Hi everyone! I’m writing a blog post on my trip to Guatemala.
In the meantime, head over to The Little Ferraro Kitchen and check out my guest post on this Brazilian treat!
Check it out here!
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Tag Archives: Chocolate
Pies before Paleo
This weekend consisted of lots of eating. I’m definitely ready to start the paleo challenge tomorrow. I feel like my body needs a cleanse.
Friday night, as I had mentioned, I went to Newport Landing for OC Restaurant Week.
I had Manhattan Clam Chowder, Potato Wrapped Salmon, and Molten Chocolate Cake. Tasty!
Then Saturday night, there was another birthday dinner at an Argentine restaurant in San Diego called Puerto La Boca. Jesse and I headed down to San Diego a bit early. We sat at the bar and had a drink ($3 wine!) while we waited for everyone to arrive.
By the time dinner happened (about 9pm?), we were starving. Empanadas, Bread with Chimichurri, Meat, Salad, French Fries. All tasty (and garlic-y like woah).
Then today, a co-worker is having an engagement party. I offered to bring pies.
He requested Avocado Pie (because he loved it last time)
A Banana Cream Pie using this recipe from Epicurious.
And Chocolate Mousse (I’m totally NOT happy with how this one looks. Womp. But hopefully it will taste awesome!)
This is by no means a normal weekend, so I definitely feel ready to eat normal food.
How about you? Ready for the Paleo Challenge?
I’m totally pumped! I keep talking about it. I think my boyfriend is already annoyed.
Pretty soon I’ll turn into one of those people…
Banana Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 great things inspired this blog post. They both start with a B. The first is Bacon.
That word inspires so many people to eat copious amounts of things. I feel like Bacon is particularly fitting today, as it’s Super Bowl Sunday. I would be a big fat liar if I told you I wasn’t excited for today, but I’ll be honest. I’m more excited for the food than for the game, and only marginally more excited for Beyonce (that’s the second B…).
She’s my lady, and I love her. Probably as much as most people like bacon.
So my contribution to Super Bowl Sunday (aka this…
are these cookies
Banana Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter
6 slices of bacon, cooked and fat reserved*
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cup banana chips, roughly chopped
Cook bacon in a pan over medium heat until crispy. Place on to a paper towel and allow to cool. Once cooled, chop and set aside. Reserve 1/4 cup of bacon fat.
Cream together butter, 1/4 cup bacon fat, and sugars. Add each egg, beating about 1 minute after each. Add flour and baking soda, beat until almost combined. Fold in bacon, banana chips and chocolate chips. Chill dough in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 350F.
Form dough into walnut sized balls, and place on parchment paper-lined baking pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (this varies on the size of your cookies and your oven). Allow to cool completely and serve. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
*Note: if you don’t want to use bacon fat, omit bacon fat and use 3/4 cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup.
So make sure you get on this quick. You’ve got a few hours until Beyonce (and the Super Bowl). Run and get some bacon then make these cookies!
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
These should probably be called Chocolate Crack Cookies.
They’re that good. If I were Santa Claus, I would totally want these waiting for me with a huge glass of milk. I don’t even like milk, but I’d take it with these cookies.
The first time I made these was in grad school in 2009 with my friend Rhoda. We made a bunch of different cookies to give to people for the holidays. This was one of them and I remember it being amazing.
So do Santa, your neighbor, your boyfriend, your mom, whoever a favor and make them these cookies.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
adapted from Blue Ribbon Cookies
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
About 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Melt chocolate in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, stirring in between blast session until completely melted). Drizzle oil into chocolate while stirring. Once combined, add sugar and mix in. Beat in 2 eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Don’t over-mix. Chill dough in the freezer for about an hour or in the fridge for a few hours.
Once your dough has chilled, pre-heat oven to 350F. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and place powdered sugar in a bowl.
Form dough into walnut sized balls (I made mine a little bigger that than because I’m terrible at calculating size). Roll in powdered sugar and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. This should make about 24-30 cookies (the recipe says 40, but obviously I have a heavy hand in my cookie forming…)
Bake 10 minutes. They might look undercooked but that’s okay. Remember my rule about undercooked chocolate things… they’re delicious. Trust me.
Allow to cool complete and serve with a glass of milk… and a side of carrots and celery for the reindeer… or to balance out the sugar, whatever you want to believe.
National Chocolate Cupcake Day
So it’s National Chocolate Cupcake Day. I don’t want you to miss the boat. So here are some options to consider…
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Mousse Filling and Peanut Butter Butter Cream
Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Filling, Cream Cheese Frosting and Sea Salt Candied Nuts
Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes with Fried Plantains
Moral of the story: Eat a cupcake today.
