Kahlua Brownies

Last weekend, I made these Kahlua brownies for a wedding reception.  The reception was a very relaxed and laid-back celebration at the beautifully scenic Washington Crossing State Park.  A couple weeks before the event, the bride asked some of us if we would be interested in contributing a dish for the dessert table.  And since I will jump at any occasion to sample raw brownie batter share baked goodness among friends, I happily agreed.  I chose to make Kahlua brownies, since what's a wedding without a little booze in your dessert?  

I used this recipe from Recipe Girl.  I kept most of the ingredients the same except I used a lot less powdered sugar in the icing (about 1 1/4 cups).  Of course, since I was making these on the Friday night before the wedding, after a few cocktails, so my method went something like this:

1) Preheat oven at 350 degrees. 

2) Spray 9" x 9" pan with cooking spray.  Read instructions again and realized I was supposed to line the pan with foil first.  Oops...

3) In a large bowl, stir flour, baking powder, and salt with a fork (since I don't own a sifter)

4) Set up makeshift double-boiler using one big pot with a couple inches of water in it, with a smaller one balanced rather precariously over it.  Bring water to a low boil, melt butter and chocolate in the smaller pot. When smooth and melted, remove from heat and set aside.  

5) Crack eggs into medium sized bowl. Use expletives when accidentally cracking egg all over the counter.  Wipe up egg from the counter.  Add sugar and Kahlua to the bowl.  Take a shot of Kahlua, because, heck, I deserve it.  Mix contents of the bowl as fast as I can with a fork because I don't own an electric mixer. 

6) Pour buttery chocolate mixture with sugar and egg mixture.  Curse self for not using a bigger bowl. 

7) Read directions again and realize that I supposed to pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Curse self again for not using a bigger bowl for the wet ingredients. 

8) Pour wet ingredients into the dry, and hope for the best.  Mix as fast as I can with a fork.   

9) Pour batter into pan. Lick spatula used to scrape the batter at the bottom of the bowl.  Put pan in the oven.  Have a glass of wine.... and then another.

10) After about 40 minutes, remove pan from oven.  Brush  2 Tbs of Kahlua onto the brownies.  Have another glass of wine.  Contemplate whether the brownie pan is cool enough to go in the fridge.  Take another sip of wine, and think, screw it, I'm putting it in the fridge and going to bed. 

Next morning, prepare the icing:

1) Melt butter in saucepan until brown, watching it like a hawk so it doesn't burn. 

2) Remove from heat and  stir in Kahlua and heavy cream.

3) Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. 

4) Spread on to cooled brownies. Place back in the fridge to cool. 

5) Go for a run to burn off calories consumed from brownie batter, icing, and copious amounts of alcohol. 

6) Return home, only to find that brownies are rock solid.  Have J. slice brownies with the biggest knife I own. 

J. hacking the brownies with my chef's knife.

7) Carefully lift brownies out of the pan.  Pack brownies in pretty box, ready to be served! (Don't worry the brownies softened once they were brought to room temperature.)

These babies are ready to be eaten!

So now you what really goes on in my kitchen! It's far from perfect, but I get by without what some may consider key appliances (like an electric mixer).  But the brownies were a hit at the reception, so it works!

New York Chocolate Tour

Those of you who know me know that I have a bit of obsession with group deals such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Google Offers and the like.  Every morning I wake up to at a minimum six new emails with new daily offers from each of these companies.  Most recently, I took advantage of a deal for discounted tickets for me and three friends to take the New York Chocolate Tour by Celebrity Planet.

While it was upwards of 90 degrees out, this two-hour walking tour with chocolate samples at each stop was well worth the trip.  Here are some of the highlights of the tour:

First stop: Jacques' Hot Chocolate Bar in Chelsea Market

While I had my doubts about sampling hot chocolate in 90 degree weather, the hot chocolate I sampled was rich, creamy, sweet and spicy.

Li-lac Chocolates

I don't remember what I sampled here, I think it was some sort of dark chocolate.  But they had this adorable chocolate shoe in their display. 

Chocolate Bar

I remember I sampled a dark chocolate with gray sea salt here.  But I bought an iced mint tea that was deliciously refreshing on a walking tour.  This place has a nice, relaxed coffee shop feel to it, that I wouldn't mind coming back to.

The famous Magnolia Bakery where we had this double chocolate cupcake:

Xocolatti

Now this store was cool! The store is very small (as many are in Manhattan), only about 6 people could stand inside at one time.  So to efficiently make use of the space, it was designed in such a way, as you can see here, so that the walls are filled with chocolate boxes.  The owner is a 24-year old immigrant from India, so the chocolates are exotic concoctions, such as the mango paprika white chocolate slate that we sampled.

Pasticceria Bruno

This place's claim to fame is that they beat Bobby Flay in the Throwdown for best cannolis, which we sampled.  The cannolis were good.  But I had to take a picture of this chocolate shoe display, which seems to be a recurring theme in the chocolate scene in New York.

The last stop was Vosges Chocolate.   I didn't take a picture of it, but it was a neat store that sells all manner of unique chocolates, most notably bacon + chocolate.  We sampled the Barcelona Bar, though having been to Barcelona, I am not sure what it had to do with Barcelona. I also tried some of their red-fire tortilla chips.

Finally, one stop we did not go to that is normally on the tour, was Milk & Cookies, where we would have gotten to try a chocolate chip cookie.  Unfortunately, the store was closed on the day I was on the tour, so I was a bit disappointed.  But I definitely want to check it out some time soon, as well as come back to any of these stores to buy chocolate gifts for friends, or when I am just hankering for some chocolate for myself!

Note:  I was not compensated by Celebrity Planet or any of the above businesses to give this review.

Marbles aka "Sour Cream Cookies"

The first time I made these cookies was when I was living in Philadelphia. My roommate at the time, who wasn't much of a cookie eater, loved these cookies and now will bake them on her own. She calls them "Cheryl's Sour Cream Cookies" - and even though that doesn't sound very appetizing, sour cream is actually a key ingredient in this recipe to give the cookies a subtle creamy, tangy taste. You can't taste the sour cream, really. And the reason why I chose to make these cookies? Yup, you guessed it, to use up leftover sour cream. And because they're tasty cookies.

But despite my former roommate attributing these cookies to me, I can't take credit for the recipe, though - I got it from Mrs. Field's Best Ever Cookie Book, which has been reproduced here and here.

Mudslide Cookies

When I first saw these cookies on Chocolate and Zucchini, I have to admit, I was expecting them to be cookies inspired by the ever-popular cocktail drink. Although I was a bit disappointed that there was no alcohol involved in these cookies, I will still intrigued by Clotilde's characterization of these cookies as "insanely chocolatey." With Valentine's Day around the corner, I had to try them out myself.

Because these cookies are "insanely chocolately," Clotilde stresses the importance of high quality chocolate. I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips for melting and a Ghiradelli bittersweet bar, chopped and mixed into the batter. I also substituted walnuts instead of pecans because thats what I had, but pecans would be good too.

Click here for the recipe on Chocolate and Zucchini.