Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

My daughter had a difficult time deciding what she wanted for her birthday dessert.  At first she was thinking about cupcakes.  I think cheesecake might have even been mentioned.  But at the last minute she requested brownies with icing.  I found this recipe with the buttercream frosting and decided to go with it.  My daughter actually helped me make these the morning of her party.  She probably ate half of the chocolate mixture (pre-egg) and icing before these were done!  We served these as brownie ice cream sundaes with all the toppings on the side and a fruit platter.  My daughter loved these.  I'm not a huge chocolate lover and I found these to be REALLY chocolatey!  They are very rich and little squares were perfect. 

Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: 12 to 16 brownies

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 to 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Brownies:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Frosting:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons chocolate milk powder

Directions:
1. Make the Brownies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch-square baking dish and line with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the edges. Butter the parchment paper; set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. Bring about an inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Place a medium, heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan (do not let it touch the water) and add the butter and unsweetened chocolate. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and whisk in the granulated and brown sugars. Whisk in the egg, the yolk, and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture all at once, and fold it into the chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely; meanwhile, make the frosting.

5. To Make the Frosting: Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, cocoa powder, and salt on medium speed for about 3 minutes.

6. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the powdered sugar. Mix on low speed to incorporate the sugar, and while the mixer is running, slowly add the milk and vanilla extract. Gradually increase the mixer speed to medium-high, beating until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

7. In a small bowl, mix together the cream and the chocolate milk powder. Reduce the mixer speed to medium, and pour the cream mixture in a slow, steady stream and mix until thoroughly combined. You can add more powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time, if you would like a stiffer frosting.

8. Spread the frosting onto the cooled brownies, and cut into squares. Store brownies in an airtight container, or tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Family Rating:  1 1/2 thumbs up.

Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars

As I mentioned in yesterday's post our supper club theme this month was rice.  I picked dessert and yesterday posted this Rice Cheesecake with Praline Sauce.  Since I don't have much experience making cheesecake and wasn't sure how it was going to come out I wanted to have a back-up dessert.  Plus, our kids were at this dinner and even though my kids love cheesecake, not all children do.  So I wanted to also have a child-friendly dessert.  I saw these Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars and knew that if I didn't make them for supper club I was going to be making them at some point.  So I went for it.  Boy am I glad that I did! In Michelle's (Brown eyed Baker) blog post which you can find here she notes that the next time she made these she'd half the brownie recipe since the proportion of brownie to the other layers was too thick.  Since I hate doing math and trying to half recipes (especially when they're unequal amounts!) I decided to make the whole brownie recipe and split it up into two pans.  This meant extra brownies for us....yes!  This was definitely the right way to go and all the layers were evenly balanced out.  Just to note, the only slight change I made to this recipe was only using 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the brownie base.  Even that seemed a lot to me with all of the other sweetness going on with these bars.  1 cup of sugar could probably be enough.  These bars are so good!  Everyone at supper club loved them and I've been enjoying the leftovers for days.  My husband wanted to take them to work and I told him, "No way, I'm eating these!"  I do recommend chilling these bars.  I had left them out when we got to supper club and the chocolate top got pretty melty.  I've been eating the leftovers that have been chilled and refrigerating them helps the bar keep its shape and not become a gooey mess....and yes, they are just as tasty leftover! 

Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars
recipe VERY slightly adapted from Brown eyed Baker

Yield: 24 bars
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients:

For the Brownie Base:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Toppings:
1 bag (10½ ounces) miniature marshmallows
1½ cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup smooth peanut butter (don't use natural peanut butter)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1½ cups Rice Krispies cereal

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch pan.

2. For the brownies: In a medium saucepan, melt the unsweetened chocolate, butter and ¾ cup of the semisweet chocolate chips over medium heat. Stir occasionally while melting. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl , whisk the eggs thoroughly. Add the sugar and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Stir the melted ingredients into the egg mixture, mixing well. Stir in the dry sifted ingredients and mix well. Fold in the remaining ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the corner of of the pan comes out with moist crumbs.

5. Remove the brownies from the oven and immediately sprinkle the marshmallows over them. Return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes.

6. Meanwhile, place the milk chocolate chips, peanut butter, and tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly, until completely melted. Remove from heat, add the Rice Krispies and mix well. Allow to cool for 3 minutes.