Almond Joy Biscotti: Almond-Coconut Biscotti Dipped in Chocolate
Sometimes I have random cravings like a pregnant woman. No, I’m not pregnant. Trust me. I’m not, but my sister is pregnant so this is my point of comparison. At times, I think I crave things as often as she does.
Tonight, I really wanted crunchy, raw cabbage with lemon lime and salt. It was wonderful (and pretty random, right?).
Last week, I wanted biscotti.
Also totally random right? Except for that fact that biscotti is delicious, and really I can’t think of a time I wouldn’t want to enjoy some biscotti with a cup of coffee.
But this biscotti:
This biscotti is crazy-delicious. Hard to believe but true. So go ahead. Write down the recipe and get in the kitchen….
Almond Joy Biscotti
adapted from All Recipes
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cups sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 cups chocolate chips
1-2 tbsp oil
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in one egg at a time then vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt, until not quite combined. Fold in almonds and coconut.
Line two baking sheets (or 1 large one) with parchment paper. Flour your hands then take half the dough and drop it onto a baking sheet and try to mold it into a log-shape, more or less 3 inches wide and 12 inches long. I say more or less because the dough will be very sticky and hard to handle but don’t worry it’ll all turn out fine once baked. Do the same with the other half. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Once the logs have cooled, using a serrated bread cut slightly slanted into 1/2-3/4 inch thick cookies.
Turn oven down to 275F. Lay on another parchment paper-lined baking sheets, bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Flip each cookie and bake another 5-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them you don’t want to burn them!
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Once the cookies have cooled. Place chocolate chips in a bowl, microwave 30 seconds, then stir. Microwave another 30 seconds, then stir. Repeat until chocolate is melted. Stir in 1-2 tbsp oil until the chocolate is slightly runny.
Dip one side of each cookie (Note: this makes about 40 cookies) in chocolate and lay on parchment paper. Drizzle any remaining chocolate on top of cookies. Refrigerate half an hour until chocolate sets.
Make a pot of coffee, serve and enjoy!
The good thing is if you’re not craving biscotti at this very moment, they stay good for about a week in an air-tight container.
So go ahead and preemptively give in to your cravings.
Make these, then snap a photo and send it to me! No really, do it!
Milk Chocolate Brownie Pie with Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Crust
Remember when I told you to look forward to pies? Well I didn’t make you wait long. Here it is.
And let’s be honest about this. Not all pies are pretty, but even if they’re not pretty they can still be tasty. Let’s call it functional, not beautiful. I’m pretty certain this pie won’t get as many pins as other ones.
You know what makes this even more functional: it’s easy. Not that other pies are hard to make but with this one, you don’t have to deal with rolling a crust, peeling or chopping fruit, making a topping or even pulling out the hand mixer.
This pie is essentially chocolate chess pie. However, no one seems to know what that is (not even me really…). So my original intention was to call this Chocolate Milk Pie, because to me, it tastes like chocolate milk in a pie form. But when I took it to work everyone kept calling it brownie pie. I guess that might be a more accurate descriptions.
Hence…
Milk Chocolate Brownie Pie with Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Crust
adapted from Chocolate Chess Pie
For Crust:
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp peanut butter
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup powdered sugar
For Filling:
4 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
5 oz evaporated milk (you can buy 5 oz cans)
Pre-heat oven to 325F. Prepare the crust. Melt butter and peanut butter together in a bowl. Add sugar and graham cracker crumbs. Combine and press into a 9inch pie dish. Place in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
Mix all the ingredients. Pour filling into the pie dish. Place use a pie shield or line the edges with aluminum foil (this really is crucial). Bake 45 minutes to an hour or until the top is cracked but the inside still looks gooey.
Allow to cool completely and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream (optional).
The inside will be ooey, gooey and lovely. I can guarantee you’ll love it, even if it’s not the most visually appealing.
But you know what is totally appealing (aside from this pie of course)? Birthday countdowns.
Boyfriend’s birthday in 1 week. My birthday in 2 weeks. That means lots of pie/cake-making is on the way.
FYI, I’m totally okay with making a birthday cake/pie for myself. Is that weird?
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the blogs I read. There are some I read strictly for photo or recipe purposes and others for the content. More often than not, the blogs I read for content are based on someone’s life. Apparently, I’m nosey.
So I started thinking about my own blog. Is it one of those look at the photos and recipe blogs or more of a read the content and know the person type blog?
Once upon a time I wrote about my life, my semi-obsession with health and fitness, and school. I had a different boyfriend, I was in grad school and I didn’t eat meat. That was years ago. Somewhere along the way, that stopped.
Nowadays, I don’t really tell you about things like wine and painting with my sister and my friend.
