Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake

For the past week, I've been trying to find words where there are none. I can't help but feel a crushing heartbreak for families, children, and a community I'd never heard of before last Friday. The holidays are a season of reflection and gratitude, and I am so very grateful for the life I am able to live.

I'm thankful I could take this picture. That Santa belly is all him by the way. It's probably from the bits of cookies and whatnot I sneak him. 

This pudding cake started out as a pan of cookie bars. We're making lemonade out of lemons here. Or cake out of cookies. Same thing. You'll need: flour, baking soda, salt, espresso powder, marshmallows, brown sugar, cocoa powder, butter, vanilla extract, sugar, and eggs.

Dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, espresso) make it into a medium bowl.

Butter and sugars start out in a large bowl. Cream them until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and mix until fully incorporated.

Now, you could sift the cocoa powder into the bowl. Or you could sprinkle a little in, mix, sprinkle a little more in...you get the picture.

Serious chocolate action. It's time for the vanilla.

Add half the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Then add the rest and mix until barely incorporated.

Stir in the marshmallows. They're what make this hot chocolate-y.

You don't have to line the baking pan with parchment paper. I did that when I thought these would turn out more like bars. Just grease the pan like you would normally and spread the batter evenly.

Mostly the marshmallows will melt into the batter, making it super-gooey. But you'll see little bits that get toasted, kind of like it's been over a campfire. The edges get crispy and brownie-like, while the middle is fudgier. Much more my speed. Y'know ice cream probably wouldn't be a bad idea here.

I watched White Christmas two nights ago. One particular song struck a chord with me. When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep. It's a sentiment that means more now than ever.

Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake (makes one 9x9 cake)

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tbs instant espresso powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c unsalted butter, softened
1 c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbs vanilla extract
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 heaping cups miniature marshmallows

• Preheat oven to 375º. Grease a 9x9 pan with nonstick spray.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, espresso, salt, and baking soda. 
• In a large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in vanilla extract. Slowly sprinkle in cocoa powder and mix until smooth. 
• Add half the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add the remaining half and stir until just incorporated. Stir in miniature marshmallows.
• Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake 35-40 minutes or until edges are crispy and middle has set but is still gooey. Let cool in the pan.

Biscoff Brownies with Candied Peanuts

When my mom was young, her family lived in Bolivia. My grand-daddy was an engineer, so they moved where the jobs took them. This included South Dakota, which my mom still counts as her least favorite state. (Sorry, South Dakotans!) So when they lived in Bolivia they had these neighbors who were alligator farmers. Um, what? They also had an ocelot as pet. When my mom and her sister would walk to school, the ocelot would stalk my Aunt Mandy. And when they were over at the neighbors' house, it would go insane if it saw her through the sliding glass door. True. Story. According to my mom. My grandmother disputes this some.

I love a good non sequitur. I've been dying to make brownies with Biscoff spread since I bought a jar. Biscoff spread is essentially...cookie butter. HOW is something like this allowed to exist?! Cookie. Butter. Like peanut butter but with cookies. Add in some candied peanuts and BOOM. Mega brownie.

Secrets

It's secret time.  I know secrets don't make friends, but friends definitely make secrets.  And we're all friends here, right?  Okay, I'll go first.

• I prefer red wine to white.  Not that I don't have a fondness in my heart for the white stuff, I just like picking out a good red more often.
• My caffeine addiction is getting a little...unsettling.
• I can't poach an egg...yet. 
• Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  
• I get a warm, glowy feeling when someone loves something I made.  
• I will always give a funny birthday card before a shmoopy one.  I am not a shmoopy person.
• The one place that a massive crowd does not make me break out in hives is Williams-Brice Stadium. Otherwise, I should probably have a Xanax.  Or a cocktail.  

I secretly used to be really suspicious of red velvet cake.  Um, there's no logical explanation for this.  But if someone had just told me it was chocolate with red food coloring, I probably would've been much more receptive.  I know, I'm a weirdo.  And I wonder where my dog gets it from.

Brownies and a Road Trip

Goodness gracious, I'm in Alabama!  My dear boyfriend, Will, lives in LA (Lower Alabama), so I decided to have a visit and recharge my batteries.  After 6.5 hours, I made it to Dothan.  A little note: my boyfriend is not the boy in my picture.  That would be my lovely friend, Lummy, and it's such a cute picture of us.

Y'all, I love a good road trip.  Mostly it's because I like to make lists.  Do I always follow my lists?  No, but I thoroughly enjoy making them.  I also love to plan my snacks for the trip.  I like having savory and sweet bites on the road because you never know when you're going to crave one or the other.

This trip I decided to make my favorite peanut butter brownies.  I have a love affair with peanut butter, and is there anything better than a brownie?  Will would say, yes, there are many things better than brownies.  He's a weirdo though and doesn't like them, so really, that opinion doesn't count.  I would be fine eating a brownie every day for the rest of my life.  So there.

You need:

Wet ingredients- Sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter (obviously), butter, an egg, and vanilla extract

Dry ingredients- All-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, oats

These brownies could hardly be simpler to make.  Start off by pre-heating your oven to 350º.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars.

See that butter on the side?  It needs to be scraped down so that it can be incorporated into the mixture.  A good rubber spatula will do the trick.

Next, add in the peanut butter, egg, baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract.

Blend those in, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Our flour and oats are the last to go in.  Instead of using a mixer (or hand mixer), stir these in with your spatula or spoon.  This will prevent the glutens in the flour from getting too excited and making your brownie tough.

With a few strokes, it'll turn into...

...this lovely batter!  It's a thick batter, almost closer to a cookie.  You can see the lovely oats throughout the batter.

Spread the batter into a greased pan (8x10 is suggested).

This is not an 8x10 pan.  It's a 9x9, so the batter was spread a little on the thin side.  No worries though, it will puff up nicely regardless.

Also, I can't leave well enough alone.  I decided to experiment a little and see what happens when I add Nutella to part of the brownies.

I scooped out about 2 teaspoons of the good stuff and melted it in the microwave.

Doesn't that look tasty?  I've been known to eat it straight out of the jar.  I'd ask you not to judge me, but even I judge me for that.  Anyhow, after I melted it, I swirled it in about half of the batter in the pan.

It was a little difficult to make marble-y since this is on the thick side.  It's also kind of ugly, but it's what's on the inside that counts.  So there.

Bake the brownies for about 20-25 minutes and you'll get this.

Slice 'em up...

See dem oats?  Yum.

The top brownie has the Nutella, and the bottom is plain.  Plain but delicious.  Of course, I tasted both in the name of...science.  The plain was nice and peanut butter-y as always.  The Nutella taste wasn't as strong as I would've liked.  The obvious solution is more cowbell Nutella, and I would mix it in when I add the peanut butter to the batter.

All in all, still a tasty brownie.  Nom.

Here's the recipe in an easy-to-follow format:

Peanut Butter Brownies- makes 16 brownies*
Courtesy of Charleston Receipts Repeats


1/2 c butter  (1 stick)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 c peanut butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c flour
1 c oats

• Preheat your oven to 350º
• Cream together butter and sugars
• Blend in egg, peanut butter, baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract
• Stir in flour and oats
• Spread in a greased 8x10 pan
• Bake 20-25 minutes
• EAT

*I hardly ever get as much yield out of a baking recipe as I'm supposed to.  I think CRR said it made 2 dozen or something like that.  I don't know about y'all, but I like a substantial brownie.  My little square pan made it easy to cut these into 16 evenly-sized noms.  Such is life.