Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Usually, I post my recipes on Sunday, but this was an especially busy weekend. I made these brownies a week (two weeks?) ago. They turned out slightly drier than I would have liked, so if I made them again, I might add a fudge frosting to them.

Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup milk
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3.5 oz dark chocolate
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

For the 3.5 oz of dark chocolate, I used a Cadbury royal dark candy bar and chopped it into chunks.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the 2 oz. of bittersweet chocolate with the milk. (About 90 seconds should do it. Try stirring halfway through.)

Add butter, vanilla, and eggs to melted chocolate. Then add the mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl. Stir in the dark chocolate chunks.

Pour into a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 350 for 20-23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Chocolate Meringues with Raspberry Cream Filling

I found a recipe for making meringue "cups" in my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. They looked intriguing as I've never made meringues before; however, these were hazelnut-flavored, and I wanted chocolate, so I did some online research, found out how to make chocolate meringues and then played around with the cream filling to work with the ingredients I had at home.

The chocolate candy pieces you see on top are made from Wilton candy melts and one of the candy molds (really easy to do--directions are on the mold). I served these up on Oscar night.

Chocolate Meringues with Raspberry Cream Filling

Ingredients for Meringue Cups:
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1-1/3 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa

Ingredients for Raspberry Cream Filling:
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Solo brand Raspberry Cake & Pastry Filling

Allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Draw ten 3-inch circles on paper. Be sure to leave at least 2 inches between each circle.

In a large mixing bowl, combine egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, beat the ingredients on medium speed until soft peaks form. This will take several minutes. The mixture is ready when you are able to get the tips of the peaks to curl over when you lift up the whisk attachment.

Gradually add 1-1/3 cups sugar, one tablespoon at a time. This should take about four minutes on high speed, after which you should get stiff peaks (tips do not curl over at all), and the sugar should be almost dissolved. Gently fold in the cocoa until it is evenly incorporated into the mixture.

Put meringue mixture into a decorating bag with a large open tip like #12. Pipe the bottom of the meringue cups within the 3-inch circles you drew on the parchment paper. Then pipe up the sides to form a cup. Bake in 300-degree oven for 35 minutes. Do not open the door. Turn off the oven and let meringues dry in there for an hour. Remove from oven and cool completely on cookie sheet.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of butter until smooth. Add the 1/3 cup sugar and beat again. Add whipping cream and beat on low speed until combined. Then beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gently fold in raspberry cake and pastry filling.

Remove meringues from parchment paper. Fill them with the raspberry cream filling. Cover loosely and chill 2-24 hours.

Before serving, drizzle plate with chocolate sauce or syrup. Place meringue cup on top and then add chocolate candy decoration, if desired.

You could also garnish with chocolate chips or fresh fruit.

Yields: about ten servings.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squared Cookies

These cookies have twice the chocolate and twice the peanut butter, so some friends and I decided we should call them Chocolate Peanut Butter² Cookies. (I couldn't get the number 2 in superscript in the title.)

This recipe is adapted from the September issue of the King Arthur's Flour catalog. I added a bit more water than they called for, and substituted both peanut butter chips and chocolate chip for the mini peanut butter cups in the original recipe. I also used salted butter instead of unsalted.

Chocolate Peanut Butter² Cookies

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2-1/2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheets.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

In a mixer bowl, beat together the sugars, butter and peanut butter. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and water. At a slow speed, gradually add in the dry ingredients until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in both kinds of chips.

Scoop onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 7-8 minutes. You should be able to smell the chocolate. Cool for one minute before removing to wire racks.

Yields: about 50 cookies

No-Bake Cookies: Chocolate Peanut Butter Drops

The weather is starting to cool off here a little, but it still felt a little too warm yesterday afternoon to turn on the oven. That's why I decided to try a "no-bake" cookie. The cooking part is done on the stove top, so your kitchen doesn't get so hot. These were pretty fast and easy to make, and they disappeared just as quickly.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Drops

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup butterscotch chips (optional)

In a saucepan, mix the sugar, cocoa, and milk. Add the butter and cook over medium heat until butter melts and mixture begins to boil. Stir occasionally. Boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and add vanilla, salt, peanut butter, and oats.

