Dark Chocolate Nutella Brownies

This is a recipe I found via Pinterest. All I wanted to do was find an easy recipe that I could take to a friend's house for a little get together and this jumped at me. I have no regrets. These are by far the best brownies I have ever eaten, let alone made, in my entire life. Now all I want to do is incorporate more and more (dark) chocolate into the recipe.

To my dismay, I couldn't use dark cocoa powder. I have never had the privilege to use such an ingredient, but luckily regular cocoa powder does the job. To make up for the lack of "dark", I just used dark chocolate chips (and lots of them) instead of the mini chocolate chips. This is a rule of thumb when I'm baking. "Oh, this recipe calls for chocolate chips!" *poors in at least 150% of what should be in the recipe*  I have a chocolate problem, which explains the "10+ ounces..." in the ingredients section. You should indulge in more dark chocolate anyway, it's good for you!


Dark Chocolate Nutella Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 regular sized jar (13oz) Nutella
4 large eggs
1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (normal cocoa powder works just fine)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder (I used instant coffee, Nescafe)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
10+ ounces dark chocolate chips...the darker, the better


Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with butter and sprinkle with flour, knocking the dish against the counter to get rid of the excess.
In small saucepan over low heat, melt butter completely. Stir in sugar and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not allow to boil.
Remove from the heat and stir in the Nutella until smooth.
Pour butter mixture into a large bowl. Beat in cocoa powders, eggs, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
Stir in the flour and chocolate chips until just combined.
Spread into prepared pan (batter will be very thick and sticky) and bake for about 35 minutes, until a tester comes out mostly clean. The edges should be set and the center should still look slightly moist, but not uncooked.

Overbaking these brownies, from my experience, will only result in super crunchy edges. The middle will still be moist.

Note - these brownies will stay moist for days after you make them. Heating them in the microwave for about 7-10seconds more than does the trick to get them to the perfect eating temperature. Enjoy!


Sources
Recipe slightly altered from findingsilverlinings.net

Seven Layer Mexican Dip

I have to admit that this dip is fantastic. When I was younger, my mom would make this but with different layers. Over time, she changed the way she made it (but she won't admit to it). When I saw the recipe idea for this in the newspaper, I had to make it. The only difficulty I had with this particular recipe was the guacamole because the avocados I used were rather hard to work with. I used Alton Brown's guacamole recipe on FoodNetwork.com, but any guacamole (pre-made or homemade) will work just fine. It all depends on your personal taste. If you want a really easy time making this, buy the guacamole. The amounts for each layer differ, too. You can make a pyramid formation, like I did above, or you can put this into a 9x13in pan and spread each layer all the way across. It's all up to you!


Seven Layer Mexican Dip

Ingredients:

2 cans refried beans
Sour cream
Guacamole
Mexican four cheese blend (shredded)
3 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
Lettuce
A few sprigs of fresh cilantro, chopped, for sprinkling
Tortilla chips, to serve


Directions

Open the refried beans and spread them along the bottom of a large serving dish (the one pictured above is about 1 foot in diameter). Spoon the sour cream over the top to desired thickness. Do the same with the guacamole, cheese, tomatoes, red onion, and lettuce. Use as much of each ingredients as you want - my measurements are only suggestions. If arranging in a pyramid, start pressing down on the ingredients after adding the cheese to flatten it out a little bit. This allows more to be added without it toppling over. When finished, sprinkle the chopped cilantro over the top. Dish out spoonfuls or put the dip in the middle of the table and dig right in.

This is also good with seasoned ground beef in place of the refried beans. Any of these ingredients can be changed for taste. Get creative and serve up some good food!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cannolis

 

 

Last weekend, I wanted to try to make something new that I knew my boyfriend would just love. I decided that peanut butter and chocolate was the way to go. Who doesn't love that combination? I also wanted to make something I had never had nor heard of before. Cannolis came to mind. Although this isn't a traditional cannoli, I have somewhat stayed true to the idea of a cannoli by using cream cheese the filling. I know, I know, it's supposed to be ricotta, but this is soo good. Trust me.

 

I knew making these would be simple enough - I just had to be patient with putting all of the different parts together. Unfortunately, I made half of the recipe for the cannoli shells, expecting that the recipe might actually make as many as what it was supposed to, but it didn't. That is why the cannolis you see pictured above are ever so bite-sized.

