Description:
This recipe is directly from my Betty Crocker cookbook... more or less. ;-)

It's so good that I'm making it for the third time this week. Plan for gooey brownies, though. If you want clean fingers when you're done, eat these with a fork.

Ingredients:
brownies
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1 package chocolate chips cookies (Betty calls for 5 oz. of chocolate, but she's obviously not thinking straight. The chocolate chips I use, Rapunzel, come in 10 oz. bags.)
2/3 c. butter
1 3/4 c. sucanut (or sugar if all you have is the chemically bleached stuff)
2 t. vanilla
3 large eggs
1 c. whole wheat flour (or the chemically bleached stuff)

cream cheese filling
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2 packages of cream cheese (8 oz. each)
1/2 c. sucanut
2 t. vanilla
1 large egg

Directions:
heat oven to 350 F. grease bottom and sides of brownie pan. (betty says to use a 9-inch square pan. but i've been using something closer to 9 x 13 and the brownies have been coming out fine.)

melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. cool 5 minutes.

in medium bowl, beat sugar, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. beat in chocolate mixture on low speed, scraping the bowl occasionally. beat in flour just until blended. (stir in walnuts if you're nutty enough to want that kind of thing. i'm not.) spread in pan.

for cream cheese filling: mix softened cheese (cream cheese isn't really cheese. did you know that?), sucanut, vanilla and egg. spread on top of the brownie mixture and, using a spatula, spread the lumps out a bit to cover as much of the top of the brownie mixture as possible.

bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Description:
This recipe is from the New York Times food section (December 14, 2005).

These little cakes really don't take long at all to make and are ooooooooooooohhhhh so yummy! A dollop of whipped cream and maybe a smidgen of jam go well on top.

I've never made a single batch. I knew from the first time I ever made them that this is one of those recipes that should automatically be doubled or tripled.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons soft unsalted butter, more for greasing dishes
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (preferably with 70 percent cocoa solids)
4 large eggs
Salt
¾ cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup flour.

Directions:
1. Place a baking sheet on center rack in oven and heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter insides of six 6-ounce heatproof glass or ceramic baking dishes. (If using soufflé dishes, line bottoms with parchment paper; dishes with flared sides will not need lining.) -- I used muffin tins. Call me gouche, I know.

2. In a small saucepan over low heat or in a microwave oven, melt chocolate; set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, beat eggs together with a pinch of salt until frothy; set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream together 4 tablespoons butter and the sugar. Gradually add egg mixture, then vanilla. Add flour and mix well. Add chocolate and blend until smooth.

3. Divide batter among six baking dishes and arrange them on baking sheet hot from the oven. Bake until firm and dry on surface, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove dishes from oven and immediately invert cakes onto small plates or shallow bowls. Serve hot. -- The only problem I found with serving them hot was that the whip cream melted. But no one seemed to mind.

Description:
I found this recipe in the New York Times food section (2 Feb. '05) It doesn't contain any wheat flour. Instead, finely ground almonds takes the place of the flour and gives this cake a slightly gritty texture.

This was a very moist cake, made all the more so by the fruit sauce I poured over it. (I made this cake for Rob's birthday and he loves sauce.) The cake came with a recipe for a glaze which I didn't use. I'll include both the glaze recipe and my fruit sauce recipe here.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
A few drops almond extract (next time I'm putting in at least a teaspoonful)
2 tablespoons strong coffee
4 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar (i used sucanut)
1 3/4 cup finely ground almonds (i used almond meal from Trader Joe's)

For the glaze:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped into small pieces
1 tablespoon butter

For the fruit sauce:
1 package frozen fruit (I used strawberries.)
1/2 cup agava nectar or other sweetener (honey, sugar, sucanut, etc. don't use molasses or sorghum. both would be too overpowering.)

Directions:
1. Prepare cake: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, and line the side wall with parchment paper. (I just buttered the sides instead of using parchment paper.) In a heavy bottomed pan, combine 12 tablespoons butter, 6 ounces chopped chocolate, almond extract and coffee. Melt over low heat, then transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.

