Dinner Party Part 3: Dessert (AKA: The Main Event)

If you've been reading my Blog--and I know you probably haven't--you would be able to figure out what I made for dessert for my dinner party. Want a hint? I ate three of them on Monday. It was brownies!!!

These are my dark chocolate brownies. They're mine because I sort of combine and modify two recipes, one from Epicurious and one from the BHG New Cookbook (not very gourmet, I know). Anyways, this is quite a chocolaty brownie with a crumbly texture and medium density (neither lead nor aluminum, hehe) I like them and my friends dug in at the party, so they must be alright. Brownies are super easy, everyone should make them. They will impress your friends with minimum effort.

Here's how I do it:

6 tablespoons butter (I use salted, I'm not a proper gourmet, but I don't add extra salt later)

4 ounces coarsely chopped unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat, stir it a lot, use a saucepan. When it's all melted, remove it from the heat and cool it somewhat.

2. Grease a 9-inch square cake pan.

3. Stir the sugar into the chocolate and butter goodness in the pot. Add the eggs individually and stir well between each addition. Add vanilla, stir again.

4. Stir together the flour and baking powder with a fork. Add this to the chocolaty goodness. Stir until it's combined, do not over-stir. Put the batter in the pan, really that's the best place for it.

5. Bake for 23-25 minutes. Take it out, cool it, cut it into brownies. (I broke mine flipping it out of the pan. But rustic brownies are good, so it was fine.)

Here's a gratuitous shot of the unbroken brownies in the pan:

Somebody should try to lift it out and eat the whole thing. But, that would be piggish, but delicious. And it would break. . .

A break from the Dinner Party Talk: Let's Talk Luck and Randoms

I want to share some random stuff. You may remember my post about a delectable mango variety. Well, I found them again at Save On Foods and bought two more. They're called Ataulfo. These ones were maybe not as perfect looking as the first one, but the one I ate this morning had the same delicious flesh. I think they're more orange inside than the most common mango variety. If you find these mangoes, buy them. They are much less fibrous than typical ones and who wants a more fibrous fruit? Crazy people, that's who.


Next random comment: Why can I not help myself when presented with three remaining chocolate baked goods? The rest of the time i tend to eat one or two cookies or brownies at a time. . . usually one. But the last two times I've baked chocolate treats, I've eaten the last three all at once. It feels gluttonous. It happened with the chocolate and Mini Egg cookies I made. It happened again tonight with the remaining unfrozen brownies. I rationalize it like this: I eat two and there's one left. I figure if I eat it now I just won't eat it later so it's fine. Plus, I was planning to work out after each mini-binge. But now I have no more delicious brownies. . . more on them later.


You might be wondering where luck comes into this. I went to buy a few essentials at Safeway tonight: milk, eggs, bread, Shreddies, family size Fruit and Nut Dark. Actually, it's probably lucky that family size Cadbury bars are on for a dollar. But I had more luck. You know how nobody ever wins on those contest cards at Safeway? Well, I never had except Airmiles, which I don't collect. Tonight I won!!! A rather fancy pen, well fancier than anything I already have. It has a lifetime warranty, but I'll probably lose it. That's why I don't have nice pens. Anyways, who doesn't like to win?

My third stroke of luck came when I knocked my favourite water glass on the floor and it didn't break. I have the magic touch . . . maybe.

Sticking Things on Chocolate Cookies

Cookies are one of my favourite things to make. When I was in high school and living with my family, I used to make a batch pretty much every week. At home, we could go through forty, sixty or more cookies in the week. That's because my sister and dad were cookie fiends, plus I ate at least two a day. Since I am away at school, if I bake things, including cookies it seems like I have to eat them all. So, I don't make cookies that often. Except, in the last month I've made chocolate cookies twice for gatherings of friends. I reduced a recipe by a third to come up with this simple recipe:

1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2.5
tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon
vanilla
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
extra granulated
sugar
toppings

Melt the chocolate in a medium microwave safe bowl, in the microwave. Mix egg, sugar, oil, baking powder, and vanilla into the chocolate until combined. Stir in the flour. Cover and chil dough for at least an hour. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in sugar to coat them. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press "toppings" into the balls. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Tops will crack and edges should be set. Makes about 20 cookies.

I made a couple of variations on these cookies. First before Easter, I used one Cadbury MiniEgg on top of each cookie for Ryan's Shortbus viewing party. The cookies were like little nests made of chocolate. Who doesn't want a cute nest made of chocolate cookie? The cookies go well with The Star Spangled Banner. Most of you probably don't know what that means.

Oh, see how the eggs cracked? I think the chocolate is hatching. There might
be a chocolate monster coming soon or just delicious Cadbury's milk chocolate.

I decided to make these cookies again for Robyn's barbeque on the last day of
classes. It was after Easter and as good as out-of-season Easter candy is, I decided to go with M&Ms as a topping. These cookies were extremely popular--I saw Adam eating two at once—and quite delicious although I only got to eat one. These cookies are crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and very chocolaty.

Speaking of out of season Easter candy, how much better do CremeEggs taste when they’re 50 cents? I actually eat much more Easter candy after Easter than before. For anyone else who loves CremeEggs, check out this GIANT one made by some crazy British people.