 

Luckily, making the cannolis so small was a much better decision than making them with the normal 4 1/2in circle of dough. The peanut butter to chocolate ratio would have been completely skewed had the cannolis been larger. Because I filled the cannolis with peanut butter mousse, the peanut butter flavor was quite strong and really needed the chocolate to counter the taste. Even with the ends of the cannoli shells dipped in dark chocolate, there wasn't enough. Upon discovering this, I drizzled the rest of my melted chocolate over the rest of the cannolis. Perfect.

 

 

Shells

makes about 40

 

Ingredients:

 

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp vegetable shortening

6-7 tbsp sweet Marsala wine (I used Riesling and it turned out just fine)

1 egg white, lightly beaten

vegetable oil, for deep frying

Dark chocolate, for dipping

 

Special Equipment:

Cannoli tubes

Deep fryer (a large pot can be used with a thermometer)

 

 

Directions

 

Sift the flour, salt, sugar, and cocoa into a bowl. Mix to combine. Add the vegetable shortening and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Continuing to mix on low speed, add 6 tbsp of Marsala one tablespoon at a time. Mix until dough begins to come together - if it doesn't, add some or all of the remaining Marsala. Knead the dough for a few minutes on an unfloured work surface, shape it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for an hour.

 

Heat the vegetable oil to 350°-360° F. (The oil should be at least 4in deep)

 

Separate the dough into two pieces and keep one wrapped in the plastic wrap. On a lightly floured surface, roll the other out until it's about 1/16in thick. Cut out circles that are about 2 1/2in in diameter (or just long enough to fit around the cannoli tube). Wrap the dough around the tube and dab a small amount of egg white inbetween where each end of the shell meets. Do NOT let the egg white touch the tube - it'll attach the tube to the shell and you'll have quite a time getting the shell off. If your cannoli tubes are long enough, you can put two cannolis on each tube. After putting the dough on the tube, put it into the deep fryer for about about 45-60seconds, until the shells are browned and have formed bubbles. While the shells are frying, turn them over once or twice so the bottom doesn't burn.

 

When done, set the shells on a plate covered in paper towels. Use either a hot pad or tongs to grip one side of the cannoli tube and slide the cannoli shell off. Let the tube cool before wrapping more dough around it. Continue this until all dough is used.

 

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, making sure not to burn it. Dip the ends of the shells in the chocolate and set on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Mousse

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2/3 cup heavy cream

8oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1 1/3 cups creamy peanut butter (not natural peanut butter)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

 

 

Directions

In a small bowl, beat heavy cream on low-medium speed until soft peaks form. Set aside.

 

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter until combined. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Gently fold in half of the whipped cream until mostly combined, then add the rest of the whipped cream. Cover and chill until ready to use.

 

 

To Assemble:

Fill a frosting bag with the peanut butter mousse. Use any frosting tip you want to. Take a cannoli shell and fill it about half way on one side. Flip it around and fill it the rest of the way, making sure there isn't a gap in the middle. Repeat until all cannoli shells are filled.

 

At this point, you can taste a cannoli and decide whether or not it has enough chocolate for you. If not, set the cannolis back on the cookie sheet with the wax paper and drizzle more chocolate over them until you have your desired amount of chocolate.

 

 

 

 

Sources

KeyIngredient

Grace's Sweet Life

 

 

好久不见！

Title translation - long time, no see! I've been taking Chinese for a little longer than a semester now. I thought I could incorporate it into my blog, just for fun.

So apparently keeping up with a blog, try as I might, is not my forte. In my defense, college isn't the best place in the world to be taking pictures of food. My choices would be to take pictures of dining hall food or fast food. Neither would look all that appetizing on a blog, even though they taste just fine. Besides, I can't imagine the looks I'd get taking my huge Nikon into the dining hall everyday. I guess there would be some definite entertainment value to that, though.

Luckily, this weekend is my boyfriend's birthday which means one thing. Drum roll, please. Baking! I'm going to be baking a a few delicious treats for him as well as his roommate, who just got a job working for our college's news team. There's even one more item to add on top of that! Last night, while I was browsing through the free cookbooks on the iBooks store, I found a Filipino cookbook. Yes, I read and browse for cookbooks for fun - I'm a cookbook junkie. Well anyway, last year, my boyfriend traveled to the Philippines and tried (what he said to be) an absolutely amazing cookie. I can't remember the name but I can remember what the main ingredients are. I made an attempt at this cookie shortly after he returned to the U.S., but it was nothing like the authentic cookies he had. To my delight, as I browsed through my new cookbook, I discovered the recipe for the cookies. As far as I know, they are under a different name but the ingredients seem to be the same.

