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Foodbuzz 24×24: Quarter Life Crisis

Elise came to visit this weekend from Chicago! Melissa, Elise, and I all lived together senior year of college and while our apartment lacked 36 packs of Bud Light and rows of shot glasses, we did have a pasta maker and panini press. Let’s just say we like to cook.

So when Foodbuzz came a-knocking for ideas for this month’s 24×24, we jumped at the opportunity.

We’ve been out of college for four years now and I must say, the reality of growing up is starting to sink in. Somehow, without us really realizing it, we’re supposed to be adults. When the heck did this happen? But amid the responsibilities and bills there are some perks to growing up. Our palettes have matured beyond the years of Wonder Bread and bologna (thank goodness) and we can stay up past 10.

We decided to update a few of our favorite childhood foods with more grown-up versions while reminiscing of the good old days of bad haircuts, eighth grade dances, and bad early nineties music. Oh wait, we made a “Gin Blossoms Playlist” on Pandora. Maybe we haven’t come that far.

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Giant Cake!

Oh man, so much baking going on this week. I have three cakes for the end of the week, so I’m trying to be responsible and plan ahead and get a jump on all the work. It’s exciting to have cakes, including this monster of chocolaty goodness.

Giant Chocolate Cake

I think I pulled a muscle lifting the bowl of batter for this puppy. (But the cake’s not going to be a puppy…not even close.)

The 5 Minute Cake

with_ice_cream

Apparently having a full-time job, taking class, training for a triathlon, and attempting to have life, does not leave one much time for baking. I imagine having a family, running a business, or fixing a house probably puts one in the same predicament. So, when I got an email with the recipe for a 5 minute cake…well, I thought I’d give it a whirl. As far as equipment goes, all it requires is a tablespoon, a mug, and a fork.

The results were…interesting. Also it definitely took me longer than 5 minutes. Maybe like 12. It was a lot spongier than regular cake. I think the recipe could be improved upon with some tweaking (and a heck of a lot less vegetable oil). But, to go from nothing to eating cake in under 15 minutes, it ain’t bad.

ingredients

5 (More like 12) Minute Cake

From one of those email forwards I usually delete…thank Daryll!

4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 Tbsp chocolate chips
1/2 tsp of vanilla

Measure the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder into the mug. Add the egg and stir well. The batter will be really thick, so make sure to mix well to incorporate all of the dry ingredients.

Add the milk, oil, and vanilla and mix well (be sure to mix all that oil in). Then, add the chocolate chips.

batter

Stick the mug into the microwave and microwave for 3 minutes on high. The recipe says to microwave at 1000 Watts, but I have no idea what our microwave goes up to. I just stuck it in there and waited to see what happened. It worked. The cake came out looking like a piece of coral reef, but it was cooked all the way through.

baked_in_mug

Let cool for a bit and if you want, tip the cake out of the mug. I had to pull away the edges a little, but it came out pretty easily.

The cake is dense, while being kind of spongy. The chocolate chips melt, so the texture is consistent all the way through. It’s not the best cake I’ve ever had, but the fact that I actually had cake was sort of impressive.

Mascarpone Brownies

brownies

So, apparently I cannot pronounce nor spell “mascarpone”. I figured this out because my blog came up second in hits when I searched for that word. And this blog isn’t that popular. No, it came up, because I’ve been spelling it “marscapone”, and that’s wrong. Go me and multiple misspellings while posting. Perhaps I should run spell check more often…

chocolate_and_cheese

Also, this is the second brownie recipe in a row that I have posted. What can I say? I love brownies. I think brownies are pretty high up on my list of delicious baked goods. And these brownies? Decadent. These brownies are the inaugural baked good of the new house, so decadent seemed to be in order. So, without further ado…

MaScaRpone Brownies (woo woo for correct spelling!)

adapted from The Kitchn

For the Brownies

1 cup unsalted butter
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

For the Ganache

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
6 Tbsp whipping cream
3 Tbsp unsalted butter

This recipe is a breeze to make. And since we don’t have air conditioning in our house, a breeze is just what we needed. But onto the recipe…

To make the brownies:

Preheat the oven to 325º.

