Decadent Fudge Brownies

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After a long, hard day, we tend to gravitate toward one of two things (sometimes both): booze or junk food. Last week, I just had to have junk food. Lucky for me, my wife made homemade, fudgy, super-chocolaty brownies. These things are so decadent, thanks to Dutch dark cocoa, espresso, and lots of butter, that there is no need to top them with ice cream. Just an ice cold glass of milk and a brownie – that’s all you need to turn any day around. Don’t believe me? Try them for yourself.

Decadent Fudge Brownie Recipe

Ingredients

  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup double dutch dark cocoa
  • 1 tsp. coarse salt
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. espresso powder
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 cups chocolate chips (mix it up to what you like – half dark, half milk, all milk, peanut butter – the world is your oyster, damnit)

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9 x 13″ pan

  • Beat eggs, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla for about 4 mins on medium speed
  • Melt the butter with sugar until all butter is melted over low-med heat (do NOT let it bubble)
  • Add hot butter/sugar mixture to the egg/cocoa mixture and stir until smooth
  • Add flour and chocolate chips – stir until smooth
  • Pour batter into the pan and cook for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Baking Gone Wild! Top 10 Over-the-Top Baked Goods for the Holidays

I’ve been sucked in. For some reason, I can’t stop watching The Great American Baking Show. I don’t know if it’s the soothing voices of Nia Vardalos and Ian Gomez, the adorable British version of your grandma in Mary Berry (seriously – even her name), or the hunkish looks and personality (yes, I am comfortable with my sexuality) of Johnny Iuzzini. Whatever it is, I’m hooked. Then I started thinking about the 150 million dozen cookies my wife baked, the bread we are baking for Christmas dinner, the delicious cinnamon buns we have Christmas morning, the list goes on. We are in the heart of the season of baking. Some savory bakes, others totally sweet. Either way – we have it all. After much thought, eating, and more eating, we have the top ten breads, cakes, and bakes for the holidays. You’re welcome.

In no particular order…

10. Rolo Cheesecake Bars

rolo

Thank god for bakers, right?

9. Six Layer S’mores Bars

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When a dessert is described as “oozing” with peanut butter, chocolate, and marshmallow, I’m in. Don’t tell me anything more.

8. Chocolate and Toffee Pecan Pinwheels

That is puff pastry. Yes, it does make everything even that much better. Carry on.

7. Pistachio Rum Mini Bundt Cakes

Pistachio Chewy Bite Mini Rum Cakes

Sure, you could make a chocolate bundt cake. But let’s be real – you’re making it from a box and nobody’s going to finish the whole thing. Try these for a change.

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Collard green and cornbread cake from DariusCooks

Top 10 Ways to Use Those Thanksgiving Leftovers

Don’t tell me that you do not have Thanksgiving leftovers in the back of the fridge. You look at them thinking “what the hell am I going to do with all of these mashed potatoes?” Or maybe it’s the turkey staring you in the face, as you cringe that it is one day away from going bone dry. Well….we have the fix for you! Add your leftovers in to these recipes and you won’t even realize that leftovers were included!

 

 

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10) Mashed Potato Latkes

My family usually just fried them in a frying pan, ut this is wayyyy better.

 

Collard green and cornbread cake from DariusCooks

9) Southern Fried Cake

Go ahead…I dare you.

 

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8) Turkey Salad

Personally, I prefer this for lunch over the gobbler sandwich.

 

7) Turkey Parm

This is a “two-for” deal for those Italianos out there. Take the ceremonial Italian casserole, plus the turkey and have at it, hoss.

 

laundry room turkey coconut curry soup

6) Turkey Coconut Curry Soup

Or you can make turkey noodle soup.

 

5) “Stove Top Stuffing” Sheppard’s Pie

YUM.

 

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4) Cranberry Pie

I mean…dessert never runs over to leftovers, so why not use your leftovers to make more dessert?

 

Warm Fall Kale Salad

3) Warm Fall Kale Salad

Make yourself feel healthy for a day.

 

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2) Apple Bourbon Pulled Pork Stuffing

Turn thanksgiving into barbecue all in one.

 

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1) Butternut Cranberry Springrolls

I personally hate springroll wrappers, but if you want to try your hand at it – good luck.

Gingersnaps Gone Wild! Top Ten Gingersnap Recipes

Last week, one of my co-workers brought in a box of gingersnaps. Of course, I grabbed a couple throughout the day. As you know, I enjoy fall and all the flavors that come with it. However, as I bit down into the rock hard cookie, I nearly broke a tooth. In considering what to feature next on our top ten lists, I thought of some ways that would highlight the tasty flavors of gingersnaps without the risk of breaking your teeth. Therefore, we found the top ten gingersnap recipes! Links will bring you straight to the recipes. Let us know what your favorites are!

 

(Bake it in a Cake)

10. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Rolos, Gingersnap Crust, and Apple Cider Buttercream

Pumpkin cake, caramel, apple cider frosting, and a sweet and crispy crust? I’ll take two.

