TWD--It's Brownie Time

This weeks recipe for TWD is Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia. Another mouthful of a recipe and yet another tasty treat. What a surprise, right?

It's February and there is a whole lotta chocolate going on this month among the TWD crowd. This week, our recipe was chosen by Tanya, whose blog is appropriately titled Chocoatechic. I really and truly enjoy Tanya's blog. She's extremely witty and I love her pictures! Please stop by and pay her a visit.

On to the brownies...

I made these last week and tossed them together pretty quickly. I remember I had a lot going on that morning, but I was able to get the brownies into the oven, get Vincent ready for preschool and 25 minutes later, I pulled them from the oven.



I was a little worried, because Dorie said that they would be "just set", which mine appeared to be. I had to dash out the door, so I set these on the oven to cool and ran out for the day. When I arrived home several hours later and looking forward to cutting into the brownies, I discovered that they were still pretty gooey inside. Now, Dorie said gooey, but actually, the middle of these suckers was raw. Runny and still in batter from, absolutely raw. The edges were delectable and I really enjoyed them, but a puddle soon oozed out into the little empty square. I stuck them back into the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes and they were much better.


In all honesty, when it was time for them to come out of the oven on their first bake, I just pulled them out at 25 minutes and didn't test them at all. I was too trusting, too busy and perhaps a tad too lazy. Now I know that these need to bake longer.

Mine were still rich and divinely fudgy, and perfect warmed up and covered in some ice cream. I would definitely try them again.

Thanks Tanya for a wonderful recipe that survived my oven twice!! Please visit Chocoatechic for the recipe!

Um.....

It's Monday already??

My apologies for my lazy posting, but I've been feeling lazy...so there you go. More posts to come this week!

TWD--Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

Way back in November, when it was my turn to choose, these little cakes were on my short list of possible choices.

The photo in the book was very alluring and tempting to me, but we all know I decided on the Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies instead. I had a feeling that this recipe would come up soon and here it is.

Our host this week is Kristin, who's blog is I'm Right About Everything. You go, Kristin!

There is a lot of chocolate going on in February for TWD, and that's okay by me. I'm really limiting my baking this month and only baking the TWD recipes, though I may not do them all. Since I was lusting after these cakes in late October, I was psyched about baking them and even broke out some Callebaut milk chocolate for it. I'm pretty cheap with my good chocolate. As a matter of fact, this bar of Callebaut has been sitting in my pantry, waiting for the right recipe to come along.

Unfortunately, I don't think this one was it. I made the full recipe and since my mini bundts are more than one cup capacity, I got 3 small cakes out of the recipe. I think I over-baked just a bit, but they did smell and look wonderful.

I cut the teensiest little sliver out of one of my minis and gave it a taste, and I was sadly under-whelmed. The chocolate flavor was so mild and I felt that there was a little bit of an after taste from the milk chocolate.

I decided not to make the glaze, since I had some ganache in the freezer from a previous TWD recipe.


I warmed the ganache and topped my little cake with it. It was delicious with the rich glaze on there, and a little ice cream helped even more.


So, it was okay...it was only okay, and that definitely disappointed me. On the bright side, I definitely won't be hearing these mini cakes calling my name from the freezer. :o)

Please check out Kristin's blog for the recipe. Thanks for choosing the recipe Kristin! I'm glad I got to finally try this one out.

CEiMB-Emerald Stir Fry with Chicken

That's a whole lotta green!

This weeks CEiMB recipe was chosen by Alyssa from the blog Alyssa's Two Bites. I usually make my CEiMB recipes on Tuesday or Wednesday night, but this week I was not as organized as I usually am.

So, we had this one for dinner tonight and, with a little bit of prep, it came together quite simply. I decided to use chicken in the recipe because it was already thawed and waiting in the fridge. I followed the recipe exactly, except for the fact that I skipped out on the asparagus. We loved the edamame, even Christian. Vincent wasn't a huge fan of this dish, but 3 outta 4 ain't bad.

Thanks Alyssa for a solid dinner choice.

Emerald Stir Fry with Beef
Ellie Krieger

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Shrimp Fra Diavolo.

And on a Wednesday night, no less!

This easy recipe is courtesy of Cooking Light. I was trying to minimize the growing stacks of magazines on my kitchen table the other day and got busy tearing out the recipes I had marked. When all was said and done, this recipe was on top of the pile and daring me to make it.



So, I glanced over the ingredients and found that I had everything I needed to make this dish already, including the shrimp which were in the freezer.

This was on the table in no time at all and was really very good. Yum...the smell of the garlic cooking with the oregano....it was amazing!! I did cut the amount of crushed red pepper in half, because Vincent wanted to eat some of this with us. He's suddenly a big fan of shrimp, and that's okay by me. Christian tried only the pasta and the sauce, but that's better than the bowl of Rice Krispies that he had suggested. :o)



We all really enjoyed this dish and it's one that we will be having again soon.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo
Cooking Light

TWD--Cocoa-Nana Bread

Chocolate and bananas, together in a fudgy and dense bread, which I thought was more like a cake, but I'm no expert!


The chocolate is definitely the first flavor hit, what with a full cup of cocoa in there. I used mini chocolate chips in this recipe and they were sweet little surprises sprinkled through the mini loaves I made.

I had a house full of boys for a play date on the morning I decided to bake these and decided to have the boys help me out in the kitchen. I dressed them in aprons and they helped me sift the dry ingredients and mash up the bananas. They were great! Everyone was patient and was excited to have their turn with the task at hand. It truly was one of the nicest baking experiences we've had in a while. And my little helpers couldn't wait to sample this after it was baked and they got to take home a mini loaf to share with their families.

This was good because I do believe I am about to send myself into baking exile for a while. Damn scale...

Anyway, I wasn't feeling that great when I was trying to get a picture of my Cocoa-Nana Bread, so I ended up with some sub-par pictures. If you like chocolate and bananas, give this recipe a shot. I could taste the bananas, but I do think the chocolate is the star here.



Thanks to Steph for picking a fantastic recipe this week for TWD. I am looking forward to stopping in at Obsessed with Baking to see what Steph has done. Be sure to go there for the recipe!

TWD--Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

What a mouthful these are, huh?? Not only is the title chunky, but so are these tasty bar cookies. This TWD recipe was selected by Lillian of Confectiona's Realm.

A bar cookie with an oatmeal base full of nuts and raisins and a sinful chocolate center, these were pretty easy to pull together and when cut small, made a TON of cookies.


I brought a couple dozen over to a friends house for a baby shower and left the rest in the freezer. They will be taken out tomorrow to bring to a seminar at our preschool. Hope those lucky folks enjoy them as much as I did. And yes...they were even tasty straight outta the freezer, my friends.


I didn't have any peanuts left, so I subbed in cashews for the nuts. And I decided to use only a small handful of dried cranberries in place of the raisins. The results were tasty.

Please be sure to check out Lillian's blog for the recipe.