Kit Kat Cheesecake Brownies

This month’s Alphabakes (hosted by The More Than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes) is the letter K. I had this recipe bookmarked and decided it’d be a perfect thing to make for the month. This recipe is truly the best of all the worlds – brownies, candy, and cheesecake. Oh my.

Matt ended up taking the whole batch of them to his class’s potluck. They all got eaten, so I guess this is a good sign!

Kit Kat Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients

BROWNIES
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 oz semisweet baking chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup flour
20 fun size Kit Kat bars

CHEESECAKE
16 oz cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8×8 baking dish very generously.

2. Start with the brownies. In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter and chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar and salt. You will have a granulated mixture. Quickly whisk in an egg. Last stir in the flour until you have a thick batter. Pour this batter into the baking dish.

3. On top of the brownie mixture layer with the Kit Kat bars.

4. Next you need to make the cheesecake. Beat together the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth. Next beat in the eggs, one at a time. Last beat in the lemon juice and vanilla. Spread the cheesecake mixture over the brownies and Kit Kats, smoothing the top.

5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

6. Let cool to room temperature. Then place in a refrigerator over night.

* makes 30 small brownies

* Besides Alphabakes, this dish is shared with Mix It Up Monday & Mealtime Monday

Spiced Mango Chocolate Chip Muffins

Like I said last month, for some reason, recently all these We Should Cocoa themes keep bringing me back to muffins. I went from Nigella’s chocolate chocolate muffins, to honey banana chocolate chip muffins, and now to these mango muffins. Now.. I could have made it a quick bread instead and made it into a loaf, but part of me wanted to stay in this muffin groove because I love muffins.

The downfall with muffins is I have a hard time just eating one and yesterday I ate far too many muffins for one human being. I had one for breakfast this morning too. The mango/chocolate combination is perfect.

This month’s We Should Cocoa is hosted by Allotment 2 Kitchen. You should join!
For those who don’t know, We Should Cocoa comes from the love and support of Chocolate Log Blog and Chocolate Teapot.

Speaking of mangoes, my brother has requested for his birthday that I make him a mango cake. I have several recipes pulled. Besides the “mango cake” he didn’t give any other suggestions on flavors or type of cake, so that’s free reign for me. Does anyone reading this have some ideas for recipes that might work? So far I have:

Tres Leches Cake with Mango Whipped Cream
Chunky Fresh Mango Cake
Mango Cream Cake

Any other ones you suggest I look at?

Spiced Mango Chocolate Chip Muffins
(source)

Ingredients
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups mango, chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, and applesauce.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sugar, brown sugar, and baking powder.

3. Once mixed together, pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture. Stir together to get rid of any dry clumps. Once well mixed, fold in the mango and the chocolate chips.

4. Spoon into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from tin and place on a wire rack until completely cooled.

* makes a dozen muffins
* Besides We Should Cocoa, this dish is being shared with Wednesday Whatsits & Cast Party Wednesday

Chocolate Banana Honey Muffins

I seem to associate We Should Cocoa with muffins or something. Last month I made Nigella’s chocolate muffins. This month the theme for this chocolate challenge is honey. The challenge was to make a chocolate recipe using honey somehow.

These muffins are yummy. They are very banana-centric. I like having the honey be the sugar substitute. When I ate the muffin I could hardly tell there was no sugar added to them (well.. except for the sugar in my chocolate chips at least.)

Now my only question is will I make a muffin for We Should Cocoa again next month?

Chocolate Banana Honey Muffins
(source)

Ingredients
3 bananas, mashed
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp skim milk
1 egg
1 egg white
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325. In a large bowl mix together the banana, honey, yogurt, and vanilla. Once well mixed add in the milk, egg, and egg white and mix well.

2. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Place cupcake liners into a cupcake tin. Scoop the batter evenly into the cupcake tins. Bake for 20 minutes.

