Chocolate

The call to arms went out from @Scharffenberger via Twitter: @SeriousEats had just posted a homemade bagel recipe to their website, SeriousEats.com. Who would be willing to try making chocolate chunk bagels using Scharffen Berger\’s baking chunks?

My hand (and @ reply) went up faster than you can say gourmet chocolate. I was first introduced to Scharffen Berger at BlogHer Food in October of last year. Before that, I wasn\’t aware it existed. My life has improved markedly since that sunny day in San Francisco, if you hadn\’t guessed. Good chocolate can certainly be attributed to some of that. Scharffen Berger chocolate is beautiful, perfect, pure. It\’s my favorite chocolate to bake with, and its quality is worth every stinkin\’ penny.

I believe peanut butter is the perfect food. My husband would disagree, but I truly think it is. Full of protein and good fats, it goes well with bread, apples, or even chicken when turned into satay sauce. When Snickers came out with their new Peanut Butter Snickers, I practically jumped for joy, and the brightly wrapped candy bar went into my CVS basket faster than you can say “check out”.

Sometimes, the inspiration for a recipe comes from the most bizarre of places. The other day, I was reading a free novel I’d downloaded to my Kindle (I adore my Kindle!) and the baker in the book was brainstorming recipe ideas. One of the recipes the author played around with involved cashews and a chocolate base cookie, but I thought I could take it one step further, turning cookies into brownies, and adding nutella into the mix.

I realized as I was thinking out the recipe that I haven’t posted a brownie recipe to this blog since I started it. In fact, Butterscotch Brownies were the first recipe I posted to my blog, back on May 20th, 2008.

Since I am new here and trying to buy friends with baked goods (pretty much how I get all my friends), I thought I’d share a recipe for German Chocolate Brownies. Everyone loves those, right?

This recipe is a combination of two different recipes…I loved the topping on one, but wanted to use my favorite brownie recipe instead. Keep in mind that you can totally adapt this to use your own brownie recipe or even a mix. Just be sure to double the topping if your brownies require a 9×13 pan.

I’m sorry, but are Candy Cane Kisses pretty much the bomb diggity of Christmas candy, or what? Look at the center of that cookie bite. Just look at it! An entire kiss, wrapped in dark chocolatey cookie goodness, people.

I pretty much buy Candy Cane Kisses in bulk when they show up at Target. White chocolate and peppermint? I’m so there. Luckily, so is my bestie, Maggy.

My sister and niece arrived for their first visit to our new house last Tuesday. If you’ve ever met my sister and shared a meal with her, one thing becomes clear very quickly: the girl has an otherworldly relationship with chocolate. Once, we went to P.F. Chang’s for dinner. She thought the food was alright, …

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake is luscious and easy. No need for extra eggs or butter, this cake comes together in one bowl.

Brownies themselves are the stuff of lunchroom bake sales and hot July afternoons, paired with an ice cold glass of fresh lemonade. But I’ll tell ya, you don’t need no stinkin’ box to make brownies. It’s just as easy to make brownies with all the pantry standards you already have in stock. And then there’s …