Category: Desserts

Double-Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

This holiday season, I ordered Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookie Box. It is similar to a meal delivery kit, but this a baking kit that comes complete with recipes and all of the ingredients needed for 4 different types of Christmas cookies. This recipe is the first that I have made out of the baking box, and I absolutely love it! The brownies are perfectly crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside….and the peppermint! Absolutely delicious. I will be baking these next year for sure! And maybe again in a couple of weeks ;)…… Definitely don’t forget a nice cold glass of milk with this one.

3 oz. peppermint candies
1 stick unsalted butter
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Coat the inside of an 8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray and then line it with parchment paper. Unwrap the peppermint candies, transfer to a ziplock type bag and crush with a meat mallet or rolling pin, leaving some larger pieces.

Place the butter and the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl; set the bowl over (but not touching) the pan of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Whisk in 3 large eggs, 1 at a time, until combined. Whisk in cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add the flour and 2/3 of the crushed peppermints to the batter and stir until combined.

Scrape mixture into the baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining crushed peppermints. Bake until set or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool at least 2 hours before removing from the pan. Lift parchment to remove from pan; peel off parchment.
Cut into 16, 2-inch squares. Enjoy!

Whipped Hot Chocolate

With Santa about to arrive, and the very cold spell we have coming up next week in west Texas, hot chocolate is definitely on the brain around my house, as I’m sure it’s been on most everybody’s brain right about now! I’m still cooking out of Ina’s Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook this week and ran across her whipped hot chocolate recipe. It is soooo delicious! It’s like a Hershey Kiss in liquid form. As far as I know, I can’t think of a piece of chocolate that satisfies me quite as well as a good ol’ Hershey Kiss. Add creamy half and half, vanilla, and some coffee and you’ve really got something! And no worries if you don’t like coffee, it is used primarily just to bring out chocolate’s natural flavor. Let’s get to whipping up some, shall we?

2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups half and half
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped (I used Hershey’s…hence the kiss part.)
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. decaffeinated instant coffee powder

Garnish: spray whipped cream and mini chocolate chips

Heat the milk and half and half in a large saucepan over medium heat to just below the simmering point. (Just nice and hot.) Remove the pan from the heat and add both chocolates. When the chocolates are melted, stir in the sugar, vanilla, and coffee powder. Reheat gently.

To froth the hot chocolate, whip it in the sauce pan with an immersion blender. You could also carefully pour it into the jar of a blender with a tight seal and blend on high speed for about 30 seconds. (I use my immersion blender, as does Ina….if you don’t have one, I recommend it! They are great for soups as well!) And I don’t know why a simple kitchen whisk wouldn’t work if you wanted to try that instead of the other ideas to add a little froth. But Ina claims that this chocolate takes on a whole new flair when it’s really whipped!

Pour the chocolate into mugs and I like to serve mine with spray whipped cream and mini chocolate chips! Stay warm, friends! …..and by the way, Santa will like this too!

COOKING THE BOOKS, YA’LL!

Key Lime Pie

I’m being a little misleading here. This is actually a regular lime pie. We can also make it fancier by calling it a Persian Lime Pie. But seems to me, everyone loves to call these pies, key lime. It just rolls off the tongue nicely, don’t you think? We don’t have them sometimes in this small west Texas town, so regular limes are what I purchase. Persian Lime Pie, anyone?
Whatever you call it, I call it soooo good!

3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup Key Lime juice (I use regular limes.)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 (6-oz) ready-made graham cracker crust
Garnishes: sweetened whipped cream, lime slices

Whisk egg yolks until blended; whisk in lime juice. Add condensed milk, vanilla, and salt, whisking until blended. Pour filling into crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven; cool completely on a wire rack. Chill until ready to serve. Top pie with whipped cream and lime slices before serving.

MY SWEETENED WHIPPED CREAM
1 small carton whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Whip until soft peaks form.
And yes, this can just be dessert on its own!

Yield: 8 servings

COOKING THE BOOKS, YA’LL!

*This makes a nice dessert to take to a friend in need as well. Pair it with Cheesy Sausage Manicotti, French bread, and a Caesar Salad kit.

Chocolate Coconut Bars

My cousin, Loraine, is a fantastic cook. At family gatherings, she is sure to bring an amazing dessert, and this is one of many of her delicious recipes! Thanks, sweet girl, for all of the good times and yummy memories!

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups flaked, sweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 can Eagle Brand sweetened, condensed milk
7 oz. Hershey Bars
2 T. creamy peanut butter

Grease a 13 by 9 inch pan. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the coconut, Eagle Brand milk, and pecans. Spread over the crust and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let Cool. Melt together 7 oz. chocolate Hershey Bars with the 2 T. peanut butter. Frost the bars.
Makes 20

Note: My sister, Julie, made these one time while we where together for a weekend and out of necessity, she used 1 Hershey bar and 8 oz. semisweet Hershey chocolate chips in place of the 7 oz. Hershey Bars. They turned out great! And I like to add 1/2 tsp. vanilla to the coconut mixture when I’m feeling industrious. Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Salad

Mmmmm…..can this really be a salad?
Does it have some green? Yes.
Does it have fruit? Yes
…..ok then, it has to be a salad! I like this method of deciding whether it’s a salad or not, don’t you? This recipe is perfect for a Halloween themed meal or any fall table. I found this in my Recipe Hall of Fame’s Quick and Easy book.

4-6 Snickers candy bars, frozen
4-6 Granny Smith apples, chopped
1 (8 oz.) carton Cool Whip
1 (3 oz.) package dry instant vanilla pudding

Smash the frozen candy bars in wrappers with a hammer. (Or unwrap the candy, place in a ziplock, and hammer away.) Reserve some of the broken Snicker pieces for garnish.

Stir the Cool Whip and the pudding mix together. Add the apples and broken candy bars and combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with the remaining candy.
Serves 6-8


Cooking the books, ya’ll!

Laurel’s Caramel Brownies

I always think of caramel brownies when fall arrives and football season is in full swing. Perfect for parties, tailgating, a cure for ailments, and well, there is just always a good reason to make these beauties! These are best served with an icy, cold glass of milk.

1 (12 oz) bag of caramels
2/3 cup evaporated milk, divided
1 box German chocolate cake mix with pudding
1/2 cup melted butter
6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
chopped walnuts (optional)

Melt the caramels with 1/3 cup of the evaporated milk in a small saucepan.

Combine the rest of the milk, cake mix, and melted butter in a medium bowl. This can be done with a wooden spoon.

Press half of the cake mixture into a 9 by 13 greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.

Sprinkle the walnuts, if using, and the chocolate chips on top. Then pour the melted caramels over it. Looks like this:

These look ready to eat in my book! But the next step is to add the remaining cake mixture as the top layer. Press the remaining cake mix out into pieces and lay on top of the caramel.

Bake for 20 minutes more.