9 years

The key to a man's heart: bacon & bourbon

Today marks our 9 year anniversary together! That is my boyfriend and I ;-) Crazy huh?! Were not really into gift giving but we do always try to go out to a nice dinner somewhere and maybe give a creative little gift. This year I decided to surprise him with this dessert I saw in the latest issue of Food & Wine Magazine. He's not really a sweets person yet he complains I make things for everyone else and not him. Seriously... men?! lol.

I love the irony of the card next to the bacon brownies

I instantly wanted to make these Bacon Bourbon Brownies when I saw them in the magazine. I love the sweet and salty combo and he loves bacon and alcohol just brings it all together. I find homemade brownies hit or miss for me. I've made a batch before that came out rock hard and others that were just okay. I'm actually a fan of the box mix becuase they always turn out right and taste damn good! So anyways... These were actually really good but just a few things: After I baked these, I don't know if I over baked them a few minutes or what, but the outside ones were a little dry. These are definitely a dark chocolate kind of brownie and it needed a little something sweet (maybe that's just me). I whipped up some Maple Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting to top it off with which married perfectly together with the brownie. In the end the BF liked them and that's what matters the most. Happy anniversary babe!

Bacon Bourbon Pecan Brownies
From Food & Wine

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 pound sliced bacon

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 packed cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons bourbon

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing 2 inches of overhang on 2 opposite sides. Spray the paper with vegetable spray. Spread the pecans in a pie plate and toast for about 8 minutes, until fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop the nuts.
2. In a skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, turning once, until crisp, 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels and let cool; reserve 3 tablespoons of the fat. Finely chop the bacon.
3. In a saucepan, combine both chocolates with the butter and stir over very low heat, until melted; scrape into a large bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat in both sugars with the reserved 3 tablespoons of bacon fat. Beat in the bourbon. Add the eggs and salt and beat until smooth. Sift the cocoa and flour into the bowl and beat until blended.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the bacon and pecans on top. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the brownies are set around the edges but slightly wobbly in the center; a toothpick inserted into the center should have some batter clinging to it. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the brownies cool completely. Lift the brownies out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve.

Maple Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (room temp)

1/2 block of cream cheese (4oz.) (room temp)

Powdered Sugar

2 tsp. bourbon

1 tsp. maple extract

Directions:

1. Mix together butter and cream cheese in your stand mixer until combined.
2. Add about a cup of powdered sugar and the bourbon and maple extract and continue to mix.
3. Add a little more powdered sugar until it is the consistency you desire. (I never measure my powdered sugar).
4. Put in a ziploc bag, cut off the corner of the bag and drizzle onto the cooled brownies.

Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

I've been super stressed with school work - less than a month until the end of the semester (thank god!). I had a craving for brownies last night. So between working on my project for class, I googled some recipes and I came across these Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies from Recipegirl.com. I figured I would give them a shot.

CHOCOLATE- PUMPKIN BROWNIES
www.RecipeGirl.com

PUMPKIN BATTER:
1 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
1 Tbs all-purpose flour

CHOCOLATE BATTER:
5½ ounces best-quality semisweet- chocolate, finely chopped
1¼ sticks (5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar (I used only 1 cup)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 13×9-inch baking dish.

2. Prepare pumpkin batter: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter with cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sugar, scraping bowl occasionally. Bet in egg, then add pumpkin puree, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. Stir in flour.

3. Prepare chocolate batter: Combine semisweet chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Set bowl over saucepan with 1-inch of simmering water and stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, combine eggs with sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat at low speed until light and fluffy- about 4 minutes. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in melted chocolate. Sift flour over the batter and fold it in just until combined.

4. Spread chocolate batter evenly in prepared pan. Using a Tablespoon, drop dollops of the pumpkin batter all over the top. Using the back of a butter knife, swirl the pumpkin batter slightly into the chocolate.

5. Bake for 30-40 minutes (starting checking on brownies at 30 minutes to see if they’re done- a toothpick inserted into center should come out clean).

6. Let brownies cool completely before cutting.

Yield: 24 brownies

Outcome: Well, first let me state I mis-read the recipe and did not melt the butter into the chocolate. I creamed the butter with the sugar first by accident (habit I guess when baking cakes). Also, since the recipe said semi-sweet I figured it was ok to use chocolate chips. I think next time I will try a better chocolate (like the recipe says) and remember to melt the butter into the chocolate. These were good, but still needed something... and I had JUST the thing! Left over cinnamon maple cream cheese frosting. OMG. It adds just a little more sweetness and a bit of creaminess. Perfect for fall chocolate lovers :)

My Cinnamon Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
(This is a soft recipe and it is important not to over mix)

1 8oz package of cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter unsalted
1 cup powdered sugar (or so)
1-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Dash of cinnamon

Combine cream cheese and butter with mixer. Slowly add 1/2 the powdered sugar while mixer is on lowest speed. Add 1 table spoon of maple syrup and the cinnamon. Check the consistency, add more powdered sugar and or maple syrup. *I never measure my powdered sugar when I make cream cheese frosting, I add it until it is the consistency and taste that I like. I don't like it super sweet and I like to be able to taste the cream cheese. ENJOY.

Happy Early Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Early Cinco de Mayo

My friend Ashley and her BF had a little BBQ tonight. I always like to bring something including a dessert. On the menu was Carne Asada (for the meat eaters). So I went with the Mexican theme. I happened to have a whole thing of Abuelita Mexican Hot Chocolate around and I decided to use that. I'm a little "cupcaked out" (Not in a bad way!! Just wanted to change it up a bit that's all :-) I originally was going to make them spicy (Ash's BF loves the spice) but of course I buy the wrong spice at the store because I was cheap. Lesson learned: just spend the money sometimes! haha. I googled around for a recipe that had all the ingredients that I had around the house. I ended up making these Mexican Hot Chocolate brownies in that shape of mini cupcakes (of course lol). I topped them off with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting...mmm! *Instead of pine nuts, I did half plain chocolate and half almond (I added a bit of almond extract and chopped almonds).

Since my friend Ash is a vegan, and I didn't have time to really bake something vegan (which btw I hope to venture into that area of baking sometime soon) I picked up some vegan brownies at a local organic/vegan grocery store. They happen to sell vegan brownies (and other baked goods) from a DC bakery around here call Sticky Fingers. I tried one and they are goooood! Would never had known it was vegan.

Thanks Ash and Andrew for a delicious meal this evening :)