Red Velvet S'more Bars

Anyone still there??  Anyone??  Geez it's been a long time since I've posted.  Almost three months to be exact.  This blog is something that I've been (for the most part) pretty regular with for quite some time and then I just stopped cold turkey not too long after Thanksgiving.  [pun intended]

I guess I could come up with some pretty good excuses:

1. I battled a gnarly sinus infection for about 8 weeks there.  No lie.  Nothing would get rid of it.  The netty pot became my best friend.

2. Then I got the flu.  For the first time.  Ever.  It was awful.  103.7 degree temps are no fun.

3. Because of the aforementioned excuses I lost my sense of smell and thus taste.  And when you can't taste you can't cook.

4. Who wants to eat food prepared by someone who's sick???  Even if I had cooked something, I wouldn't have felt right asking someone to eat it.
5. I still haven't been able to transfer all of my old food photos onto my new laptop and thus can't blog them.
6. By the time I get home and cook something there is ZERO daylight left which means I can't take photos in our sunroom the way I like.  I've tried shooting with artificial lighting and I never can get it to look the way I want it to.

And honestly I just needed a break. I tried to take a break here and there for a while, but 1 or 2 weeks just wasn't enough. I needed a breather. This blog is just a hobby, but it takes a great deal of time and I think I just got burnt out.

I felt like every post there was an apology for the week of silence followed by a promise that I was back in action. But really I just needed to step back from everything a bit.

So for my return post I wanted to feature something that I absolutely loved.  And these red velvet s'more bars fit the bill :)  I always loved sitting around a fire, whether I was camping or just in someone's back yard, and toast a marshmallow until it turned that perfect golden color.  That meant it was just crispy on the outside, but still warm and not burnt to a crisp on the inside.  And of course you always had to have half a Hershey's bar for each smore.  I don't know how some people can use just one or two of those tiny little squares.

This recipe is the perfect solution when you want to have a great comfort food-type dessert for a get together, yet you don't have a fire pit in sight.  These little guys were super easy to make and certainly won't last long once you bring them out!

 

*More pics coming tonight!  Apparently they didn't save on the draft, but I didn't want to delay the post just for that reason. 

Caramel Pecan Brownies

Not gonna lie.  I like boxed brownies better.  Most of the time, that is.  I think it's just that I don't see why you should add all the fuss that comes with making brownies from scratch when the "just add eggs, oil and water" version does the trick just fine.

But after seeing these caramel pecan brownies on Pinterest one day my curiosity got the best of me.  And I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  Little things like toasting the pecans and making your caramel sauce with real cream do indeed make a noticeable difference.  While you'll dirty up a few more bowls than you normally would, it will definitely be worth it.  Plus, that gives you more batter to sample :)

Feel free to leave out the pecans if they're not your thing.  You could also substitute with walnuts or add butterscotch chips.  Or white chocolate chips.  Or mint.  Your choice!

Chocolate Pound Cake with Old Fashioned Fudge Icing

I made my first pound cake not too long ago, and after the pleasant (and delicious) experience I decided to branch out and try another flavor.  My hubby's stepmom made the most amazing chocolate pound cake with a fudge icing one night when we were over there (think icing being poured directly over the hot cake just out of the oven....) and that sealed my decision to take on this recipe from the Junior League's Perennials cookbook.

Some chocolate on chocolate cakes are too much for some people.  I may not be in that camp, but there are those out there who don't particularly care for the "death by chocolate" types of confections.  The good news is that this is a cake even those said individuals will love.  The actual cake's flavor isn't so overpowering, letting the rich fudge icing get its share of the limelight as well.

This icing is the kind that everyone's grandmother used to make.  The kind you cook.  I'm not sure what it is about cooking chocolate icing, but it makes it so much better than the frosting you simply whip in a stand mixer.  Simply put, this icing takes the cake (pun intended).

Tuesday's Tips, Tricks and Tid-Bits ~ Chocolate

Today's post is short and sweet (literally...the topic is chocolate), but it's still something I found incredibly helpful.  Think of it more of a tid-bit than a tip.
There are so many different terms for the various kinds of chocolate out there that I always end up having to google them to find out which is which.  There's bittersweet chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, german chocolate....I'll stop here, lest I end up snatching up a Hershey's Dark Chocolate with Almonds mini for breakfast.

