It’s February, which means Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching.
For some people, Valentine’s Day is about flowers, jewelry, grand romantic gestures. For me, it’s about chocolate. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I like flowers, jewelry and grand romantic gestures. It’s just that I love chocolate.
In our house, we celebrate Valentine’s Day with dinner at our favorite fancy restaurant… on any day but Valentine’s Day. Dining out on Valentine’s Day means huge crowds, limited menus, and poor service, all of which I prefer to avoid. That means that most years on the actual day of Valentine’s Day, I’m cooking dinner for the two of us. That counts as a grand romantic gesture, right?
If you’re cooking dinner for your loved one on Valentine’s Day too, you’re going to need to make note of this recipe.
Rich, decadent chocolate bread pudding. Seriously easy and you can make it a few hours ahead of time to avoid a mad rush to throw dessert together after your romantic meal. There’s no butter or heavy cream either, so you don’t have to feel guilty about celebrating your love (of chocolate). And best of all, it makes individual servings so you won’t have to share your chocolate with anyone else. What, I’m the only one who doesn’t share chocolate?
Chocolate Bread Pudding For Two
Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 2
Hawaiian or Challah bread are recommended, but really any slightly sweet bread should work just fine. Avoid chopping the chocolate too fine so that you’ll have some chunks left after you bake it. I used 70% Scharffen Berger chocolate for a dark chocolate bread pudding, but you can really use whatever you have on hand – including chocolate chips (2 ounces is about 1/4 of a cup).
Ingredients
2 cups (5-6 slices) 1/2-inch cubed challah bread
2/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon Bailey’s Irish Cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Cinnamon Ice Cream or whipped cream (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, or until toasted.
Combine milk, sugar, cocoa, Irish cream, vanilla, cinnamon and egg in a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Add toasted bread cubes and toss until coated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat the inside of two 7-ounce ramekins with cooking spray. Divide half of the chilled bread mixture evenly between the two ramekins. Top with half of the chopped chocolate. Divide the remaining half of the bread mixture between the ramekins, then top with the remaining chocolate.
Place ramekins in an 8-inch pan and add about an inch of hot water. Bake, uncovered, for about 35 minutes or until set.
Serve warm, topped with cinnamon ice cream or whipped cream.
My post-holiday baked goods hangover didn’t last long. Who wants some brownies?!
I’ve mentioned it before, two of my favorite things in the food world are chocolate (duh) and Bailey’s Irish Cream. The first time I explored this delightful combination in baked goods, I discovered my favorite cupcakes in the whole wide world – Irish Carbomb Cupcakes.
This time, I decided to make brownies.
These brownies are amazing. They’re cakey, but also a little fudgy. The flavor of the Irish cream comes through immediately, but it’s not at all overpowering. Every time I eat one, I’m impressed with how chocolaty and moist it is. In other words if you like Irish cream, you should make these right away.
Bailey’s Brownies
Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 9-12 servings
Don’t let the Cooking Light origin scare you. These brownies don’t taste “light” at all. I also made a few changes that may disqualify the recipe from being considered “light” anymore. Note that the original recipe calls for making 16 brownies out of an 9-inch square pan, but let’s be honest – no one cuts their brownies that small. I used Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet chips and Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
heaping 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup Baileys Irish Cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch pan with cooking or baking spray.
Measure flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
Beat 2 eggs in a small bowl. In a saucepan set over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips slowly, stirring frequently. When completely melted, remove chocolate mixture from heat. Let cool for 5 minutes.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out some of the chocolate mixture and slowly pour it into the eggs, beating constantly to temper the eggs. Stir the egg mixture into chocolate mixture. Add sugar, vanilla, and Baileys. Stir over low heat for 2-3 minutes or until sugar has dissolved.
Fold the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350°F for about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
Oh, hello! It’s been a while. Are you still hungover from holiday cookies and baked goods like I am? No? I guess it’s just me then.
