Nutella Hot Chocolate

Christmas is just a couple of weeks way and winter seems to have finally arrives. For some this week snow arrived for the first time in years. Personally I love snow and if I lived somewhere that only saw snow once every few years I would be out jumping for joy. 

Snow or not, a cold winter day calls for a nice big mug of hot chocolate. Not just any hot chocolate but a steamy cup of nutty Nutella hot chocolate. Add a spoon or two of whipping cream, a sprinkle of chocolate shavings and you have the perfect drink!

Nutella Hot Chocolate

Recipe from: A Cookie Named Desire

Ingredients

31/2 Tablespoons of Nutella

11/2 ounces of semi-sweet chopped chocolate

13/4 cup whole milk

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan combine the Nutella, chocolate and 1/2 cup of the milk over low-medium heat, mix well. Once mixed slowly add the rest of the milk. Once hot, add the salt and vanilla. Pour into mugs and garnish with whipping cream and chocolate shavings. 

Chocolate Mummy Cake For Your Halloween Celebrations

White plates, Cheesecloth,  Black and White String

I am not a huge fan of Halloween, because I hate creepy and scary things: movies, decorations and even food. I did however make an exception for this mummy cake. It is so easy, it's a chocolate cake, buttercream frosting, a flat pastry tip, 1 Oreo cookie  and 2 brown M&M'S Milk Chocolate candies. It does not get any easier or cute if I do say so myself. 

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9" round baking pans. 

Stir together sugar, flour, HERSHEY'S Cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Note: I used 6" cake pans and I used 3 layers and froze the leftover cake for another day. 

Buttercream Frosting

Recipe: Food.com

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

31/2 cups of powdered sugar

1-3 teaspoons milk or heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Garnish:

1 Oreo Cookie

2 brown M&M plain

In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the butter and the powdered sugar beat until blended, then add salt, mix. Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy, about another 3-5 minutes. 

Once cake is completely cooled place one layer on  a plate or a round cake board, spread with some of the white butter cream. Add the second layer of cake. Then frost the entire cake with a very thin layer of frosting. Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. In the meantime place a flat decorating tip (if you do not have a flat tip the one that makes rose petals is fine too) inside a cake decorating bag and then fill with frosting. Cut off the tip of the bag. Now make "bandages" with the frosting. I went around the cake and then did the top. The good news is that it's frosting, if you do not like how it looks scrape it off and start again. 

Once you have your bandages add the cookies and the brown M&M's for the eyes. The cut and enjoy!

If you are looking for some more Fall inspiration then check out my Fall Baking board or my Fall Boards on Pinterest. 

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Savvy Souther Style
Make it Pretty
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Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Frosting

Another day, another brownie. I personally never tire of trying new brownie recipes in my quest for the most "perfect" fudge brownie. I have tasted a lot of brownies and I think this one might be very close to perfect. These brownies are rich, fudgy, moist, studded with chocolate and then topped of with ganache. Could it get any better?

 Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Recipe from Completely Delicious

1  unsalted butter, cubed

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

11/2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon instant espresso

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

For the ganache

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 9" square baking pan with parchment paper. 

In a medium saucepan set over low heat melt the butter and chocolate, stirring frequently. When melted and smooth remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time making to sure incorporate each one.  Stir in the vanilla and the espresso. Gently stir in the flour and the salt, stirring only until the streaks of flour are almost gone. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake 30-40 minutes or until the edges are firm, the center should be almost set. Insert a toothpick into the center, remove where there are some crumbs attached. Remove from oven and let cool.

To make the ganache: Place the butter and the chocolate in a glass bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Stir frequently until the mixture melts. When the mixture is melted remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Pour the chocolate ganache over completely cooled brownies and smooth with a spatula. 

Refrigerate for at least an hour. Then remove from refrigerator and cut, serve, enjoy!

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Savvy Southern Style

Chocolate Cherry Filled Cake with Chocolate Covered Cherries

In my family we love chocolate cake with lots of creamy chocolate frosting. Once in a blue moon we with get crazy and use white buttercream and sometimes we even add a little raspberry filling. This year since I have a plethora of cherries I decided to make my version of black forest cake. Don't worry it is not complicated at all, the hardest part is making the cherry filling.

Depending upon the tartness of your cherries I would adjust the amount of sugar added. I really did not need much sugar as my cherries were sweet. I like to use either chocolate buttercream frosting or my favorite Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting when I make this cake but you can use whatever kind of frosting that you like. 

Cake
Recipe from Rumbly in my Tumble

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups  Unsweetened Cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk 

1/2 cup melted butter,

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup of hot coffee

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour 2  9" cake pans, or grease and line with parchment paper circles. 

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the flour, sugar,  cocoa baking soda, and salt and mix until combined.  Add the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and buttermilk, and mix until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and and then stir the hot coffee into the batter by hand.  The batter will be runny.  It’s supposed to be.

Pour into your cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few bits of cake stuck to it. For 9 inch pans, that should be anywhere from 20-30 minutes.  Start checking around 15 minutes. If you make in a different size than you will have a different baking time. 

