Chocolate Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

Is everyone getting ready for Christmas? How are those sweet treats treating you? 

Tis' the season for all things naughty. Shortbread has been running rampant in this loft of mine. Needless to say everyone from my doorman, my husbands office, the local homeless, to my yoga instructor has been given goodies. I can't eat them all or I would look like a blimp. These are my second favorite cookie. My first being the Salted Caramel Shortbread Cups I gave you earlier this week. 

When my husbands co-workers tasted these, one said: "Your wife is evil and she must be stopped". That is right. They are sinful. I dare you to take a bite! 
This recipe will yield about 1 dozen cookies. Perfect for you, your love, and a few friends.

Chocolate Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

adapted from Cherished Bliss

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

for frosting:

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 heaping cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Cream the butter and the sugar until smooth. 

Add the cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and mix until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. 

Add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. 

Roll into balls 

and make an indent with your thumb in the center of the ball. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until dry looking and lightly cracked on the surface but still very soft.

When they come out of the oven, press the centers down again to make a more defined well for the frosting. Allow to cool.

Whisk the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hot water, and vanilla. Spoon the frosting into the centers of the cookies and add sprinkles. Allow frosting to set before storing in tins.

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Love, Romance, and Chocolate go together. Nowadays, scientists ascribe the aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate,to two chemicals it contains. One, tryptophan, is a building block of serotonin, a brain chemical involved in sexual arousal. The other, phenylethylamine, a stimulant related to amphetamine, is released in the brain when people fall in love. The darker the chocolate, the more of these magic chemicals it contains. 

So when I set out to make some crunchy chocolate chip cookies for my man. I used enjoy life foods dark chocolate chips. 

Their Dark Chocolate Morsels are dairy, soy and gluten-free, but you would never know it. So rich, creamy, and scrumptious! Just because they are good for you, doesn't mean they are lacking in taste. I highly recommend them. They made these cookies irresistible. 

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 1 dozen

8 1/2 ounces organic unbleached white flour (about 1 1/2 cups)

1//2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon s sea salt

1/2 cup (5 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (5 ounces) light brown sugar

1/2 cup  (4 ounces) granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 9 ounce package enjoy life foods dark chocolate chips

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed until very light. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips.

Press plastic wrap against the dough and roll it up. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 72 hours. If you are in a hurry, you can freeze the dough for 1 hour. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.

Slice the dough into cookie shape and place on your baking sheet or stone leaving plenty of space in between each cookie. 

Bake until golden brown but still soft, 15 to 18 minutes. 

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack for 10 minutes,  until just warm or at room temperature. Repeat with remaining dough (or keep some of the dough refrigerated for up to 3 days, and bake cookies at a later time). Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

The Best Homemade Brownies ever!

Sometimes you just have to have chocolate.

This is one of those times. When life gives me a bad cold, bad weather, and a bad day. 

This is my answer.

And yes, these are simply the best brownies you will ever have. EVER!

The Best Homemade Brownies

adapted from Cooking Inspired

Brownies:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup oil

1/4 cup water

2 cups good quality chocolate chips (no nestle please)

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate

3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Tbsp vanilla

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the sugar, oil and water in a saucepan set over medium-high heat. Cook the mixture until it starts to boil. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth.

Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix the dry ingredients, about a half cup at a time, into the chocolate mixture, mixing just until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the pan to cool completely.

Now make the frosting. In the top of a double broiler set over hot water. Combine the sugar and water. Cook until the sugar dissolves. Add the chocolate, cocoa and vanilla. Cook, mixing well, until the chocolate has melted. Add the yolks and cook, stirring constantly, until they are incorporated. Add the butter, stirring until it has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Pour the frosting into a container and let it sit, uncovered until it has completely cooled. Refrigerate or freeze until it is spreadable.

Spread the frosting over the cooled brownies.

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Magic. It's really the only word that can describe this dessert. This cake defies the laws of science and common sense. How can two separate layers of batter on the bottom and liquid on top switch places to create a sinfully decadent chocolate cake on top of a pool of a silky smooth fudge sauce on the bottom? The cake batter looks perfectly normal as it's poured into the baking dish, though it starts to look funky after it's covered with cocoa and sugar. But then... there's a definite moment of hesitation as you hold the measuring cup filled with dilute coffee in your hand. Am I really going to do this? Does the recipe really say to pour this stuff on top of the batter? Common sense tells you no. After double checking the recipe, you do as it says and bite your lip as you slide the sludgy mess into the oven. But don't worry, the oven is a magical place wondrous things happen.

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They say baking is a science because it requires the precision of a laboratory experiment and the results are predictable, just like the chemical reactions that take place. But, I don't know how to explain this cake. The batter is on the bottom, sugar is in the middle, and liquid is on top. Then 45 minutes later, it jiggles precariously as it comes out of the oven. It doesn't look like much at all but when you finally dig in, you see there's a crunchy, sugary crust on top of a dense, rich chocolatey cake, and on the bottom, oh the bottom, is a luscious fudge sauce. How do these layers switch places? I don't know. Doesn't heavier stuff sink? Shouldn't the batter stay on the bottom? I don't know... All I know is this recipe is one of the most amazing chocolate desserts I've had in a long, long time. Best of all it's ridiculously easy to make and totally accessible for every home cook. It's something you can eat in the nook for breakfast after early morning baking, like I did, serve after an elegant dinner, or reheat in the microwave for a resolution-breaking midnight snack. It uses ingredients that everyone in their pantry and doesn't require any fancy equipment or gadgets. All in all, this is a dessert that captures the essence of Nook & Pantry.

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

2 tsp instant coffee
1 1/2 C water (or mix 1 cup of cold leftover coffee with 1/2 C water)
2/3 C Dutch-processed cocoa
1/3 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 C AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/3 C whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position. Spray a 8 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk the instant coffee into the water and set aside. In a bowl, stir together 1/3 C of the cocoa powder, the brown sugar, and 1/3 C of the granulated sugar. Break up any large clumps of the brown sugar and set aside.

Melt the butter in a heat proof bowl over a pot of barely simmering water or in the microwave. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until the mixture is smooth (heat it in the microwave using low power if the chocolate does not all melt). Add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Add the remaining granulated sugar, vanilla, milk, and egg to the chocolate mixture and mix until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish, spread it out, and smooth the top. Sprinkle the cocoa and sugar mixture that you set aside earlier evenly over the batter. It should cover the batter completely. Then drizzle the coffee mixture all over the top of the cocoa mixture.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cake is puffed, bubbling, and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not overbake. Cool the cake for 20ish minutes before serving; they will fall as they cool. Serve with vanilla or coffee ice cream or whipped cream and berries.

Warm leftover cake in the microwave and it'll taste just as good the next day.


(Don't overfill your ramekins like me. Individual cakes should be baked in 8 portions.)

For Individual Cakes
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and spray 8 ramekins with nonstick spray and set the ramekins on a baking dish.

Divide the batter evenly in the ramekins and smooth out the top. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the cocoa sugar mixture over the top of the batter. Make sure to cover the batter completely. Drizzle slowly pour 3 tablespoons of the coffee mixture over the top of the cocoa. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until puffed and bubbling. Cool for 10 minutes before serving; they will fall as they cool. Serve with vanilla or coffee ice cream or whipped cream and berries.

Warm leftover cake in the microwave and it'll taste just as good the next day.