* makes 12 muffins
* besides We Should Cocoa, this recipe is shared with Mix It Up Monday & Mealtime Monday

Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I’ve been watching The Taste on ABC this season. I previously blogged about my review of the show. Nigella is my favorite of the judges on the show. She’s so poised and doesn’t engage in the antics Malarkey and Ludo can’t get away from. On top of that, she has such perfect taste buds. That might seem like an odd comment, but with a TV show called The Taste, everything really is about taste buds and flavors. Unlike a lot of other cooking shows, the contestants aren’t graded on how their dish looks – only on how it tastes.

Unfortunately, all of Nigella’s team got eliminated from the show in the last few episodes, including my favorite Lauren. At this point I’m rooting for Khristianne on Malarkey’s team.

Anyway, with that said, this month at We Should Cocoa the theme is fame. We Should Cocoa is a monthly challenge hosted by Chocolate Teapot and Chocolate Log Blog. You can stay up to date with the comings and goings of We Should Cocoa right here. This month’s theme is hosted by Lucy at The KitchenMaid.

Lucy challenged us this month to make a famous chocolate recipe. Since I’m loving Nigella and since she’s famous, I decided I’d make a chocolate recipe of hers.

These muffins were made in a late night muffin baking spree. They made for a great morning breakfast. The flavors were delicious, the recipe is easy. Did I say I loved Nigella?

Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
(source)

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400.

2. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix, making sure to stir enough to not have dry clumps, but don’t overmix.

3. Place cupcake liners in the cupcake tin. Divide the batter between the cups. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick pricked into the middle of the muffins comes out clean.

* makes 12 muffins
* Besides We Should Cocoa, this recipe has been shared with See Ya In The Gumbo

Curry Chili over Noodles with Cheese

 

This chili was actually supposed to be a homemade version of Cincinnati chili. However, as I was making the chili I realized I was all out of ground cumin! I use cumin a lot, so I just assumed I had some. I also didn’t have an onion. How does this happen? However, I was committed to having chili for dinner so I made some substitutes that changed this Cincinnati chili into some other delicious style chili. Maybe I’ll call it Elizabeth Chili. That’s easy enough.

I’m hoping that I eventually get paired up with a foodie pen pal in Cincinnati. Before I went to law school my dad and I drove cross-country to Ohio to help my cousin move into college. While we were there we packed the car with our favorite foods: goetta, bratwurst, barbecue sauce, Big Boy sauce, and a flat of cans of Skyline Chili. The chili almost made it through my 3 years of law school. But now that I’m out.. I need more. And it costs way too much to have it shipped from Skyline. If you’re reading this and you’re a foodie pen pal of mine, please send me Skyline Chili.

If you’re reading this and you’re going to be a foodie pen pal of mine and you don’t live in Cincinnati, you can also send me chili that’s local to you if there’s some special kind. The one thing is I can’t eat beans. I mean, I love beans. But I can’t eat them.

Now, if a future foodie pen pal of mine reads this or not, I’ll never know.
I just need to remember to tell March’s Foodie Pen Pal to send me chili.
I’m super excited for my next box though for February. I’m expecting it to be great.

In the mean time, I should keep experimenting with chilis. And hopefully I can eventually make this version with the correct ingredients. Though.. I clearly liked my version enough to share with you. Without further ado, here is the recipe.

Curry Chili over Noodles with Cheese
(the base recipe)

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz tomato sauce
2 cups beef broth
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
pinch cumin seeds
1/4 tsp allspice
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
12 oz uncooked spaghetti noodles
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Brown the ground beef and garlic together in a deep pot. Drain the grease and add the broth. Simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Add the Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt, chili powder, tomato sauce, curry powder, cumin seeds, allspice, cocoa powder, and cayenne pepper. Simmer for about a half hour, though the longer you simmer the better.

3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook the noodles according to package directions. Once cooked, drained.

4. Serve the chili on top of the noodles. Cover with cheese.

* serves 4
* shared with Weekend Cooking

Cocoa and Curry Rubbed Chicken

 

This month’s We Should Cocoa, sponsored by both Chocolate Teapot and Chocolate Log Blog, has a theme of SUGAR-FREE. The challenge is to make a dish using chocolate but leaving out the ever loved sugar as a sweetener.  Originally I had decided I was going to make a sweet dish (mousse actually.) I had bought some Stevia to use instead of sugar. I made the mousse and it turned out okay, but I was really put off by the aftertaste of the Stevia. I’ve used it as a sweetener before so I’m not sure why it bothered me so much this time. But I couldn’t stand it to the point that I threw all my mousse in the trash.

