Chocolate

Spring Nest Cookies with Chocolate Eggs
April 11th, 2012
I’m not too into froof when it comes to baking, but even I said “awww” when I made these sugar cookie nests.

Flashback to a year ago when wandering aimlessly through Williams Sonoma- I stumbled upon a book called “The Art of the Cookie” with pictures of these- and knew I had to purchase the potato ricer required to push the cookie dough through to get the funky little nest-like pieces. (Basically a play-doh tool for grown ups.) So I have had the potato ricer in the cupboard for a year now (which makes dramatically better mashed potatoes, by the way), the time had come to make the nests. It’s spring, and Cadbury Mini Eggs are everywhere. They deserve a home, resting securely in a sugar cookie nest with the help of a simple icing. And these cookies deserve a home, too… in your mouth, hungry baker.
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Chocolate Mocha Cake with Fudgy Frosting
April 7th, 2012
Be prepared to swoon, chocolate lover.

This is the chocolate cake recipe that you will adopt as your own, so you might as well print it out right now and laminate it. You’ll bake this cake for your own birthday parties (tacky, but worth it), you’ll start eating it for breakfast (if you happen to have a piece left over in the morning), and you’ll find yourself craving it in the middle of the night when you get up to go to the bathroom (explaining why you might not have any left for breakfast).

This is the chocolate cake that’s decadently dense and rich- so much so that I was told “I love these brownies!” when serving last week (don’t get me started on brownies- I am forever married to the World’s Greatest Fudge Brownie recipe and can’t fathom a cakey brownie as an acceptable dessert experience). And how appropriate is it to slather a fudgy cake with an even fudgier icing- one that literally pours over the cake in a strangely seductive fashion? Oh, it’s appropriate, and it’s happening in this recipe.
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Cocodamia Nut White Chocolate Bars
April 5th, 2012
I know there’s no such word as ‘cocodamia’, but work with me here. Coconut & macadamia got together and had a love child, who then hooked up with white chocolate. And these bars were born, in the tropics.

You’re basically going to take the recipe for Coconut Macaroons and stir in the nuts and chocolate. Throw it into a pan, bake it, and call it a day (after eating your share and then some). Another day’s hard work in the kitchen.
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Impossibly Healthy Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Chunks
March 25th, 2012
I grew up loving banana bread, and had no idea the Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe my Mom used was a virtually fat-free one until finding the recipe online last year. (I have distinct memories of spreading gratuitous amounts of margarine on the bread– negating the whole fat-free thing, of course. Not that I cared about fat when I was nine years old.) (And yes, we used margarine. But my Mom also smoked a pack a day when she was pregnant and so we can chalk that and the margarine thing up to “they didn’t know better back then”.)

I stumbled upon my own Official Favorite Banana Bread Recipe around 1999 and have been almost faithful to it ever since. (I found a fluffy chocolate banana muffin recipe that caused my eye to wander last year, but it was a short-lived affair.)
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Rum Balls 3 Ways: Rum & Raisin, Mango & Coconut, Double Chocolate
March 17th, 2012
I have said this before, but I think that the marriage of sweets and alcohol is a wonderful thing.
Any opportunity to combine two vices seems like a recipe for fun… and in the grand scheme of things, adding rum to a little dessert ball isn’t all that evil. (Eating 35 out of the 40 balls might be bad, but even still- you won’t get drunk off these with only 2 ounces of rum in the whole batch. Sorry to disappoint you, if a rum ball buzz was what you were after.)

Take your pick of the three variations below… or do what I do- make all three and then figure out what to do with them. (Won’t be a tough problem to solve.)
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Bailey’s Irish Cream Fudge Brownies
March 11th, 2012
So here’s how this one is going to go down- take the World’s Best Fudge Brownies (your staple brownie, your go-to, your bingeworthy crutch of a recipe) and make it suitable for St. Patrick by adding Irish Cream in three separate stages:

1. In the batter- naturally. That one was obvious.

2. Brushed over the brownie just before taking it out of the oven… so it seeps in and infuses the crust with its Irish Creamy goodness.

3. In a glaze drizzled over the top of the finished and cooled fudgy splendor of a dessert.

Despite the triple threat of Irish Cream, it’s strangely not overwhelming. Some might say they don’t even recognize the flavor- they’ll just wonder why the brownies are so darned good. In a St. Patty’s kind of way. Cheers…
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Healthy Almond Butter & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
February 22nd, 2012
When I say “Healthy”, I’m not messing around.

These Healthy Almond Butter & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies are a serious departure from the More Sweets, Please mantra (something along the lines of More is Better, the Sweeter the Better, etc.), and they differ wildly from my general respect for all things decadent and ooey and gooey and bingeworthy (read: not “good” for you).
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4 Ways to Celebrate National Chocolate Mint Day
February 19th, 2012
I’m not being a goofball- it actually, really, honestly is National Chocolate Mint Day.
February 19th… forever mark your calendars with this auspicious anniversary. And try a few of the mint chocolate gems below: Chocolate Mint Bark, Decadent Mint Chocolate Truffles, Mint Chocolate Fudge Brownies, and a martini known as the Boozy Chocolate Minitini. (Mint + chocolate + alcohol… I’ll cheers to that.)
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Bittersweet Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
February 15th, 2012
If the idea of a fudgy, creamy, almost-inch-thick layer of bittersweet chocolate makes you feel funny inside (in that good way), then try to imagine this lovely layer sandwiched between what is essentially a buttery, crumbly, oatmeal cookie. The cookie knows enough in this recipe to yield to the beauty of the bittersweetness- it takes a tasty yet restrained backseat to the almost intimidating layer of chocolate.

