Cami's Lava Cakes

Although I thought these were good I didn't get a lava center and therefore was also disappointed. I was worried they would be too soft and left them in for an extra minute or two. I was wrong. If I had not had lava cake before I probably would have been thrilled since they taste like a flourless chocolate cake, which I like. 

I didn't do the melted ice cream because I prefer warm cakes with cold ice cream. I may try these again and decrease the cooking time by a bit.

Melanie's Chocolate Lava Muffins

I was super excited to make these! Then, I was super disappointed with the results. Like Danielle, my centers didn't have any gooey lava. I think the reason was because I added too much flour. I was following the recipe from the book when I made it, and the book only gives measurements for the flour and sugar in weight, not volume. Since I don't own a food scale (it's on the wish list, but the wish list is long so I don't know when I'll actually ever get one), I did my best to estimate based on an online weight to volume conversion tool. My conversion came out to about 1/3 cup for 1 1/2 oz. of flour. I halved the recipe, so I used about 1/6 cup. Again, this was an estimate since the smallest measuring cup I have is 1/4. Anyway, after I made them I happened to look at the online recipe and saw that the ingredients were listed by volume rather than weight, and I should have only used 1 1/2 Tbsp. (since I halved it) rather than 1/6 cup. Big difference!

So, my muffins turned out pretty dense. They were still pretty good, especially served with lots of vanilla ice cream (first I served it with the sauce, but then decided I preferred the cold ice cream) but I wanted to see a lava center. I used 70% cacao dark chocolate, and I think it was a little too rich for me. If I were to try again, I'd just use regular semi-sweet chocolate chips or maybe even some milk chocolate. I have another recipe I'd like to try that calls for putting a chocolate chip cookie on the bottom of the muffin tin, then you invert the muffin to eat it and you have a cookie on the top!

Danielle's Chocolate Lava Muffins

I don't have a picture because I actually made these a long time ago, way before we decided to use Good Eats as our new book for delish.

I saw this episode and really wanted to try the lava muffins. They looked so easy, and they were. They were a piece of cake to throw together, and they cook VERY quickly. And they were delicious.

But there was no lava flowing from our muffins... I made a half batch (six muffins), but I should've filled only four muffin cups. Each muffin was really small and cooked faster than I anticipated. If you do divide them as the recipe says, you might want to cook them for a little less time -- or just watch them closely.

The Art of Darkness I

I chose for this week's recipes to come from the episode "The Art of Darkness I" which can be found on page 68 of the book or online HERE. You can choose between the chocolate lava muffins or the chocolate mousse.

In my last post about my puff pastry experience, I said I'd rather save my calories for something containing chocolate. Well, both these recipes are all chocolate, so bring on the calories! And, as a side story, I have to have a cavity filled this week and when talking to my dental hygienist about how I was surprised because I brush and floss all the time, I don't usually drink soda or sports drinks, etc., but I do like chocolate, she said "but chocolate doesn't cause cavities!" She did fail to mention that sugar does lead to cavities and most chocolate we consume contains sugar, but for now I don't have any reservations about consuming chocolate!

I've never made any sort of chocolate lava cake or muffins and have wanted to for a long time now (like, two or three years!). I'm excited to try. I plan to make mine at the end of this week. I've also never made a mousse because it just seems so difficult. Maybe I'll go chocolate crazy and try both recipes.

Cami's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made a huge mess of these cookies but it all came out in the end. For some reason when I was measuring the dry ingredients I accidentally measured twice as many as the recipe calls for. So I had way too much sugar, flour etc. I didn't realize this until I was adding the flour at the end and thinking "Wow, this is not wet at all". Thanks to Maren for having wet dough so I knew mine was wrong. I quickly added more wet ingredients in hopes it would all work out in the end. It did! When I baked them that night I didn't love them. The dough was good though. The next day though, the cookies were great. I was surprised they could have such a change overnight. 

The picture is what the balls look like right now. They are in my freezer setting up so I can move them to a baggie. That's how I store dough. We only bake 6-12 and then leave the rest in the freezer until we need more.

I used white whole wheat flour and Jason couldn't tell! If I would have told him he probably would have found something wrong with them but he said they were great. I've replaced all of my regular white flour with white whole wheat. It really is very similar in taste but just better. I get it at Trader Joe's for pretty cheap.

Jen's Smores Bars

These are one of my favorite things from the Baked cookbook. I love the mix of chocolate with the salty peanuts. Yum. I think I'll have to make these again soon.

Danielle's Moo-less Chocolate Pie

I really enjoyed this pie. In fact, I enjoyed it a little too much the first night and my tummy wasn't so happy the rest of the night...

When I tasted the pie filling before refrigerating it, I was skeptical. There was something off-putting about it. But after it set, something magical happened. It turned into a deep rich smooth delicious chocolate pie. Max and I both loved it.

I used Oreos for my crust instead of chocolate wafers. I've used chocolate wafers for Baked recipes before, but I hate spending $5 on a little package of those wafer cookies. Seriously, why do they cost so much?? They are just dry little plain cookies! I only wanted to make a half batch, and at least with Oreos we'd enjoy eating what I didn't use for the pie. I thought the Oreos worked fine.