 

(Five Crafty Sisters)

9. Gingersnap Pumpkin Pudding

I’ve always had problems with pudding – a texture issue. But this may be something I’d at least try. A whole different take on gingersnaps…with PUMPKIN.

 

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(strawberryplum)

8. Gingersnap Bread Pudding with Bourbon Butter

Stop drooling. You’re making a fool of yourself.

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(Heidikins Cooks)

7. Chocolate Covered Gingersnap Pancakes

Screw chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes…lets get fancy up in here with sugar, spice and everything nice.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

(Brown Eyed Baker)

6. Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Now this is an excuse to get you through an entire box of gingersnaps…without the mere threat of breaking a tooth.

(Tasty Trials)

5. Gingernsap and Cranberry Pork Tenderloin

Some of us enjoy savory of sweet. Here, we have a combination of the two. With some sweet potatoes, it may even start to feel like Thanksgiving.

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(The Humble Food Snob)

4. Gingersnap Beef Stew

I love me a hot stew on a Sunday afternoon during a football game. I never thought to add something sweet and spicy like gingersnaps to the mix.

(Fifteen Spatulas)

3. Fifteen Spatulas – Pumpkin Chip Gingersnap Ice Cream

If you truly have a sweet tooth, then you know ice cream never goes out of style. The flavors just change by season.

 

Pumpkin Ginger Snap Crunch Cake Mix Cake Recipe

(Recipes for Our Daily Bread)

2. Pumpkin Gingersnap Crunch Cake

A pumpkin-spice take on an apple cobbler(ish) recipe sounds like a fall-flavored challenge.

 

Ginger Snap Pumpkin Icebox Cake

(Food 52)

1. Gingersnap Pumpkin Icebox Cake

Eff the summer and its icebox cakes. This is where it’s at. Gingersnap cookies with pumpkin filling.

 

Don’t see your favorite? Tell us what it is!

For other top ten lists, check them out here!

Gelato World Tour

Food Porn of the Day: The Champion of All Gelatos

Gelato World Tour

The Gelato World Tour came to Austin this year! Everything I tasted was amazing, but the flavor I ended up voting for (everyone who tasted at the event was allowed to vote for their top pick) was the same flavor that won the North American tour here – Salted Pecan with Montmorency Tart Cherries & Tahitian Vanilla by James Coleridge and Salvatore Boccarossa of Bella Gelateria in Vancouver, Canada.

I can’t even explain HOW good this was. It was a really, really hot day in Austin so as soon as I was handed a cup of gelato it would start dripping out of its container and melting all over my hands, but I didn’t even care. Everything I tasted was sososo delectable, especially the champion pictured above. This gelato deserved to win – next time you’re in Vancouver, look these people up. (Or if you’re ever in the same city as a round of the Gelato World Tour – GO!)

Taco Bell Dessert Package

And in Breaking Taco Bell News…

It’s no secret that here at ES we have a weird soft spot for Taco Bell. Here’s the latest thing that caught my eye. Do you want Taco Bell but also want dessert? And ALSO you’re at the grocery store? Well, I have just the product for you…

Taco Bell Dessert Package

Taco Bell dessert kits! Is this new or is my local HEB just now getting it in stock? Either way: what? Why did the world need this? Who is buying this as part of their weekly grocery shopping? And, more importantly, which option would you choose: Cinnamon Nachos or Chocolate Taco? I think I’m more of a Cinnamon Nachos girl, myself.

Peach Cake: A Dessert So Nice I Made It Twice

I don’t like baking.  I don’t like cake.  And I really don’t like turning on my oven in the summer.  Why then, did I recently find myself making this peach cake twice in the same week? Let me tell you why. It is freaking delicious.

Every summer since I discovered my favorite farmer and his one-man market, I have gone a little peach crazy.  Each week beginning in mid-July, he sets aside a box of bruised, super-ripe or otherwise slightly inferior peaches, which I then purchase at a deep discount, typically about 80 cents a pound.  I usually buy 10-15 pounds at a time.  People ask me what I do with all these peaches—can them or freeze them or something? But here’s my guilty little secret: I really just eat them all, with substantial help from my husband and son.

Somehow, though, a few weeks ago, I ended up with a bowl of cut-up peaches in the fridge that were a little ripe to eat raw, even for me. So, I got it in my head that I would use them to make a peach cake.  I even went so far as to purchase a little bottle of buttermilk so that I could follow the recipe, which I have now slightly adapted from Lisi’s Luscious Desserts.  Company was coming, so I figured that I better do this up right.  And it. Was. Good.  So good, in fact, that a few days later, with my new crate of peaches on hand, I made another one for an Olympic-themed party.  Apple pie may be the quintessential American dessert, but the peak of apple season is still a month away, so peach cake was it.  And let me tell you, there was no complaining about my substitution.

Super-Moist Peach Cake Deliciousness

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