Recipe: Two-Minute Chocolate Cake

image via gildedlady.com

I don't know about you, but I love me some warm, gooey chocolate cake. And tonight I happened to stumble upon this recipe from Food Network that promised me delicious cake in just two minutes! How could I resist?

Instant Chocolate Cake

Whisk 1/4 cup flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons milk, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and a dash of vanilla extract and salt in a large mug* until smooth. Microwave until puffed, about 2 minutes.

*Just use a regular mug. I also microwaved mine for 1:48 instead of 2 minutes, resulting in a warm, gooey bottom of the cake. Mmmm.

What a perfect night. It was delicious and perhaps the easiest dessert I have ever made. I whipped up one for me and one for the husband and we sat down for a cozy snuggle on the couch to watch Modern Family. (Anyone else love Modern Family? Tyler says I am exactly like Claire...)

Our Best Bites: Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

This completely killed any chance at my diet. (Self, be aware that I'm going to exercise triple time to make up for this.) 

But friends, it was soo worth it. Buttery pie crust + warm, melted chocolate chip cookie = a slice of heaven here on earth. (Get it? A slice? Bahaha.)

Tyler's boss had a game night at their house last night and I brought this. My only concern was that the middle never quite set up completely, making it ooey, gooey, warm chocolate chip cookie dough, almost like a pazookie. We decided it might be the altitude (California, you just scored shiny, gold stars in my book for being at sea-level) so to rectify this, just add some more flour to the recipe below. Maybe a 1/4 cup?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Recipe from Nestle

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust, homemade or store-bought.

2 large eggs

1/2 C flour

1/2 C white granulated sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

3/4 C real butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)

1 C chocolate chips (semi-sweet or dark works best, you might find milk too sweet)

1 C chopped pecans (you are welcome to make it without nuts)

Vanilla ice cream, or sweetened whipped cream for serving (a must!  I prefer ice cream)

optional: chocolate sauce (honestly, doesn’t really need chocolate sauce, but it looks pretty!)

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack or serve slightly warmed.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

*From Our Best Bites: There have been several comments about pies turning out runny.  First and foremost, follow the instructions, completely (no margarine or anything from a tub!) I’ve made a million of these and never had that happen so I have no idea.  The recipe is correct as written, it comes straight from Nestle!

*My advice: 1/4 cup more of flour for those of us stuck up here in the mountains. Also, I didn't serve it with ice cream or anything. It was definitely rich enough on its own.

Recipe from Our Best Bites. I am in love with their new website design!

Chocolate Bliss Cheesecake

On Sunday we had dinner with a few other couples and we were in charge of dessert. I made a Chocolate Bliss Cheesecake and it was raved about! I'd definitely make it again.

As usual, here is the recipe, along with my notes:

Chocolate Bliss Cheesecake recipe

• 18 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely crushed*
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 3 (8 ounce) packages PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened**
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 (1 ounce) squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted, cooled slightly***
• 3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F if using a silver 9-inch springform pan (or to 300 degrees F if using a dark nonstick 9-inch springform pan)****. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom of pan.
2. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add melted chocolate; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
3. Bake 55 min. to 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

*I used the Great Value oreo cookies and they tasted just fine. I mashed them in a tupperware with a (get this, haha) potato masher. But it worked perfectly! I feel like I always end up with holes in the plastic bag when I smash them in a gallon ziploc but the potato masher did the trick.

**I bought the Weight Watchers cream cheese because it was cheaper (we went to Walmart for our groceries that day). Even though it was "lite" the texture was just as velvety smooth.

***I bought the Baker's chocolate but just use chocolate chips instead. Baker's chocolate is more expensive and it's pretty much the same thing.

**** I wish I would have had this listed on the recipe I was using. When I pulled the cheesecake out of the oven (5 minutes early, too) I felt it was a tinch overdone. Next time I know - if using a nonstick springform pan, preheat to 300 degrees NOT 325. But really, the cake tasted just fine. :)

Sorry - cool plate, terrible picture.
But I've got a tip for you: I wanted to dust mine with powdered sugar, but didn't have any tools to do it with. So I pulled out the grater and tapped it with a spoon. Makes the perfect sugar duster!

Let me know how you all like it!

Thin Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches

Last night we had a few friends over so I made dessert. It was easy and so yummy! Here's the (kind of sort of made up) recipe:

Thin Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches

Thin Mint ice cream

chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together chocolate cake mix, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Add 1/4 cup water if dough is too dry. Scoop cookie dough onto pan and bake for 10 minutes (no more than this!). As you take them out of the oven, flatten cookies by banging pan on the stovetop or counter (the same way you would get air out of a cake batter). Let cool on wire rack. When cooled, freeze for 1 hour.

Take 2 cookies and put a scoop of ice cream in the middle. Squish together and stick back in the freezer for about an hour. Serve frozen.

p.s. anyone else ecstatic for girl scout cookie time?? i'm practically counting down the days here...

I (heart) Cake

If I was super brave and awesome this Valentine's day husband actually liked cake, I'd make this cake.

check out how to make it here.

