Unicorn Cosmic Brownies with Sprinkle Pop #Choctoberfest 2018

This post is sponsored by Sprinkle Pop.

Little Debbie cosmic brownies were the best when I was little. Not only did you get a fudgy brownie, but it had frosting and SPRINKLES! 

Do you like sprinkles? I kind of feel like sprinkles make everything just a little bit better.  My 3.5 year thinks it is a dream come true to get ice cream with sprinkles.  Sprinkle Pop creates custom bespoke sprinkle blends, dyed in house to match any idea a customer may have. If you can dream it, they can create it as a sprinkle mix.

If you are not that creative there are plenty of cool combinations for sale on their website.  I loved the seasonal creations.  I got the Unicorn themed blend because as I mentioned I have a 3.5 year.  Unicorns. Sprinkles. Yes, please.  

I got some Mickey Mouse ones too to show some love for my little boy but I am pretty sure my daughter will find a way to make them hers as well. 

If you are looking to take any bake good up a notch head over to Sprinkle Pop. You will not be disappointed. 

Thanks to Sprinkle Pop for providing these adorable sprinkle blends.

Here is the full recipe and be sure to scroll down to see the other chocolate recipes being shared today for #Chotoberfest 2018.  And don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway here. 

Unicorn Cosmic Brownies

by Life on Food

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 20

Keywords: bake chocolate brownies

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Ingredients (24 brownies)

For the Brownies

• 1¼ c. all-purpose flour
• ¾ c. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 c. sugar
• ⅔ c. brown sugar
• ¾ c. (1½ sticks) butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp. whole milk
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Fudge Ganache

• 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ c. milk chocolate chips
• ½ c. heavy cream

Instructions

For the Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil and lightly spray with baking spray such as Pam, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat melted butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated.

In a medium size mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt. With mixing speed on low, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk. Mix just until combined.

Remove bowl from stand and pour batter into prepared pan. The batter will be thick, so using a rubber spatula, spread into an even layer. Place in oven and bake for 18-25 minutes (I live in high altitude so my bars tend to bake quicker). The brownies will be done, so do not over-bake or you will have dry brownies! Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan.

For the Fudge Ganache

In a 2 c. glass measuring cup, combine chocolate chips and heavy cream. Microwave on half powder (mine is usually power 10, so I did 5) for one minute, stir, then repeat. Stir chocolate until all of the chips are melted and it becomes smooth. Beat for 1 minute and then pour over the top of the brownies. Spread evenly and sprinkle with desired toppings.

Serve warm or cold.

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Parisian Drinking Chocolate #Choctoberfest 2018

This post is sponsored by Forte Chocolates.

One of the best things about my time abroad in Paris was exploring the many Parisian food wonders.  A favorite was their chocolat chaud.  This wasn't just hot chocolate as known in the States but more like a thick melted chocolate drink. It was marvelous and such an indulgence. 

Forte's motto is "Celebrate Life Through Chocolate". I cannot think of a better way to celebrate life than with a mug full of this Parisian Drinking Chocolate.

This recipe may be small but a mug of this stuff really packs a punch. You steam whole milk on the stove top. Once it is piping hot, remove the pot and add chocolate, vanilla, espresso powder, and a touch of sea salt.

Slowly stir in all of the wonderful flavors.  The milk will thicken and turn into a rich chocolate treat. 

Thanks to Forte Chocolates for sponsoring this post and providing the different chocolates from their new Gusto line. The white chocolate balsamic vinaigrette is so versatile for use in both sweet and savory dishes. 

Check out their website and enter the code CHOCTOBERFEST2018 to get a buy 3 get 1 free discount on their bars.

Here is the full recipe and be sure to scroll down to see the other chocolate recipes being shared today for #Chotoberfest 2018.  And don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway here. 

Parisian Style Drinking Chocolate

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes

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Ingredients (2 cups)

• ¾ cup whole milk
• 4 oz good-quality bittersweet chocolate (about 72% cacao), chopped
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ⅛ teaspoon instant espresso powder, dissolved in ½ teaspoon hot water
• 1 small pinch sea salt

Instructions

Heat the milk in a small pot over medium heat until steaming.

Whisk in the chocolate until smooth and creamy, then add the vanilla, dissolved espresso powder, and sea salt.

Return to the heat and cook until steaming again.

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Cocoa Brownies #Choctoberfest 2018

This post was sponsored by Imperial Sugar.

Yesterday I mentioned it’s #Choctoberfest! What’s #Choctoberfest, you might ask? Well, this is the annual fall celebration of chocolate recipes. Of course, we love chocolate recipes all the time, but during #Choctoberfest, I join over 100 other bloggers to post yummy chocolate recipes and talk about sponsors, who give away some awesome prizes. Check out the amazing giveaway here. 

With two small kids there is never a shortage of things to do. Laundry. Picking up toys. Making meals. Snuggles. You get so caught up in the now I sometimes forget about the bigger picture.  My world is where my kids are and what they are doing. Now. This second.  I forget things around the world continue and existed way before my little ones came along. Take Imperial Sugar for instance. 

