Chocolate Pudding Cake

With my mom in town last weekend we took advantage of being together with celebrating Mother's Day.  My mom loves chocolate and we decided the best way to celebrating would be to bake a chocolate cake together.  Not only did we enjoy spending time in the kitchen "working" but we got to have some marvelous cake too.  

This was quite possibly the world's ugliest chocolate cake however it is also super rich and gooey. It was nice to have an extra set of hands to get all of the separate steps complete. This cake is like none I have ever made.  In the end I was horrified to see that we were suppose to top the batter with brown sugar and cocoa and then boiling water.  It is cringe worthy as you pour the water over the cake.  However this is the good part - the ooey, gooey chocolate sauce that remains when the cake comes out of the oven.

We put the cake in right as we sat down for dinner. The timing was perfect as it was done and still warm as we finished.  Topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was the best gift for Mother's Day.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert chocolate cake

6078275

Ingredients (serves 12)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar, divided
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2 1/2 cups boiling water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, 1 cup of the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until well combined. If there are lumps of brown sugar, use your hands to break them up. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate together over medium-low heat.

In a separate small saucepan, heat buttermilk over low heat until barely warmed. You don't want it to bubble or boil. Remove from heat.

Remove chocolate and butter mixture from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour mixture over dry ingredients. Add the buttermilk and stir until combined. Spread into the prepared pan.

Combine the remaining 1 1/4 cups brown sugar with the cocoa in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth, using your hands to break up any brown sugar clumps. Sprinkle mixture evenly over the chocolate cake batter.

Pour the boiling water evenly over the cake.

Carefully transfer the pan to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center is firm to the touch, but still jiggly.

Remove cake from oven and cool on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.

To serve, invert each serving on a plate so that the fudge sauce on the bottom becomes a topping. Spoon any extra sauce in the pan over the top. You can serve the cake at room temperature or warm. Top with ice cream.

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Chocolate Treats for Valentine's Days

Are you a fan of Valentine's Day? Hearts and all things pink make me happy and as a result I do like all of the love and decoration swirling around in February.  That being said, going out to spend double on a meal with loud and large crowds is not my idea of fun.  Mr. J and I will be sending February 14th at home with the baby.  Last year we had our baby class, toured the hospital, and ate Chipotle. I cannot believe that was a year ago.

Anyhoo, this year we will probably have some chocolate a our special treat after our home cooked meal.  I love chocolate.  My perfect idea of Valentine's Day is being with Mr. J and having a bit of chocolate. 

I just made some cinnamon chocolate pudding which was so good I just might make it again.  But here is a laundry list of all chocolate sweet treats. Can I have one of each, please?

Cookies:
White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossoms 

Chocolate Chip Funfetti Sugar Cookies 

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies  

Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies

Pie:
Oreo Chocolate Pie

Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

Bars: 
Oreo Monster Bars 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars 

Brownies with Cookie Dough Frosting

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies  

Fudge Topped Brownies 

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Other Desserts:
Chocolate Expresso Pots de Creme

Red Velvet Cake

Chocolate Chip Waffles

Profiteroles with Old Fashioned Cream Filling

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins 

Double Chocolate Muffins

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Muffins 

Cinnamon Chocolate Pudding

Its Monday again. And I am not really looking forward to it.  I had a really good weekend. And I have a very busy Monday and week.  I always enjoyed my weekends but now with Miss O I pretty much live for them.  It is so much fun being with her. Each day her personality comes out more and more.  I find her little mannerisms so funny.  Her facial expressions are priceless.

I thought I might need a little extra help this week to get through everything that needs to get done.  For me that help best comes in the form of chocolate.  I am not a huge pudding fan but for whatever reason I got the hankering for chocolate pudding.  I couldn't get it out of my mind. When I mentioned the idea to Mr. J he was in immediately.

This pudding is fairly simple and quick. Of course I don't always wait for the cooling process to happen. I like my pudding warm. Is that weird?  I had a bowl full right after the cooking was complete.  And although the recipe serves six, our cooled portion was about three servings.  To each their own I guess. 

Cinnamon Chocolate Pudding

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: dessert chocolate cinnamon

6077052

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2/3 C sugar
• 3 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 3 1/2 C whole milk
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Lightly sweetened whipped cream for serving (optional)

Instructions

In a large sauce pan, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt until well blended.

Add about 3/4 cup of the milk and stir until smooth and incorporated. Gradually stir in the remaining milk and butter.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Be sure to scrape the the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching. Continue cooking until the mixture bubbles and thickens, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

Add the coarsely chopped chocolate and stir until melted and the mixture is smooth. Then add the vanilla and stir.