I don’t usually talk about the fact that last week I signed up for 24 Hour Fitness and was stared at for being the sweatiest person in the room. I firmly believe if you still look cute after your workout you weren’t working hard enough. True Story.
Or that I went to the Artisan Food and Arts Festival with my sister, brother-in-law, and this guy, who I have yet to give a blog nickname (not that I can’t just call him by his name, Jesse, like I do in real life):
and ate some amazing food from Kogi.
Recently, my blog has been all about the fatty and delicious recipes that are more fun to write about and photograph than sharing the healthy meals I try to consume on a regular basis, but sometimes I miss documenting the healthy, tasty things I make.
So lately, it’s been a lot of recipes like this
Because chocolate and peanut butter are winners, and because sometimes I like reading blogs just for the recipes.
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar + more for rolling
1 egg
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup oats
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl combine butter, peanut butter, sugar and egg. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, and stir until just combined. The dough will be pretty dry. Add chocolate chips and oats and knead it all together until combined. Form dough into about 30 tbsp sized balls, roll in sugar and lay onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Press dough down to flatten. Bake about 8 minutes or until the edges are cooked but the center is still soft.
They key to these is to make sure they’re not over-baked. If they’re over-baked, they’ll be hard and dry. If slightly under-baked, they’ll be chewy and rich. In other words, delicious.
Delicious is right, and I hope my blog stays that way, but it might go in a different direction too. So maybe my blog will have to be both. A little bit of Karla and a lot of food. All mixed together.
Let’s just hope that as I approach my 400th post, I don’t decide to share 400 things about myself like I did on the 100th…
What do you think?
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Mousse Filling and Peanut Butter Butter Cream
I think this title has the record for the number of times “butter” is in a blog title. I’m totally cool with that.
I’m also cool with this
Peanut Butter and Chocolate is pretty much one of the most amazing combinations on the planet. My mother would disagree, but I think 90% of America would think these cupcakes are amazing. Fact.
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Mousse Filling and Peanut Butter Butter Cream
using Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used almond milk and it was a-okay!)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
2 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 + 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 350F. Combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Once it’s just about combine, stir in cup of boiling water. Pour 1/4 cup batter into about each lined cupcake pan (makes about 30). Bake 15-18 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove cupcakes from cupcake pan immediately and place to cool on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
Make mousse filling. Using a hand (or stand) mixer, whip heavy cream. Gradually add in 1/4 cup powdered sugar as it starts to form soft peaks. Beat until stiff, careful not to overwhip. In another bowl, beat together cream cheese and 1/4 cup of peanut butter until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Chill for about half an hour (you can put it in the freezer to speed this up).
Next make peanut butter butter cream. Beat together peanut butter and butter. Add in powdered sugar (and some vanilla if you’d like) until it reaches a thick enough consistency for frosting, add milk if necessary. If you’d like you can also add some cream cheese to the frosting. It turns out great!
Using a sharp pointed knife, cut out a small circle from each cupcake. Transfer mousse to a ziploc bag and cut off an end to make a sort of piping bag (or put it in a piping bag if you’re fancy pants like that). Pipe some mousse into each cupcake. Next frost as desired (pipe or spread).
Keep them in the fridge until ready to serve.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate is a sure-fire crowd please-r. I took them to an office party. They were a hit. Who doesn’t love a delicious chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter surprise?
Bird’s Nest Cupcakes
Easter is right around the corner. For some reason unknown to me, Easter = eggs. I’m sure there’s a reason, but I don’t quite get it. I’ll go with it anyway.
I’m generally a pie girl, but sometimes the occasion calls for cupcakes, and I can think of two good occasions to make a cupcake. These cupcakes really:
Easter and a Baby Shower.
I made these for a bird’s nest themed baby shower, but now that I was looking at the photos I realized they’d be perfect for Easter as well.
Although I’ll be honest, they’re so tasty that they’re really appropriate at any time of the year.
Egg Nest Cupcakes
1 recipe for your favorite chocolate cupcakes (I like Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake)
1 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
Few cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups shredded coconut
1 package Cadbury Mini Eggs
Bake cupcakes and allow to cool completely. Make frosting by blending together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Add powdered sugar gradually until you get the consistency and sweetness you like (I added about 2 cups). Using the oven or a toaster oven, toast coconut by placing it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Stir every few minutes and keep a close eye on it, it burns easily. Allow to cool completely.
Frost cupcakes, press toasted coconut onto top of cupcakes, place a few mini eggs in the center. Ta da! That’s it! Super cute and easy!
They were adorable for the bird’s nest themed shower, I promise they’re so tasty that anyone will love them.
I mean really who doesn’t love cupcakes AND those little chocolate eggs?
What Easter treat are you looking forward to?