7. Spread the mixture evenly over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled before cutting.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

The Secret Recipe Club: Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Muffins

I am so happy to be posting my first recipe from The Secret Recipe Club today.  I had signed up on the wait list ages ago and actually forgot about it, until I got an e-mail inviting me to join.  Each month I will be assigned a different food blog and have to make a recipe from the blog and review it here, on my own blog.  For my first SRC I was assigned Spinach Tiger.  I was hooked from the moment I read the byline:  "Food a woman will love and a man will marry her for...." There were so many recipes that looked good.  These muffins were the first recipe that I made from the blog.  But I have also made the Brussels Sprouts Gnocchi with Sage Butter (see upcoming post!). Some other recipes that I have bookmarked for the future include Raw Beet Salad with Shallot Honey Orange Vinaigrette, Shrimp with Mussels and Scallops in Cream Sauce, and Cast Iron Broccoli Basil Mozzarella Frittata.  I like that Spinach Tiger (her nickname) does not use, "artificial sweetners, food substitutes, aerosol sprays, high fructose corn syrup, or MSG in her cooking." Her photos are beautiful and showcase her recipes in which she takes a modern, healthy approach to old dishes.

Back to these muffins now.  The original recipe called for a cup of spelt flour.  I have never seen (though I haven't really looked very hard for it) spelt flour in the store.  I try to avoid buying ingredients like this, where I may not use it again.  So, I used only all-purpose flour in this recipe.  The only other change that I made to making these muffins was the cook time.  I baked the muffins for only 20 minutes, though the original recipe called for 25-30 minutes.  Just check the doneness with a toothpick. These muffins were super chocolatey and tasty with the dark chocolate bar bits AND the nutella.  Spinach Tiger originally garnished her muffins with hazelnuts but noted that next time she'd try bacon or prosciutto.  Since I had some bacon in the fridge, I decided to garnish a few of the muffins with it (next time I'd make the pieces a lot smaller. As seen in the pic below my pieces were a bit big and didn't stay on top very well).  It was super tasty, with the mixture of saltiness and sweet.  These muffins were a hit in our house and I will definitely make these again!

Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Muffins
recipe slightly adapted from Spinach Tiger

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 12

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 very ripe bananas
½ cup sugar
½ cup plain yogurt
½ cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
¼ cup Nutella or more
2-3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Mix together, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in one bowl. Set aside.

Smash bananas with a fork. Add in sugar, eggs, yogurt, oil, vanilla.

Add to flour mixture. Add in chopped chocolate.

Scoop into muffin pan. Makes 12 muffins.

Spoon in about ¾ teaspoon of Nutella into each muffin. You can use more, if you desire.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Garnish with chopped bacon if desired.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

It's time again for another muffin recipe.  Muffins and yogurt are a breakfast staple in our house.  The kids have that combo at least once a week.  I try to mix up the breakfast menu so they don't have the same breakfast every day.  One morning I'll give them cereal, another morning bagels, and once a week muffins and yogurt!  While I'm not a big fan of chocolate muffins for breakfast I thought it helped that these had zucchini!  The original recipe, which I've linked to below, had spices like nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom.  I wanted to keep the muffin more chocolatey than spice flavored so I left those out.  These muffins were super moist and tasty!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
recipe adapted from allrecipes.com by Larry B

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease or line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners.

2.In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar and oil. Add the cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well.

3.Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until just moist.

4.Pour batter into prepared muffin tins filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Store loosely covered.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Dark Chocolate Muffins

We needed some more muffins in the house for breakfast.  I was trying to find a recipe with ingredients that I already had in the house.  I normally try not to do chocolate, especially in the morning.  But I saw this recipe and the ingredients were so unusual I had to try it.  The original recipe was made with mini muffins.  But I went the regular muffin route. This recipe used no eggs and had molasses and balsamic vinegar in the ingredient list.  Interesting, right?!  Overall, they weren't too bad.  Not a favorite but good.  I could taste hints of the molasses in the muffin.  They are best warm right out of the oven.  They lost their moistness as the days went by.

Dark Chocolate Muffins
from Carrie's Sweet Life

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Coat muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In a bowl combine flour, sugars, cocoa powder, soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside. In another bowl combine milk, applesauce, oil, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Stir in half the chocolate pieces.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate pieces. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes for mini or about 15 minutes for regular muffins or until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up. 

