With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, candy companies across the nation are rolling out their yearly themed chocolates with the hopes of “I am too lazy to buy my wife something nice, so I will just get her a bag of candy” men running a last-minute effort to salvage the night. Enter M&M’s Cherry. [...]
School resumed today, so I guess the holidays are officially over. No more spontaneous trips to the roller rink or mid-afternoon trapeze classes. That’s Fuzz (in case you thought it was me) whose latent talent for the trapeze arts came out yesterday at Trapeze Austin. She’s never been to the circus, but she says she’s [...]
Cookie Madness
My New Year’s resolution was to drink more wine. Goal accomplished! So this year’s is to make more cakes, and to get started, I used a recipe from XO Jane. They don’t have a recipe section (yet), but a creative baker named Marianne took took a whiskey cake recipe from the New York Times and [...]
Cookie Madness
The post-holiday blahs have zapped my motivation to try anything new, but here’s a fairly old chocolate chip cookie you might have missed or just forgotten about. I baked some this morning and figured they were worth posting, especially since some of you love chocolate chip cookies with crispy edges and soft chewy centers. This [...]
Cookie Madness
We made into 12 individual trifles!First start by making the cake.
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweet cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup black coffee
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla
Combine first 6 ingredients in mixing bowl. Mix. Add the remaining 5 ingredients and mix for 2-3 minutes. The batter will be thin like soup. With a wooden spoon add a cup of coconut and a cup of dark chocolate chips. Pour the batter into a 9 x 13 greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool.
Make the trifle.
1 (3.9-ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup Kahlua to taste
Package of toffee crunch.
1 pkg cool whip. Pour pudding into a bowl and add milk and Kahlua; mix well.
In a very large Trifle bowl, layer in this order:
1/2 the cake cubes
1/2 the pudding mixture
1/2 the cool whip
1/2 the toffee
Repeat layers. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
I’m quite happy with the 1001 Cookie Starter Mix. Just look at these chocolate chips! These were made with the homemade mix I told you about yesterday (congratulations to Mary, btw, for winning the giveaway). It makes multiple types of cookies more convenient and it makes a great gift. For the little gift box above, [...]
Cookie Madness
If you like chocolate truffles, here’s a great recipe from Chef Jean-Philippe Maury. I made half a batch yesterday all the while wondering why I don’t make these more often. They’re simple but so delicious and open to improvisation. You can infuse the chocolate with whatever flavor you like, then package them up in a [...]
Cookie Madness
This recipe is from a Costco cookbook acquired on a Black Friday at Costco. Not by me, because you’d never find me at Costco on Black Friday, but by a kind friend who let me have it when she saw me looking wistfully at it in her kitchen. The Costco cookbooks (she actually gave me [...]
Cookie Madness
12-ounce milk chocolate chips
6-ounce semi-sweet chocolate chips
7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp. Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract
1 TB. rum
1 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. chopped candied cherries
Place the above ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Butter and line a 9-inch square glass pan with parchment paper.
In a heavy saucepan, combine 2 1/4 cups white sugar, 6 ounces of premium eggnog (not light), 1/4 pound butter and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Let mixture boil and bubble; meanwhile stirring constantly for ten to 11 minutes. Pour the boiling sugar mixture over the chocolate chip mixture and stir until chocolate is melted and ingredients thoroughly blended. Pour into prepared pan and let cool by placing pan on a marble slab. Cut into squares when cool.
Makes 2 and 1/2 pounds fudge
Cookie Madness