Excitement for returning to cooking and baking has completely overwhelmed me. I have been deprived for much too long! Hopefully, when I return home this weekend, my mom won't protest me making cookies, cupcakes, and cannolis. Those items may or may not change depending on the ingredients readily available, but so far, I have a rather good idea of what's going to be made. The best part is that my boyfriend and his roommate have no idea what's coming. I love surprises.

Glazed Pepper Salmon



Usually, I'm not a huge fan of salmon. I took a chance today in the dining hall with the glazed pepper salmon. It was very yummy...after I scraped off the majority of the pepper. There was just entirely too much pepper for my liking and it burned my mouth. Afterwards, though, it was delicious. It was sweet from the glaze and just plain good. I don't know what else to say about it! It was salmon. It was slightly sweet from the glaze. It was super peppery, but good after scraping off the pepper. I ate it. I enjoyed it. I wanted more.

Isn't that all you need to know about food? If it's worth having more of, you know it's worth trying in the first place. So you should definitely find a glazed pepper salmon recipe! Oh, you don't want to go to the effort? Well, it's your lucky day! Guess what I went surfing the internet for when I returned from dinner. A SALMON RECIPE! (Shocker, I know.) Yummly is always good for recipes. The advanced search features are fantastic for getting the exact results you want.

This recipe seems very similar to what I ate tonight. I also had rice pilaf and lima beans with the salmon. The rice was awesome and I was surprised at how much I liked the lima beans. For all of my childhood, I had heard of how awful lima beans were. I had never actually tried them. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I have ever tried them. They were good! I had always just assumed I didn't like them because it seemed like no one else did. I thought wrong. They're not a favorite food of mine, but I would enjoy eating them again. So, if you have never tried lima beans before, I suggest that you do. You don't need to eat a whole bowl of them, but try a spoonful or two. You might be surprised. Well, here is the salmon recipe. The rice pilaf recipe can be found....right about....here. Wait, no. Here. Yes that is definitely it.

I really hope you enjoy the recipes! The rice pilaf is asparagus cashew rice pilaf. I think the salmon would be a nice pairing for it. If I had a kitchen at my disposal, I would definitely make it. But I don't. And that is sad. Maybe I can go home soon and give it a shot. (hint, hint, Mom and Dad)


Picture from http://www.sangiorgiositalianbistro.com/menu.html

Super Waffle Saturday!

Waffles are a truly magnificent creation. They have perfect compartments to hold syrup and other wonderful toppings and they go well with just about anything you can imagine. Saturday, my friend and I made two amazing types of waffles. The first kind I already wrote about. The strawberry banana waffle had fresh fruit and whipped cream. Between the two of us, we only had one waffle. We each had half then we each did half of our half with the strawberry banana waffle toppings. The other half was the reasoning for splitting one waffle between the two of us. Chocolate peanut butter waffles! Sounds simple, right? No. We had to work with what the dining hall gave us (which was actually quite a lot). We used everything we possibly could have for this waffle. We started off with peanut butter and spread it into all of the little waffle compartments. We then put the waffle in the microwave to get the peanut butter perfectly ooey gooey. Next, we dropped a spoonful of whipped cream on top. After that, we sprinkled peanuts, mini chocolate chips, peanuts, crushed Reese's Puffs, and chocolate syrup over top. May I just say that we are geniuses? The waffle was gooey, sweet, and crunchy. The absolute perfect combination.

See that picture up there? That lovely sideways picture is not a waffle. It's peanut butter pie (recipe). The pictures on Google of chocolate peanut butter waffles did not even come close to what our waffle looked like, so I grabbed this instead. It looks delicious doesn't it? Let me answer that for you. Yes.

Well, I can't just give you a picture of something and not give a recipe. First thing's first. The waffles.


Strawberry Banana Waffle


Ingredients:

Belgian waffle
strawberries
banana
whipped cream

Directions
Slice the bananas and strawberries. Spoon the whipped cream on top of your waffle. Sprinkle the fruit slices over top. Eat!