Melt the butter in the microwave (because that is easiest). Finely chop the chocolate and mix it into the melted butter until it is melted. It was suggested numorous times to use the best quality chocolate you can find. Usually that is what is in my cupboard, but for these puppies, I went all out and bought some Varlhona chocolate bars.

Add the sugar to the chocolate and butter and mix until combined. Stick it back into the trusty microwave for 30 seconds.

Add the mascarpone, eggs, and vanilla to this and mix until smooth. It took me a while, but I got all the lumps out.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt together and mix into the wet ingredients. Just mix unti they are all combined.

batter

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8×8 baking pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool. While the brownies are cooling, it’s a good time to whip up that ganache.

For the Ganache

Heat the butter and the cream in the microwave until the butter is melted. Finely chop the chocolate and stir into the butter and cream until melted and smooth.

ganache

Pour the ganache over the brownies. I stuck mine in the fridge to let the ganache set (since it’s 83º in my house and it didn’t seem like it would work on the counter). Once set, remove from the pan (I just ran a knife along the edges and the whole thing popped right out). Slice into bite-sized squares. Because these are rich, and one bite might be enough.

brownie_strips

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bites

brownie_whole

I have a dirty little secret.

Sometimes I use box mixes. Yes, that’s right. Box mixes. Sometimes they come in a pouch, but the gist is the same. Add some oil, some water, a few eggs, and pop those suckers in the oven. In 20 minutes you have delicious smells wafting through your kitchen and that’s all that really matters, right?

I never make my cakes with box mixes. Those are always made from scratch. But brownies. Can’t beat the box mix. It’s so easy! And brownies are so delicious! And sometimes you just don’t have the time to be making an elaborate sweet treat from scratch. Sometimes you are in the midst of packing to move, but you just can’t resist the urge to bake. Sometimes you wonder why you are up at 12:30 in the morning, pulling brownie bites out of the oven instead of snug in your bed since you have to get up at 6 the next morning. And sometimes you just don’t care.

mix

So, in the vein of me not caring, here are some easy, quick, and oh-so-delicious brownie bites. They only take about 20 minutes to make and are the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate deliciousness.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bites

1 package brownie mix (13×9 family size!)

(these measures might vary. Check your brownie mix for the right values)

2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water
48 peanut butter cups (or caramel cups, mint cups, whatever tickles your fancy)

Make the brownie mix according to the directions on the package.

batter

Line a mini-muffin pan with mini-cupcake liners.

Fill each cupcake liner with a heaping teaspoonfull of brownie batter. The cup should be almost full.

Bake at 350º for 8 minutes.

Remove the brownies from the oven. They should start to look done on the outside, but the middle should still look undercooked.

peanutbuttercups

Unwrap the peanut butter cups and press one cup down in the middle of each brownie bite.

Put them back in the oven for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Dig in and congratulate yourself on your efficiency.

in_pan

Trifle…not Parfait

trifle_side

I make this trifle a lot. Like pretty much everytime I make a carved cake. Because, what do you do with all the scraps when you do this:

Crab - Carved Body

See that plastic container in the upper right corner? That’s right. Cake scraps. Lots and lots of cake scraps. And I can only think of a couple of things to do with those:

1. Eat them. There have definitely been some instances where I have stood there with a beautifully carved cake in front of me and heaping pile of scraps on a tray next to me. Just looking at me all buttery and sweet, daring me to just eat them. And eat them I have. Standing over the sink. Shoveling cake into my mouth in huge bites, barely giving myself time to take a breath. It’s quite a sight. However, there’s only so much cake I can eat, so…

2. Throw the cake away. Well, that’s just sad, so…

3. Add a few ingredients and make a delightful dessert. Trifle!

So trifle it is. And it’s trifle, not parfait. Do not get confused. A trifle has cake. A parfait doesn’t. Extensive research has been done at my work to ensure that we do not offend this great dessert by calling it by its incorrect name.

Luckily trifle is really really easy to make. I can whip this baby up in 5-10 minutes, and the presentation is particularly impressive.

chocolate_chips

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Foodbuzz 24×24: Quarter Life Crisis

Giant Cake!

The 5 Minute Cake

Mascarpone Brownies

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bites

Trifle…not Parfait

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