When you remove each cake from the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan, and carefully tip the pan over on a cooling rack. If you used parchment paper on the bottom remove it. Let cakes cool completely before frosting. 

 Cherry Filling

1/8 cup granulated sugar

2/12 tablespoons of cornstarch

3 cups of cherries, frozen (pitted)

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon almond extract

In a small saucepan stir the sugar and the cornstarch together, then add the cherries and mix. Place over low-medium heat to melt the cherries. If using fresh cherries I add a couple tablespoons of water to make a little syrup. Continue to cook for about 4 minutes until there is a thick syrup and the mixture comes to a boil. Do not leave unattended or the mixture will burn. Remove from heat and add the butter and the almond extract and mix well. Set aside to cool.



HERSHEY'S Perfectly Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, melted
2/3 cup of Hershey's cocoa powder
1/3 cup of milk
2 1/2  cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla

Melt butter in large bowl, whisk or use electric hand held mixer to blend in 
cocoa Add one cup of powdered sugar, and a little milk, alternating between the two until both are used up and the frosting is creamy. Add vanilla and blend. Then use to frost the top and sides of the cake.

To assemble cake, cut one layer in half horizontally then place one layer on a plate and add 1/3 of the cherry filling to the center.  spread around. Then top with the next layer of cake add 1/3 filling to the top, add the next layer, top with filling and then add the final layer. 
Do not top with the filling( you should not have any left). Frost the entire cake with the Hershey's chocolate frosting. 

Note: You can add frosting to the layers and then add the cherry filling if you would like.  You may have some frosting left depending upon how much frosting you like on your cake. I personally like it thick. 

For Garnish:

Fresh Cherries
Ghirardelli Chocolate Melting Wafers 

Follow the directions on the melting wafers and dip in the cherries. Let cool/set and then garnish cake.

Enjoy!


Notes:

1. For this post I made two cakes, unfortunately we ate the 3 layer cake before I could take photos. So this photo is of a two layer cake.

2. This post contains affiliate links.



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Fun Finds for the Chocolate Lover in Your Life

If you have a chocolate lover in your life I have found a few things that you might want to get them for their birthday, the upcoming holidays or even just to say, "I love you."

I love the coffee mugs and the spatula and the notepad I think they would be great for a hostess gift or   you could pair the mugs with a can of hot chocolate and give it for the holidays.



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The Best Brownie Ever!

I make a lot of brownies and when I say a lot I mean at least a pan a week of either a favorite recipe or a new one. This brownie recipe might just be the best one I have ever had and that is saying a lot. This recipe is fudgy and gooey, so if you like cakey brownies this is not the recipe for you, it has a crispy crust and a nutty flavor from the nuts and the coconut. Simply put, scrumptious. 

The Best Brownies EVER

Recipe from A Daily Dish of Everyday Life

Ingredients

2 cups 60% chocolate chips, divided

6 ounces of butter

11/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips(from above)

Preheat oven to 325. Prepare a 9 inch square baking pan by lining with parchment paper and then spray with cooking spray. 

In a medium saucepan melt 11/2 cups of chocolate chips and butter and whisk until smooth. Mix in brown sugar and granulated sugar and stir with a rubber spatula. Add eggs and mix and then fold int the flour. Then add and fold the coconut, pecans and coconut. Pour into prepared square pan. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. Remove from oven place on cooling rack. Once cooled, cut and enjoy. 

NOTE: “I get commission for purchases or clicks made through links in this post.”

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake with Ganache Topping

White Ruffle Cake Stand, White Salad Plates, Forks Vintage, Blue & White Plates Vintage, Napkins

Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts to make, it is easy, elegant and delicious. This Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake is all of that and more. It is rich, fudgy and a little decadent. 

White Ruffle Cake Stand, White Salad Plates, Forks Vintage, Blue & White Plates Vintage, Napkins

It is a fabulous dessert for a formal dinner or a casual barbecue and it would be fabulous decorated for Christmas with a few white chocolate snowflakes. You can even make it ahead and freeze it. 

White Ruffle Cake Stand, White Salad Plates, Forks Vintage, Blue & White Plates Vintage, Napkins

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake with Ganache Topping
Recipe from Southern Living

Cookie Crust

11/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs, I used Oreos

2 tablespoons of butter

Cheesecake

2 4oz.semi-sweet baking bars

1 cup whipping cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 8oz. packages of cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons  vanilla extract

4 large eggs

Ganache Topping

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate chopped
1 tablespoon sugar

Stir the heavy whipping cream, sugar and chopped chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Cool slightly, then pour into the center of the cheesecake and with an offset spatula spread it slightly so that it goes over the edges. Chill until the topping is set. Decorate with chocolate curls and let sit at room temperature for at least 2 house before serving. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°. Combine crushed cookies and butter. Press mixture on bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.

Microwave chocolate and whipping cream at HIGH 1 1/2 minutes or until melted, stirring at 30-second intervals.You can also do this on the stovetop in a small saucepan. 