Strain the pudding through a medium fine sieve into your serving container. Lay plastic wrap over the tom to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Serve with whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon if desired.

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Valentine's Day Chocolate Round Up

Are you ready for Valentine's Day? This year our Valentine's Day will be spent in our baby class followed by a tour of the hospital.  Romantic huh?  In a way it kind of is.

We are going to be running around all day but hopefully will have a semi special meal on Saturday night. If not thing else there will be a chocolate dessert. Each time I decide on said dessert I find about 5 others on the internet that are simply irresistible. Decisions, decisions. Not a strong suit for me currently.

If you are still searching for something special here are some of my favorite chocolate treats.

Cookies:
White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossoms 

Chocolate Chip Funfetti Sugar Cookies

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies 

Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies

Pie:
Oreo Chocolate Pie

Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

Bars: 
Oreo Monster Bars 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars 

Brownies with Cookie Dough Frosting

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies 

Fudge Topped Brownies

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Other Desserts:
Chocolate Expresso Pots de Creme

Red Velvet Cake

Chocolate Chip Waffles

Profiteroles with Old Fashioned Cream Filling

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Double Chocolate Muffins

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Profiteroles with Old Fashioned Cream Filling

If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen this picture pop up on Saturday night. See way back in October I said I would make Mr. J profiteroles for his birthday. He doesn't like cake. Normally I go with apple pie but he wasn't really feeling it.  Well, in October I was at the peak of my pregnancy exhaustion.  Each weekend I went to make these little babies and each weekend it seemed like such a big effort. They didn't happen. And didn't happen.  All of these months I felt pretty bad he never got a birthday treat. 

Well I talked up these profiteroles so much this past week there was no getting out of it. In fact, Mr. J even helped whip them up.  The thing is although it does take some time to make these puff pastries they really aren't hard to put together. Saturday night we filled them with store bought ice cream and hot fudge.  Super easy.  

Sunday we got a bit more elaborate and made some old fashioned cream filling. It is a little like vanilla pudding but not.  I could actually just eat it by the spoonful and call it a day for dessert. In fact I did quite a bit of taste testing just to be sure it was good before we filled one of the profiteroles for Mr. J. 

Profiteroles with Old Fashioned Cream Filling

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, plus cool time

Keywords: bake dessert chocolate vanilla

6070376

Ingredients (12 profiteroles)

For the profiteroles:

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Filling:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Having whipped cream is also a nice addition.

Instructions

For the Profiteroles:

Heat the water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in the flour and remove from the heat, stirring until the mixture forms into a ball.

Stir in the eggs one at a time. Beating after each egg until the mixture becomes thick, stiff and all traces of egg disappears.

Drop dough in large spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. This batter will make 12 good sized cream puffs.

Put profiteroles into a cold oven, and turn the temperature to 400 degrees F. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the profiteroles are golden and puffed up.

Remove the puffs from the baking sheet and allow them to cool. When cool, slice the tops off and pull out any filaments of soft dough inside.

For the Cream Filling:

Scald milk. Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Beat eggs and combine with flour mixture. Add a small amount of scalded milk to the egg mixture. The put all of the egg mixture into the mix.

Cook mixture on medium low until it thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Once cool add vanilla extract.

When ready to serve the profiteroles, fill each one with filling.

*Whipped cream is good added to this mixture.

**I recommend leaving the puffs unfilled until just before serving to keep the puff shells from getting soggy.

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Valentine's Day Treats

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I am lucky enough to be with my husband today.  We aren't doing anything special. Our tradition is exchanging cards.  This year exceptionally good with the cards.

In case you need some treat ideas to help you celebrate today here are some of my favorite chocolate treats.

Cookies:
White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossoms 

Chocolate Chip Funfetti Sugar Cookies

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies 

Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies

Pie:
Oreo Chocolate Pie

Bars: 
Oreo Monster Bars 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies 

Fudge Topped Brownies

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Muffins: 
Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chip Waffles for Two

A classic buttermilk waffle recipe jazzed up with mini chocolate chips sized perfectly for a breakfast for two. 

Yesterday I woke up in St. Louis, traveled through Detroit, landed in Connecticut and drove to Maine. And yes I was tired come night time.  I am now safe and sound in a hotel room waiting for the snow to pile up.

I wish I was home snuggled up on the couch in front of a fire and eating these waffles. Mr. J and I had dreams of a big breakfast last weekend. He wanted eggs, bacon and potatoes. I wanted waffles. We ended up with a little of everything but my waffles were the winner.

