Cocoa Brownies

As the old song goes … you had a bad day… You’re taking one down … You sing a sad song just to turn it around … That song was the recurring theme with my loved ones this week. And this song just kept running through my exhausted, anxiety ridden brain over and over again.

We have had relationship difficulties, crossroads in life, upsets with parents, children running amok, worrying, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, jobs being lost, jobs being gotten again, frustrations, ill parents, anxiety, anger. Yikes! And all that before Wednesday! Not enough sleep. Too much bourbon. Too many cigarettes. Too much thinking.

You know the kind of thinking that is more like hamsters running on a wheel inside your head. They don’t stop. Then one tiny hill turns into Mt. Everest. I have named these little anxiety causing rodents Flo & Eddie (hopefully some of you out there remember who Flo & Eddie are).

And the song. The song. That song … Coz you had a bad day … over and over again.

Gotta turn this bad time around and quiet Flo & Eddie.

My idea of turning any bad time around has cooking in it, baking, and definitely has chocolate in it. I am quite sure FLo & Eddie like chocolate.

I already have a favorite brownie recipe, Loveys Brownies, but I have had this Cocoa Brownie recipe torn out of the Bon Appetit December 2012 issue staring at me, and then I saw it on Pinterest. Oh, Pinterest, how you tempt me! So I thought I would try something new.

I may rename these fudgey, cakey, moist gems You Had a Bad Day Brownies. They seem to be quieting all the brains around me roaring out of control. Make sure to completely cool the brownies before you cut into them or they fall apart a bit.

So there Flo & Eddie, take that!

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 1/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 C all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325°.

Line an 8x8x2 inches glass baking dish with foil, pressing firmly into pan and leaving a 2 inch overhang. Coat foil with nonstick spray; set baking dish aside.

Melt butter in a small sauce-pan over medium heat. Let cool slightly.

Whisk sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl to combine.

Pour butter in a steady stream into dry ingredients, whisking constantly to blend. Whisk in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add flour and stir until just combined (do not over mix).

Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until top begins to crack and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool completely in pan. Using foil overhang, lift brownie out of pan; transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares

NOTE: So you had a bad day. Flo & Eddie are spinning the wheel. This brownie will make your day better and quiet the rodents. I promise. Worked with my loved ones … and ME!

Dark Chocolate Coconut Cherry Cookies

I love baking. I love baking and having the house smell of freshly baked cookies. The problem is … well, the cookies themselves. There are so many. And, if they’re good, and I baked them so how could they be anything but good, then I eat WAY too many of them. And when I eat too many of them I get fat. When I get fat, my clothes don’t fit and I have to go shopping to buy new, larger clothes. That causes me to be depressed and what helps any girl’s depression? Cookies, and chocolate cookies. And then the circle begins again. I’m making these for folks who are thin. You know, those horrible NATURALLY thin people. And thin as they are, they doesn’t need too many cookies either. Though, truth be known, these are those ANNOYING people who can eat a cookie or two and walk away, a scoop of icecream and be satisfied, a handful of Cheez-Its and walk away (Like, REALLY, who eats a handful of Cheez-Its and walks away).

I think it far simpler to find a recipe on Christina’s lovely site Dessert for Two (remember the Mini New York Cheesecakes?)and bake just enough to satisfy the cookie and chocolate craving. I saw this recipe and knew I had to try it, though I did make a few changes, like using dried cherries instead of coconut and vanilla extract instead of almond extract.

Deep, dark, chocolatey flavor. The espresso just shoots them over the moon. May add a little less espresso powder the next time and perhaps a smidge of cinnamon. Love the cherries with the chocolate. The coconut oil gives a little background flavor that you can’t quite put a finger on. But WOW and yes, they’ll be baked again! Thanks, Christina, for another winner!

Go to her site. If you want to bake just a small batch, she has hundreds of recipes.

• 1/3 C solid coconut oil
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/8 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 t instant espresso powder (optional)
• 1/4 C cocoa powder
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 C dark chocolate morsels
• 1/2 C dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat together with an electric mixer the coconut oil, butter, and sugar. Beat for 2 full minutes, until light and fluffy.

Next, add the egg and continue beating. Add the vanilla extract, salt, and espresso powder.

Finally, sprinkle on top the cocoa powder and flour. Beat until dough comes together.

Fold in the dark chocolate morsels and cherries by hand.

Divide the dough into 6 large balls and slightly flatten them with your hand.

Bake for 14 minutes, rotating the sheet half-way through.

Let cool for 1 minute on the sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Apple Chips

This fabulous recipe for Caramelized Apple Chips is from the September 2012 Southern Living magazine. I know it’s been making the food blog rounds like wildfire, but I found this over at Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. I fell in love. It was bookmarked into my to do list. And there it sat. And sat. And sat.

And along came Winter Storm Athena, the nor’easter that slammed the Northeast so soon after our dear Sandy departed. Betcha didn’t know they named winter storms too! I surely didn’t. Gotta give it to those news guys … anything for a nifty logo and a theme song.

So here I am, locked away in my house AGAIN, dealing with the elements raging outside my windows and desperately trying to not write a letter to Mayor Bloomberg BEGGING him to stop repeating his announcements in Spanish. His Spanish makes my ears bleed and disturbs my sensibilities.

It seems within certain ethnicities, food and cooking is the solution to most of life’s problems. Some people eat to live, and others (like me and those I hold nearest and dearest) live to eat. We discuss lunch during breakfast, dinner during lunch, and what will we eat tomorrow during dinner.

Cooking. It’s MY solution to everything.  Oh, you’re sick? I’ll cook. You had a car accident? I’ll make you a little something. Fired from your job? How about a strudel? Locked in the house again ready to pull your hair out? APPLE CHIPS!

Now be forewarned. The apples need to be VERY thinly sliced. I think I sliced mine a little too thinly using my handy dandy handheld Kyocera Mandolin. It comes with a guard, don’t you know. Did I use it? NOPE. Everything went along swimmingly … well, until it didn’t. Slice, slice, slice, apple gets stuck, fingers kept going. You get the picture. USE THE GUARD.

These were really yummy, though very sweet. I think next time I’ll add a little lemon juice to the simple syrup and perhaps a sprinkle of cinnamon.

• 1 small apple (I used a Gala)
• 1 C sugar
• 1 C water

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place a wire rack inside of a rimmed baking sheet and spray the rack lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Cut the apple into very thin slices. You don’t need to core or peel the apple, but remove the seeds from the slices.

Add the sugar and water to a 3-qt saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the apple slices and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until they are translucent and the syrup has reduced and thickened slightly.

Use tongs to remove the slices from the syrup and place them on the wire rack in a single layer.

Bake the apples for about 15-20 minutes, or until they’re golden in color. The baking time will vary depending on the thickness of your apple slices – I found the best indicator of doneness to be color. Don’t be concerned if the slices aren’t crisp when they become golden – mine definitely weren’t – the chips will crisp as they cool.

Transfer the chips to a sheet of waxed paper lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray and let them cool completely, about 10 minutes.

NOTE: With the exception of nearly taking the tips of three fingers off, these were really great. GUARD! USE THE GUARD! But, they make a quick and yummy snack!