B&W Chocolate Cookies

I intentionally write “B&W” rather than “Black and White” … just feels right.  This cookie started out as a chocolate base with peanut butter chips.  I do like peanut butter, but apparently not as much as others; I’m especially not a big fan of peanut butter chips in cookies.  So, I swapped out the peanut butter chips originally called for with half semi-sweet, and half white chocolate.  You can’t see the semi-sweet chips in these pix.

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups butter or margarine
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ bag white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC)
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla, beat well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Incorporate into the creamed mixture with a stout spoon, the dough will be stiff.  Stir in the chips.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased (I don’t know why all these recipes always say “ungreased” – you ever tried to scrape the cookies off an ungreased sheet?) cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 9 minutes.  Do not over-bake; cookies will be soft.  They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.  Allow to cool a few minutes on the sheet, and then remove to a rack or aluminum foil on the counter-top to cool completely.

Cherry Chocolate Cake

Yep, it’s as good as it sounds, and very easy. First time I made it, I added some milk chocolate chips, but in the future I think I’ll leave them out as they really didn’t add to the overall flavor.

Cherry Chocolate Cake:
1 box chocolate or Devil’s Food cake mix
(water, eggs, oil per instructions)
1 small or 1/2 large bottle maraschino cherries, quartered
2/3 cup (approximately) pecans, broken up

Prepare cake as per package directions. Stir in cherries and nuts, bake as directed on package. Cool, frost with your choice of frosting; I prefer cream cheese.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 brick cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar
 
Beat together the softened cream cheese, butter, salt, and vanilla extract. Add powdered sugar until you achieve desired consistency, probably four to five cups. Interesting note: When you first start adding a little powdered sugar, the mixture will actually get thinner until you add quite a bit more powdered sugar. Refrigerate to “set” the frosting.

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cake

Do you get the idea that this cake might have a little chocolate in it?  It’s actually not as overbearing as you might think.  I was bored one day, and wondered what would happen if I added this and added that and then some of the other to a chocolate cake mix.  Since you start out with a package mix, it’s actually very easy – and the pudding makes it very moist.

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 small or 1/2 large package chocolate pudding mix (instant or cook, doesn’t matter)
1/4 cup gourmet cocoa drink mix (like Stephens)
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 package mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine everything but the chocolate chips in a medium mixing bowl, beat on slow a minute; scrape bowl, beat on high for a few minutes, until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into a spray-greased 9×13 cake pan. Bake 25 – 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out dry.  Cool, frost with …

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
a splash of vanilla extract
a dash of salt
4-5 cups powdered sugar
Blend everything, adding powdered sugar to desired spreading consistency.

Mocha Silk Pie

 
(not my photo)

This recipe started from a recipe web page, and then underwent a little tune-up. (I’ve never baked a graham cracker crust, for example.) Also, if you prefer no coffee, leave it out and call it a “Chocolate Silk” pie, it will still work fine.

Crust:
1 1/2 Cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 Cup sugar
6 Tablespoons melted butter
a shake of cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, press into the bottom of a lightly spray-greased pie plate or other shallow baking dish, 8 – 10 inches in diameter. Spread crumbs over bottom and up sides, press down firmly.

Filling:
1 Cup butter, softened
1 1/2 Cups sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee crystals (regular or decaf)
3 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet baking chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs

In small microwave safe bowl, melt 3 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate until stirable (about 45 seconds on high). Set aside to cool. In a large bowl of an electric mixer (you’re going to want a stand mixer – like a Kitchen Aid – for this one) fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter, sugar, and 2 teaspoons instant coffee until fluffy, about a minute and a half. When melted chocolate has cooled a little, drizzle it into the butter/sugar mixture as it beats on medium speed; use a rubber spatula to get all the chocolate out of the bowl. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat the mixture thoroughly until combined, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl if necessary. On medium speed, add the four eggs, one at a time, over a period of 20 minutes; leave about 5 minutes between each egg. Pour the chocolate mixture into the graham cracker crust (it will be thick), smooth out top, and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Garnish each slice with a dollop of whipped cream (or drizzle with hot fudge like someone else’s awesome photo up there).

Chocolate Éclair Cake

Yum-eee! 

This dessert isn’t really a flour, sugar and egg “cake”, but I don’t know what else you’d call it. You make it in a cake pan and eat it with a fork. This one *may* try your patience a little … not because it’s hard to make, it’s very easy to make… but because you have to WAIT until the next day to eat it. (Well, you have to wait until the next day if you want it to turn out right …)

Cake Ingredients:
1 package (16 oz. – or more, I get a big box and use what I need) graham crackers
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 large or 2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip (I like “Lite” – not for the fewer calories, I just like the taste & texture better)

Cake Directions:
Line the bottom of a 9X13 cake pan with a layer of whole (i.e., not crushed) graham crackers.

 Beat cream cheese until fluffy. In separate bowl, combine the pudding mix and milk. Combine the cream cheese and the pudding. Fold in the cool whip.

Pour half of the mixture over the crackers, and level out.

Place another layer of crackers over that half of the filling,

 and cover them with the remaining filling.

Place (yet) another layer of graham crackers on top of the filling.

 So, that makes three layers of grahams; one on bottom, one in between the filling, and one on top of the filling. Top that last layer of crackers with chocolate frosting.

 (I think you could use your favorite chocolate frosting here – I mean, this one ain’t rocket science – but this is the frosting recipe that came with the cake, and works well.

Frosting Ingredients:
2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
4 Tablespoons honey
6 Tablespoons milk
4 Cups powdered sugar (resist the temptation to make the frosting too thick, or it won’t spread on the floating crackers.)

Frosting Directions:
Melt chocolate slowly in microwave on a lower power setting. (For me, it’s safer to keep zapping and checking chocolate in the microwave than risk using a double boiler and getting a drop of water in it – which will cause it to seize.) Beat in butter, honey, and milk. Stir in powdered sugar. Spread over graham crackers.

 Chill several hours or overnight before serving – it needs this time for the crackers to get soft.

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cake

No need for an introduction, the title says it all. I chose this name because of the chocolate cake mix, the chocolate pudding and the chocolate chips.

Ingredients:
1 package devil’s food or chocolate cake mix
1 small package instant chocolate pudding
2 cups sour cream
1 cup oil
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt/fluted pan. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips. Beat on low then medium speed until well blended, scraping bowl to assure all ingredients are well blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon (will be too thick to pour) batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven 50 – 60 minutes, until cake just starts to pull away from sides. (May be hard to test by poking with a toothpick, since you will probably hit a chocolate chip, and it will not come out dry.) Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto serving platter to cool completely. You could serve each piece dusted with powdered sugar or glaze the whole thing with chocolate glaze (ganache), or cream cheese frosting. My wife wanted cream cheese, so ….