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer for 2 minutes or until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, beating just until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Add chocolate mixture, beating just until blended. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 300° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or just until center is set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven with door closed 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven; gently run a knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.

Remove sides of pan, and place cheesecake on a serving plate. Slowly pour warm Ganache Topping over cheesecake, spreading to edges. Chill until set. Garnish with curled chocolate if desired.

White Ruffle Cake Stand, White Salad Plates, Forks Vintage, Blue & White Plates Vintage, Napkins

I hope that you try this delicious cheesecake and if you do, please come back and tell me what you think!

Sources: White Ruffle Cake Stand, Coaster, Similar Silverware, White Cake Plates, Similar Blue Flower Plates, Napkins

This post contains affiliate links. 

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Savvy Southern Style

Chocolate Chip Cookie S'mores

This post contains affiliate links. 

Summer is s'more season, although if you lived with my mom, roasting marshmallows is not limited to summer, or the outdoors. My mom loves to put marshmallows on a skewer and roast them over the gas flame of the stove. 

There are lots and lots of recipes for s'mores but recently I tried a recipe that substituted homemade chocolate chip cooked for graham crackers. I will never go back to graham crackers again. These s'mores are over the top fabulous. I will warn you now they are addicting but DO NOT be tempted to eat more than one. they are too rich, even for the chocoholic in your life. 

I will not even write a recipe because everyone knows how to make s'mores. It is a crust, either chocolate chip cookies, graham crackers, sugar cookies, a Hershey bar, 60% dark chocolate candy bar and of course marshmallows. 

If you are making this with kids using an open flame make sure to watch them so that they do not get burned from the flames/fire or from munching on a hot marshmallow!

Happy Summer!

If you love s'mores, you can check out these recipes as well. 

Recipe HERE

S'more Cereal Treats

S'more Brownies

S'more Brownie

Peanut Butter S'more

Peanut Butter S'mores

S'more Oatmeal

S'more Oatmeal


And if you need a few more orders check out S'more Cookbook.

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Savvy Southern Style

Homemade Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! As I child one of my favorite memories is making ice cream with my grandparents  in an old fashioned ice cream maker with the rock salt and the ice. My siblings and I would take turns cranking the handle and after what seemed like hours we had the best ice cream that we had ever tasted, perhaps it was so good because we had to work so hard to make it. 

Nowadays I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker that allows me to have ice cream 20 minutes after I make the mixture. Certainly not as much fun but still as tasty. If you do not have an ice cream maker do not worry, you can pour the mixture into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and freeze until firm(typically overnight). 

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

3 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder

5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

5 large egg yolks

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Warm 1 cup of the cream with cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the sauce pan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Or pour into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and freeze until firm. 

After the mixture is firm scoop out a few scoops of ice cream into a cup or a cone and enjoy. 



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Chocolate Cake with Fudge Filling and White Buttercream

Chocolate cake is a favorite of many, but often times people like a change from chocolate cake and chocolate frosting, they like to mix it up with another flavor of frosting, sometime peanut butter, or raspberry, my personal favorite is white buttercream. 

This cake is fabulous, if I do say so myself, the cake is so moist and fudgy and it is my "go to" recipe, I added fudge filling that is so scrumptious you could just eat it from the pan with a spoon.  The frosting is a simple white buttercream, if it is a special occasion you could tint the frosting with food coloring and then pipe it on the cake to make it a bit more special. I just troweled my frosting on with an offset spatula. I like lots of frosting! Do you?

Chocolate Cake

Recipe from Foodess/Rumbly in My Tummy

Cake:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk (or sub by using a cup of whole milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar and letting it sit 5 minutes until thick)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup of hot coffee

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease and flour 2 9" cake pans, or grease and line with parchment paper circles. 

In your mixer, add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined.  Add the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and buttermilk, and mix until just combined.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir the hot coffee into the batter by hand.  The batter will be runny. Pour into your cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few bits of cake stuck to it. For 9 inch pans, that should be anywhere from 20-35 minutes.  

When you remove each cake from the oven, let it cool, run a knife around the edges of the pan, and carefully remove it from the pan onto a baking rack. Let cool before frosting. 

Fudge Filling:

1 cup of sugar

1/3 cup milk

5 tablespoons butter

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Put first 3 ingredients into a sauce pan, over low heat bring to a boil, stirring constantly. The sugar should be dissolved. Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and then whisk them until creamy and cooled. 

Buttercream Frosting

Recipe: Food.com

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

31/2 cups of powdered sugar

1-3 teaspoons milk or heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the butter and the powdered sugar beat until blended, then add salt, mix. Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy, about another 3-5 minutes. 

Once cake is cooled, cut each cake in half, then place 1 layer on a plate and spread some fudge filling over the layer. Then place another layer on top and frost with fudge filling, place third layer onto and frost, and then place the last layer on top. 

Frost entire cake with white butter cream frosting and enjoy!

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