Candy Bar Brownies

Sorry for the long delay - I've been bogged down by such a busy schedule. -.-

But now I'm back, and with candy bar brownies!  I've made these once before, using Joanne Fluke's recipe, but I didn't find the brownie taste quite to my liking.  I'm not sure how well my best brownie recipe would work with these, because then they'd be soooo insanely rich, but you could try it!

Here's the very non-specific recipe:

Candy Bar Brownies

1 family size (9x13) brownie mix

all the ingredients that the mix calls for

enough candy bars (any kind) to cover a 9x9 pan

1. Preheat oven as directed by the box and grease a 9x9 pan.
2. Prepare your brownie mix as directed.
3. Spread half of the mix into your prepared pan.
4. Layer your candy bars over the top of the brownie layer.
5. Spread the remaining batter on top.
6. Bake for about 60 minutes.  It depends on your oven, so keep checking the brownies to see if they're done.
7. Let cool on a wire rack until only slightly warm before you cut the brownies.  Do NOT cut warm.  Makes about 16 brownies.

So, as you can see, it took about this many (21 singles) Kit-Kats to cover my pan.  The original recipe is doubled, so that it makes a 9x13 pan.

You can use any brownie recipe you like - but the box mix is sure to work.  It really depends on the taste you want - and you rich you want these brownies to be!  And if you use Kit-Kats like I did, don't be surprised when there's solid, crunchy Kit-Kat in there.  If you use solid milk chocolate, for example, it'll just be like a more fudgy brownie.

I don't recommend using Snickers or Milky Ways or any other thick candy bar, though - try to keep your candy flat.  I do recommend making these, however!

Enjoy!
-JJ

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

Before I say anything, I must say this: this is one heckuva post.

Meaning, it's really long.  And yes, I'm going to talk a lot.

So I'm taking a week off.  Literally, I am going to Minnesota.  Wayyy up north, up there by Canada.  Where the mosquitoes the size of baseballs roam.

Anyway.

I made this glorious cake for my birthday.  No way am I going to let someone else bake my own cake.  THE GLORY IS ALLL MIIIINE!!!

And it is a glorious cake.

A thick, two-layer yellow butter cake...

Frosted with brown sugar frosting...

With a layer of cookie dough balls and frosting in the middle...

Topped with the best chocolate chip cookies ever...

And sprinkled with mini chips.

Translation: Fantastic frosted with awesome, filled with amazing, and topped with insanely great.

It is the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake.

Now, there have been several chocolate chip cookie dough cakes.  The one that initially inspired me was the Domestic Rebel's.  But what I ended up modifying was the one from Something Shiny, because it looked so delicious.

Now, you can follow whatever recipes you want, but here's why I chose the ones I did:

1. Cake - I got this recipe from Bakerella, and she is very rarely wrong.  Pretty much never, actually.

2. Frosting - This is the one recommended on Something Shiny.  However, see my note*.

3. Cookie dough - Again, I used the one recommended.  (These can be found at Fake Ginger.)

4. Cookies - I used the recipe that I posted about, from the Repressed Pastry Chef, because I'm so in love with these cookies and I just had to make them.

There, that's done.  And now, a few confessions:

1. This was my first time using butter flavor.  I hadn't even heard of it before, and, frankly, the idea of butter flavor still scares me.  Turns out it's a great way to make you think you're eating more butter than you actually are and send you running on a guilt trip.  Seriously, I think it might have the potential to be a weight-loss aid.

2. This was my first time using self-rising flour.  I know, I know, I'm a baker and I've never used it before.  I probably wouldn't have used it at all except I was sure which conversion from regular flour, salt, and baking powder (or is it soda?) to self-rising flour to use (there are many).

So there.  I've confessed.  And now it's time to drool.

Oh, and fyi, the cake all by itself is now my favorite cake ever. :D

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER

REQUIRES ROOM TEMPERATURE EGGS, MILK

REQUIRES CHILLING TIME

ORDER OF OPERATIONS:

1. Bake chocolate chip cookies.
2. Bake cake.
3. While cake is baking, make cookie dough.
4. While cookie dough chills, make frosting.

