Chocolate French Toast

I discovered this recipe a few years ago and fell in love. Chocolate French Toast has been our Christmas breakfast tradition since Charles and I have been married. It's so easy and so yummy!

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 oz chocolate, chopped (you can use semi-sweet, dark or milk chocolate...whatever you like best)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
bread
2 Tablespoons butter

Place milk and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until chocolate is soft, about one minute. Stir to combine and let cool.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, vanilla and chocolate mixture.

On skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Proceed to make French toast as usual.

We love to serve this with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar!

Croissant and Chocolate Bread Pudding

Today I am going to share a recipe for Croissant and Chocolate Bread Pudding. I have only made this once and it was actually about a year ago. It was so delicious and it was very rich (and coming from me that says a lot...I never describe a dessert as rich). This would make a great recipe to bring to a holiday potluck.

Ingredients
6 large egg yolks
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
6 croissants (about 1 pound), cut into 1 inch pieces
4oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square pan or other shallow 2 quart baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and nutmeg. Add the croissants and chocolate. Mix to combine. (I think when I made it, I did not have any nutmeg, so I omitted that).

Transfer the mixture to the pan and bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Cinnamon Snowballs

When I was in college, there used to be a local coffee shop called the Roasting Company. My husband (he was just my boyfriend at the time) and I went there one evening for a date night. We ordered cinnamon hot chocolate. It was so delicious and I have not been able to find anything like it anywhere else.

Today I was looking through the paper and the coupons. One of the ads had a recipe for Chocolate Cinnamon Snowballs. They look really yummy. And it seems like an easy Christmas cookie recipe. *Disclaimer: I have not made these, so I don't know if they actually taste as good as the picture makes them look. 

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened (the recipe says not to use butter substitutes)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all purpose flour
Extra Powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Beat butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla and cinnamon with an electric mixer until light. Gradually add flour, mixing until just blended.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place one inch apart on greased baking sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer from baking sheet to wire racks; cool slightly. Roll in powdered sugar; cool completely on racks. Re-roll in powdered sugar.

Oatmeal Pie

I have finally made the Oatmeal Pie! I've been talking about making this pie since our visit to Amish country last month. I did a simple search on Google for a recipe and came across one that claims to be from Charleston during the Civil War era. As most people know, pecan pie is a very popular pie, especially in the South. But according to this person, pecans were hard to come by during the Civil War so people substituted oatmeal. I did make one tiny adaptation to the recipe and added chocolate chips. I love anything chocolate and thought it would be good in this pie. This pie tasted so yummy and you feel slightly less guilty eating it because of the oatmeal.

Ingredients:
one pie crust
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (uncooked)
1 cup chocolate chip

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs until frothy.

Combine sugar, flour and salt in small bowl. (If not using chocolate chips, you can add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon at this point). Add eggs; mix well. Add corn syrup, melted butter and vanilla. Mix in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Pour into uncooked shell and bake for 45 minutes.

PB Filled Cookies

I love anything chocolate and peanut butter. I saw a recipe on another blog (and I can't remember for the life of me what blog it was) for peanut butter filled cookies. They looked so delicious that I had to try them for myself. I also wanted to pass along the recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter (we used crunchy, but creamy would work out great, too)
1 egg
1 Tablespoon milk (I ended up needing another splash of milk to make the dough stick together better)
2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (again, we used crunchy, but in this case creamy peanut butter probably would have worked out a little better)
sugar for coating (I didn't do this step)

With a mixer, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, 1/4 cup peanut butter, egg, milk and vanilla.

In a small bowl, using a fork, combine powdered sugar, 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. I again needed a splash of milk to hold this mixture together better. I think it's because I used crunchy peanut butter.

Flatten a tablespoon of the chocolate dough in your hand*. Roll a teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture into a ball and place in the center of the dough. Wrap the dough around the filling and place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (I skipped the parchment and it wasn't a problem). Flatten the cookies with the bottom of a glass and gently press one side of each cookie into a small bowl of sugar (I skipped this step). Bake, sugar side up, at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes.

* I ended up having to put the dough in the freezer for a few minutes half way through because it was getting too warm and my hands were too warm so it just wasn't working out great. It might be good to put the dough in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes before you start.

* This post was shared on the following Link Parties:

This Chick Cooks
Lolly Jane 
C.R.A.F.T.
Someday Crafts 
Night Owl Crafting
Reasons to Skip the Housework

Gooey Chocolate Brownies

The other day Charles requested that I make brownies. We're big fans of fudgy brownies. I looked through all my recipes and decided to make the Gooey Chocolate Brownies. They were perfectly fudgy, chocolatey and delicious! They are also super easy to make and taste a whole lot better than any boxed brownie mix. Here's the recipe:

This picture doesn't do them justice

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
4oz unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 cup to 1 cup chocolate chips

In a saucepan, melt butter and chocolate squares over low heat. Add sugar. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees while allowing your butter-chocolate mixture to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Beat in eggs. Stir in flour and chocolate chips.

Pour in a 9x13 inch pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Magic Cookie Bar CUPCAKES!

Today I decided to be slightly experimental with baking. Typically this is not characteristic of me, but this seemed like a safe experiment in which I was likely not to fail. I have been thinking about making Magic Cookie Bars (also known as Seven Layer Bars) lately. I did not have a chance to make them at Christmas which is when I usually have them. I have also been thinking about making cupcakes. I love, love, love cupcakes! So, I thought I would meld the two desserts together--Magic Cookie Bar Cupcakes. Here's how I did it:

First I made a crushed graham cracker and butter mix. I layered that at the bottom of each cupcake liner (half of the 24 liners were in the silicone ones which I love using).

Then I layered on chocolate cake mix. I used the recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook, but you could also use a cake mix. I added chopped pecans to the cake mix since Magic Cookie Bars have nuts.

Then I baked them for about 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I first tried 20 minutes, but they were still gooey in the center.

After baking off all the cupcakes and letting them cool, I made the icing. My first step for the icing was toasting about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of coconut flakes in a 350 degree oven for about 7 minutes. Then I made the Vanilla Buttercream frosting recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook. I suppose you could use store bought icing, but store bought tastes gross. Homemade is the way to go (and it doesn't have trans fat like the store bought kind does). After mixing up the icing, I added in the toasted coconut and mixed it altogether. Then I iced the cupcakes.

Of course, Charles and I had to taste them to test my success or failure with this experiment. I think they turned out pretty good. I forgot to put sweetened condensed milk on top of the graham cracker "crust", so Charles thought that was a little lacking in sweetness. Next time I make them I'll either add a couple of tablespoons of sugar to the graham cracker crust or put a bit of sweetened condensed milk on top of the graham crackers. The icing and cake was amazing. You gotta love Betty Crocker. But if you don't like coconut, then 1) you probably wouldn't like Magic Cookie bars and 2) wouldn't want to eat these anyway.

Overall, I am pleased with my bit of creative genius.

* By the way, Charles took most of the pictures. He did not take the one that came out dark. That was all me.






I shared this post on the following Link Parties:
Homework
Born Again Crafter
Under the Table and Dreaming
Embellishing Life
C.R.A.F.T
Reasons to Skip the Housework
Sugar Bee Crafts
Cherished Bliss
This Chick Cooks
Night Owl Crafting
Ginger Snap Crafts
Kojo Designs
Young and Crafty
Lolly JaneLemon Tree Creations