I took a basic buttermilk waffle recipe and jazzed it up with a touch of cinnamon and mini chocolate chips. Topped with homemade whipped cream and berries and you have some mighty fine waffles.

I have to say this is probably one of the more perfect breakfast in bed recipes to share with the one you love for Valentine's Day.  Enjoy!!

Chocolate Chip Waffles for Two

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

6060090

Ingredients (2 waffles)

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1¾ cups buttermilk
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.

Combine the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently whisk to combine. Do not overmix. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Spray a waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray, then preheat. Once the waffle maker is ready, add the batter according to the manufacturer's instructions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the waffle maker indicates they are ready.

Serve immediately with whipped cream and maple syrup.

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Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

I am not a huge Valentine's Day fan but I am certainly not a hater. I just don't really see the point of going out and buying all sorts of heart things and then spending a ridiculous amount on a special dinner when all of the restaurants are packed full. It is just not enjoyable to me. Instead Mr. J and I play it low key and maybe go out and celebrate the week before or after.

As part of our low key celebration this year I am making all things chocolate. Part of this plan is these heart cookies. I never got around to cut out sugar cookies at Christmas time so it was fun to pull out my heart shaped cookie cutters and go out it this weekend.

The sugar cookie recipe used was super easy and didn't need any chill time before rolling out. I made the cookie Saturday and then dipped the chocolate on Sunday. Some of the cookie may have disappeared in this time. 

For me Valentine's Day is about showing those you care, how much you care even more than normal.  These cookies do just that.  Make up a batch and share with everyone. So far my cookies have only brought smiles to people's faces.

Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

by Emily Morris, Slightly varied from Bake at 350

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus time for dipping

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert chocolate cookie

6059971

Ingredients (24 cookies, depending on size)

For the Sugar Cookies

• 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 c sugar
• 2 sticks (salted) butter, cold & cut into chunks
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• For the Chocolate Topping+
• 8 oz bar of chocolate, broken into small squares
• I used semi sweet.

Instructions

For the cookies

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter with a pastry blender or a stand mixer. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

Use your hands to knead the dough together as you remove it out of the bowl.

On a floured surface roll out the dough ball to about 1/4" thick, and cut into desired shapes. I used heart shapes for Valentine's Day.

Place on lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove when just golden, cookies will continue to cook as they rest on the cookie sheet after they are removed from the oven. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

For the Chocolate topping

In a microwave safe bowl place the pieces of chocolate. Microwave bowl in 20 second intervals stirring after each one. Once the chocolate is primarily melted continue stirring to melt the remaining solids. This process should take no longer than 3 minutes total.

Dip or drizzle chocolate on cooled cookies. Leave on racks for the chocolate to harden for another hour - maybe longer if the house is warm.

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Red Velvet Cake

Two thick layers of moist red velvet cake frosting with rich cream cheese frosting.
 

Hello Lovelies and welcome to Monday. I am a bit sad the weekend is over. I had a great weekend and always have a hard time moving forward after such a great time.  Why can't time stand still?  No what else I don't really like.  Three snow storms in seven days. Yep that is our forecast. No thank you.

I suppose it is February so I can deal with winter weather for a bit longer but come March I am calling Uncle. 

Now this cake isn't the beautiful meticulous cake you would eye at some fancy bakery. This is a cake that is made with love, shared with family kind of cake.

I don't make cake very often because Mr. J doesn't really like it. Yes he will have a slice here and there but for the most part cake is all me.  With my parents coming this weekend I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make some cake to share. Due to make very seldom cake making I don't have many cake tools. I realized this as I was trying to frost a cake on a plate too small with a little butter knife.  Not fun.  My bakery friends would cringe.

But you know what, this cake was for no one but my family. Those I love and they didn't give a hoot about the frosting on the plate or the uneven layers. They did care about the moist, rich flavor of this red velvet and boy did I deliver on that part.

I had never made red velvet cake before and I am so glad I finally did. This cake came together so easily. I will say though that the amount of red food coloring gave me a bit of fright. So much red - perfect for the cake not so much for the counter tops.  We pretty much consumed this in the two days of our visit.  I kind of want to make it again for Valentine's day!

Red Velvet Cake

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: bake cake

6059696

Ingredients (serves 12)

For the Cake:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups oil
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 oz. red food coloring

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 cups confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.

Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients, including yogurt and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.

Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.

Pour into cake pans and smooth top till even. Place pans on one cookie sheet and put in oven.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool.

Frost with cream cheese frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

Sift sugar and set aside.

Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy and smooth. Add vanilla.

Add the sugar in batches, starting the beater on low speed until blended. Scrape down the sides in between each addition.

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