Chocolate Cobbler

I made this tonight and it was amazing. I was a little weirded out by the way you make it, but it worked and was so easy!! Basically you make a batter (similar to a brownie or chocolate cake batter) and pour/spread it into your pan. Next, you mix up some brown sugar, sugar, and cocoa powder and sprinkle that on top. Then, you just pour 1 1/2 cups of hot tap water on top of everything (without stirring it up!) and put it in the oven for 40 minutes. It comes out like a brownie with a crunchy top oozing with this chocolate lava. SO GOOD!!! We didn't have any ice cream, but it would be amazing with some vanilla ice cream right on top!! I'll definitely be making this again!

Chocolate Cobbler
by Susan Hawkins at Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 7 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, Divided
• 1-¼ cup Sugar, Divided
• ½ cups Milk
• ⅓ cups Melted Butter
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ½ cups Light Brown Sugar, Packed
• 1-½ cup Hot Tap Water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons of the cocoa, and 3/4 cup of the white sugar. Reserve the remaining cocoa and sugar.

Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into an ungreased 8-inch baking dish. I prefer my small oval Corning Ware glass dish.

In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining white sugar (it should be 1/2 cup), the brown sugar, and remaining 4 tablespoons of cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.

Pour the hot tap water over all. DO NOT STIR!

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center is set.

Let stand for a few minutes if you can hold yourself back. Serve with homemade ice cream using the gooey sauce to spoon over all.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies & Pumpkin "Pie" Potpourri

Just made these.

In the oven.

Batter was amazing.

Can't wait to eat them.

Matt doesn't like pumpkin.

ALL MINE! :)

Also just made this with a pumpkin I bought at the Farmer's Market today.

It is also amazing.

Smells wonderful. (I used cinnamon.)

Super easy (and fun!) with the help of Matt's drill & 1/2" bit!

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

These were goooooood!! :) I've got to get to bed so I'm going to make this quick, but these were very very good. And really easy. If you like Oreo's, make these. It's that simple. :) Also, there are two new posts below this that you've got to check out if you haven't seen them yet. So scroll down. :) Recipe can be found here. Forgive me for not even getting a picture of these, but if you follow the link to the blog I got the recipe from, you'll see some really good pictures of them. I wouldn't have even posted this recipe, but they were so good that I felt you guys needed to know about them! :)

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm back!! Finally!! Sorry it's been so long, but I'm back and with two new things! :) I have to admit, this apartment kitchen is horrible. Absolutely NO counter space and the oven is old and not what I'm used to. But I'm learning to deal with it. Anyway, I'm splitting these up into two posts to make things easier.

First up are the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes. I made these for a friend's Labor Day cookout. He loves Guinness, so Matt and I thought these would be perfect for him. For those who aren't familiar, Guinness is a type of really dark beer, also known as a "stout." It has a very malty flavor. If you're really trying to imagine this flavor in your head, go with chocolaty/coffee notes. Anyway, it's a good beer. Not some red-neck light beer. Either way, these cupcakes taste nothing like beer at all. As one blog I read explained it, they taste like chocolate... but different. That's a perfect way to put it.

From what Matt says, it's really all about the malt in the beer that helps the cupcakes stay so moist--and they are very moist!! These were soooo good! I used a chocolate cream cheese icing on them and boy were they a hit. EVERYONE loved these cupcakes!! And they were insanely easy to make, too. Even in my kitchen! I definitely recommend that you try them out. Enjoy the pictures!

Without Icing
With Icing

Sorry, I don't have the best pictures of these, but trust me-they were amazing! I used Nigella Lawson's recipe which I found here for the cupcakes and I used a simple chocolate cream cheese icing which was just 8oz cream cheese, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder all mixed together with my trusty hand mixer. Super easy!

Don't Get Used To This!!

I know, I know! Three posts in three days!! Crazy, huh? :)

I bought some bananas the other day knowing that a few of them would get mushy so I could make these. I stumbled across this recipe on FoodGawker (LOVE this site!! SO much inspiration!!) and couldn't wait to try it out! It's the perfect recipe for mushy bananas--so often we just make banana bread and call it a day. But next time you're in the mushy banana pickle, make these! I promise you won't regret it!!

I changed the recipe up a little (my version is the one seen below) because I was out of oatmeal. I just omitted that, then upped the flour a little. These were amazing! Different from your average (but still amazing!) chocolate chip cookie, yet also different from your average banana bread... I swear these cookies taste just like banana bread-in cookie form-plus chocolate chips. Tell me your mouth's not watering just thinking about it!

I took some pictures, but they basically look just like chocolate chip cookies so there's nothing special there. And I don't feel like getting up to get my camera to upload them. I ate so many of these cookies, I'm just plain lazy at the moment. :) But here's the recipe for you all to enjoy. Let me know if you try it!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
original recipe found here.

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe banana (two good-sized bananas)
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add half the flour mixture, mix, and then add the banana and mix. Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Mix in chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoon-sized balls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating halfway through.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies (mine made a whole lot less, because I like to make huge cookies!! But make yours the size you like--either way, they'll taste great! Just watch them in the oven to make sure they don't burn!)

