Silence That Sweet Tooth

Good morning, Kitschies!  And happy Summer to you!  Can you believe it's already the middle of the year?  It is officially the first day of Summer and the longest day of the year.  I remember, as a kid, being mad about having to go to bed when it was still light out.  Now I get that same complaint from Nate.  Oh, it's rough being a kid.

Speaking of being a kid, this recipe kinda reminds me of that.  It's super easy and super rich and pretty sweet.  Got a sweet tooth?  This will definitely kill your sweet craving!  I can't eat a whole cup - but I bet Nate could (if I let him)!  I found this recipe one day while surfing blogs and now I can't remember which one I went to and, of course, I can't find it now.  But, I found the same recipe on another site. 

Nutella Mug Cake

4 Tbsp self rising flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbsp Nutella
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients in a large coffee mug.  Whisk well with a fork until smooth.  Microwave on high 1 1/2 to 3 minutes.  Top with whipped cream, chocolate sauce or whatever else you'd like.

NOTE:  Use a LARGE coffee mug - it will overflow if you use a regular mug.  To make self rising flour, add 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt to all-purpose flour.  Cooking time varies depending on the wattage of your microwave.  Mine only took 1:45.

Apparently, the recipe I found called for an egg.  You can probably omit it without problem, but I think it makes the cake more moist and less microwave-y.

Here's a mug size comparison.  I used a mug that my grandma gave me for soup.  It's gigantic and the perfect size for a mug cake!

Looking at this picture makes my teeth hurt!  And I say that in the best way possible.  LOL  We didn't have any whipped cream or chocolate sauce, so I ate it plain.  Could you imagine this with caramel sauce on top?  OMGosh.  Now I want one of these for dinner tonight.  *giggle*

What's your favorite thing (pre-made or recipe) to cure your sweet tooth?

Mondays Calls for Cookies

Good morning, Kitchies!!  I had a very productive weekend.  I made a reuseable shopping bag for myself and got started on a bag for Mason's impending daycare days (posts to follow eventually).  I put the decals on the sideboard (post to follow once it's completely finished).  And the hubs and I completely cleared out the garage, laid carpet and moved everything *back* in the garage.  *whew*  We were pretty tired by the end of the evening yesterday because we both stayed up til after 1 on Saturday night.  And then (NO and then)...I woke up the morning, rolled over to see the clock and it said 6:10!  OMG!  The hubs gets up at 5 and I get up at 5:30 - we had to RUSH to get everybody up and out the door by 7...but we did it!  Now I'm at work, all revved up, and it's kinda slow.  So...my lack of patients this morning is your gain.

And what better way to start a crazy Monday morning than with a yummy cookie recipe?  I can't think of anything.  Let's jump right in...

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
2 Tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
 
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely. 

NOTES:  My cookies were NOT chewy but I think I know why.  I don't remember adding in the corn syrup.  D'oh!  They were good...just not chewy.  The recipe says ungreased cookie sheet, but I never bake without either parchment paper or my Silpat silicone baking sheet.

Sorry I don't have more pictures than this.  Nate helped me make these cookies and he had a good time helping.  He got to pour all the ingredients in to the bowl and he felt especially important when I had him scrape down the sides of the bowls.  And even though the cookies weren't chewy, they all managed to be eaten!


Any big plans for the week?  We're supposed to get the hardware for the sideboard tomorrow, so the goal is to have it completely finished by the end of the week.  I can't wait because it's already looking awesome and it'll be nice to be able to finally use it!  Other than that, I think the hubs has to go out of town for work.  Oh...and I have to register the boys for daycare.  And I'm going to shop for fabric today at lunch - JoAnn's has a pretty good sale going on!


Until tomorrow...

Now Made With Real Girl Scouts!

Good morning, Kitschies!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend.  Most of mine was spent cleaning up around the house, doing laundry and all that fun kind of stuff.  We did get out of the house for a little bit to celebrate my nephew's 7th birthday.  The boys (the hubs and I) had a lot of fun!  Unfortunately I have to work today (it's President's Day here in the US), but I'm not complaining - at least I have a job.

On to the goodies, shall we?  The hubs and I were doing some cleaning in the kitchen last week and we realized we had an unopened box of Thin Mint cookies hiding out on top of the fridge left over from last year(blasphemy, I know)!  I didn't want to eat the cookies plain because they probably would've been pretty stale, but I had heard somebody mention they've made a Thin Mint cake before and I started on a quest to find said recipe.  Because who wouldn't like them in cake?!  And since Girl Scout cookies will be available starting later *this week* (WOOT!), I thought I'd share this recipe with you now so you can make this awesome cake for yourself!


Thin Mint Cake
1 box Duncan Hines dark chocolate cake mix
1 cup finely chopped (about 1 sleeve of cookies) Thin Mint cookies
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp Creme de Menthe Liqueur
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
Ice with your favorite icing (recipe to follow)

Pre-heat oven to 325*.