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

My family was invited to a barbecue hosted by the family of one of my daughter's classmates.  When I asked what to bring, I was of course told, nothing.  So, my daughter and I ended up baking a box of the Betty Crocker Funda-Middles cupcake mix that I had in the pantry for the kids.  Then I found this recipe in my dessert recipes folder and figured that even if there was already dessert you can't have too many cookies.  I'm not a huge oatmeal cookie eater.  Given a plate of cookies with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip or Oatmeal Raisin, they would probably be my last choice!  However, since I had almost all the ingredients I thought I'd give these a try.  It made enough that I ended up saving half of the batch to serve with dessert at our Father's Day dinner.  At the barbecue, an almost-two year old boy was sneaking these cookies non-stop (and this was before dessert since we couldn't stay)!  Both my parents and in-laws ended up really liking these cookies.  My kids ate them but weren't the biggest fans of them.  I thought that they were okay.  Definitely not my favorite cookie that I've ever made, but I don't think that I've yet to have a home made cookie that was really awful! 

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
from the Ocean Spray website

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 5-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I was cleaning out my kitchen shelves and came upon an unopened bag of Reese's peanut butter chips.  On the back of the bag was this recipe.  Since I had all the ingredients I figured that I'd whip a batch up.  Since the recipe yields 48 cookies I ended up halving the recipe.  The 24 cookies we ended up with was plenty!  As noted in step 3, the cookies will be soft after baking.  I was over eager to get them off the pan and several ended up breaking into bits.  When I was a bit more patient, the cookies hardened a bit on the pan and were able to be moved to the cooling rack.  The kids loved these.  I thought that they weren't bad.....(who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter?!)  However, I've definitely had better cookies. 

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies
from HERSHEY'S website

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

3.  Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.) Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4-1/2 dozen cookies.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Peppermint Crunch Brownie Bites

I saw these brownie bites on the two peas & their pod blog and knew I would have to make them.  These were a cinch to make because I cheated and used boxed brownie mix and added 1/4 teaspoon of mint extract to the batter! They are made in a mini muffin pan, so they're bite-sized. You can eat a bunch and not feel too guilty! I'm sure that Maria and Josh's recipe is amazing, but I was a little short on time.

Peppermint Cruch Brownie Bites
From food blog: two peas & their pod
Find the original recipe here:
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/peppermint-crunch-brownie-bites/

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up! (chocolate and mint, of course it's a hit!)

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

My daughter's Kindergarten class is having a holiday party tomorrow and I was asked to bring in cookies.  I have to admit, I was trying to avoid running out to the grocery store in the cold and rain today, so I was looking for a cookie to make that I had all the ingredients for.  I found this recipe while perusing through my cookbooks.  Before today, I had never made cookies from boxed cake mix, but have been wanting to try them. I figured, they are for five year olds and they're chocolate.  I don't think they'll care too much either way!  They didn't turn out too bad.  My husband thought that they tasted too cakey, before he was told that they were made from cake mix!  He recommended making them smaller and putting creme or marshmallow between, a.k.a. whoopie pies.  That does sound good!  I also made my cookies too big.  The recipe says they make approximately 5 dozen, but I barely got 30 made. I made two modifications - one I used regular chocolate cake mix and two, I used white chocolate chips.  These were so quick and easy, I'm thinking of buying another box of cake mix and trying the whoopie pies!

Chewy Chocolate Cookies
Cooking Light, April 1998

Ingredients:
1 (18.25-ounce) package light devil's food cake mix
2 tablespoons stick margarine or butter, softened
2 tablespoons water
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up (were super quick and easy, pretty tasty, but true home-made cookies are better.)

Root Beer Bundt Cake

Since I have a case of rootbeer soda in the house I thought that I'd try making this cake.  My husband took our daughter with him on a Home Depot trip.  Since I now stay away from all stores on the weekends (seeing how nice and empty they are during the week!) I was having nothing to do with that trip.  With my son home with me, I decided to enlist him to help me make the cake.  He actually did a great job, though we need to work on the egg cracking!  Overall, this cake was nice and chocolatey.  You can definitely taste the rootbeer, though it is subtle.  I of course made a bad judgment call.  I thought that 2 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar sounded like a lot so I only used about 1 cup.  As a result, I didn't get that thick, white looking glaze for the cake.  I guess I haven't made very many glazes, but file under lesson learned.  I don't think I have the greatest of bundt pans, as I have yet to make a cake that hasn't fallen apart when taking it out of said pan. 

Root Beer Bundt Cake
Food Network Magazine, July/August 2011

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 1/2 cups root beer
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch
3 large eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan; tap out the excess flour.