As Promised...

A recipe you don't have to turn on any appliances to make--not even the microwave! SUPER easy--and fun because you get to get messy! :) I'm sure for you non-messy types, you could use a spoon, but it's much more fun this way! These would be great to make with the kiddos, or even as a fun date night with your man (or woman!). And, by the way, they taste great!

"What are they?" you ask?? No-Bake Oatmeal Cookie Balls. They channel those glorious no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies, but aren't exactly like them. For one, they're in ball form and covered in powdered sugar. Also, as I stated earlier, you don't cook them--with the no-bake cookies, you boil all the ingredients on the stove before you add in the oatmeal. With these, you just throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mush together with your hands, shape them into balls, and roll in powdered sugar. Easy as that! I've kept mine in the fridge ever since and they're still good today. I like them cold. I'm not sure how they would work being kept out of the fridge-I know they would melt in my apartment so I'm not even going to try! Let me know how you like them!

No-Bake Oatmeal Cookie Balls

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened (definitely make sure it's soft, or you won't be able to squish it all together!)
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, combine the oats, sugar and cocoa. With clean hands, mix in the water, vanilla, butter and peanut butter to form a dough. Wash hands, then roll the dough into balls 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Roll balls in confectioners' sugar until thickly coated. (Obviously I wasn't too good at this part! Haha!) Chill 20 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

This one comes from my mom. :) It's one of those party foods you only have once a year or so, but it's soooo good you wish you had it every week! :) I was eating an oreo tonight (just the chocolate part-I hate the cream filling. I know, I know... shoot me.) And the chocolate cookie part reminded me so much of eating this cheeseball because that's what you use to eat it, chocolate graham crackers. So, I decided to go to the store and get the stuff I needed to make it. It's super easy-the only hard part is waiting for it to 'harden' in the fridge. But it's well worth the wait. Another thing--if you can find them, the chocolate graham cracker sticks are the perfect things to eat this with. They're harder to find these days, though, so I just got plain old chocolate graham crackers. You eat this like you would a normal cheeseball with crackers, this is just a dessert one. Oh, and one last important thing: USE. REAL. BUTTER!! It won't set up right if you don't. Believe me, the first time I made this I was in the dorms and they sold "butter" at the little grocery store on campus. Since I could use my meal plan to get it and not spend any of my own money, of course that's what I did. Didn't work. Still tasted good, but definitely didn't ball up like it should have. Sorry for no pictures again. I'm bad at remembering to take them and I don't have all the pretty plates or the best lighting to take them in, especially since I usually bake late at night! Just imagine a ball of cheesecake, with mini-chocolate chips in it, covered in nuts. :) YUMMY! Let me know if you try it!

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter (no substitutes), softened
¼ tsp. vanilla
¾ cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
¾ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
¾ cup finely chopped pecans
1 box chocolate graham cracker sticks

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add sugars; beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Place mixture on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a ball. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, roll cheese ball in pecans. Serve with graham crackers.

Gooey Cookie Pie Bites

These were really good. They didn't turn out like I expected, and I originally made them for Matt but he didn't like them. Fine with me, I ate them all!! :) I don't feel like copy/pasting the whole recipe when you can just click HERE and read her comments about it too. But I'll show you all my pictures (I forgot to take ones after they finished baking. Whoops.) and a couple extras of the Alton Brownie BITES I made the day before. YUM! :) PS: I love getting use out of my mini muffin pan! Enjoy!

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake Pictures

First of all, this cake rocks! It tastes like chocolate cake, but better. Different. It has that something that makes you go "what IS that???" Definitely my new go-to chocolate cake. It's easy to make--the only thing I don't usually have on hand that it requires is buttermilk. Maybe I'll find some other recipes that use buttermilk so I will always have it on hand! :) Enjoy the pictures.
(Ignore the craziness where the "crust" stayed in the pan. :) Oh, and I did already start to cut it before I remembered to take a picture so ignore that, too! Haha!)

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake

I've been wanting to make this ever since I got a new bundt pan after Valentine's day. ($5 at Walmart AND it came with a carrying case which I can use for other cakes too! And it's not a crappy one either. It's actually pretty durable.) I bought the ingredients last week sometime and didn't get around to making it until today. It's getting ready to come out of the oven so hopefully it's good! (The batter sure was!! :)) I'll post pictures once it's finished and cooled.

Cinnamon Chocolate Cake
-Vintage Victuals

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a large bundt pan with cooking spray. Put butter, water, oil, and cocoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well. Then, add the buttermilk and baking soda. Mix together the eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla in a small bowl, and add to the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake 25 minutes. Allow cake to cool completely in the pan.

Alton Brownies

Yeah, I just did that. :)

These are awesome and anyone who is anyone needs to try them. Super easy and way good. Best brownies I've ever had... Hands down. I love Alton Brown.

Cocoa Brownies



Ingredients

Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.