Line bottom of cake pan with parchment paper & spray sides of pain with a flour/oil mixture.  Place all wet ingredients in bowl first including eggs, then add cake mix & mix until thoroughly blended.  Add 2/3 cup of the crushed cookies in to the batter.  Pour into the pan(s) and back 40-45 minutes.  Remove from oven and dump cake onto waiting Glad Press 'n Seal wrap (sticky side up).  Wrap the warm cakes tightly and put in the freezer.  You can freeze for as little as 3 1/2 hours but for best results, freeze overnight.  This adds moisture to the cake and straps in the flavors.  After removing from freezer, allow to sit for about 10 minutes.  Mix the remaining cookie crumbs into your favorite icing recipe along with a Tbsp of Creme de Menthe Liqueur.

Chocolate Mint Buttercream Frosting
(for Thin Mint Cake)
6 Tbsp butter
1 cup powdered sugar
4 Tbsp cocoa
2 to 3 Tbsp milk
1/3 cup finely crushed Thin Mint cookies
1 Tbsp Creme de Menthe Liqueur

Cream butter.   Add sugar and cocoa mixture to butter.  Add crushed Thin Mint cookies.  Add milk to butter mixture, starting with 2 Tbsp.  Add Creme de Menthe Liqueur to mixture.  Blend until frosting consistency.

NOTES:  I used Devil's Food cake mix.  There are two kinds of Creme de Menthe liqueur: clear and green.  We used green, but only because it was a couple bucks cheaper.  It says to line the pan with parchment paper, but that's a big pain in the butt, so I spray it liberally with non-stick cooking spray and then dusted with cocoa powder.  No sticking issues.  The recipe calls for the cake to bake 40-45 minutes but in two 9-inch cake rounds, that was WAY too much time - I just followed the time listed on the cake mix box and it turned out perfectly!  I've never made frosting before and was afraid it would be hard to do, but it wasn't.  I doubled the recipe and had just enough for frosting between the layers and to cover the cake.

Looks like some sort of alien concoction.  Oil, eggs and green liqueur.  Yum!

I had an eager little helper!  He did really good until it came time to take the cakes out of the oven...then he lost interest.  LOL

Stir in those cookie crumbs!  He got a little bugged at me that I didn't let him have a cookie.  Poor Natey!

The best part of baking a cake with Mom is getting to lick the scraper!  He got the beaters, too.  If I had eaten that much uncooked batter, I would've gotten a stomach ache.

The middle of each of the cakes was a little sunken, but I leveled them out and they were fine.

Ready for wrapping with the Press 'n Seal - kinda strange, but it worked.  The cake was super moist even though the edges got just a tad over-cooked.

Straight out of the freezer.  Unless you want super cold cake, let it sit out a bit before you serve it.  I didn't mind, and actually, I think I liked it a just a little better when it was still a little frozen.

YUM!!  I want to make another!  Nate doesn't usually eat a whole piece of cake - he'll eat the frosting for sure and *maybe* a bite or two of the actual cake.  He asked for a second piece of this one!

SOOOO GOOD!!  Super moist and super rich.  I saved about half the cake for home and took the rest to work.  Everybody loved it!

Happy Girl Scout cookies!  I hope you try the cake, and if you do, let me know how it came out.

Not So Manic Monday

Not at work today...the Bug has a bug. :(  His chest is congested, he has a fever and is just all-around not feeling well.  As for me, I still have a pounding headache (today is day 3) and I think I've had a fever on and off.  Whatever this is, it's not fun.  I'm just glad it's not a stomach bug!!  *whew*

I made this recipe waaaay back in early August for an office pot-luck for the August birthdays.  I asked the other August girl what kind of dessert she wanted and she said: chocolate.  So...I went to my go-to online recipe site Allrecipes and printed out a couple for her to chose from.  This was the winner (and it really was).


Chocolate Chews
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Melt the chocolate chips in a heavy saucepan over very low heat. Stir to evenly melt. 

Cream together the butter and sugars until light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the melted chocolate and vanilla.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture slowly. Blend thoroughly. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 12 to 14 minutes. Let sit on cookie sheet for a minute or two before removing to a rack to cool. 

NOTES:  Even with rolling the dough in to balls, this was super easy.  The dough wasn't too sticky so you didn't have to scrape off your hands between batches.  I really liked these cookies because they baked up picture-perfect and they weren't too sweet.  

Pretty little balls make pretty little cookies!  I forgot to mention that I used parchment paper instead of greasing the cookie sheets.  Parchment paper makes a lot less mess and you can reuse the paper and don't have to wash the cookie sheets between batches.

For once, the cookies came out looking just as good as the pictures.  These were good cooled, but they were super good still warm!