Use a small cookie scooper to drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto waxed. Press a few butterscotch chips into cookies, if desired. Cool for at least an hour.

Yields: about 40 cookies.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

This dessert is all butter and sugar. Prepare yourself for something extra sweet. I recommend cutting it into tiny bite-size pieces and sharing with many people.

In other words, I recommend not cutting into large pieces like you see below. I think I gave a sugar-high to the round of guinea pigs who tried the slices in the photo. :)

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) plus 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon mint extract
green food coloring
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 x 9 inch pan. Microwave 2 sticks of butter (1 cup) in large bowl until melted (about 2 minutes). Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in cocoa, flour, and baking powder. When well blended, pour into greased pan.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.

Once bottom layer has cooled, you can make the mint layer. Combine powdered sugar, 1 stick butter, water, and mint extract. Beat until smooth. Add about 4 drops of green food coloring and blend. Spread over top of brownies. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or two.

To make chocolate glaze, microwave 6 tablespoons butter and chocolate chips in small bowl for one minute. Stir until mixture is smooth. Allow to cool slightly. Then pour over mint layer. cover and return to refrigerate. Chill at least 1 hour before serving.

Kiss the Blarney Stone Cookies

I know many people are holding St. Patrick Day parties this weekend, so my post may be a smidge late for them. However, if you're celebrating on the real St. Patrick's Day, here's a fun, chocolaty cookie I found at allrecipes.com. It comes from the Hershey's people.

Kiss the Blarney Stone Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 baking cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 36 Hershey's Kisses

Ingredients for glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 drops of green food coloring

Beat together the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the butter mixture, beating until thoroughly blended.

Divide dough in half. Place each half on a piece of waxed paper and shape into a log with square sides. You can make the log any size you want. The original recipe suggested 7 inches long and 2 1/4 inches wide. Wrap the logs in the wax paper and refrigerate until firm, at least 8 hours.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut logs into 3/8 inch slices and place onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 15 minutes. Cool for 1-2 minutes and then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Stir together powdered sugar, milk, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla, and green food coloring. Using a small round tip (like #3), drizzle the glaze over the top of the cookies. Place an unwrapped Hershey's kiss on top.

Yields: about 3 dozen cookies, depending on size

Filled Football Cookies

I realize this cookie recipe will be posted too late for most people to make it for this year's Superbowl, but as we all know, what's put on the Internet, stays on the Internet. So this will be around for plenty of future tailgating parties. :)

If you're like me and don't have a football-shaped cookie cutter, you can improvise by making a pattern for yourself. Just cut a piece of cardboard in the shape of a football. Cover it with aluminum foil so that it won't stick to the dough. When you're ready to cut out your footballs, place the pattern on the dough and cut around it.

I've made these cookies in three different sizes. The first time I made a pattern that was 3 1/2 inches long. The cookies were too big. The second time I used a 2-inch pattern; this was better, but it took a long time to cut out these bite-size cookies. The third size I tried was 2 1/2 inches. If I make these cookies again, I think I'd use the 2 1/2-inch size.

In case you're wondering, the flavor is a nice mix of chocolate and cinnamon--kind of reminds me of Mexican hot chocolate.

Filled Football Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 or 2 batches of the Perfect Icing for Piping

In a small dish, microwave the butter for 30 seconds at 50% power to soften it.

In a mixer, cream together the softened butter and the brown sugar. Add the sugar and cinnamon. Beat until fluffy. On low speed, blend in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and almond extract.

Split dough in half. Wrap each half in waxed paper and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

On surface dusted with flour, roll out dough to 1/8 inch. Cut out dough with cookie cuter and place on cookie sheet that has been greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on rack.

When cookies have cooled, make at least one batch of my Perfect Icing for Piping (click here for the recipe). If you like lots of filling in your filled cookies, make two batches.

Pipe the filling onto the backside of one cookie. Top with another cookie. Use a small tip to pipe laces onto the top cookie.