Milestones and chocolate cake...

My son turned eighteen today.

EIGHTEEN.

Wait.. what?

Yeah, you read that right.  Eighteen.

Half my age  -_-

We went out to dinner and had an excellent meal at a nice little Italian place by my office and I was nice enough not to embarrass him with the waitstaff singing happy birthday and making a scene.

I asked him earlier in the week what kind of cake he wanted and he requested a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.  I have an excellent chocolate cake recipe that I've been using that is the moistest, most decadent chocolate cake not to mention comes together quickly and bakes up without a hitch every time.

I made the cake when I got home last night, split it this morning, filled it with ice cream, wrapped it in plastic wrap and set it back in the springform pan this morning and took it out when we got home from dinner.  He's got a few friends who got here a little later than expected so while they're watching TV I had to put the cake back in the freezer.

While the cake firms back up I decided to sit here and share the recipe with y'all :)

Super moist dark chocolate cake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Instructions:

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.

 Beat with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.

 Remove mixer; stir in boiling water by hand.

 Pour the thin batter into a greased and floured 13x9x2-inch baking pan or two greased 9-inch layer cake pans or three greased 8-inch layer cake pans.

Bake at 350° for about 35 minutes for a rectangular cake or 30 to 35 minutes for layers. A wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center should come out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan on rack then remove from pan and cool completely.

Frost as desired.

Lulu’s Italian-American Bakery, Fresh Meadows, NY

Lulu’s Italian-American Bakery, Fresh Meadows, NY

Hot Damn! Lulu’s is one of the best bake shops around hands down.

I happened by a car show at one of the local high schools on my way to the grocery store on Sunday and they had some stands and whatnot and I saw cupcakes.. So naturally I had to just stop and see what the deal was and I was excited for 2 main reasons: 1. The cupcakes were not left out in the open for flies and bees to buzz around and land on (FYI, if your food is left out in the open, uncovered, you will not get any business from me) they were in a small display case and 2. all the cookies and other goodies were lovingly wrapped in little baggies tied with ribbon with a sticker from the shop on them.

The Kid got an Oreo cupcake and I got 2 (HUGE) rainbow cookies in a little plastic bag That cupcake never had a chance.. By the time we got to the car and the kid sat down that cupcake was devoured, followed by “Mom, that was the best cupcake you’ve ever bought!” I had a little more restrain, and waited until we got home to have one of the cookies.. And Holy Cow.. Wow, absolutely amazingly unbelievable, hands down the absolute moistest rainbow cookies that I’ve ever had in my life. They were sooo good. I still have one in the fridge.. At least, I think it’s still there unless the kid got his grubby little hands on it and didn’t tell me. Shoot, now I’m gonna have to go and check when I get home. Everything was $2 which was awesome.. Which also means that I will definitely have to find my way over to Lulu’s one of these days no matter what kind of hike it is for me to get there. I would drive 2 hours just to get some of those rainbow cookies!

***I just realized that their web site isn't quite up and running yet.. I'll be sure to let y'all know when it does though :o)

my first bloggerversary cake

My first bloggerversary cake was actually supposed to be Brownies.. But Damn this recipe was one big fat lie!

They were *good* they/it was nothing like what I expected though. I've made cola cupcakes a hundred times over the years and I've been craving some cherry coke brownies, with chunks of cherries in them and all, so when I found this recipe I was hoping this was exactly what I was looking for.. turns out, it wasn't. it wasn't dense and fudgy, but light and airy and not nearly chocolaty enough.

Here is the recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup Coca-Cola *I used Cherry Coke
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 Eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup candied cherries

Sift together flour and sugar. Heat butter, cocoa and Coca Cola to boiling point; pour over sugar mixture. Mix butter milk, eggs, baking soda, marshmallows and vanilla and add to mixture. Mix well. Batter will be thin. Pour into a greased and floured 13x9-inch pan and bake 30 minutes.

This recipe called for a frosting that used 1 cup of margarine and A WHOLE BOX of powdered sugar.. I didn't go there.. that is like a diabetic coma waiting to happen. (and I do not use margarine, eww!)

If you're interested in the original recipe you can find it here.

I wasn't impressed.. but I still have 4 weeks to get it right.

Wanna Win some CHOCOLATE????

A few weeks ago I got a survey in my email from Cowgirl Chocolates so I filled out my survey and then went about my day.. well, just the other day in the mail I got a small package from the Lovely Marilyn at Cowgirl chocolates as a thank you for filling out the survey.

And now.. I am going to share these lovely, delicious chocolates with one lucky reader. You don't have to do anything special.. just drop me a comment and make sure that I'm able to reach you via email through your comment. Ends Sunday 3/15.

Cowgirl chocolates are chocolate with a kick, they're smooth and delicious and if I could I would eat 'em all myself.. BUT.. I'm allergic. It wasn't until I had my first taste of cowgirl chocolates that I discovered it, but I have a cayenne pepper allergy and that is one of the key ingredients that give the chocolates their kick.

