Ghirardelli Brownies

This is a recipe for classic chocolate, but you can also make them using dark chocolate. They are my favorite brownies to make!

1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips

4 ounces Semi-Sweet Ghirardelli  Chocolate Baking Bar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan. Chop the 4 ounces of semi sweet chocolate bars into 1-inch pieces. In the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water, melt the 4 chopped chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir the brown sugar and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs and mix well. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, mixing well until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into 16 squares.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

I made these pumpkin brownies last week, and they are one of my favorite things I have ever made. The cayenne pepper is a great addition. The recipe is from Martha Stewart. Delicious! 

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups solid-packed pumpkin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter lining.

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

Divide batter between two medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir chocolate mixture into one bowl. In other bowl, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don't set.

With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

• I wanted to make something with pumpkin and autumnal spices. The basic recipe is from allrecipes.com, but I modified it a bit. It makes 12 regular size muffins.
• 
  
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 
  
• 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
• 2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
• 3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes.

Autumn is in the Air!

I love baking in the fall! I like to bake with pumpkin, apples, and different spices that remind one of crisp, autumn days. 

When I have time this week, I am going to bake these apple muffins from Martha Stewart. I plan to use more than one apple....probably three.

Beach Cupcakes

This is how I made these beachy cupcakes!

1- Bake any cupcake.

2- I made Wilton decorator frosting (because it holds well) and I dyed it blue with Wilton's food coloring gel. A little goes a long way!

3- I took some Teddy Grahams and put them in a Ziplock baggie. I smashed them up with a meat tenderizer. You could also use a food processor or blender to do this. 

4- I made three styles- one is covered in all crushed Teddy Grahams for the beach, one is half beach and half ocean, and the other is all ocean.

5- I used Gummy Lifesavers for the floats and the Teddy Grahams are the people. I stuck some drink umbrellas in also. 

Happy Summer!

Molten Chocolate Lava Mini Cakes

I know I haven't been a very good blogger. I have been baking, I just haven't been posting enough. I plan to get back into blogging about what I bake a lot more!

I made these Molten Chocolate Lava Mini Cakes using the Pampered Chef Floral Cupcake Pan. They were amazing! You can probably make them as cupcakes also. Using the Floral Cupcake Pan was an added bonus because they came out pretty. I got the recipe from the Pampered Chef's website. 

I suggest that you serve these right after you take them out of the oven because as you bite into them, chocolate oozes out! It is delicious! I served some a few hours after I baked them, and there was no ooze. But they were still good. I sprinkled some powdered sugar on them before serving.

I definitely plan on making these again. 

Click here for the recipe!