Chocolate Peanut Butter Waffle


Ingredients:

Belgian waffle
about 8tbsp peanut butter
1 cup whipped cream
1/8 cup mini chocolate chips
1/8 cup peanuts
chocolate syrup
1/4 crushed Reese's Puffs

Directions
Spread peanut butter over waffle. Microwave for about twenty seconds, until peanut butter is melty. Spoon whipped cream over top. Sprinkle chocolate chips, peanuts, and Reese's Puffs over the entire waffle. Drizzle chocolate syrup over top. Serve.

All ingredient amounts are suggestions. By all means, put the entire bag of chocolate chips on the waffle if that's what you want to do!




The picture was from http://site.delishcaterer.com/

"Proper" Meal Mondays

Before I really get into today's post, I would like to rename Waffle Saturdays to "Super Waffle Saturdays," because it's much more fun, appropriate, (the waffles are going to be superbly super) and I think the alliteration sounds better. Hopefully I don't come up with a better name by Saturday because naming the day three times before I actually have one is slightly ridiculous. Also, I actually have a picture and recipe for today's post, so I'm not being really plain and boring anymore. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a preview!)

"Proper" Meal Mondays! I came up with that brilliant name on the way back from the dining hall. It seems like I come up with all of my good ideas while walking back to my dorm room from the dining hall. It must be some sort of extra special ingredient they put in the food. Back to the point. I decided to go ahead and follow the meal suggestions today. When I say "suggestion," I mean the food is placed side by side so that the two foods (usually a meat and a veggie and/or grain) compliment each other. Today, cajun shrimp and rice were available, along with flank steak, wild rice, and beans with carrots. I chose the flank steak, wild rice, and beans with carrots. Then, I added my own spinach salad on the side with tomato, cucumber, and red pepper. It was slightly awesome.

The really cool thing about that meal was that it almost made me feel as if I was home. Plus, I had nearly every spectrum of the food pyramid and it was healthy ("A" plus!). Honestly, the rice was really, really yummy. The steak was, too. The beans left something to be desired, but the carrots were sweet and made up for the beans. All I want to do now is go home and fix this meal my own way. While I was eating, all I could think was that it was a shame the kitchen didn't serve medium rare steak. Personally, I think it tastes much better that way, but that's just me.

I also started thinking about what the dining hall will begin serving when Thanksgiving comes around. Then, I thought about Halloween. They have to serve at least a special dessert, right? My friends and I had a conversation about Thanksgiving food today (the reason for my thoughts at dinner). All I could think about was my aunt's cornbread casserole, because cornbread was served at lunch. The casserole is to die for. My friend and I began talking about what we did and did not like about Thanksgiving food. Well, in her case it's "I like this, not that." In my case, it's "I like this and that...ooh and that over there. OH MY GOSH, WHAT IS THAT? I'm gonna eat it. That wasn't as good as what I thought it'd be, I better try some more of it, just to make sure my tastebuds weren't mistaken. Hmm...nope, not quite as good as what I thought. Third time's a charm. Ooh, pie!" Funny thing was, when I started thinking about traditional Thanksgiving food, my first three thoughts were different sorts of casseroles - sweet potato, cornbread, and green bean. Thanksgiving's all about the casseroles, isn't it? I'm not complaining about it. I think it's fantastic, but it never occured to me before.

The last paragraph may have seemed off topic, but during the conversation, I thought about this amazing wild rice recipe that my mom and I found over the summer. We both agreed that between its pretty color and flavor, it'd probably have to be inducted into the holiday food menu. See? Everything ties right in! The recipe has wild rice, craisins, orange juice/peel, and maybe some other ingredients, but they're not important for the picture I'm trying to convey (deliciousness). I don't think the recipe would taste really good with the beans and carrots I had at dinner, but pairing it with a marinated steak would be good. The dining hall is a very inspirational place. Who knew?

Now that I think about it, I need to share the recipe for the wild rice. It's even called "Harvest Rice Dish." How appropriate for Thanksgiving! My mom changed the recipe a little bit, because we didn't have all of the ingredients necessary. The end result was probably better anyway.

 

This picture isn't representative of my mom's creation. The use of white rice in place of the brown rice really adds to the contrast and beauty of the dish.

 

I think that just about wraps up my thoughts for today. If I come up with some weird name and theme for another day, I'll be back soon. If not, I'll be back for Super Waffle Saturday.