Chocolate Sheet Cake and Chocolate Frosting

My baby boy turned 6 years old this past week! Six!!!! I can hardly believe it! (Okay, I'll stop with the exclamations.)

We had a small family party with one of the boy's favorite dinners (spaghetti and meat sauce) and I had him help make and decorate this cake as his official birthday cake. He loves helping me bake, and he was so excited to decorate his cake all by himself. The Pioneer Woman website describes this cake as "the best chocolate sheet cake ever" and I agree. It was the BEST chocolate sheet cake ever. Moreover, it made a huge cake so we had a lot of leftovers. When this moist, delicious, chocolaty wonder-dessert was stored in the fridge the texture turned into the consistency of a cake brownie. YUM! It was seriously like have both cake and brownies from one recipe. Awesome!

Chocolate Sheet Cake and Chocolate Frosting
From: The Pioneer Woman website

Ingredients:
FOR THE CAKE:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa (I used dark chocolate cocoa powder)
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
1/2 cup Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla
_____
FOR FROSTING:
1/2 cup Finely Chopped Pecans
1-3/4 stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa (I used dark chocolate cocoa powder)
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Directions:
Note: I use an 18x13 sheet cake pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Cut into squares, eat, and enjoy!

(Here is the cake with just the pecan-chocolate frosting.)

(We topped our cake with candy and sprinkles and toys; just to make it more birthday-appropriate.)

(Here is the boy posing by his cake masterpiece. Notice the spot of chocolate on his chin...)

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I brought dinner to a friend last night, and decided to bake some cookies to go along with their meal. I have the allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner app on my iPhone, so I did a search for cookies and came up with these beauties. I had everything on hand, so I didn't even need to take an extra trip to the store (I love it when that happens). Of course, we saved some cookies for ourselves and they were a big hit with my family. Really, there is so much chocolate...what is not to love!?!?!?!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted From: allrecipes.com; Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies I by Kathy

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup of shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.In large bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

The Result:
These cookies are definitely not to be considered as "health food", but they're oh sooooo good. They are really decadent and rich and chocolaty and yummy. Ohhhh, coooookies!

Nutella Caramel Hazelnut Brownies

I am not much of a dessert person, but I recently made these brownies and found them to be decidedly decadent. They were sooooo ooey, gooey, chocolaty and rich! If you want to spoil yourself, these brownies would be a good place to start.

Nutella Caramel Hazelnut Brownies

I think I am going to go eat the last one right now...

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie (CEiMB)

I spied this dessert on my Craving Ellie in My Belly group website, and my first reaction was raised eyebrows. Healthy chocolate pie does not compute. It seems very incongruent...sort of like someone being just "a little pregnant". Dubious. Very dubious.

I set my doubts aside and decided to try it. My friend, Jenny's birthday party is tomorrow and I need to bring something, anyway. This pie will fit that requirement, and I can't think of a better bunch to test it out on. I will let my mommy friends judge if a "healthy chocolate pie" makes sense or not. I trust that a group of women with children all under the age of 6 will know what is or isn't a good chocolate pie. After all, chocolate is how many of us get through the day.

(Hopefully, it won't taste like chocolate flubber.)

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie
Eating Healthy in 2009. Copyright 2006 Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Ingredients:
14 graham cracker squares (7 full sheets)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup boiling water
2/3 cup sugar, plus 1/2 teaspoon
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups 1 percent low-fat milk
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray.

In a food processor, process the graham crackers until finely ground. Add butter and water and process until the crumbs clump together. Press the crumb mixture into bottom of pie plate and about 1-inch up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes, then let cool.

In the meantime, make the pudding. Put the gelatin in a small bowl, add the boiling water and stir until dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium sauce pan mix the 2/3 cup of sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add half of the milk, whisking until smooth. Whisk in the rest of the milk. Turn the heat on to medium and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Stir in the vanilla and reserved gelatin. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and let set for 3 hours in the refrigerator.

Whip the cream and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Before serving, garnish the pie with the whipped cream.





The Result:
Sometimes, I love being wrong. There is no flubber to report here!!! I am sooooo glad I decided to try it. It was fan-freakin'-tastic! Seriously, delicious!!! My doubts were totally unfounded, because this pie is soooo satisfying. Chocolaty and creamy with the crunchy crust...yum. Now, I am on the horns of a dilemma. I don't know if I should take this pie to Jenny's party today, or hoard it for myself. It is that good!!!

