It's like Christmas in December! Oh wait...

Simple Chocolate Covered Caramel Brownie Bites!

I walked around my school with a tray of these delicacies and everyone seemed to like them.

The brownies:
Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix (prepared as directed but with an extra egg)
Caramel Cubes

Chocolate coating:
Ghiradelli Candy And Coating Chocolate

Directions:
Make the brownies as directed, making sure not to over-beat the mixture. Add an extra egg to make the end product more cake like, which will help when you cover them in the chocolate coating. Before tossing them in the oven, microwave a few of the caramels for 5-10 seconds until very soft. Pull pieces of the caramel off or cut it with a knife and press a small piece into each brownie.

Depending on the size of the cavities for the molds, bake around twenty minutes or less, checking once in a while by pressing the top of the brownie. Once the Top springs back, it is baked.

Let the brownies cool and repeat the process with any remaining mixture.

Melt the chocolate in a deep bowl. I used a microwave oppose to a double boiler since it is faster. Microwave the chocolate at half power for small intervals, (30 seconds for the first time, stir, and then 15 seconds until almost completely melted.)

When the brownies are cool and the chocolate is smoothly flowing, it is time to cover them. My first idea was to have them all on top of a cooling rack above a piece of wax paper, but too it was not very good for a thin, even coat. Instead, I switched to refrigerating the brownies and then putting them on a fork one and a time and dipping them in the chocolate. Since the bites are cold, the chocolate surrounding them will harden almost immediately, while the outer chocolate will take longer to harden, allowing you to shake off the access and create a lovely thin shell.

This recipe can be changed for your liking. Use your own brownie recipe, switch the caramel for peanut butter or Nutella. For a lighter option, omit the chocolate coating for a light dusting of powdered sugar. Feel free to vary this recipe and tell me what you added to make them your own!

Until next recipe...
~Ally  

Caramel Brownies with a light dusting of powdered sugar. 

Brownies plus chocolate cream cheese frosting equals awesome. Don't take my word for it though, make it in your home!

I just used a regular brownie recipe for this, so it can be milk or dark chocolate.
Cream Cheese Frosting: (approximate)
1/2 lb. cream cheese
1/2 c. unsalted butter
2 c. powdered sugar
splash of real vanilla
1 tsp. cocoa powder

Beat cream cheese and butter together with electric mixer until smooth. Mix in sugar one cup at a time and the cocoa all at once, making sure to break apart any large clumps. Once combined, add the vanilla.

Once the brownies are cooled, take them out of the pan and set on top of a cooling rack with a tray underneath. Cover the brownies with the frosting, using a spatula to smooth the top. (Or, make spikes or swirls to make interesting shapes.)

Cut into individual pieces and drizzle with melted chocolate. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Until next recipe,
~Ally~

Hello, hello. This week's post is about a pouch of custard mix, a box of old lady fingers, and cocoa all about thirty to sixty years old. My job? Revive it all to make a delightful tiramisu.
Challenge Accepted
So, as you may imagine, this took quite a bit of coffee and alcohol. I was going along with the directions when my mother tells me that will never work. I tweak it a bit and continue, my mood rapidly becoming less positive. My mother and brother aren't helping much, telling me that it'll be awful since it was so old, and that I shouldn't try. I do though, soaking the lady fingers and folding homemade whipped cream into the dense and dusty custard mixture.
Eventually it all comes together. I place it in the refrigerator to chill.
Two and a half hours later I pull it out of the fridge and decorate the top with a cocoa/sugar mix. When I serve it, it's rather un-sturdy. I suppose I should have whipped the custard another minute before adding the whipped cream.
I take a little bite and think it's rather good. I read the box again to check for the date and see that i'm allergic to the custard mix. All those hours... at least it tasted good.

Tiramisu 

Until next recipe....

~Ally~

PS: Have any recipes you want me to try? Tell me in the comments!

Hey, guys! If baking is your passion too, I'm sure we've both come across the same problem when baking pies; the crust sticks to the pan. I've tried a million things, greasing and flouring, but many of these made the poor crust oily or heavy. Lemon meringue is a definite favorite in my house, so I make it all the time. usually I make a standard pie crust, but this time, graham crackers were a must. I thought the crust would fail me, and as I pressed it into the glassware I had no idea what a success it would be. Here is a rough recipe that I was using.

Wonderfully Easy Graham Cracker Crust (with extra for freezing or minis in ramekins)
Ingredients 

• About two stacks of graham cracker "bars" 
• One melted stick of butter (1/2 cup, add an extra tablespoon if you don't want the crust to be too crumbly)
• A few tablespoons of sugar, not a lot though, and I think that too much sugar takes the spotlight from the tart lemon curd

Instructions

1. Crush graham crackers into fine-ish crumbs. (fine-ish = sand with a few pieces of gravel.) 
2. Mix sugar into the crumbs and then add melted butter. 
3. Press into pie dish evenly
4. Bake at 350 degrees until the edges are nicely browned. 



Nom nom nom 

5. Add cooled lemon curd (or anything else ) and smooth meringue gently on top. 
6. CHILL (overnight if possible) THEN EAT! 

  Until Next Recipe... 

       ~ Ally 

I've been experimenting a lot lately to figure out great tastes and color combos. The other day, I made a basic vanilla cupcake and messed around with the frosting. So, I made a simple chocolate frosting, though found it very commercial tasting. That's not good enough, Ally! Step up your game! So that's exactly what I did. I added concentrated coffee but found it tasted too coffee-y  so I added Bailey's Cream. Not too much, and just enough to give it a creaminess with a little zing at the end. If you want to step up your chocolate frosting from a can, add some Bailey's or some coffee.

Until next recipe,
~Ally

I've been baking a lot. In winter I can do that 'cause the oven warms up the house. Today's blog post is about a organic and gluten free chocolate cake for a going away party. My sister's friend was heading off to Israel and I wanted to make a cake for her. She's allergic to gluten and I am allergic to tree nuts so there goes almond flour. I played with the recipe until I had a delicious two layered chocolate cake with filling and icing. I used white chocolate almond bark and melted it. Then, I colored it and piped it on wax over a paper with the design I wanted. I made a dove and wrote "see you again" in Hebrew. All in all, a really great cake; (If I may say so myself.) Please comment and tell me what you think! 

Until next recipe, 

~Ally