2. With an electric mixer, whisk egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Slowly add 1/2 cup sugar until thick and glossy. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks with remaining 1/2 cup sugar until thick. Fold in the melted chocolate mixture. Add ground almonds and mix well. Whisk in a dollop of egg whites to lighten mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the rest of egg whites, keeping batter airy.

4. Scrape batter into pan and bake until cake is dry on top and a bit gooey in center, 30 to 40 minutes. (After 30 minutes of baking, check center of cake with a tester or toothpick. If center seems very wet, continue baking. ) Cool cake on a rack for 20 minutes, then remove side of pan. Allow to continue cooling. Top of cake may crack as it cools, but glaze will cover most cracking.

5. Prepare glaze (or skip this and go to the fruit sauce directions (#7): In a small saucepan, combine 2 tablespoons sugar, the corn syrup and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Add 4 ounces chopped chocolate, swirl pan to mix, and allow to stand until melted, about 3 minutes.

6. Whisk 1 tablespoon butter into icing, then pour evenly over cake. Use a spatula to ease icing out to edges of cake. Allow icing to cool and set before slicing.

7. Prepare fruit sauce: Dump one bag of frozen fruit into a pan with sweetener of choice. Thaw fruit over very low heat. When the fruit is soft enough, mash it up a bit a potato masher. Once the sauce is warm all the way through, pour a bit of it (1/2 cup or so) over the cake. Put remaining sauce into a gravy bowl or some other bowl that guests can use to add more sauce to their cake if they'd like.

Description:
I found this recipe in Jan./Feb. 2005's issue of Saveur magazine (an excellent magazine by the way. the recipes online simply do not do the sum total of the magazine any justice at all. saveur melds food, history, culture and recipes into a beautiful gastronomic/cultural delight. ... how's that? you're getting a magazine review and recipe in one. ).

i made an almond/chocolate cake for rob's birthday as well as these cookies and he said that of the two, these cookies were hands down the better dessert.

they've got a bit of a kick to them, though. these are not your grandma's chocolate cookies. though rob (and my brother-in-law as well) thought these cookies rocked, i personally didn't really like them.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour (i, of course, used whole wheat.)
3/4 cup quality dutch-process unsweetened cocoa (i didn't have any dutched cocoa so i made the cookies with what i had on hand. they didn't hold their shape and maybe the cocoa is the reason why. but the taste was still right on.)
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2-3/4 teaspoon cayenne (see where the kick comes in?)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (and another bit of a kick)
1 cup sugar (i used sucanut)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:
1. Whisk flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar, vanilla, and egg into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes more. Using your fingers, work flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is just combined.

2. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9" log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder. Freeze dough logs for at least 8 hours and as long as overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough and slice each log into rounds about 1/3" thick. Place rounds 1/2" apart on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. (I didn't use parchment paper and they didn't stick.) Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on the surface, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to let cool.

Description:
Nathan loves Saturday morning cartoons, and unfortunately, with Saturday morning cartoons comes Saturday morning commercials = crap for kids. When he saw the commercial for Eggo French Toaster Sticks he wanted to try them. I wasn't about to buy the things, so I made my own version. He loves it, and I know he's eating preservative free food. It's a win-win.

I've got the making of these things down to an art and can pump them out in 5 minutes or less.

Ingredients:
2 slices bread (i use Wild Oats brand whole wheat)
1 egg (cage free, etc.) ;-)
12 chocolate and 12 peanut butter chips (or 24 all one type)
a wee bit of maple syrup.
a bit of butter

Directions:
Toss some butter into a fry pan and blast the heat. (We have a gas stove, so there's no lag time. A blast is a blast.)

While the butter is melting, grab an egg, scramble it in a wide flat bottomed bowl. Grab the pan and swirl the now melted butter around with one hand, turn the heat down to medium with the other. Grab the bread, toss it in the egg quickly (don't let it soak, people! that only makes for soggy french toast!) and in the same motion throw it on the frying pan. You've got to cook both pieces at the same time so if your frying pan isn't big enough, buy a new frying pan. Flip the bread around a few times till it's lightly browned. (Anything darker than *slightly* brown is considered burnt by my hoard.)