It’s been freezing here lately. Literally freezing. We’ve seen more snow in the last month than we normally get in a whole year. Needless to say I’m all about warm food right now. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever – it just needs to be warm.
My go-to warm breakfast is oatmeal. It’s so easy anyone can make it and so versatile you can make it taste different every day. And it’s good for you too! This recipe is just one of the many ways I make my breakfast oatmeal. What’s your favorite way to make oatmeal?
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal with Walnuts
Makes 1 serving
I like my oatmeal to have texture, unlike those mushy, sugary packets you buy at the store. You can use any kind of oatmeal you like, but I prefer the “old fashioned” or steel cut oats for their hearty texture. Apples (I used golden delicious) and walnuts add some crunch, making this oatmeal anything but mush.
Ingredients
1/3 cup oats
1/4 of an apple, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon real maple syrup
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt
dried cranberries (optional)
Directions
Place oats, apple, walnuts, cinnamon and salt in a microwave-safe bowl and stir to combine. Stir in milk, water and maple syrup. Microwave for about 2 minutes. Stir. If too runny, continue to microwave in 30 second intervals until the liquid is absorbed. Top with additional walnuts and dried cranberries if desired, and enjoy!
I’ve been a bad blogger. The holidays came and went in a blur of wrapping paper and delicious, indulgent food. I cooked and baked and cooked some more, but I don’t have anything new to share.
Don’t worry though! I’m working on new recipes to share in 2010. It will just take me a little while to get everything together. In the meantime, why don’t you have a look at the most popular recipes from The Craving Chronicles in 2009:
Sinfully Dark Chocolate Brownies
These brownies just edged out the #2 recipe to become the most popular post in 2009. And rightfully so! They dark, chocolate-y, and rich. Just looking at the photo makes me want to bake them all over again. Right now.
Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies
Coming in at #2 – more brownies! We have so much in common, you and I. I think we can both agree that if there’s anything that could make plain old brownies even better, it’s the addition of peanut butter and Nutella.
Cheesy Potato Soup with Crispy Prosciutto
And now for something savory! This cheesy potato soup is easy, versatile, satisfying and well, cheesy. Great for warming up on cold winter days.
Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
A homemade version of the classic childhood favorites. They won’t disappoint!
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Gingersnap Crust
The smooth, creamy cheesecake with a hint of pumpkin is the perfect compliment to the spicy bite of the gingersnaps in these cheesecake bars. A fantastic alternative to pumpkin pie!
Want more? Check out the Recipe Index for a categorized list of all the recipes featured on this site.
If you’re like me and still haven’t really planned your holiday meals, here are some last minute ideas!
Baked Pineapple Casserole – The only reason I eat ham
Bourbon Cranberry Sauce – Top french toast with this stuff for a mind-blowingly good breakfast.
Lemon Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
“Thin Mint” Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Minty Hot Chocolate – No recipe here, but if you’ve ever wondered what to do with all of those candy canes, stick them in your hot chocolate! You can thank me later.
Wishing you happy holidays filled with love, laughter, and more desserts than you could possibly eat!
I’ve mentioned that the holidays are all about cookies in my family, and I wasn’t kidding. Here’s one last cookie recipe you can squeeze in before the holidays. They make a great gift!
I can’t remember ever celebrating Christmas without these cookies. If you’ve ever had Thin Mints, you know exactly what they taste like. The surprising part is how easy they are to make. The holidays are always a chaotic mess of shopping, wrapping, baking, cooking, cleaning, entertaining… whew, I’m exhausted just typing that sentence.
So why not make things a little easier on yourself?
Forget about softening butter and shuffling endless batches of cookies in and out of the oven. If you have two hands, three ingredients and about an hour, you can make these seriously addictive cookies that will have your relatives inviting themselves to your house for the holidays year after year!
“Thin Mint” Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Makes 70-80 cookies
I know at first crackers dipped in chocolate sounds gross, but I assure you they taste just like the real deal Thin Mints. I’ve always used dark chocolate candy melts to make these, but I’m pretty sure any chocolate will work – the candy melts just save you the step of having to chop the chocolate before melting it.
