Making Life Delicious (tm)

Outrageously Delicious Malted Chocolate Brownies

HeatherS — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:35:10 +0000

I have a number of projects that I have photographed, but not found the time to post. This recipe falls into that category. I made these brownies last Summer, if you can believe that, but it wasn’t until now that I was able to write them up. Sorry to make you wait so long because they are fantastically delicious…especially if you love malted desserts like I do.

I am a lover of all things malt and all things chocolate, so it should come as no surprise that these brownies are high on my list of deliciousness. When I found myself with an occasion to make a new non-pie-related dessert, these outrageously delicious Malted Chocolate Brownies came into existence. They are more sweet than bitter and more soft and fudgy than cakey…pretty much exactly the way I like them.

When I made these, I had been playing around with the recipe for this malted chocolate frosting for quite a while, tweeking here and there. Once I had it the way I wanted it, my plan was to pair it with a slightly modified recipe from Ina Garten. Fast forward to me finding Whoppers on sale. Done and done.

So on to the brownies. I’ll be the first to admit that I may have overdone the ratio of brownie to frosting a little bit…maybe. Or maybe not, because this frosting is the bomb!

BROWNIE

Adapted from Ina Garten’s Outrageous Brownies

1/2 pound unsalted butter
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips
10 ounces of malted milk balls (like Whoppers), divided
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1/4 cup malted milk powder
1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

FROSTING

Adapted from a recipe by Bakergirl

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup malted milk powder
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar

MAKE THE BROWNIES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a 9X12 pan with aluminum foil. Butter the foil

Melt together the butter and semisweet chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool to just above room temperature. This chocolate is about to go into eggs and you need to make sure it isn’t hot or the eggs will scramble. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, coffee granules, 1/4 cup malted milk powder, vanilla, sugar and salt. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.

Add 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour and the baking powder to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss 1/2 of the whoppers (I chopped mine in half) with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter.

BTW, this is my version of food porn. Looking back at this photo now, I feel the physical urge to put my finger in this bowl for a taste. Anywho, pour what you don’t eat out of the bowl into the greased baking pan.

See all of the yummy Whoppers swimming in the batter. Yummm.

Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes more, until a toothpick comes out relatively clean. Some wet crumbs are OK, what you don’t want is a toothpick covered in wet batter. Do not overbake! For that is a sin.

Allow to cool thoroughly and refrigerate.

MAKE THE FROSTING

Oh yeah baby! This is the stuff! Mix together 1/2 cup whole milk and 1/2 cup malted milk powder until dissolved. Cream 1 cup (aka 1/2 pound) room temperature unsalted butter in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the melted and cooled bittersweet chocolate and mix to combine. Then add 3 cups of the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and mix. Then add the malted milk mixture and continue to beat until it is creamy. Add additional powdered sugar if needed to get the consistency you want.

Then frost the brownies silly and garnish with Whoppers as desired.

Trader Joe’s Cheesy Chili Cornbread Casserole

HeatherS — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:01:48 +0000

File this under easy kid-pleasing weeknight dinner or simple side dish. Much like banana bread is really banana cake, cornbread is really more like corn cake and who wouldn’t want to have cake for dinner, right?

We ate this dish for dinner, and my kids cleaned their plates…even my picky girl. This works an entree, but it would also be a great side at a BBQ. The mildly spicy chili paired with the sweet cornbread and the gooey salty cheese is an excellent combination. One of the keys to the kid-friendliness is the Trader Joe’s Vegetarian Chili. It is very very mild. If you are making this for a spicier crowd, you might consider another kind of chili or adding more spice to the chili.

Like an omelette, quiche or pizza, this recipe is easy to modify to your taste and ingredients on hand. You could easily add more chili, a different chili, or chunks of meat. Try it with any number of additions like onions, frozen corn or other vegetables, different cheeses, etc. This would also be a great new way to use up leftovers.

CHEESY CHILI CORNBREAD CASSEROLE
Adapted from a sample I had at Trader Joe’s

1 Box Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix
1 Egg
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil (slightly less than the box calls for)
3/4 cup Milk
2-3 cans Trader Joe’s Organic Vegetarian Chili
8 ounces Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Here are the super duper easy instructions:

Grease a 9 X 12 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the Cornbread Mix, Egg, Vegetable Oil and Milk in a bowl. Stir until combined.
Pour the cornbread batter into the pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until cornbread springs back when lightly touched. Don’t overbake, because you are going to bake it a little more before you are done.
Pour chili over the cooked cornbread and sprinkle with shredded cheese.
Bake another 10 minutes to heat the chili and melt the cheese.
Broil for 1-2 minutes to brown the top.

TA DA! Dinner.

TASTING NOTES: My seven-year-old daughter thought it was perfect. My oldest daughter loved the dish, but wanted more chili. I used two cans, so next time I may add another can. I thought it was delicious and comforting. If I had an onion, I would have chopped some on top because I like onion. Overall, super yummy.

Salted Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge

HeatherS — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:30:54 +0000

For the second installment of Candyfest 2012, I am happy to bring you the easiest and, perhaps, the tastiest fudge I have ever made.