There are plenty of specifics on this topic (percentages of milk solids and cocoa), but I'm just giving you the nitty gritty basics so you'll know what means what when you're on aisle 3 at Publix :)

Source

Semisweet Chocolate: Dark Chocolate

Bittersweet Chocolate: Extra Dark Chocolate; also known as Unsweetened Chocolate or Baking Chocolate

Milk Chocolate:  It's lighter in color, is much sweeter and is the most popular kind of chocolate found in candies.

White Chocolate:  This isn't technically a type of chocolate, but rather only contains cocoa butter.  It doesn't really taste like chocolate, but of vanilla or other added flavors.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with (Non-Vegan) Strawberry Frosting

For my sister's 22 birthday (which was in October....I told you I was behind), she requested a vegan chocolate cake.  Yikes!  I must admit this request made me quite nervous from the get-go.  I have never made anything vegan and the few vegan dessert recipes I have tried left something to be desired.  But, since it was her birthday, I obliged.

The one thing that made me feel slightly better about this endeavor was that the recipe was for The Grit's Chocolate Vegan Death cake.  I've been to The Grit once before with my sister and must admit that their lemon poppyseed cake was phenomenal.  And not just phenomenal for a vegan cake, but just plain amazing.

We couldn't decide what flavor frosting to use and toyed around with the idea of chocolate, cream cheese, and raspberry.  Chocolate seemed to rich to pile onto a cake by the name of "Chocolate Death", so we opted for a strawberry frosting from the ever so wonderful Paula Deen.

I really enjoyed trying something different, because I feel like I often stick to my tried and true favorites (red velvet and italian cream), but I will have to admit that this cake was quite frustrating.  While the flavor of the cake exceeded my expectations, the crumb was so tender and the cake was so moist that the layers didn't want to stay intact.  Any time I transfered them they began to crumble.  And to top it off, the frosting, while also incredibly tasty, wouldn't ever thicken enough and therefore kept wanting to slide off the cake.  Thus, the whole thing had to be refrigerated to keep it together :(

Still, despite all of this I would recommend this cake recipe to be used for cupcakes.  That way you wouldn't have to worry about the cake being so tender.

To top off the cake I decided to try my hand at making some gum paste flowers.  While they weren't Food Network worthy, I was fairly pleased with my first try.  The moral of the story: don't be intimidated by trying new things!

Chocolate Vegan Death Cake
From the Grit
4 1/2 C all purpose flour
3 C sugar
1 C cocoa powder
1 Tbsp baking soda
2 Tsp salt
1 1/2 C vegetable oil
2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3 C strong brewed coffee
1/4 C cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 3 9-inch cake pans.

Sift together dry ingredients in large bowl.  Add oil and vanilla.  Blend together at a low speed until fully combined.  Switch mixer to medium speed and gradually add coffee.  When mixture is smooth, add cider vinegar and blend on low speed until just combined.

Divide batter evenly into prepared pans.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the layers comes out clean.

Remove to wire rack and let cool.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
From Paula Deen
1/4 C butter, softened
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1 10-oz package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
1/2 tsp strawberry extract
7 C confectioners sugar

In medium bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Beat in 1/4 C strawberry puree (*please note that you do NOT use the whole package) and the strawberry extract.  Gradually add confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.

Gumpast Flowers


For the flowers I used Wilton's Gumpaste mix.  Love, love, LOVE this stuff.  It makes the whole process so easy.  Just follow the directions on the can and add your own coloring if desired.

To form the flowers I used two different size heart shape cookie cutters.  Roll out the gumpaste onto a surface floured with confectioners sugar and then use the cookie cutters to form the hearts.

Layer the hearts in an overlapping pattern to form the petals of the flowers.  Use a dab of water to adhere the hearts to each other.  Then gently place the flower into a muffin tin after cupping into a flower shape.  The muffin tin will hold the flower in place so that it will dry in such a shape.

**Please note that ideally you would use a Wilton flower forming mold.  I did not have any on hand and thus improvised with a muffin tin :)  I would certainly have achieved better results had I had the mold.