There was SOOO much food!!  When an office potluck comes around, I'm designated dessert maker, which I don't mind because I like to bake.  That day we had pizza and salad from Dion's (a local pizza and sub place), green chile chicken enchiladas (yum!), red chile posole, stuffed sopapillas, an awesome fresh fruit tart and a super cute ladybug cake.  I'm sure there was more than I remember, but even *that's* enough!

So, I'm home with the sick kiddo today, but that doesn't mean I'm lazing around the house (even though I probably should).  I picked up the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook at the library on Saturday and I noted all the recipes I want to try before I give it back (can you say: copy machine?).  One of those recipes is in the oven now!  If you're lucky, I'll post that recipe (and it's a good one!) later on this week. 

Well, I'm off to go do my nails and get my fill of America's Next Top Model (there's a mini-marathon on Oxygen).  Thanks for all the well-wishes to my little one.  I'm sure he'll be better soon, but he'll soak up all the extra cuddles he can in the meantime. 

Life's just better...

...with chocolate! I'm sitting here stuffing my face with popcorn. Why? Because I don't have any chocolate in the house. Can you believe that?! Blasphemy!! LOL

Totally Tubular Tuesday, my dear Kitschies! The week has been the usual so far. It seems that Summer has finally descended on the Land of Enchantment. It's been HOT. We're not quite to 100*, but it's getting close! It's yuck, yuck and yuck through the end of the week, with no rain in sight until Monday. It's been a continual battle with Master Nathaniel. I just have to know that we'll get through this eventually and things will run a little more smoothly - I hope.

Enough about the bad weather. Enough about the bad kid. On to the good stuff. And by good stuff, I mean: CHOCOLATE!! (Bear with me, B - I know this post won't appeal to you) Once upon a time, a great family friend made these brownies for us. I remember she even made them for my 16th birthday (that was a LONG time ago)! Since getting the recipe for the most awesome of brownies, I have never strayed from it. I've never since made a "box" of brownies. These brownies aren't as cake-y as the box kind and I think that's what makes them oh, so good. They're denser and gooey-er. They are, simply put, the. best. brownies. ever! I asked Donna if I could post her wonderful brownie recipe to share with the world. Thankfully, she said yes! Oh, and a word of warning: These are not good for you, by any stretch of the imagination. But that's what makes them so good! So, here ya go.

The Real Deal Brownies

2 cups sugar
2 cubes butter, softened
4 eggs
1 cup flour
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
dash of salt

Cream together sugar and butter. Mix in half of the flour, just until blended. Add eggs, cocoa, vanilla, salt and remaining flour. Mix until blended (the batter will lighten in color). Spread in greased 13x9x2 pan. Bake at 325* for 35-40 minutes (or until center doesn't jiggle).

I hadn't made these in a long time. When a coworker said she wanted "something chocolate" for her birthday, I thought this was the perfect opportunity. Soooo goooood!!!

There's *always* extra left in the bowl and on the beaters. I usually end up "cleaning up" so good that I get a stomach ache. LOL

The edges get nice and chewy, but the center stays nice and moist.

I cut a big corner piece for the hubs before the nosy vultures at the office ate through the entire pan.

Don't those look awesome?! Posting this makes me want to whip together a batch right now! But...it's already after 9 and it's still 80* in the house, so I think I'll just go to bed with visions of brownies dancing in my head.

To get your mind off chocolatey brownie goodness...Ms W over at Makeup Zombie posted my submission to her Dark Faerie series. I think it looks great (if I do say so myself). I'll be posting about those pretties either Wednesday or Thursday. I think I'm going to call it a night. I have a new book calling my name in the other room. Happy reading, dear Kitschies!

Listening to: Say It Ain't So by Weezer (reminds me of RockBand night with the BFF)
Mood: bookish

Dessert first?

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces. Judith Viorst


I had grand ideas for my second post, but having just completed a butt-kicking 25-minute circuit workout, my brain is pretty much mush. I've made this horribly delicious chocolate Bundt cake more than a couple times and every time, without fail, it gets rave reviews. The only down part? There's never any left over to bring home. So...here ya go! And be sure to see the glaze recipe that follows. I've found that it makes WAY more than enough for the cake, but it can be saved to be used for dipping fruit, etc. (Pardon all the junk in the background of the picture. What can I say? Baking usually takes place in the middle of about a million other projects.)


Chocolate Lovers' Favorite Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix (not with added pudding)

1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

2 cups sour cream
1 cup melted butter

5 eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in sour cream, melted butter, eggs and almond extract. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape sides of bowl and beat on medium for 4 minutes. Blend in chocolate chips. Pour batter in to prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 50 - 55 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out to a wire rack and cool completely.

Once cooled, glaze with chocolate glaze (see below).

Easy Chocolate Bundt Cake Glaze

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips. Cook, stirring constantly, until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Do not allow it to bubble. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Cool slightly before drizzling over a cake. If you want to make this ahead, it can be cooled and reheated in the microwave.

Listening to: Breakdown by Breaking Bejamin
Mood: Wiped OUT!