Chocolate Chip Cookies:

See recipe here.

NOTE: Make small cookies and medium cookies to decorate this cake.  Small cookies can be made with a teaspoon-size cookie scoop, while medium cookies can be made with the tablespoon-size.

1-2-3-4 Cake:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

3 cups self-rising flour

1 cup milk, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon butter flavor

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease two 9-inch cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter until fluffy.  Add sugar and beat well.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add flour and milk, alternating and beginning and ending with the flour, and mixing well after each addition.
5. Add vanilla and butter flavor and combine.
6. Divide batter equally between the two prepared pans and bake 25-30 minutes.
7. Cool in pans 5-10 minutes before removing from pans and inverting on wire racks to finish cooling.

"Cookie Dough"**:

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

6 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

7 oz. sweetened condensed milk***

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Beat in flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla, beating until smooth after each ingredient.
3. Stir in mini chips.
4. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

**You could probably use this recipe, as well.  I'm sure there's some slight, subtle difference, but whatever. (I actually recommend using the truffles one.)

***You might consider making a double batch of this since sweetened condensed milk comes in 14 oz. cans.  I had half a can lying around after this, and... you know my fondness for sweetened condensed milk.  NOT GOOD.

Brown Sugar Frosting:

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt*

3 tablespoons milk

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar.
2. Mix in powdered sugar until smooth.
3. Add salt*, milk, and vanilla.  Mix until smooth.

*When I made this frosting, I found it to be incredibly salty.  I strongly suggest reducing or even completely omitting the salt from this recipe.  Salty caramel - good, salty frosting - baaaad.  You have no idea.

Assembly:

bag of mini chocolate chips

1. Form chilled cookie dough into balls with cookie scoop and place on a baking sheet/very large plate lined with wax paper.
2. Place 1/6 frosting in small bowl.  Add 1/2 cookie dough balls and gently toss until cookie dough balls are covered.  Add additional 1/6 frosting and remaining dough balls and gently toss to coat.
3. Spread dough-ball/frosting mixture on top of one cake with a rubber spatula.  Place other cake on top.
4. Seal-coat cake with frosting.
5. Chill 30 minutes in refrigerator or until set.
6. Frost with remaining frosting.
7. Place small cookies around the edge of the top of the cake.  Place medium cookies around the bottom of the sides.
8. Sprinkle remaining space on cake with mini semisweet chocolate chips.
9. Cover to store.

Take a deep breath.  It's a lot of instructions, and a lot of ingredients, and a lot of work, but it's totally worth it.

My advice: eat it in very small doses.  This cake has the potential to be quite lethal.

Now, breaking it down, thoroughly and slowly:

Cookies:

Make these cookies!  Try not to eat too many!

Cake:

Cream butter and sugar...

Add eggs...

Alternate adding flour...

...and milk...

Add flavorings and mix.  WORD OF WARNING: Butter flavor smells awful.  Your cake won't, but the flavor itself is not a pleasant odor.  Jussayin'.

Divide evenly between prepared pans...

...and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Cool 5-10 minutes and invert onto wire racks to cool.  This is seriously the best cake I've ever made.  It came out totally level, which has pretty much never happened before.  Best cake EVAR.

Dough:
Make as directed, OR use my cookie dough truffles recipe.  I actually think it tasted better than the recipe I just gave you above.  Know why?  The dough balls had salt in them.  It's not really cookie dough without that salty taste, you know?  So it's not like I have anything against salt, it's just that salt in frosting is bad.  So let the dough chill for an hour...

Then form it into balls.

Frosting:
Cream butter...

...with light brown sugar...

Add powdered sugar and salt (IF YOU DARE)...

Add vanilla...

...and mix until smooth.

Assembly:
Stir those dough balls in with the frosting.

Spread the dough mixture thing on top of the first cake and smooth it down flat... (YUM!)