Ingredients
1lb dark chocolate (chopped if using block chocolate)
2 sleeves Ritz crackers (about 80 crackers)
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Directions
Cover a flat surface (counter-top or cookie sheet) with wax paper.
Place the chocolate in a medium, heat-proof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan with about an inch water and heat the water to a simmer (not boil) slowly melting the chocolate. Stir frequently. Remove bowl from the heat when all but a few lumps of chocolate are melted. Continue stirring away from heat until melted smooth.
Stir in peppermint extract. (Taste for flavor. If needed, add more extract.)
Working quickly, dip crackers one at a time in the chocolate, coating both sides. Remove the cracker from the chocolate with a fork and tap gently on the side of the bowl to shake off any excess. Set on wax paper to harden. Repeat with remaining crackers until out of chocolate.
TIPS:
- Be careful not to overheat the chocolate. Melting it slowly and removing it from the heat with a few small lumps of chocolate left is the best way to avoid this.
- NEVER add water to chocolate. It will only cause the chocolate to seize. If you feel your chocolate is too thick, use something like Paramount Crystals for thinning.
- On that note, make sure you use oil-based extract for the flavoring to avoid ruining the chocolate!
- If the chocolate starts to harden while you’re working, warm it over the same pot of simmering water for a minute or two to loosen it up again.
- Using a fork to dip the cookies works well enough, but if you make them more than once, it’s worth it to get this Candy Dipping Set from Wilton. I think the two-tined fork is perfect for making these cookies.
- The cookies will harden at room temperature in an hour or two. If you need to speed the process along, place them on a wax-paper lined baking sheet and put them in the freezer until hard.
- I prefer leaving my cookies plain to make them look as much like Thin Mints as possible, but you can top them with all sorts of fun things! In the photo above I used these tiny Christmas Charm Sugar Toppers. In the past I’ve used crushed candy canes. You can also use sprinkles, colored sugar, cookie crumbs, or anything else you can think of. Add toppers before the cookies harden to make sure they stick.
More cookies? OK!
Molasses cookies are in my list of Top 3 Favorite Cookies Ever. (Soft chocolate chip cookies and these chocolate peanut butter chip cookies are the other two. Please don’t ask me to rank them. You might as well ask me to choose my favorite puppy. I just can’t.)
Where was I? Oh right, molasses cookies. Soft, crackly-topped, sugar coated, spicy molasses cookies.
Something about the cinnamon, ginger, and other spices just seems perfectly suited for a holiday cookie. Before last year, I had never even attempted to make my own molasses cookies. I was too afraid they wouldn’t live up to the store bought cookies I’ve known and loved my whole life. Boy was I wrong! These cookies are better than the store bought versions, plus they make your house smell amazing while you’re baking them. What’s not to love?
Molasses Cookies
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes 18-22 cookies
It’s important not to overbake these cookies to get the nice crackle top and keep them soft and chewy for days (if they last that long!). The cookies really won’t look done after 11-13 minutes, but they will firm up as the cool. If you bake them too long, they will be dry and crisp. If you don’t have raw sugar, you can use just granulated sugar to roll the cookies in before baking. I like the raw sugar because it gives them a little extra sparkle.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses
1/4 cup granulated sugar + 1/4 cup raw sugar for rolling cookies
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets, or line with Silpat mats.
Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together in medium bowl until well combined; set aside.
Cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses, beating until incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until it forms a dough – no longer than a minute or two.
Measure remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of raw sugar into shallow bowl. Pinch off 2 tablespoons of dough, roll dough into a ball, and roll the ball in sugar until well coated. Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing the balls on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
Bake until edges are set and centers are still soft and puffy, about 11 to 13 minutes. If using to baking sheets, swap position of cookie sheets (top to bottom, front to back) halfway through baking.
Cool cookies on baking sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to cooling racks with wide spatula.
It’s December and that means one thing: It’s cookie season!