In 1843, along the banks of Oyster Creek in what would later become Sugar Land, the Williams brothers built a mule-powered sugar mill, began grinding sugar cane, and a Texas legacy was born. The Imperial Sugar Company is the one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the State of Texas and was founded by one of the original 100 families brought to the state by Stephen F. Austin.

For 175 years, Imperial Sugar has been a trusted name in family kitchens all across the south. Sweet things happen when people come together in the kitchen, and that’s why Imperial Sugar has been at the heart of family traditions and celebrations for generations. We’re the secret ingredient in family-favorite recipes handed down from one generation to another. Home cooks know that when you bake with love and Imperial Sugar, that’s when memories are made.

Imperial Sugar provides high-quality sugar and sweetener products and over 100 years of time-tested recipes. Our family of products includes granulated sugar, light and dark brown sugar, free-flowing sugar, powdered sugar, sugar shakers and Steviacane® (Stevia + sugar blend). Imperial Sugar products are 100% pure cane sugar, non-GMO and provide consistently delicious results.

I used brown sugar in this recipe. In all of the brownie recipes I have made over the years I never, ever used brown sugar.  What was I doing?!?!  These are fudgy and gooey in all of the right ways. 

Here is the full recipe and be sure to scroll down to see all of the other yummy chocolate recipes posted today.

Cocoa Brownies

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: bake chocolate brownies

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Ingredients (16 brownies)

• 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

Instructions

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 50-55 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.

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Welcome to #Choctoberfest 2018 with Imperial Sugar

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year, because #Choctoberfest is finally here! From now until the end of the week, I am joining forces with over 100 other bloggers from around the world to post delicious chocolate recipes. Every day, #Choctoberfest bloggers will be celebrating all things chocolate - milk, dark, white, bittersweet, semi-sweet, and cocoa! We are starting with a #Choctoberfest prize pack from our generous sponsors. 

Scroll down to learn how you can enter to win. One lucky winner will receive the following:

• A 100-Piece Cake Decorating Kit from our blog sponsors The PinterTest Kitchen. This set includes a cake turntable, piping bags, piping tips, flower nozzles, scapers, and more.
• An Instant Pot and a 40-Pound Case of Granulated Sugar from our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar. Imperial Sugar provides high-quality sugar and sweetener products and over 100 years of time-tested recipes. Sweet things happen when people come together in the kitchen, and that’s why Imperial Sugar has been at the heart of family traditions and celebrations for generations.
• Coconut Oil and Chocolate Silk Greens from our silver sponsor Barlean's, your trusted source for chocolatey goodness superfood nutrition. Barlean's has a commitment to staying ahead of the innovation curve in providing the absolute highest quality product.
• A Chocolate Gift Pack from our silver sponsor Forte Chocolates. You'll receive 12 of their most popular chocolate bars. With Forte Chocolates, you can celebrate life through chocolate. They also have a line of chocolate developed specifically to use in savory recipes.
• A Chocolate Gift Pack from our silver sponsor Divine Chocolate. You'll receive one of each of their baking bars, a white chocolate bar, and their top 5 everyday bars. Divine Chocolate is the only Fairtrade chocolate company in the world that is owned by cocoa farmers. Their baking bars are also a delicious vegan option.
• A Selection of Sprinkles from our silver sponsor Sprinkle Pop. Sprinkle Pop's bespoke sprinkle creations are one of a kind, just like you! At Sprinkle Pop, you can also order a custom sprinkle mix; there isn't a sprinkle mix that you can dream up that they can't create.

