Fudgy Dark Chocolate Brownie Bites

These were the bane of my existence the past weekend. Trying to not eat 4 every day was completely entirely impossible. I think I have come to the conclusion brownies are my actual favorite dessert, especially because these have chunks of chocolate in them. Ugh, I'm reminiscing about them already. The only time I didn't eat a million of these was the one day I was not home this weekend on Saturday. I went down to Virginia to Luray because we got an inn stay and had a little getaway. We got to do some wine tasting in the Shenandoah Mountains which was lovely. It was 60 degrees and just gorgeous as you can see... Then we went to brunch at my favorite place, Gina's Cantina and ended our 3 day weekend with drinks by the fire at Pusser's in downtown Annapolis.

Back to the main subject though: chocolate heaven.

Fudgy Dark Chocolate Brownie Bites

Yield ~16 Brownies

1 cup dark chocolate chips + 1/2 cup

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Pour whipping cream in a bowl and microwave for 60 seconds. Pour 1 cup of the dark chocolate chips in and let them sit in the hot cream for 60 seconds. Then stir them together like you are making a ganache then add in the oil. Next mix in the sugar and salt, and finally the eggs. Last fold in the flour to finish the batter off and the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. This should make about 16 brownie bites if you're using a mini cupcake pan.

Butter Pecan Cake

Hello! Long time, no talk. Sadly, I think these recipes are going to be more of a once a week thing now that I've been so busy with life, work, and holidays. You can tell how busy I was because this recipe was from the Sunday before Christmas and it's just making it to you now. BUT, that doesn't mean it's still not a wonderful cake to make year round. I love pecans and this cake really shows them off. My aunt told me it reminded her of wedding cake, so hopefully that's a good thing! 

You would think I would have tons of recipes to share right now considering my boyfriend is gone for 3 weeks in Nepal! He is helping at a school with family friends teaching English so I have been trying to hold up the fort. It's tough work being the only person in a town house, let me tell you! Especially when you are trying to finish painting the 6 month long project of installing wainscoting in your kitchen. Yes, it probably should have taken 1/6 that time but at least it's almost done! And, the best part is that I'm redoing the spare room that was completely empty and turning it into an office. I'm so excited that he has no idea and can't wait to see his surprise when he comes home! Anyway, I know that you probably care more about the cake so here it is.

Butter Pecan Cake

Yield ~16+ servings

Cake:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 cups pecans, chopped

Frosting:

2 sticks butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl cream the butter and sugar together, then add the vanilla and eggs in one at a time. Next mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. It will be very thick so don't worry. Last add in your milk to get the correct consistency, then fold in your 1 1/2 cups of pecans. Pour the cake into your cake pans, then bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. While the cakes are baking, mix your butter in a bowl with the vanilla. Then add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time. To get your preferred consistency add in a tablespoon of milk at a time. Frost your cake once it is cooled and sprinkle 1/2 chopped cup pecans over the top.

Spice Cookies

Here I am! With the last cookie recipe before Christmas. Posting this post from my desk at work. Because I'm 1 of 3 people here. Wahhh! Ok, I'm done with my pitty party. Anyway, IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE! I am obsessed with Christmas by the way. It consumes my life, mainly the decorating. See my purty tree!?

Last night, I had a little Christmas get together. Well, it was supposed to be for 8 people. Then it grew to 12, then it grew to 17 unbeknownst to me. Let's just say it was quite the party with all the work that went into it but I was happy to have family from Georgia who I rarely see to my house. I was really excited too to show off all the work we've done. We are almost done our wainscoting and I will show you a picture soon. It's glorious. Back to the main subject of this post though, the cookies. These are probably some of the easiest cookies to make, ingredient wise and if you love spice cake you will love these as well.

Also, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Spice Cookies
Yield ~ 60 cookies

1 box of Spice cake mix
8 ounces of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
1 egg

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix the cream cheese and butter, then mix in the egg. Last mix in the cake mix. Take about 1 1/2 tablespoon balls of dough and roll them up then roll them in a bowl of powdered sugar to coat. Place on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Trail Mix Cookie Bars

As promised here is installment 3 of the Christmas cookies. I came to my Mom's and spent 2 hours baking all 3 types of cookies to bring into work tomorrow. I definitely had no time to do it last night considering I was a little too busy at the gym winning a pair of lifting gloves! I'm pretty sure I'm in love with the instructor for Body Pump on Monday nights. She plays Christmas music all before class and last night she made Christmas barbell cookies! Totally a girl after my own heart. Then she had a drawing for a pair of lifting gloves. Every time you came to class since Thanksgiving, your name was entered for the drawing. Good thing all 4 people who were called before me weren't in class yesterday or I never would have won. Over ohhhhhh, 5 weeks I only put my name in once. Ooopsy. Luck was on my side last night, definitely not being healthy.