Seal coat your cake and let it chill for half an hour.  COVER YOUR FROSTING!  And do NOT refrigerate it!  Guess who did that and winded up with a bunch of hard, crusty frosting?

Frost the rest of your cake...

And decorate it.  Ohhhhh yes.

Don't bother trying to stick the medium cookies in the exact middle of the sides.  They're too heavy, so they just slide down anyway.

Have yourself a slice and bite into bliss.

Have a dough-licious day!
-JJ

Happy 4th in advance!

Cookie Dough Truffles

Even the name makes my mouth water.  Oh, these were amazing.  So amazing that they were gone before I could take a picture of them cut in half to show their delectable insides.

But even as amazing as they were, it was hard for me to eat more than one without feeling full of dense chocolate and unbaked cookie dough.

I said hard, not impossible.

And the best thing about them: you won't get salmonella from the raw eggs in cookie dough - because there aren't any!  Instead, there's my favorite non-chocolate (and on some days, including chocolate) ingredient of all time - SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK.

Food of the gods.

Seriously, I'd just eat that ambrosia out of the can with a spoon if I wouldn't have a guilty conscience to deal with afterward.  But I want to.

Anyhoo, I got this recipe from The Domestic Mama & The Village Cook, and, honestly, I could eat these all day.  Good thing they're all gone!

Cookie Dough Truffles
REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER
REQUIRES CHILLING TIME
REQUIRES FREEZING TIME

1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
12 oz. bag semisweet chips
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
<1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Cream butter, salt, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl.  Add sweetened condensed milk and combine.  Add flour and stir thoroughly.  Stir in mini chocolate chips.
2. Chill for a half-hour or an hour in refrigerator.
3. Form dough into walnut-sized balls.
4. Freeze for 2 hours.
5. Line cookie sheet with wax paper.
6. Melt 12 oz. semisweet chips in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water with the tablespoon of butter.
7. Dip cookie dough balls into melted chocolate with spoon.  Place on wax-lined cookie sheet and chill in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
8. Melt white chocolate chips in the same setup as the semisweet chips.  Add oil until the chocolate is smooth and the oil is thoroughly combined.  Pour into pastry bag or plastic bag and let cool for 5 minutes.
9. Cut a small corner off the plastic bag (if you didn't use a pastry bag) and drizzle white chocolate over cookie dough truffles.  Chill in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  Makes about 36 truffles.

Breaking it down:
Cream butter...

...with salt, brown sugar, and vanilla.

Add sweetened condensed milk (with a chorus of "Hallelujah!")...

Add flour...

...and mini chocolate chips.

Chill for a half-hour and form into walnut-sized balls.

Freeze for two hours.  Melt semisweet chips with butter and dip dough balls.

Chill for 10-15 minutes as you melt your white chocolate chips.

Pour the melted white chocolate into a bag and WAIT FOR FIVE MINUTES.  Seriously.  It'll still be squeezable, and it won't give you a nasty burn on your fingers.  (Guess what happened to me?)  Pipe designs or whatever on your truffles.

They are amazingly yummyful.  Make these now.  Don't eat too many, though; they're intense and very rich and I don't want you to get a stomachache! ;)

-JJ

Don't Arrest Me!

The name of this candy-cookie recipe is a little startling at first.  It's called Chocolate Crack, from Joanne Fluke's Apple Turnover Murder.  (Check out her website here.)  This is NOT a drug!  It's called "crack" because you have to crack the sheet of candy-cookies to make smaller, easier-to-eat pieces. But... you may become addicted to this if you're a toffee-lover! :D

Chocolate Crack
REQUIRES CHILLING TIME

1 box graham crackers
2 sticks SALTED butter, cubed
1 cup brown sugar
12-oz. bag semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
2. Line 10x15-inch jellyroll pan with heavy-duty foil.  Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Line pan completely with single layer of graham crackers.  Be sure to cover the whole bottom.
4. Melt butter in saucepan.  Add brown sugar and combine.  Bring to full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Then pour hot toffee mixture over graham crackers, covering the layer as evenly as you can.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over toffee.  Wait two minute and then spread chocolate chips out with a heat-resistant spatula, wooden spoon, or frosting knife.  (Spatulas work best!)
7. Chill in refrigerator until fully hardened.
8. Peel foil from cookies and break (or "crack") into random-sized pieces.