Mini Caramel Pull-Aparts (Monkey Bread)

A friend of ours just gave birth this past Friday and so I made these fun treats to drop off at her apartment. They were so so yummy, easy to make and I am embarrassed to say I probably ate half the pan! Let's just omit that last part.

 image via pillsbury

Caramel Pull-Aparts

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cans (7.5 oz each) Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits*

 

Grease or spray 12 regular-size muffin cups. Mix butter and brown sugar; spoon 1 tablespoon mixture into each muffin cup. Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in 1-gallon bag. Separate dough into 20 biscuits; cut each in 6 pieces.* Shake pieces in bag to coat. Place 10 pieces in each muffin cup. Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute; turn upside down. Serve warm. 

 

 

 

*I used one large (16 oz?) can of Grands biscuits. They worked just fine. There were 8 biscuits in the package. I cut each one in 6ths. (Half, then made three pieces of each half). I put 4 biscuit bits into each muffin cup.

 

Diploma!

I've made it! You know you're all official n'stuff when your diploma comes in the mail. Look at it. Just look at it. :)

Then I kind of celebrated by sharing a giant chocolate peanut butter cupcake from The Cocoa Bean with Tyler. Delish.

Caramel Corn Recipe

image via here because I was too lazy to take my own.

So for treats to give out at the baby shower tonight, I made caramel corn! It is absolutely delicious. I thought I'd share the recipe here because my brother already asked for it. And if my brother is excited about it, I thought you all would be too. :)

I used my mom's recipe (which I think she got from church a few years ago). It is the best I have found so far. Feel free to add peanuts or pumpkin seeds to it. I, however, like it plain.

Caramel Corn

12 cups popped popcorn*

 1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup karo/corn syrup

1/2 t. salt

1/2 cup butter

1 t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla*

Pop roughly 12 cups of popcorn. Melt the brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, and butter in the microwave. Add baking soda and vanilla, and stir with a whisk until it becomes a light, caramel color. Pour over the popcorn and mix. You now have several options: a) spread the popcorn on wax paper or greased cookie sheets to cool, b) dump it all in a huge bowl and cover, or c) spread onto greased cookie pans and "bake" in the oven until crispy like cracker jacks.

My notes:

*I made two batches, and on the first popped about 12 cups of popcorn. The second batch I popped more, and it still came out just fine. There is plenty of caramel coating to coat a large amount of popcorn. My sister Logan told me because I used a stove-top popper, to forgo the olive oil and use canola oil. Also, use as little oil as possible. You don't want to taste the oil in your popcorn. Better yet, use an airpopper if you have one.

*The second batch I cut down to about 3/4 t. of vanilla. Tyler mentioned that the first batch was very "vanilla-y". After tasting both batches, cutting down did make a difference. I liked both ways - it just depends on how strong you want the flavor to be.

I also made it yesterday, on a very rainy day. I think this had something to do with my popcorn not "drying out" completely. I just let it sit overnight and bagged it this morning. I think it was perfectly sticky this way. My mom just throws the entire batch into a giant tupperware bowl and we all snack from it. (Which reminds me: I would love to get one of these bowls, but have a hard time justifying $27 for a bowl. But then again, my mom has had the same ones for years and years and years....)

the most delicious dessert...

Cake bites, my friends. It's all about Cake bites.

It's the most delicious and easy dessert! I've been hearing about them all over the internet, on tv, and even at several baked goods shops we have here in Provo. Surprisingly, they are cheap and easy to make. Tyler even helped me whip out a batch last night. :)

Here's the recipe from Bakerella, with tips from me on the side:


Red Velvet Cake Balls
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake) (you can use ANY type of cake. I used funfetti last night.)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.) (again, you can use ANY type of frosting. I used funfetti because that's what I had around, but I bet cream cheese frosting is even more delicious.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate) (I just warmed 12-oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 T. shortening in the microwave until smooth. Obviously I didn't have chocolate bark.)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.) 
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.) (I used my cookie dough scooper, which is perfect size, and then rolled them into nice balls from there. However, I gave up rolling them into balls halfway through—laziness—and the ones I just scooped directly onto the pan don't look as nice. The chocolate doesn't seem to cover them as smooth afterward.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.) (It's much easier to dip them when they are more firm. Don't freeze them, though.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)
I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It’s easier to work with when it’s hot. (Agreed. I had to reheat my chocolate mixture several times because it got too thick.)

Enjoy, friends! They are WONDERFUL.

images via bakerella

 

raspberry ice cream cake

Doesn't this look delectable and simply perfect for hot, summer weather? Next time raspberries go on sale, I'd love to try out this easy recipe from Martha Stewart.

Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 loaf pound cake, sliced horizontally into thirds
1 1/2 cups raspberries (6 ounces)
1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened
Confectioners' sugar, for serving

DIRECTIONS
1. Place bottom layer of cake on a large piece of foil or in a loaf pan of equal size. Sprinkle half the raspberries over cake, spread evenly with half the ice cream, and top with another cake layer. Repeat with remaining raspberries, ice cream, and cake.
2. Wrap with foil and freeze at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove cake from freezer about 30 minutes before serving. Serve dusted with confectioners' sugar.