Trail Mix Cookie Bars
Yield ~36 squares

Cookie base
1 cup flour +2 tablespoons
1 stick of butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Filling
1 can sweetened condensed  milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/4 cups trail mix (any combination you prefer, place it in a bag and smash it with an ice cream scooper or hammer to crumble the nuts especially)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl cream the sugars and butter together. Next mix in the egg and vanilla. Then add in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the chocolate chips. Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil then spray with oil. Spread the cookie dough all over to make the cookie base. Bake for 8 minutes. Meanwhile in another bowl, mix the sweetened condensed milk, egg, and flour. After you take the cookie base out, pour the filling on top, then sprinkle the trail mix on top to cover it. Bake for another 20 minutes or until the top is barely jiggly.

PB Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ever since I got this new job I have fallen off the face of the Earth. I used to have so much time and apparently it disappeared, completely. Don't fret though, because this week I am making a conscious effort to share 3 cookie recipes with you. You know, since it is the holidays and everyone is making Christmas cookies. Today it's some Peanut Butter Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have had Nutella in the pantry that I've been dying to get rid of (so I can stop dipping my finger in it) and this was the perfect occasion. It's a miracle I was even able to bake these. Remember how long ago I started showing pictures of work we were doing in the kitchen? Well it's still going on... We got new hardwood floors put in, we painted, and now we're in the process of putting up the wainscoting which is what was going on when I tried to bake these. I thought I might lose my hearing from all the noises going on in the kitchen that day. Luckily, I survived and so did the cookies.

Peanut Butter Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield ~ 2 1/2 dozen

1 stick butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
4 tablespoons Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix your butter (melted), peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Then add in the egg and vanilla. Next mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then fold in your chocolate chips and drop 1/2 tablespoon sized dollups of Nutella all over the dough. Stir it around just a little bit so the Nutella is swirled into the dough. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden around edges.

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Wow, have I become a horrible blogger. My last blog was Nov 16!?!? In my defense I was in Ireland for a week and left the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So that's a whole other blog post I need to create at some point. For now though, I bring your our breakfast on Thanksgiving morning... along with some shrimp and cocktail sauce... Interesting combination, I know but who cares? Both of them were awesome. The only thing I have to say is when you are making this, never put your dough in the fridge. I made my dough, put it in the bundt pan and it was so high and fluffy like the picture below but it was 11 PM and I wasn't about to bake this. So (stupidly) I put it in the fridge for the night. Yea... I woke up and it was completely deflated and had to do some emergency rising of dough. I turned on the oven and put this near the exhaust and that did nothing after 30 minutes. Then I just put it in the oven on the lowest temperature with the door cracked for about 30 minutes. I was straight up in panic mode, let me tell you. Eventually it rose some, but never as beautifully as the picture below. I was quite sad but the good thing is, it was still amazing and a great start to our Turkey day along with my Bloody Mary!

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Yield ~8 servings

1/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup milk 

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

2 tbs butter, melted

2/3 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups flour

3 tbs butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons maple syrup 

In a bowl, stire together the milk, water, yeast, and sugar. Let it sit for 10 minutes so the yeast can proof. Then pour it into a stand mixer bowl (I used the mixer with the dough hook attachment), and add the salt, egg, butter, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and half the flour. Mix that together, then add in the other half. Make sure the dough is ready by checking that it's just slightly wet but won't stick to your hands. If it's too wet add a few more tablespoons of flour. Place this bowl somewhere warm and let it rise for an hour or more (I waited 3). Grease a bundt pan and make your coating in a bowl by mixing the butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Take about Dunkin Donut munchkin sized balls of dough and dip them in the coating, then place in the bundt pan until the dough runs out. Then pour any extra coating into the pan. Cover the pan and let it rise for another couple hours. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 25 minutes and let it cool for 15 minutes after. In another bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk, and syrup, then drizzle all over the monkey bread.