Now, before we break it down, here's a warning: I made two batches of these.  So no, this isn't what yours should look like unless you plan on making two batches.  Here we go:

Line foil-lined pan with graham crackers...

(copy the layout of the graham crackers above - it worked!)  Note: if you're making a double batch, you'll end up using the whole box instead of half a box.  Combine brown sugar and butter in saucepan...

Boil for 5 minutes.  Pour over graham cracker layer... (sorry, you'll have to twist sideways)

Bake for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips...

Wait two minutes and spread...

Chill.  Crack into random-sized pieces... and you're done! :)

Don't get too addicted! XD

Three-Way Fudge

This fudge is, yes, three layers: semisweet chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate.  And it tastes ahhhh-mazing.  :)

This is another recipe from Joanne Fluke - this one from the special edition of Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, in "Candy for Christmas."  You can find the recipe in the Lake Eden Cookbook that came out September 2011, but I'll post the recipe here if you're dying to try it:

Three-Way Fudge

Ingredients
   1cup semisweet chocolate chips

   1cup white chocolate chips

   1cup milk chocolate chips

   1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

   6 tablespoons butter

Directions
   Line an 8-inch square pan with waxed paper. In a Pyrex cup or other microwaveable container, place the semisweet chips, 2T butter, and 4-5oz. (1/3 can) of the condensed milk. Microwave 70-80 seconds, and stir for a minute until consistency is uniform. Pour into lined pan and spread; allow to cool slightly. Repeat with white chocolate and milk chocolate. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

I've made this fudge recipe many, many, many, many times.  Many times.  Did I mention I've made it many times?  It's fantastic, and always works.  For St. Patrick's day, I dyed the middle layer green with food coloring and added peppermint extract, just for kicks.  Tasted pretty good, too! :D
This is an AWESOME recipe that ALWAYS tastes good and never fails.  It's really great for Christmas and good for giving to friends, family, neighbors, etc.

You can find more recipes at Jo Fluke's website, murdershebaked.com.  Have a fudgy day! :)  (Did I mention I've made this fudge many times?)

Bûche de Noël

Merry Christmas!  A week early!

I've always wanted to bake a bûche de Noël (or Yule log cake) for Christmas.  This year, I tried it for the first time, and... surprisingly... success!
But of course, I couldn't keep it a normal bûche, oh, no.  No amaretto filling for me, thanks.  I had an idea in my head that I hung onto like a pitbull: Nutella bûche.  (In case you live under a rock, Nutella is the second-most ambrosia-like substance on this planet... the first being sweetened condensed milk.)
And, luckily, I found a recipe for a bûche de Noël with Nutella from audreyscookinglab.blogspot.com.  Thank you, Audrey!

Here's the recipe - then I'll give you the play-by-play breakdown:

Bûche de Noël

Chocolate Roll Cake:
   Ingredients
      5 eggs, room temperature, separated
      2/3 cup white sugar
      2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
      3 tablespoons baking cocoa
   Directions
      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
      Beat egg yolks until light and fluffy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until the mixture is thick and pale.  Add flour and cocoa.
      In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
      Fold whites into yolk-sugar-flour-cocoa mixture.
      Line a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper.  Butter and flour the paper.
      Spread the batter evenly into the pan.  Bake for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly.
      Peel off parchment paper, and flip cake onto a paper towel dusted with powdered sugar.  Roll the cake and let cool.

