More Chocolate Art

"The Chocolate Grinder" by Marcel Duchamp

Chocolate Graphics from the Graphics Fairy

These are some fabulous French Chocolate Graphics from The Graphics Fairy. They have been used for many projects in blog land for everything from pillows to table tops, to signs and there are many other wonderful things one could make with them! Check out the The Graphics Fairy to see these and many other wonderful graphics and free art.

Chocolate Madeleines or Madeleines au Chocolat

The finished product!

I love all things French and these are at the top of my list! These Madeleine's are delicious and a little different because they are chocolate and not the traditional vanilla. I have tried many recipes but this was a new one for me and quite frankly easier and the end result was much more moist. I am sure that you have seen these traditional French treats on your journeys around Paris, I can tell you that I have eaten my weight in these little cakes, which is probably how I gain so much weight when I travel to Paris, between the hot chocolate, the cheese crepes, and all of the desserts I do not stand a chance.

This recipe was adapted from Epicurious.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa
pinch of salt
4 lg eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla
12 tablespoons of melted butter, cooled
Butter for buttering the pans

Ingredients

1. Sift all dry ingredients, flour, salt and cocoa.

2. Mix eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until think and tripled in volume, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla extract.

3. Fold in the flour mixture, and then the melted butter. Do not over mix.

4. Chill dough overnight or for at least 3 hours in refrigerator.

5. Butter Madeleine pans and chill filled pans( they recommend 1 hour) I just chilled for 15 minutes.

6. Heat oven to 425 F.

7. Bake Madeleine's for about 7 minutes, do not over bake as they will become dry. Tip out of molds and let cool on a rack.

8. Best eaten slightly cooled or the same day.

Butter pans

Fill buttered pans and refrigerate

Drop a Tbsp into middle if mold it will spread out itself

Notes: My Madeleine's stuck a little in the pan, I had to remove them with a fork. Also, because my pans are dark I only baked them 6 minutes. These are incredibly moist and the are even great a few days later! This recipe make 36 so you will have many to share.

Light and fluffy

Share some today!

I am participating in Foodie Friday at Designs by gollum. Come on over and check it out!

Road trip Brownies!

various candies

I love baking, and I love to just put things together that are easy and delicious. I made these brownies recently for a friend who was going on a road trip, after all who doesn't want a tasty treat while traveling.

Basically I took a Ghiradelli brownie mix, followed the recipe on the back of the box and then added all of the candy that I have in the house. In my candy jar I had some Reisen camels, and some of these delicious little toffees that you get at IKEA (I had to put these into the brownies because I could sit down and eat the entire bag in one sittin). Then for good measure I threw in a candy bar that had honey and toffee in it.

These brownies were so delicious! They came out fabulous! Now for those of you who do not have the above mentioned candy throw in whatever you have, if you have Snickers, or Twix, whatever just put in in. It just kicks it up a notch  and makes it a little different.

Ingredients

Miscellaneous Chocolates

Add chocolate to batter

Finished Product!

Linking to Foodie Friday.

Mississippi Mud Cake

For years I have seen this cake in magazines, and on Food Network, and I have always thought it looked delicious. This is the first time I have made this cake, and that is probably a good thing because I have to tell you I could not stop eating once I cut a piece.

The recipe is very easy and makes a really rich, delicious treat that you will love. The cake part has the texture of a brownie, and then the marshmallows are creamy and soft and  the frosting is literally the icing on the cake. Now, I will warn you, if you do not like sweet and sugary desserts than this is not the recipe for you.

The Ingredients are as follows:
recipe adapted from Southern Living "Comfort Food"

11/2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of butter, melted
4 eggs slightly beaten
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups mini-marshmallows


Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 13x9 inch pan and set aside. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add butter, eggs, vanilla, and pecans, stir until smooth. Pour into pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Immediately sprinkle marshmallows  and bake for another 2 minutes. Carefully spread frosting over the top. Cool and cut into squares.

Ingredients

Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 16 oz package of powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients with a whisk or electric mixer until spreading consistency.

Note: I found that you need to add extra milk to get this to be a little more thin than it turns out, otherwise you cannot really spread the frosting over the marshmallows.

More Chocolate Art

The Chocolate Man

I found this piece on the New York Public Library image site. You can browse online all of the images that they have from maps, to photos, to art work, etc. It is a really great site and very user friendly.

Happy Father's Day!

"To her the name of father was another name for love."
~~By Fanny Fern.~~