As a kid, the holidays in our house were all about food – mostly baking. I remember my grandmother getting out the pizzelle iron to crank out piles of the lacy, crunchy Italian cookies. My mom started a tradition of making all sorts of chocolate treats – Christmas Crunch (better known as mint chocolate bark to most people), chocolate covered pretzels, and even a thin mint-like cookie that is incredibly easy to make and incredibly addictive.
And then on top of all of that, we’d bake cookies. Dozens and dozens of cookies. Some were for us to eat, most were to give away as gifts.
Now, it doesn’t feel like the holiday season to me unless there are dozens and dozens of cookies around. This year I have plans to bake a lot of my own cookies, starting with these lemon raspberry thumbprint cookies.
These cookies are always a big hit at the holidays. (They’re also good for breakfast, but don’t tell anyone I said that!) The base is a lemon flavored buttery cookie that just melts in your mouth. In the center, a dollop of raspberry jam gives each bite a little zing. They’ve become a must-have item at our holiday gatherings and they’re the first cookies to disappear year after year.
Lemon Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse via Food Network
Makes approximately 3-4 dozen cookies
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
zest of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup raspberry jam or jelly (I prefer seedless)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with Silpats.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to blend.
Place butter and sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer, and beat until light and creamy. Add egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat to combine. Add the flour mixture in two parts, beating between additions, until moist clumps form. Gather dough into a ball.
Pinch off about a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using a floured thumb, make a shallow indentation in the center of each ball. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.
While the cookies bake, measure jam into a small, heatproof bowl and microwave in 10 second intervals until stirrable and smooth.
After 10 minutes, remove half-baked cookies from oven. Working quickly, reshape the center indentations using the back of a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon. Dollop 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the center of each cookie. Return cookies to the oven to bake another 10 minutes, or until light golden brown.
Remove cookies from oven and transfer to racks to cool completely.
Serve as is, or dust with powdered sugar for a fancier look. (To remove the powdered sugar from the center, dip your finger in warm water and gently trace around the center. The sugar should dissolve, disappearing.)
In the immortal words of Buddy the Elf, “I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!”
In love, obsessed, and totally smitten. Oh sure, my husband is wonderful, but we’re talking about cranberry sauce here. Bourbon cranberry sauce.
It’s so simple, yet so utterly fantastic that I can’t stop thinking about it, eating it, and thinking about eating it. My mom initially passed me the recipe to make for Thanksgiving dinner. After reading the stellar reviews I had to try it. One hour and four ingredients later, I was hooked. Unfortunately I had to share that batch with my family for Thanksgiving dinner, so when I got home I made another batch just for me.
I don’t share well.
Don’t let the bourbon scare you off. I’m not a bourbon drinker. I think what makes this recipe so fantastic is the method – baking the cranberries instead of cooking them on the stove-top. They come out of the oven warm, gooey, and almost candied. The splash of bourbon at the end just adds a delightful warm kick to finish the whole thing off.
Bourbon Cranberry Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appétit
Makes about 3 cups
I used one airplane bottle (50ml) of Maker’s Mark bourbon – use more or less to taste. I recommend using good bourbon because it goes in after the baking, so you will taste it.
Ingredients
1 pound (about 4 cups) cranberries, washed and dried
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup bourbon
2-3 tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange juice (half an orange) (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a 9×13-inch oven-safe baking dish, combine the cranberries, cinnamon and sugar. Cover with foil and bake for about 1 hour, stirring once, until cranberries are tender and sugar is dissolved. Remove from oven. Stir in bourbon and orange juice. Refrigerate until chilled.
Can you believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away? My brain is still stuck back in October. If you’re as unprepared as I am and need some last minute recipe ideas, here’s a few Thanksgiving appropriate recipes I’ve made and loved. If you don’t see what you’re looking for here, there are lots more in the Recipe Index. Happy Thanksgiving!
Classic Cranberry Sauce (Cooking Light)
Cranberry Updside-Down Coffee Cake
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Gingersnap Crust