Makes your heart race, doesn’t it?
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Mocha Cinnamon Mini Bundt Cakes
February 11th, 2012
Some people are a bit weirded out by the melody of chocolate and cinnamon, but most people are intoxicated by it. Don’t hesitate to try it, especially if you’re a chocolate lover. A little cinnamon never hurt anyone- and as its proponents would suggest, it does wonders when combined with the magical duo of chocolate and coffee. It’s the crazy threesome of the baking world.
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Healthy Ginger Chocolate Biscotti
February 4th, 2012
Biscotti is one of those strange desserts to me. People gobble them up, and it might be because they think they’re healthy (maybe things that are crispy seem healthier, compared to their sinfully gooey cousins?). The evil truth of it all is that biscotti is usually just as decadent as chocolate chip cookies- just disguised as a dried out stick looking for a cup of coffee to dunk itself into to come to life.

Good news, though, sinner! This version of a dark chocolate biscotti is one you don’t have to feel piggish about. Eat ’em up, and know that you’ve taken in some whole wheat and flaxy goodness… not to mention an almost-absence of fatty fat fat. The chocolate keeps the biscotti respectable in the dessert department, and the ginger, well. The ginger takes it to a whole new level.
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World’s Greatest Fudge Brownies
February 1st, 2012
It’s a big world out there. Stop the search- you’ve found The Bingeworthy Brownie.

This is the brownie you’ve been waiting for.

It’s fudgy, chewy, rich, dense, and sweet (but not cloyingly so, despite an admittedly profane amount of sugar).
Although the epitome if what a fudgy brownie should be (ooey and gooey without sticking to the teeth), it’s still somehow appealing to the “I prefer a cakier brownie” type. (More Sweets Please rule of thumb- if you like a totally cakey brownie, you don’t like brownies. You like chocolate cake. Which is okay, but you must know that a fluffy brownie is a blasphemous brownie.)
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Mint Chocolate Fudge Brownies
January 26th, 2012
This one is obvious.

You take a proven winner (the World’s Best Fudge Brownie) and stuff it with something mint-tastic.

In this case, Ghiradelli’s Dark Chocolate & Mint Filled Bar fits the bill. In moments of laziness I have thrown a box of Junior Mints into the batter instead of taking the extra four minutes to layer the bar into the brownie batter, but you won’t get a layered surface of minty wonder (like in the picture off to the right- see that mint pocket? Does that excite you as much as it does me?) unless you use the bar. So read up and see how it goes.
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Fudgy Orange Brownie Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing
January 20th, 2012
Planning a dinner party? Maybe a party of one (that being you)? Then you’ve found the dessert to serve.

Chocolate and orange have been romantically involved for years, so it’s time to forge your own relationship with the two flavors. Take this oranged-up adaptation of the World’s Best Fudge Brownie and toss it into a cake pan… slather some orange cream cheese icing on top and watch the sparks fly.

Oh- please note my newest serendipitous technique, as made evident in the photo. See where the icing snuck into the cake in an odd but strangely appealing way? Yeah well, keep reading and learn the trick of the More Sweets, Please trade :).
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Cracker Choco-Toffee Brittle
January 17th, 2012
This one amazes me.

I like to think that the most popular desserts are the ones that you have to work hard for, but I’m amazed every holiday season when I make this pantry standby. People go nuts for this easy-to-make dessert (seriously- they are just about as easy to make as Rice Crispy treats- another shocking crowd-pleaser), so who am I to argue with an easy recipe? Easy + loved by all = More Sweets, Please favorite.

(Oh, and give the recipe a shake up this year like I did… use a crumbled cookie as the base instead of a Saltine. It screws up the name of the dessert, but I can overlook that.)
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Rich Chocolate Pudding
January 16th, 2012
I feel guilty about this dessert in general.
Not because it’s rich and chocolatey (no guilt to be had there, folks), but because it’s really easy to make and I want people to think I toiled for them. If remembering to whisk every once in a while and deciding between what kind of chocolate to use is up your alley of complexity, get cracking on this one.
(I also feel guilty because I gave the Husband one serving and portioned the rest off for the neighbors. You might choose to be more generous to your own family.)
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Magic Gooey Cookie Bars
January 15th, 2012
I’m a little bit embarrassed to post this recipe, but screw it.

Maybe I’m a teeny bit snobby when it comes to desserts (something I don’t work at being, but when you learn the merits of baking things from scratch… it happens?). I was raised on (glorious) birthday cakes that my Mom taught me how to make from an early age. Her inspirations were Betty Crocker & Duncan Hines- so clearly I wasn’t brought up to be a sweets snob. As much as I think the right thing to do these days is to bake a cake with an old-school recipe from a grandmother, let’s be honest- Betty & Duncan have their s*@t together.
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Chocolate Peppermint Patties
January 6th, 2012
Chocolate and mint have been having a sizzling affair on the well-known couple known as chocolate and caramel. Make these patties and find out why.

(Oh- as for the peppermint oil in the recipe- you’ll want to order it online like I had to, since peppermint extract won’t do the trick to get that rich, cool feeling in the mouth…)
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