Nutella Cream Filling:
   Ingredients
       2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
       1/2 cup milk
       1/2 cup white sugar
       1/4 cup softened butter
       1/4 cup Nutella
       1/2 teaspoon vanilla
   Directions
       Combine flour and milk in saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring until thick and NOT LUMPY.  Let cool.
       In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla.  Add Nutella and mix well.
       Add flour mixture.  Beat until fluffy.  Let cool in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache (Frosting):
   Ingredients
       1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
       3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped OR 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate
           chips
    Directions
       Heat cream until just about to boil.  Pour INTO chocolate, stir until completely melted.
       Let stand for 10-15 minutes.  Then mix until it reaches a consistency of thick butter.

Assembly:
   Unroll cake and peel off paper towel.  Spread with Nutella filling and re-roll cake.
   Cut one end of the cake at about 45 degree angle, set aside. This is to create the "branch".
   Spread ganache on cake.  Attach the cut out piece on one side of the cake or on top, if you can balance it.  Spread more ganache to attach completely, and then use your spatula or fork to create bark-like effects in the ganache.
   Sprinkle with powdered sugar to create snow, and decorate as desired.

Now, to break it down:

For the cake:
Beat egg yolks until light and fluffy...

Add sugar and beat until thick and pale...

Add flour and cocoa...

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form...

Fold whites into yolk mixture, mix well, and spread evenly in your prepared pan...

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes...

Peel off parchment paper, roll cake in a paper towel dusted with powdered sugar, and let cool.

For the filling:
Heat flour and milk in saucepan and stir until thick and smooth...

In a separate bowl, cream sugar, vanilla, and butter.  Add Nutella.

And this is where I got really lazy with taking pictures.  Follow the rest of the recipe on your own, without pictures, or with better-quality, more accurate pictures from Audrey.
Meanwhile, I'll try and explain the pictures that I did take.

This is what the rolled-up, filled bûche should look like.  Except the powdered sugar should be more even.

Lotsa bûche-with-ganache pix!

 

In order to appear "traditional," I wanted to decorate my bûche with holly, made from frosting.  Because I'm lazy, I just bought vanilla frosting from the store and colored it green and red with food coloring.  These are the colors I eventually reached:

And remember, it's always good to practice:

Then you get results like this:

Believe me, I cannot do this.  I got a LOT of help from my mom.

My mother is a fantastic decorator, and she totally rocks. :D  This is her doing:

 

I also made meringue mushrooms to go for the "traditional" bûche.  Here's how:

Meringue Mushrooms
Ingredients
   4 large egg whites
   1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
   3/4 cup sugar
   1/2 teaspoon almond extract
   2 1-oz. squares semisweet chocolate, melted
   unsweeted cocoa
Directions
   Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.  Line 2 large cookie sheets with foil.
   In a small bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.  Sprinkle in sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat until sugar dissolved and whites stand in stiff, glossy peaks.  Beat in almond extract.
   Spoon meringue into large decorating bag with large writing tube.  Pipe meringue onto the first cookie sheet in 30 mounds, each about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and resembling a mushroom cap.  Pipe remaining meringue onto other cookie sheet - upright if stiff enough, across the foil if not - into thirty 1 1/4 inch lengths to resemble mushroom stems.
   Bake 1 hour 45 minutes.  Turn oven off, let meringues stand in oven 30 minutes longer to dry.  Cool completely on cookie sheet on wire rack.
  With tip of small knife, cut a small hole into center of underside of mushroom cap.  Place small amount of melted chocolate in hole; spread underside of cap with chocolate.  Attach stem to mushroom cap by inserting pointed end of stem into hole in underside of cap; repeat with remaining caps and stems.  Let chocolate dry for 1 hour.  Store mushrooms in tightly covered container.  Just before serving, sprinklet ops of mushrooms lightly with cocoa.  Makes 30 mushrooms.

 

Arrange the mushrooms nicely around your bûche...

 

And sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Finished bûche:

I was afraid that it wasn't going to turn out well, since I thought the filling was rather lumpy and the end of the cake that I taste-tested was rather dry, but it turned out AWESOME.  The Nutella definitely helped.

Just a word of warning: powdered sugar gets EVERYWHERE.

 And as you can probably guess, 30 mushrooms is more than enough to decorate... so treat yourself to one of these cuties!

Merry Christmas!