I reevaluated the cocoa challenge and decided I’d take a savory route instead. While it may seem like I copped out because I picked a dish which inherently doesn’t use sugar, this actually was a huge stretch for me as I’ve never used chocolate in a savory dish before.

The chicken was delicious and I served it with rice and vegetable pilaf.

I’m glad this We Should Cocoa challenge pushed me into a different track to try something new!

Cocoa and Curry Rubbed Chicken
(source)

Ingredients
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 chicken breasts, pounded thin and cut in half
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350. In a small bowl combine the cumin, curry, salt, pepper, and cocoa powder.

2. Rub the chicken with canola oil. Sprinkle 1 heaping teaspoon of the spice mixture onto each breast. Rub in the spice mixture with your hands. Place the chicken on a greased baking dish.

3. Bake for 25 minutes or until the juices run clear.

* serves 2
* Besides We Should Cocoa, this dish is shared with Tasteful Tuesday Party, Tasty Tuesdays, & Tempt My Tummy

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies

 

This is probably my last Christmas-themed post until 2013. I’ve already shared my Christmas breakfast, my Christmas dinner, Christmas cookies I made as presents, and now finally I’m sharing one of the many cookies I made after a cookie baking extravaganza that ensued once I was officially on my break.

Now.. I actually baked a lot more cookies than just these shortbread cookies.. But I forgot to take a picture of them before they were gone. The only reason there were extra of these was because I made a second batch because the first batch disappeared in lightening speed. Of the cookies I made this season, these were my absolute favorite (tied closely to the Mocha Swirl Cookies I gave as presents this year.)

The first batch of these cookies was beautiful, more beautiful than these. My red was deeper because I had a better food coloring than my mom had in her house, and I used these white sparkly sprinkles on the first batch. Had my mom had that more crystal like type of sprinkle I would have used that instead of the jimmy style sprinkles. I thought they looked prettier and were less bulky on the cookie. I liked that the cookie wasn’t overly sweet like many cookies that come at Christmas – but this is a shortbread and is more buttery than anything.

If I’m part of any cookie exchanges next year, this is the cookie I’ll be sharing for sure.

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies
(source)

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into chunks
1 tbsp red food coloring (or if you’re using a gel food coloring, DO NOT use that much – use enough to make a deep red)
3 oz chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp shortening
sprinkles

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 325. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Process several times to combine well. Add the food coloring and butter, several chunks at a time and pulse until the mixture resembles crumbs. Continue to process until the mixture begins to clump together.

2. Remove the dough from the processor bowl and place it on a floured surface. Knead lightly until smooth. Roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness. Using a round cookie cutter that is approximately 1 1/2-inches round, cut out the dough. Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place the dough scraps together and roll out again, continuing to cut as many cookies out of the dough as possible.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool.

4. In a heavy sauce pan, melt the chocolate chips and shortening over low heat, stirring consistently. Dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate and then sprinkle the melted chocolate on the cookie with sprinkles. Let stand on waxed paper until dry.

* makes about 2 dozen cookies
* shared with Foodie Friday, Freedom Fridays, & Friday Food Frenzy

Mocha Swirl Cookies

 

Like I mentioned in my last post, I am making swirl (or pinwheel) cookies for Christmas presents this year. My plan was to make four varieties. It has changed to three due to technical difficulties with my peppermint/chocolate cookies. They tasted great, but they came out ugly. The mocha swirls on the other hand, are by far the most beautiful things I have ever made. Not only do they look great, but the taste was also amazing.

These swirl cookies definitely take some patience, but they are wonderful!

Mocha Swirl Cookies
(source)

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee (mine was hazelnut flavored)
2 oz semi sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Directions

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients in and beat until you have a nonsticky dough.

3. Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and separate into two portions. Return one of the portions to the mixer and beat the coffee in with the dough. Remove from the bowl.