Heat 2 cups root beer, the cocoa powder, chocolate and 1 stick butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the granulated and brown sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Combine 2 cups flour, the baking soda, allspice and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Whisk the eggs into the root beer mixture, then gently fold in the dry ingredients (the batter will be slightly lumpy).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour, rotating the pan halfway through. Transfer to a rack. Gently poke the cake all over with a skewer and pour 1/4 cup root beer over the cake; let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert the cake onto a serving plate and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the glaze: Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup root beer, a pinch of salt, the confectioners' sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Drizzle over the cake.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Supper Club: Roasted Parsnip and Vanilla Chocolate Soup

So I was perusing the Foodnetwork website and this soup recipe looked interesting.  I've never tried any of Robert Irvine's recipes, although I've seen him cook on Dinner Impossible numerous times.  Overall, it was a little too sweet for me.  I had made the french bread on Friday night for the croutons for this soup.  I used vanilla extract instead of the vanilla bean. I couldn't make myself spend $17 for a tiny bit of vanilla bean. The one plus of making this recipe was that my daughter was helping me take the roasted parsnips off the pan and she tried them for the first time and liked them! 

Roasted Parsnip and Vanilla Chocolate Soup
foodnetwork.com - Dinner: Impossible  Episode:  Robert & the Chocolate Factory

Total Time: 1 hr 40 min.

Prep:35 min.
Cook:1 hr 5 min.
Yield:6 to 8 servings
Level:Intermediate

Ingredients:

2 pounds parsnips (about 4 or 5 large parsnips)
1/4 cup canola oil (2 tablespoons to brush on parsnips and 2 tablespoons to brush on bread for croutons)
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick or 1/2 cup)
1 large white onion, chopped
2 quarts chicken stock
1 whole vanilla bean, preferably Tahitian (sold 1 or two to a jar in the spice section of the store) or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (preferably from real vanilla bean as opposed to artificial flavoring)
Salt and pepper
1 epee loaf French bread
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 cup vanilla white chocolate chips (recommended: Hershey's Premier White Chips)
1 cup heavy cream
1 fresh lemon or lime, halved crosswise (1/2 to squeeze into batch of soup and 1/2 to cut into wedges to serve to guests)
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill leaves


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel parsnips, and cut into 1-inch chunks, brush lightly with oil and place on a baking sheet lined with heavy duty aluminum foil (for easy cleanup). Roast until the parsnips begin to soften (as tested with a knife blade) and until the tips begin to turn golden brown. This takes about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes while you start the other ingredients in the stockpot. (Leave oven on for toasting of croutons.)

Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a large stockpot and gently saute the onion until translucent. (This takes about 10 minutes, but the more important thing is that they look translucent.) Add the chicken stock, slice open the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the pot and add along with the vanilla pod itself. Increase heat to medium, add the roasted parsnips, and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, cover and let cook until the parsnips are completely tender, about 20 minutes.

Once you have the soup underway, toast the croutons in the oven which is already preheated to 400 degrees F. Cut the epee loaf into 3/4-inch thick slices. Brush the bread with oil and place on a foil lined baking sheet (important for cleanup purposes). Sift dark cocoa over the bread and toast briefly in the oven, just to make crispy. Remove and set aside.

Stir the white chocolate chips into the soup and cook for a further 5 minutes, to allow them to melt and to integrate flavors.


Remove soup from heat, discard vanilla pod, and stir in heavy cream. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. (Remember, when using an immersion blender, the blade end has to be immersed, or it will make a big mess.) Squeeze fresh lemon or lime juice into the pot and stir to combine. (Note: If you hold the sliced end of the fresh lemon or lime against your palm while you squeeze in the juice, the seeds are likely to stay in the rind.)

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with fresh dill. Serve with lemon wedges and dark chocolate dusted croutons.


Family Rating: so-so.  A lot of work for just okay. 

Supper Club: Spicy Cocoa Sloppy Joes

My husband and I have belonged to our supper club for almost 5 years now. Each month we choose a theme and each couple takes turns hosting. This month the theme was chocolate!  We tried to make it as kid-friendly as possible, since four children were going to be at the event this time (usually, kids are not included).

One of our club members does not eat beef or  pork and we recently had mole and chili.  Thanks to Cookieee over at the Cooking Light message boards for the recipe idea for the main dish that I decided to make. I substituted ground turkey for the beef.  Although it was super simple, the dish was tasty and was received well. Can be served on hamburger buns for easy, weeknight dinner.

Spicy Cocoa Sloppy Joes
hersheys.com

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 to 1-1/4 cups chopped onion
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2-1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1-1/4 teaspoons salt

Preparation:
1. Cook ground beef and onion in large skillet on medium heat until beef is browned and onion is tender. Drain excess fat.

2. Stir in ketchup, cocoa, mustard, chili powder, pepper and salt. Heat 10 to 15 minutes on low heat or until hot. Serve in buns. Cover; refrigerate leftovers. About 4 servings.



Family Rating: 1 thumb up.