Chocolate Cherry Bars

I have limited baking ingredients on hand, so I had to really scrounge for a "cookie" recipe today. After checking all the usual recipe spots, I finally went to the Hershey's website to see if they had anything interesting. The major ingredient I had in my pantry was Hershey's Cocoa Powder. I was dying for something chocolaty, but I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand. I needed a chocolate recipe that used the powder and not the chips. Combined with all the other ingredients that I either did or did not have, this was actually quite a challenge. Finally, I found this recipe. These bars sounded really good, and I pretty much had all the items needed to make them. Thankfully, the major component in these bars was the cocoa powder and I could make substitutions for the ingredients I did not have. For example, I didn't have mini-kiss pieces and I didn't have maraschino cherries; so creative baking was definitely in order. I ended up using dried, sweet & tart cherries, in place of the maraschinos, and leftover, pastel-colored, M & M's from Easter, instead of the mini-kisses. What can I say...I am resourceful. Hopefully, these bars will still turn out yummy!

Chocolate Cherry Bars
Adapted from: Hershey's Kitchens: Recipes

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa Powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup HERSHEY'S MINI KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates (OR substitute M & M's)
1 cup chopped maraschino cherries, drained (OR substitute dried cherries)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat; stir in cocoa until smooth. Remove from heat. Add sugar, 3 eggs, 1-1/2 cups flour and almonds; mix well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining 1 egg, remaining 1/3 cup flour, sweetened condensed milk and almond extract. Pour over baked layer; sprinkle chocolates and cherries over top. Return to oven.

4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until set and edges are golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Refrigerate until cold, 6 hours or overnight. Cut into bars. Cover; refrigerate leftover bars. About 48 bars.



The Result:
These are basically brownies. Yummy, almond-y, cherry brownies...but brownies. These are really good, and I totally loved the almond/chocolate/cherry combo. Delish! The added M & M's don't bring a whole lot to the party, so next time I think I will add chocolate chips and extra dried cherries. (I definitely think the dried sweet & tart cherries are the way to go with this recipe.) This was an easy dessert to make, and it turned out really good. I will add these bars to my 'keeper' file, for sure!

Barefoot Contessa's Hot Chocolate

The husband and I made hot chocolate from scratch tonight, for our after-dinner dessert. It was fan-freakin'-tastic! Thank you again, Ina!

Barefoot Contessa's Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups half-and-half
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
4 to 5 vanilla beans or cinnamon sticks, for garnish

Directions:
Heat the milk and half-and-half in a saucepan on medium heat to just below the simmering point. Remove the pan from the heat and add both chocolates. When the chocolates are melted, add the sugar, vanilla extract, and espresso and whisk vigorously. Reheat gently and serve immediately. Use a vanilla bean or cinnamon stick to garnish each serving.

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

I had some really, super-ripe bananas that were on the brink of prudent usability. I hated to waste them, since they were nice,large bananas...and I hate throwing away food. I think of tossing food as a personal defeat; especially an item that can be re-purposed pretty easily, like bananas. So, I scoured my cookbooks for a new recipe and came up with this one. It is from the first cookbook I ever purchased on my own, called Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook. It is one of my favorites, because it was the first cookbook I ever really used as an adult. It basically taught me how to cook. Sadly, it is now out of print. There is a second volume out there, as well...but I think that is out of print, too. Once in a while, I can find them both on the 'used books' section of amazon.com, but not too often. One of these days, I need to track down the sequel and purchase it to make my set complete.

This recipe is super-easy, and looks pretty good. I did not have any walnuts or pecans (traditional banana bread nuts), so I used unsalted peanuts for the 'nut' portion of this recipe. Also, I had a bag of chocolate chips in my pantry that I thought was half full...but it turns out someone in my house has been snacking on them. I literally had 10 chips left. Oh well. I used them any way, even though the quantity I had was no where near the 4 ounces that the recipe called for. I did compensate by adding extra nuts, so I hope it all works out.
This will be nice to have on hand for breakfast this week. My husband and son both adore banana bread, so I hope this recipe turns out okay. I was going to bring it to my MOMS Club, Mom's Night Out function this week...but I think I will come up with something a little less experimental. I will let you know how it turns out.

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (4 ounces) Baker's German Sweet Chocolate coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts


Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Stir eggs, bananas, oil and milk until well blended. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; stir until just moistened. Stir in chocolate and nuts.

Pour into greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cool on wire rack.