Well... my loss is your gain. If you haven't tried Cowgirl chocolates here's your chance, and if you're already a fan, here's a chance to score some for free

I'm SO over winter already..

I don't want to deal with anymore days below 20°, I don't want to look at any more snow (or have to trudge through it!), I'm tired of wearing 3 layers every day.. I've had enough already.. If I could I would pack up and move to Hawaii tomorrow.. Ahh, sunny beaches, no days under 80°... but I digress..

Since this winter is getting me down (I mean, come on People.. it was about 13° Friday, 17° on Saturday, Sunday and Monday it hovered around 30° and snowed all day!) the walk to school this morning was less than delightful since people don't seem to understand the concept of shoveling the sidewalk in front of their houses and putting salt or sand or something down so people don't slip and fall in front of their houses, I nearly kissed the ice 4 times this morning on my way.. sheesh!

Well, tonight after I was cleaning up after dinner (The most amazing turkey burgers) I decided I wanted some thick, rich hot cocoa.. so into my trusty recipe binder I went to search my old faithful recipe, because what's better to warm your belly and make you smile than a good cup of hot cocoa?

Decadent Thick Rich Cocoa

Ingredients:

4 Tbs. cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbs. cornstarch
4 cups Milk

Directions:

1. Mix cocoa powder, sugar and cornstarch until combined
2. Pour milk into saucepan
3. Whisk cocoa mixture into milk
4. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until it has reached your desired thickness.
5. Enjoy :)

I add some mini marshmallows to my cup before I pour in the cocoa and then they're nice and melty at the top :)

Chocolate-Caramel Bars

I made these on New Years day with my best friend Patty and OMG are they absolutely amazing! I actually just finished my last one yesterday.. Gotta make more! Yea, they're really that good. We deviated a little bit from the recipe, I'll tell ya where, but what we got were these great, gooey really decadent cookie bars.

Chocolate-Caramel Bars

Ingredients:

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
2 Cups coarsely chopped Pecans (we used walnuts)
1 Cup Flaked coconut (Oops, I forgot the coconut when we went to the supermarket, lol)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
20 vanilla caramels
2 Tbs. Milk
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°f. For crust, in a medium bowl stir together flour and brown sugar. Cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Press flour mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle coconut and nuts over the partially baked crust

2. Sprinkle coconut and nuts over partially baked crust. In a small bowl stir together sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, pour over coconut and nuts. Bake for 25-30 minutes more or until set. (Now, this is where we deviated because, since it was New years day we had other stuff cooking in the oven and being impatient people we wanted the cookies NOW, but had to wait.. so we poured the condensed milk/vanilla mixture over the crust.. and then had to let it sit because the oven was occupied, this resulted in the cookie crust becoming totally soaked by the sticky sweetness of the condensed milk leaving us with very sticky cookies, lol.) Let stand in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes

3. In a small saucepan combine caramels and milk. Heat and stir over medium-low heat just until caramels melt (be very careful here, molten caramels will give you a nasty burn!) Drizzle caramel mixture over baked mixture. Sprinkle top with chocolate chips. Cool completely and cut into bars.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

I'm a sucker to try any recipe that catches my eye, and this one really caught mine while I was cruising foodgawker last night.. Man, oh man I can't even begin to tell you how amazing these cookies are, you're gonna have to just try them out for yourself (unless you're close enough to me, then you can come on over and try one yourself)

The post is from Erin Cooks
and I could go on and on about these cookies, but I'm gonna just cut to the chase..

Here's the recipe, straight from Erin's page:

Really, you've gotta try it!

Chocolate Chip Amish Puff Cookies
Originally Published In: A Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu
Yield: About 2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon (Note: I only used one teaspoon in this step)

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until combined.

Add the flour mixture, and mix on low speed just until combined.

Cover dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Combine cinnamon and sugar in a bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line several cookies sheets with parchment paper (Note: I use silpats).

Roll tablespoon-sized balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on cookie sheets about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown. Cool cookie sheets on wire racks.

They are OHMYGOD Amazingly good.

My Ultimate Brownies

I've been using this recipe for a few years now, they come together quickly and you can mix just about anything into the batter. This recipe is courtesy of Karen=^..^= from RecipeZaar and these are without a doubt the best (not to mention easiest) brownies... Ever! I added a whole cup of Hershey's Bliss chocolate pieces (which made them so intensely chocolate it was a little too much) A nice big dollop of fresh vanilla bean whipped cream and it was the perfect dessert.


Whatever floats your boat brownies

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT
1-2 cup chocolate chips (semisweet, white, butterscotch, peanut butter) or raisin or chopped maraschino cherry or chopped nuts or M&M' or or miniature marshmallow

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease an 8 inch square pan or line with foil.

In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved.

Add sugar and mix well.

Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined.

Stir in vanilla, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not overmix).

Fold in "WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT"!

Spread in pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.




Just look at that Chocolatey deliciousness



For double recipe, bake in 9x12 pan and add 5 minutes to baking time. This recipe doubles perfectly, I've made it quite a few times for class parties and bake sales :)