Here comes the fancy footwork. Take both pieces of toast out of the frying pan or else they'll cook too long and your kids will whine that you burnt the stuff. On a cutting board carefully push a knife most of the way through the bread, but not all the way through. This takes practice. Too much push and the kids have nothing to pull. Too little push and the kids won't get a nice clean line when they tear their toast apart.

Put one piece of toast (cut into four still connected slices) onto a plate. Put three chocolate chips pointy side down on the first slice, then put peanut butter chips on the second slice and so on. Quickly chip up the second piece of toast and toss it onto the first so the chips can melt and ooze all over the place.

Pour a wee bit of maple syrup into a small bowl and set that beside the toast on the plate.

Viola!

Description:
Rob's dad gave us a Kitchen Aid for our wedding. It came with a cook book which has a great Chocolate Pound Cake recipe in it. I haven't made this since we were first married because I forgot which book the recipe was in. But I'm clearing out my cookbook shelf and found one page in this book that's covered with stains, a sure sign that it contains a good recipe.

Ingredients:
3 cups sifted cake flour (i haven't sifted flour in about... 25 years)
3 cups sugar (wow! i'd forgotten how much sugar it calls for!)
1 cup cocoa
3 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups milk
3 t vanilla
3 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the canter and add softened butter, milk and vanilla. Attach bowl and flat beater (on your Kitchen Aid). Turn to Stir Speed for 1 minute or until mixed. Stop and scrape bowl, turn to Speed 6 and beat 5 minutes. Stop and scrape bowl.

Turn to Stir Speed and add eggs, one at a time, beating 15 seconds after each addition. Add cream and beat 15 seconds. Turn to Speed 4 and beat for 15 seconds.

Pour batter into a greased 10-inch tube pan and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour 40 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely before removing from pan. Do not invert pan.

(I'll add a pic next time I make this.)

Description:
I got this recipe from a friend and LOVE it!!!

Ingredients:
2 c flour (500 ML ?)
3/4 c sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 T instant coffee
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 c milk
1/2 c butter, melted
1 egg
1 t vanilla
3/4 c chocolate chips

Directions:
In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, coffee, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, blend milk, butter, egg and vanilla. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to combine. Stir in chips. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins and bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Remove muffins; finish cooling on rack.

Meg's Substitutions:
Instead of 1 T. instant coffe and 1 c. milk i used 1/3 c. coffee and added milk until i had 1 cup of liquid total.
Instead of white flour I used recently ground hard red wheat flour.
Instead of 3/4 c. sugar I used 1/2 c. sucanut. (if you like really sweet muffins, stick with using 3/4 c. of whichever. my muffins came out just perfect for me, but i know other people are more used to sweet than i am.)

Description:
Ganache is basically chocolate butter. I know, that doesn't sound at all appetizing, which is fine. It just means there will be more for me. Ganache is often used to ice cakes, though it can also be cut into squares or rolled into balls and then dusted with cocoa or sugar to make chocolate truffles. (Yes, that's what a truffle is, ganache.)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream
8 ounces (227 grams) chocolate (pick a chocolate that you like the flavor of, but it should lean toward semisweet or bittersweet)

optional:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon cognac or brandy

Directions:
First break the chocolate into small pieces in the bottom of a bowl. Then bring the whipping cream (and butter if you choose to use it. apparently it makes the ganache shiny, though i make my ganache to eat, not to look pretty) to a boil.
Pour the whipping cream over the chocolate and (here comes the hard part) let it sit for about 5 minutes. (I'm always so tempted to start stirring, but when you stir too soon, you end up with a lumpier mixture.)

You can then use the ganache to ice a room temperature (or colder) cake or torte. (This recipe should cover one 9 inch cake.) Once the cake is iced, put it in the fridge for the ganache to harden.

Or, you can do what I do, pour the ganach into little bowls, set them in the fridge and pull them out to each straight later. :-)

If you'd like to make truffles, roll the cold ganache into balls (or cut it into squares) and dust cocoa (or some such) over them. Viola! That's all there is to it.