Espresso Brownies

I've never been a coffee drinker.  There are lots of mornings where I wake up and wish that I liked coffee because I could really use the caffeine boost, but it's just not something I've ever gotten into.  That being said, I looooove coffee flavored desserts.  Coffee ice cream, yes please!  Mocha anything, sign me up.  Espresso Brownies, I can't get enough.  The only problem with these brownies is having enough willpower not to eat them for breakfast after another early wake up call from my human alarm clock.  

These Espresso Brownies are easy enough to make for no reason at all, but the espresso makes them special enough to serve to guests.  We recently went to a barbecue and I volunteered to bring a dessert.  I knew that I wanted to bring some sort of brownie, but I had a hard time deciding which one.  I love caramel so I was debating between these Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl Brownies  and these Salted Caramel Brownies, but then I remembered these Espresso Brownies.  I used to make these brownies all the time, but I haven't made them in years.  Since everyone at the barbecue had a baby or a toddler I figured that a little caffeine boost would be a welcome treat so Espresso Brownies it was.

To make these Espresso Brownies you will need two packages of brownie mix.  I used my favorite Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate brownie mix that I buy in a six pack at Costco, but feel free to use your favorite mix.  In a large bowl, whisk together equal parts water and vegetable oil along with four eggs and 1/4 cup of espresso powder.  I know that sounds like a lot, but remember that you are using two packages of brownie mix.

Stir in the brownie mix until everything is well combined.  Now you know that I love chocolate, A LOT, so I like to add a little bit more.  Stir a heaping cup of semisweet chocolate chips into the batter and then pour it into a baking pan sprayed with baking spray.  You have two options when it comes to your baking pans.  Some people like their brownies to be a little bit crispy, I am not one of those people.  I'm a soft and gooey brownie girl all the way!  If I'm just making these for my family, I like to use two square baking dishes because then I get all super soft and gooey brownies.  Also, I can freeze one pan for another day.  When I'm making these brownies for a crowd, I bake them in a 9 x 13 inch pan.  This will leave you with slightly crisper edges and softer, gooier brownies in the center.  That way everyone gets their brownies just the way that they like them. No matter what type of brownie lover you are, you will love these Espresso Brownies.  They are super chocolatey and the espresso powder gives them that little special something to make them out of this world!

Espresso Brownies

• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup instant espresso powder
• 2 packages brownie mix
• 1 heaping cup chocolate chips

1. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with baking spray and preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl whisk together water, vegetable oil, eggs, and espresso powder.
3. Stir in brownie mix until well combined
4. Stir in chocolate chips and pour into baking pan.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
6. Let cool completely before cutting.

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One Bowl Chocolate Bundt Cake with Easy Chocolate Glaze

Sometimes you just need chocolate, lots of chocolate.  Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to indulge your inner chocoholic.  While I love desserts that look and taste indulgent, I don't love things that are super complicated and make lots of dishes.  That is why I love this One Bowl Chocolate Bundt Cake with Easy Chocolate Glaze.  It has a rich and intense chocolate flavor, looks beautiful, and best of all, is incredibly easy to make.

To make the cake, put all of the ingredients except chocolate chips (the recipe is below) in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until well combined and smooth.

Look at that thick, chocolaty batter.  Now because you can never have enough chocolate, stir in some chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into a bundt pan sprayed with baking spray and bake for 35-45 minutes at 350 until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it onto a cooling rack.

While the cake continues to cool, make your glaze.  This step is super tricky so try not to get overwhelmed. ;)  Put some chocolate chips, a quarter stick of butter, and a little bit of corn syrup into a liquid measuring cup (this will make it easy to pour the glaze onto the cake).  Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring well after each, until the glaze is smooth.

Put your cake onto the serving plate (it's okay if it isn't totally cool).  Pour glaze over the top of the cake and let set before serving.

Look at that chocolatey goodness.