That's a prize pack worth over $400! Open worldwide, except where prohibited. Must be 18+ to enter (21+ in some locations). See terms and conditions for more details. To enter, simply follow our sponsors using the widget below. You can gain additional entries by following me and the other participating bloggers. A winner will be drawn on October 21, 2018 and contacted via email. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway Don't forget to come back to my blog for more chocolatey goodness between now and October 20. Check out our participating bloggers: The PinterTest Kitchen ♥ 2 Cookin Mamas ♥ 27th and Olive ♥ A Day in the Life on the Farm ♥ A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures ♥ A Little Fish in the Kitchen ♥ addicted 2 recipes ♥ Amy's Cooking Adventures ♥ An Affair from the Heart ♥ April GoLightly ♥ At the Table with R and R ♥ Baking Sense ♥ Blade & Barbell ♥ Blogghetti ♥ Body Rebooted ♥ Books n' Cooks ♥ Bottom Left of the Mitten ♥ Canning and Cooking at Home ♥ Cheese Curd In Paradise ♥ Chef Sarah Elizabeth ♥ Cindy's Recipes and Writings ♥ Coconut & Lime ♥ Cook With Renu ♥ Cook's Hideout ♥ Cookaholic Wife ♥ Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt ♥ CopyKat.com ♥ Daily Dish Recipes ♥ Everyday Eileen ♥ Fairyburger ♥ Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice ♥ Family Around the Table ♥ Fix Me a Little Lunch ♥ Frankly Entertaining ♥ Frugal & Fit ♥ Get the Good Stuff! ♥ Growing Up Gabel ♥ Hardly A Goddess ♥ Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks ♥ Home Sweet Homestead ♥ House of Nash Eats ♥ Intelligent Domestications ♥ jenniferbakes ♥ JoAnn's Food Bites ♥ Join Us, Pull up a Chair ♥ Jolene's Recipe Journal ♥ Jonesin’ For Taste ♥ Karen's Kitchen Stories ♥ Kate's Recipe Box ♥ Kelly Lynn's Sweets and Treats ♥ LeMoine Family Kitchen ♥ Life on Food ♥ Life, Love, and Good Food ♥ Lisa's Dinnertime Dish ♥ Little House Big Alaska ♥ Long Distance Baking ♥ Maria's Mixing Bowl ♥ Moore or Less Cooking ♥ Must Love Home ♥ Norine's Nest ♥ Our Good Life ♥ Our Sutton Place ♥ OVENTales ♥ Palatable Pastime ♥ Prettysweetblog ♥ Red Cottage Chronicles ♥ Restless Chipotle ♥ Reviews, Chews & How-Tos ♥ Sarah Cooks the Books ♥ Sarah's Bake Studio ♥ Savory Moments ♥ Seasonal and Holiday Recipe Exchange ♥ Seasoned Sprinkles ♥ Seduction In The Kitchen ♥ Simple Family Crazy Life ♥ Simply Inspired Meals ♥ Snacks and Sips ♥ Soulfully Made ♥ Stephie The Happy Mom ♥ Sumptuous Spoonfuls ♥ Sweet Coralice ♥ Take Two Tapas ♥ Tampa Cake Girl ♥ That Recipe ♥ The Baking Fairy ♥ The Beard and The Baker ♥ The Food Hunter's Guide to Cuisine ♥ The Gingered Whisk ♥ The Heritage Cook ♥ The Mad Scientist's Kitchen ♥ The Olive Blogger ♥ The Pajama Chef ♥ The Redhead Baker ♥ The Saucy Fig ♥ The Spiffy Cookie ♥ The Weekday Gourmet ♥ This is How I Cook ♥ Trampling Rose ♥ Turnips 2 Tangerines ♥ Walking Fruitfully ♥ Wendy Polisi ♥ Wildflour's Cottage Kitchen ♥ Zesty South Indian Kitchen

The Cancer Treatment of the Future with Eric Lefkofsky

Cancer is a monster that tricks the body into believing something pretty strange. The defense mechanisms in the body can’t shut down the disease because the cancer tricks it into believing that the cancer is part of the normal function of the body.

When looking at the complexity of the disease, it can be an uphill battle. Eric Lefkofsky is one man who has been working to battle this disease in a big way. He is the co-founder of a major company, as well as the CEO, and this company is changing the way that cancer patients are both treated and diagnosed today. Their approach has used more data through gathering, organizing, and cleaning to better collaborate with various institutions and cancer centers. Through this company, the goal of many is to provide a more personalized therapy and treatment for those with cancer.

Tempus, the name of the company co-founded by Lefkofsky, takes the data and medical records and saves them together in a single location specifically for the use of cancer treatment. His hope specifically is to create a personalized approach to treatment and therapy of various cancer types. By using Tempus, Lefkofsky hopes to change the way that cancer is treated and handled in the future. Using medical research and data analyzation, Tempus works to create a personalized approach to various treatments and therapies.

The data that Tempus uses is both clinical and molecular data. These often consist of things like RNA and DNA makeups of the patient as well as genes that can affect how cancer is treated. Through an analysis and sequencing method, the data is gathered from each patient.

 Lefkofsky mentions his goal to get more people into oncology before working toward the neurological disorders that are the basis for their data collection. Things like personalized vaccines and CRISPR, which stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. This will eventually provide better treatments for many diseases, especially cancer.

While Tempus is only one of the many ventures that Mr. Lefkofsky has going on in his life. However, it is one of his most significant ventures to date. With several things that happened in his life in the past, he has used his situation to better help others in need. Tempus is only one of the ways that he has done just that.

Along with his business ventures, Lefkofsky also taught at both Northwestern University in the Kellogg School of Management as well as Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, which is located in DePaul University. It is true that his education has made quite a mark on society. Luckily, he has used his education to better the world around him.

 His philanthropy has been a huge part of his life, especially in the past few years. With a family foundation that works in several groups, Lefkofsky works hard to help others in need across the globe. Likewise, Tempus has many of the same goals that the co-founder has in his own life. They are working behind the scenes to further the treatment of cancer in patients by personalizing the care for each individual patient. There is no telling what Tempus, along with Lefkofsky, will accomplish in the future, and cancer treatment will never be the same again.

This post was sponsored by Tempus.