I love Nutella, but I rarely include Nutella recipes on the blog because, more often than not, including Nutella recipe just seems like a waste. Nutella that tastes great on a spoon, or spread on toast or a cookie, but not so good mixed into a batter. When combined with other elements, often the creamy, hazelnutty milk-chocolatey flavors of Nutella get lost. This isn’t always the case, however, and this fabulous fudge is one of the delicious exceptions.

Here are the ingredients:

Salted Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge
Recipe from Annie’s Eats

YIELD: 64 One-inch Pieces

½ cup hazelnuts
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon coffee-flavored liqueur (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread, such as Nutella
3 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt flakes, plus more for sprinkling
½ cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Place the hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly toasted and the skins have cracked. Transfer the hazelnuts to a clean kitchen towel. Fold half of the towel over the top of the hazelnuts and roll them around gently to help remove the loosened skins. Transfer the skinned hazelnuts to a cutting board and chop coarsely.

Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and grease lightly with butter. Set a heatproof bowl over a pot with a few inches of simmering water (do not boil). In the bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, chocolate, Nutella, butter, and salt. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is fully melted and smooth.

Remove the bowl from the heat. Add the toasted hazelnuts and dried cherries to the bowl and fold in until evenly combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and spread into an even layer. After it has cooled for a few minutes, sprinkle lightly with additional sea salt. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 3-4 hours.

Use the foil to lift the fudge from the pan. Remove and discard the foil. Use a large chef’s knife to slice the fudge into 64 one-inch squares. Store in an airtight container.

TA DA

Candyfest 2012: Fresh Cranberry Pate de Fruit

HeatherS — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:00:25 +0000

Are you looking for a way to use up that bag of cranberries that you have left over from the Holidays? Or perhaps you are simply planning ahead to make something special for your Valentine? I’ve got just the thing.

Last year, before Christmas, my friend Paula and I held our annual candy making extravaganza that I have come to know as Candyfest. This year we were joined by my friend Wendy as well and since we had all that woman power, we decided to be ambitious and make no less than 10 kinds of candy. That was enough for every slot in the box plus a slab of Peppermint Bark on top.

I had dreams of posting some of the new candy before Christmas, but as my holiday pie orders increased, shifted my goal to before Valentine’s Day.

This recipe comes from Cooking Lessons and you won’t believe how easy it was!

In fact I am feeling inspired and plan to make all sorts of pate de fruit with my slightly-too-ripe fruit in the future. Only four, count them, four ingredients go into this fresh and delicious candy.

Fresh Cranberry Pate de Fruit
from Cooking Lessons

1 small lemon, sliced and seeds removed
12 ounces fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
6 ounces (1 bottle or 2 pouches) Certo liquid pectin
2 1/2 cups sugar, and more for rolling

1. Cut two 8-by-13-inch rectangles of parchment paper to line an 8-inch square pan. Place one rectangle in pan in one direction and the second rectangle overlapping in the opposite direction. (See the photo later in the post for more detail on this)

Look how pretty the cranberries and lemons are together in the processor.

2. Purée lemon slices, cranberries and 1/4 cup water in food processor until smooth. The puree process took about 6-7 minutes…longer than I would have thought, but stick with it, it will get smooth eventually.

3. Combine cranberry purée in medium sauce pan with sugar, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil, stirring often, for 4 minutes. The red is intense and gorgeous!

4. Remove pan from heat and stir in pectin. Return to heat and bring to a boil again. Stir for 1 minute. Pour into pan and let cool until set. My candy began to set almost immediately. Cover and refrigerate in pan until ready to cut.

5. Using the parchment paper as handles, lift the square of jelly out in one piece and set it on a cutting board. Pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 1-inch squares and roll in sugar.

NOTE: The sugar eventually melts and oozes on the candy. To delay this process, the original recipe recommends cutting the candies and then drying the cut candies on a rack for an hour or so before rolling them in the sugar. I had no patience for such a thing, so I rolled the freshly cut candy in sugar and then placed them on small squares of wax paper. They did ooze a bit over time, but remained delicious for days.

TASTING NOTES: I really liked these candies. They were sweet, but also somewhat tart and ever so slightly bitter (from the pith on the lemons, I imagine). The taste was complex and the mouthfeel was lovely. Plus they are fat free, so healthy, right?

Next up for Candyfest 2012…Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge. Yummmm!

Time to Make Your Christmas Pudding

HeatherS — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 01:17:54 +0000

I made 110 Thanksgiving pies for Livin’ The Pie Life, so my food coma was profound…a combination of exhaustion, luscious smoked turkey and copious amounts of stuffing. But this morning, I awoke from 11 hours of sleep and remembered that it is time to make my Christmas Pudding.

So this is your Annual wake-up call. This weekend, pick up your ingredients and make your pudding so that when you feel like eating again…in about a month…you can have this delectable treat.

Remember why we love Christmas Pudding:

Specialness
Moistness
Flavorfulness
Deliciousness
Hard Sauce
You Get to Set It on Fire

Get thee to a supermarket!