One Bowl Chocolate Bundt Cake with Easy Chocolate Glaze
Adapted From Hershey's One Bowl Chocolate Cake

For the Cake:

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour 
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup water
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Glaze:

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbls. corn syrup
• 2 tbls. butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray a bundt pan with baking spray.
2. Beat together all cake ingredients, except chocolate chips, until smooth.  
3. Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour batter into bundt pan.
4. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert onto serving plate.
5. While cake continues to cool, make glaze.
6. Put chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring well after each until smooth. 
7. Pour glaze over top of cake and let set before serving.

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Dark Chocolate Turtle Cookies

 

A while back I found out about these amazing caramel filled chocolate chips.  As you probably know by now, I L-O-V-E caramel so to find an easy way to put caramel into my baked goods was a pretty exciting moment for me.  

I picked up a bag the next time I was at the store, but it took me a while to figure out their inaugural recipe.  After going back and forth I finally decided to make a chocolate turtle cookie.  I started with the same cookie base that I used in my Double Dark Chocolate Creme de Menthe Cookies.  I swapped the peppermint extract for vanilla and changed my mix-ins to make these turtle cookies instead of Creme de Menthe.

This may have been one of my best dessert ideas ever!  These cookies are made in one bowl, there's no refrigerating the dough, they are rich, soft, chewy, and delicious.  What more could you ask for in a cookie?  I made them for the teachers at Jake's school, and I seriously contemplated getting up early that morning to make something else so I could keep these at home. They are that good!

Now that I have you drooling, I'll tell you how you can make them yourself.  Start out by creaming together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until nice and fluffy.  Add in some dark cocoa powder and a little vanilla extract and mix until the cocoa is completely blended in.  Crack in a couple of eggs and mix again. 

We want these cookies to be nice and puffy so add in some baking soda and a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch along with the flour.  I used white whole wheat flour, but all purpose will work just fine.  Mix it in until the dough is completely brown, no unmixed flecks of flour for these delights.  At this point you will have a VERY thick cookie dough.  You can stir in your mix-ins by hand, but I just used my mixer.  I figured that a few of the caramel filled chocolate chips would get broken, but that was okay with me.  I did give it a few final stirs with my spoonula to make sure all of the mix-ins were incorporated.

Use a cookie scoop to portion out your cookies onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  I baked two cookie sheets at a time so I rotated them half way through the cooking time.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to the cooling rack to finish cooling.  These Dark Chocolate Turtle Cookies are delicious fresh and warm from the oven, look at that melting chocolate.

They are just as good the next day.  I can't speak to how they are after that because I foolishly gave them away and only saved a few for us.  My guess is that you won't find out how they are after more than a day either but if you do, I think they will still be soft and delicious. 

If I had been serving these in a single layer on a cookie tray I might have drizzled a little caramel over the top because I can never get enough caramel, but they really don't need anything else.  These photos do not do them justice.  The dark chocolate cookies with the melty semi-sweet chocolate chips, crunchy pecan pieces, and sweet, rich caramel filled chocolate chips combine to create the perfect cookie.  

Dark Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 heaping tbls. cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cups flour (all purpose or white whole wheat)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup pecan pieces
• 1 package Toll House DelightFulls caramel filled chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
3. Add in cocoa powder and vanilla extract and mix until the cocoa is completely blended in.
4. Crack in both eggs and mix again until well incorporated.
5. Add baking soda, cornstarch, and flour and mix until the dough is completely brown with no white showing from the flour.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips, pecan pieces, and caramel DelightFulls.
7. Use a cookie scoop to put on your cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 8 minutes.
8. Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

 I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Cook It Craft It Share It, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Sweet Bellaroos, Pin Junkie, Creativity Unleashed, Weekend Social, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Bakerette, and Pinworhty Projects.

Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl Brownies

Since I made my Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, & Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie Bars I haven't been able to stop thinking about that peanut butter caramel.  It was just so incredibly good.  The combination of peanut butter and caramel, two of my favorite flavors, into one unbelievably delicious flavor was begging to be used again.  I really loved my Salted Caramel Brownies so I thought that Peanut Butter Caramel Brownies would be even better.  I was not wrong!  These are sinfully rich.  The fudgy chocolate combined with the sweet and salty peanut butter caramel creates a dessert nirvana.  You are going to want a tall glass of milk with these.

These Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl Brownies are not only delicious, they are also super easy to make.  Start out with a box of your favorite brownie mix.  I used my old standby, Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate brownie mix.  Mix it up according to the directions on the package.

I think more chocolate is always better so I got some dark chocolate and chopped it up into chunks.

Stir those in and then pour your brownie batter into a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

Now for the fun part.  Get some peanut butter and melt it partway in the microwave.  Then add some salted caramel, I used Trader Joe's fleur de sel caramel sauce, and put it back into the microwave until it is nice and melty.

Give it a good stir and then drizzle it over the top of your brownies.

Then grab a knife and drag it through the peanut butter caramel and the brownie batter until it is nice and swirly.

That's it.  Pop it in the oven and then eat a salad because you will want to save your calories for devouring these brownies.  Let them cool before you cut into them.  These are gooey with all of the extra chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel so if you cut them too soon they won't stay together.

Pure.  Dessert.  Heaven.  YUM!!!!

One more exciting thing about these, they freeze well.  So... I recommend making a double batch and baking one in a foil pan.  Once it cools, cover it wtih plastic wrap then stick it in a ziploc and freeze it.  Now when you need an impressive dessert and don't have time to make one, you can just pull them out of the freezer and let them defrost.

Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl Brownies

• 1 package Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup salted caramel

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Make the brownie batter according to the instructions on the package.
3. Stir in chocolate chunks.
4. Pour into an 8 x 8 baking pan sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Microwave peanut butter for 20-30 seconds.  Add in salted caramel and microwave another 20-30 seconds.  Stir until combined.
6. Drizzle peanut butter caramel on top of brownie batter.  Drag a knife through it until the peanut butter caramel is swirled.
7. Bake 45-50 minutes.  Let cool completely before cutting.

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Macaroon Nests

Easter and Passover overlap this year and since we celebrate both, these macaroon nests are the perfect dessert to combine the two.  My stepmom makes THE BEST macaroons and they are so easy.  These are not the dry macaroons you get in the can.  They are gooey, sticky, sweet, and delicious.  I'm not usually a huge coconut fan but these are out of this world.  I've even frozen them before and they are still yummy!

These macaroons couldn't be easier and transforming them into nests is simply a matter of pressing down the center to make a little well, spooning in some melted chocolate, and sticking a few candy eggs on top.

To make the macaroons you will need a bag of coconut, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and some vanilla.

Dump them all into a big bowl and stir it all together.

Drop the mixture by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.  You can make your macaroons as big or as small as you want your cookies to be.  Jake made them pretty big so we got 18 macaroons.  I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper and then sprayed it with cooking spray to minimize dishes.  Use the back of the spoon to make a little well in the top of each macaroon.

 
Bake the macaroons at 350 for 10 to 20 minutes.  I know that is a huge range of time but the beauty of these macaroons is that you can make them how you like them.  If you want the coconut a little darker, cook them longer.  If you like it lighter, cook them less.  Like I said, ours were pretty big so these were baked for 15 minutes.

Once they are cool melt a little bit of chocolate.  I just chopped up some dark chocolate and microwaved it in 30 second intervals, stirring after each one until it was melted. 

Use a spoon to put a little melted chocolate into the well of each macaroon.

 
Then stick a few candy eggs on top.  I used Cadbury dark mini eggs.  When the chocolate sets up, they will stay in place.

That is all there is to it.  Just 5 ingredients and you have the perfect Easter and Passover dessert!

Macaroon Nests

• 16 oz. bag coconut
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 oz. dark chocolate
• mini candy eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
2. Combine coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla.
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Use back of spoon to press a small dent into the top of each macaroon.
4. Bake 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the size and desired color of your macaroons.
5. Let cool.
6. Chop dark chocolate and place in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave 30 seconds, stir, then microwave another 30 seconds.  There will still be a few chunks at this point.  Stir until the chocolate is smooth.
7. Use a spoon to fill the well in each macaroon with chocolate.
8. Place candy eggs into chocolate.  Let chocolate cool to set up.

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