4. Put the other half of dough into the mixer bowl and beat with the cooled, melted chocolate.

5. Roll out each portion of dough between two sheets of wax paper, so that the dough is approximately 1/4-inch thick. Chill on a baking sheet in the refrigerator for an hour.

6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and press the coffee dough on top of the chocolate dough. Roll the dough into a log, starting on the long side of the dough. If the dough starts to rip as you’re rolling, press it back together. Go slowly.

7. Cover the dough roll in wax paper and then plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.

8. Preheat oven to 350. Remove the chilled dough roll from the refrigerator and slice into 1/4-inch rounds. I got about 3 dozen cookies from one cookie dough roll.

9. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 11 minutes.

* makes about 36 cookies
* shared with Mix It Up Monday

Pink Peppermint Chip Cookies

I love the holidays. I have been watching Christmas movies almost everyday. I’ve been listening to Christmas music every day. And what else? Christmas cookies!

This year I participated in a Christmas cookie swap hosted by Julie of White Lights on Wednesday. Instead of swapping cookies in the mail we each were paired up. Basically . . . One person sends you a recipe, you send another person a recipe. So, I sent a cookie recipe to Carrie of My Favorite Finds and I received a cook recipe from Linda at Tumbleweed Contessa. You’ll actually see these cookies at my first Pantry Party roundup, because Linda recently made these cookies and submitted them to my new party.

So I’m preemptively posting this and putting it into my queue to publish on the 13th (the day we’re all sharing our recipes.) Today is the 4th, so I’m kind of early.

I’ve been studying for finals, so when I got this recipe in the mail and realized how yummy and how easy it looked, it provided a nice break from studying. It also made me go to the grocery store and get eggs (among other groceries since I was kind of foodless.)  These cookies are easy and tasty! I made a few variations from the original recipe because the cheap grocery store I go to didn’t have all the fun baking chips. But I worked with what I could get my hands on to make some peppermint and chocolate chip cookies.

I brought them to my final today too. Everyone was happy.
And I ate too many too.

Pink Peppermint Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup original flavor Crisco (not butter flavor)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
9 drops red food coloring
1 tsp Mexican vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup creme de menthe Andes candy, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup peppermint crunch Andes candy, coarsely chopped
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Cream together the Crisco, sugars, eggs, food coloring, and extract in a stand mixer. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until there are no dry spots left.

3. Mix in the candies and chocolate chips, stirring with a wooden spoon.

4. Using a teaspoon, spoon the dough onto the baking sheet, rolling each ball into a ball. Place 12 cookies on a sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

* makes about 40 cookies

WordPress does not allow me to post a linky tools on a site hosted by wordpress (I need a domain clearly.)
See the rest of the cookies HERE at the roundup.

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

My hot chocolate obsession lately has involved a lot of Ovaltine. I also got this hot chocolate mix from Cost Plus World Market. It’s a red velvet hot chocolate and is wonderful. But for as good as my heat up some water, add some powder, and mix hot chocolates have been, I decided it was time to put the powder aside for the night, watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and drink some hot chocolate that’s just as easy to make, just yummier.

Besides just sharing this hot chocolate recipe with you, I’m also submitting it to the We Should Cocoa challenge (this month’s theme is cinnamon,) hosted by the Chocolate Log Blog and Chocolate Teapot. This month the roundup will be posted at the Chocolate Log Blog.

Now… This is a very simple recipe. I was actually going to make homemade cinnamon marshmallows to go with it. I’d never made marshmallows before and my first attempt was a failure. However, this first attempt also used my light corn syrup. So my marshmallow plan temporarily went out the window. I’ll have to try again another time.

I did put some canned whipped cream on the chocolate after I took the picture. It was such a rich hot chocolate. The cinnamon flavor was perfect. It wasn’t overpowering. It was just enough and just perfect.

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

Ingredients
2 cups skim milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a pot, whisk together the milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once the milk comes to a boil, take it off the heat.

2. Add the chocolate chips and stir into the warm milk until melted. Remove the cinnamon stick once the chocolate has melted.

* makes 2 cups of hot chocolate
* besides We Should Cocoa, I shared this with See Ya in the Gumbo