at home for Thanksgiving, and they looked too good to pass up. The recipe calls for a full pound of chocolate, so needless to say, they're rich. Next time I make them, I think I'll add in some more cranberries--their tartness contrasted with the sweetness very nicely.

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
-16 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used chocolate chips; they worked well too)
-1 c. flour
-3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
-3/4 c. sugar
-1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
-2 large eggs
-1 t. vanilla
-1/2 c. dried cranberries

1. Melt 10 oz. of the chocolate over simmering water, or in the microwave on low power. Let it cool slightly.
2. Mix together dry ingredients, set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugars. Add in eggs and vanilla. Stir in melted chocolate--make sure it isn't too warm.
4. Add in the flour mixture. Stir in remaining 6 oz. of chocolate and the cranberries.
5. Drop heaping tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet.
6. Bake at 350* for 15-17 minutes.

(Low-Sugar) Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm back with more chocolate chips! This is a recipe that mom discovered a few years ago, and it turned out to be a big hit with Gib, so we had these with some regularity. Ordinarily I make the full-sugar variety, but I had a craving for these a few weeks ago--they're a little bit lighter, and the recipe is fantastically simple.

[I'll add in the recipe in a few days; I don't have it handy at the moment.]

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

During the summer, my mom brought one of these cookies home from work. They're delicious and filling, and with the oats and the cranberries they almost feel healthy! After a few bites, I was determined to find a recipe that would help me recreate them. This is what I ended up with.

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
-1 1/2 c. flour
-1 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. salt
-1 t. cinnamon
-1 c. softened butter
-3/4 c. sugar
-3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
-2 large eggs
-1 t. vanilla extract
-3 c. oats
-1 1/2 c. dried cranberries
-1 1/4 c. chocolate chips

1. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
2. Beat butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl.
3. Add in flour mixture. Stir in oats, cranberries, and chocolate chips.
4. Drop onto ungreased baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

After a two week hiatus, I'm back in the kitchen. And a busy two weeks it's been--preparing for Blake's visit, a wonderful long weekend, a bit of a head cold, and the beginning of midterms! There were about a half-dozen different recipes I had been planning to try in that period, so now that I have a little bit of free time, I'm hoping to squeeze in as much baking as possible.

First up--and not on the list of planned experimenting--banana chocolate chip muffins. Why? A few very ripe bananas left over, and some new silicone baking cups to try (the Silpats inspired a craze, I suspect)!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
-1 1/2 c. flour
-2/3 c. sugar
-1 1/2 t. baking powder
-1/4 t. salt
-1 c. mashed ripe banana (~2 large bananas)
-1 large egg
-1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
-1/4 c. milk
-3/4 c. chocolate chips

1. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. In smaller bowl, mix banana, egg, melted butter, and milk.
3. Stir wet ingredients into flour mixture until combined. Add in chocolate chips.
4. Pour into muffin cups. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes, until golden on top.
(yield: 12-15, depending on size of muffin cups used)

The bananas that I was persuaded to keep...

The new silicone baking cups (yes, red to match the kitchen).

Yet another silicone success!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, it's mid-week, so by this afternoon I had gone about as long as I could without clocking some more kitchen time. It's fall, and there's no debating--it's time for pumpkins and spice. So, add some chocolate to those things, and you've got a pretty phenomenal cookie. I first tried these a few years ago, when Jaime brought some to the lab--fell in love, found a recipe, and the rest was history.

First of all, I need to introduce the newest addition to my kitchen--the "Hand-Stand Mixer". A smaller (less expensive!) version of a stand mixer that packs a lot of punch, and that can be used as a hand mixer too. Bonus! This came to live with me earlier this month, and we have quickly bonded. Here it is, all shiny, and in action...

And the final product... I have every intention of sharing these with classmates tomorrow, but by morning I may have changed my mind?

Former Favorites: Vegetable Garden Cupcakes

Having had a few baking successes within the last several months, I decided to go ahead and document them here. (In other words, if I can't be in the kitchen tonight, I can at least take a little time off from homework to add a post or two... right?)

First up are the vegetable garden cupcakes. These were my project for my mom's birthday this summer, and I couldn't imagine a better way to make chocolate cake and chocolate frosting more "healthy". Inspiration goes back more than a decade to a vegetable garden cake that Martha Stewart featured on her show--as I recall, it was the cake that mom and I made for my 9th (or 10th?) birthday. The original recipe called for marzipan vegetables--our attempts with that failed, so we used frosting (meticulously piped by mom). For the cupcakes all these years later, I decided to play around with fondant. Decidedly fun!