Anything chocolate is ok by me. I say eat these warm and thank me later.
Fudgey Brownies
Yield: about 18 brownies
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks salted butter, melted
- 1 cup baking cocoa
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 and 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. After butter has melted, remove it from the heat and stir in cocoa until completely mixed. Set aside.
2) In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix into egg mixture until well incorporated. Stir in vanilla and chocolate mixture.
3) Pour batter into a 13×9x2 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until completely cooked all the way through. Wait a few minutes to cool just enough so you can cut the brownies without them falling apart. Enjoy warm, perhaps with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Chocolate mousse is divine. It’s nice having such an easy recipe so that you can whip it up for a party but it looks like something you spent hours on. The longest part of this recipe is the chilling. Trust me, this mousse turns out so yummy and velvety, it’s worth making at least once. Oh and if you check the instructions at the very bottom, I snuck in a how-to-make-your-own-butter recipe too by accident.
Super Simple Chocolate Mousse
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 4 tablespoons water
- 3 egg yolks
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
1) Melt chocolate with water in a small saucepan, stirring until completely smooth. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Pour about 1/3 of the chocolate into the eggs and beat. Return all to pan and return to heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and let cool.
2) In a separate bowl, whip cream on high until thickened. Add sugar and continue to whip on high until soft peaks form. DO NOT over beat, or else it will turn into butter. I’m not kidding, you can make butter another time by just whipping some cream and adding salt. Fold in cooled chocolate and stir lightly, but make sure chocolate is evenly spread throughout. Cover and chill for several hours in refrigerator, until set.
Mmmm I love coffee cake at brunch. This one is what I typically think of when I think of a coffee cake. It’s got a yummy, sweet, crumbled topping that compliments almost any breakfast food. It’s good if you put some nuts in it too, like walnuts. Like I’ve said before, my dad loves walnuts, so we try to incorporate it into a lot of our recipes if we can.
Classic Coffee Cake
Yield: 9 servings
Ingredients:
Cake
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
Topping
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 stick butter, cold
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
2) Combine dry ingredients. Mix into shortening mixture. Cream in milk.
3) Pour batter into a 9×9 in baking pan. In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients for topping. Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter or two knives. Sprinkle over top of batter. Add nuts if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until cooked all the way through. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving so it does not fall apart when you’re trying to cut it.
Well, I apologize for the lack of updates recently. It seems other things have been getting in the way. And on top of that, my camera has decided to be on the fritz. *Apparently* I got some sand in it when I took it to the shore, so now I have to have it cleaned. No idea when it’ll be ready. :\ But I didn’t want to just not post, so I will continue to update, but just without pictures for a little while.
These muffins are a classic. Use fresh squeezed lemon juice to make them even better.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Yield: about a dozen
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup poppy seeds
- 1 pkg instant lemon pudding
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- zest from 1 lemon
- juice from 1 lemon
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, including poppy seeds. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, and oil.
2) Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients’ bowl. Mix until well combined. Stir in lemon juice and lemon zest.
3) Pour batter into muffin tins and bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes, until cooked all the way through.
The picture was taken after I, uh, made sure it turned out alright. *a third of a loaf later…* This is perhaps one of my favorite bread recipes of all time. What is it about Grandma’s recipes that are so good? I guess they’re tried and true, which makes them awesome. The nice thing about banana bread is that whether the bananas are ripe or overly ripe, where you don’t really want to eat them anymore, they still taste good in bread form. I like eating this bread warm with a big pat of butter.
Grandma’s Banana Walnut Bread
Yield: 1 loaf
Ingredients:
- 1 stick salted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup milk
- a dash of vinegar
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and butter for 2 minutes on low. Add eggs and milk. Mix well. Mix in vinegar and bananas until well incorporated.
2) In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to banana mixture, 1/2 at a time, until well mixed. Stir in walnuts. Pour batter into a 9 x 5 x 3 bread loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-70 minutes, until an inserted knife comes out clean.