I also used cream instead of the liqueur. If I were a coffee drinker, I might've used straight coffee instead of the cream. I think coffee would've given the pie an added flavor dimension that would've made the pie even better. Alternatively, I think mint extract would work great with this pie. I'm going to try that next time.

This recipe was quite a success. It was so easy to make, and it tasted great. I would definitely make this again. In fact, I still have half of a package of tofu in the fridge so I might be making this again very soon!

Melanie W.'s Moo-Less Chocolate Pie

Ok, mine wasn't truly Moo-Less. I liked Cami's idea of substituting heavy cream for the coffee liquor so I did that. I also can't have chocolate pie without a little whipped cream on top!

I was real hesitant to make this pie at first because I don't think I've ever made anything with tofu before. I've eaten it before I'm sure, and I don't really mind it, but to put it in a pie? I figured I'd give it a shot since people said they couldn't taste it, plus tofu is healthy. That's what this food blog is for, to try things you wouldn't otherwise, right?

The pie really is easy to make, especially if you use a pre-made crust like I did. The pie tasted very chocolatey (maybe even a tad bit too chocolatey). I couldn't really taste the tofu. It was decent chocolate pie, but not my favorite. I don't know if it was the chocolate flavor (maybe I should have used more expensive chocolate?), the texture, or just knowing there was tofu in it. Just looking at my pie it looks like a chunk of brown tofu. It wasn't quite as creamy as I'd hoped for.

But I tried it, I got my chocolate fix, and now I know the difference between silken and firm tofu. Now I want to make the Baked chocolate pie!

Cami's Moo-less Chocolate Pie

This was ridiculously easy and really tasty. I think it rivals any other chocolate pie I've ever made, including Baked. I also bought a pre-made crust because I had a lot of things going on this week. I don't feel like it detracted from the pie at all.

Since I didn't want to use coffee liqueur I used 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream instead. I think this did a lot of things. It decreased the overall sweetness and I think it made it more smooth overall. I will definitely make this again.

I made homemade whipped cream, which was really easy but makes it seem extra special. I recommend this. You couldn't taste tofu at all.

Moo-Less Chocolate Pie

I do love a good chocolate pie. I really loved this chocolate pie from Baked but thought it was kind of a lot of work. When I was flipping through Good Eats and found Alton's recipe for Chocolate Pie featuring Tofu as the main ingredient, my curiosity sky rocketed.

Here is the link for the online recipe. It comes from an episode called Tofuworld and can be found in the book on page 192.

It's been in the high 90s-100s here in my part of California for almost a week now. Generally we get some relief from the fog that rolls in from the Bay at night, but not during this heatwave. It's been miserable. I don't think I've had a good night's sleep in five nights. So when I was picking my recipe, I knew I'd have to find something that did not require me to turn on the oven. Although this recipe includes a Chocolate Wafer Crust which you bake for a short period, I cheated and bought one of those pre-made Oreo cookie crusts at the store. I'm sure Alton's crust is much better, but it's just too hot here. In retrospect, I should have just used Baked's cookie crust recipe since it doesn't require an oven, but oh well.

I think this pie is WAY too sweet. When I try it again I will only use only 1/2 the package of chocolate chips (6 oz). I love chocolate and I couldn't even finish a small slice of this pie. I think the tofu is a great idea though so I will be playing around with this recipe to make it just right for me. I love finding ways to incorporate tofu into my food since it's so good for you and has relatively no taste.

Cami's Monster Cookies

I've been a huge fan of monster cookies for a few years now. I used to dislike peanut butter but somehow I started to like it when I was pregnant with Calder. I think this is a good recipe, but honestly I didn't follow the recipe like I should have. I was moving a few days after making it and I thought it would be a good way to get rid of some oatmeal and other things in the cupboards. I ended up not having enough oatmeal so I added more flour. I had fewer M&Ms so I added more chocolate chunks. They turned out great and tasted amazing. I brought them with us to visit family and they've been a hit. I will definitely make these again. Maybe I'll even use the real recipe next time.

Cami's Grasshopper Cupcakes

This is a delicious recipe. Like always, I made cupcakes instead of cake. It's just so much easier you know? Plus then I can send them to work with Jason or take them to friends without having it be awkward that they are only getting 1/4 of a cake. I followed the recipe exactly but decreased the cooking time to 23 minutes. Perfect.

The cake has a rich, dark flavor. It may just be my favorite chocolate cake recipe in Baked due to it's depth. I LOVE the chocolate ganache and applied it liberally to the top of the cupcakes. The ganache without mint would be a great addition to any chocolate cake. The frosting is of course delicious. I think if I were to do it again I would decrease the butter by a stick. It is very buttery, which isn't a bad thing but I think it would work with less. I don't know if this is because I make cupcakes or what but I always have tons of frosting left over. Does anyone else have this problem?

I did the 'kid friendly' recipe and I don't think it was missing any flavor. The mint is just right, not too heavy and not too light. I will definitely make these again.

Grasshopper Cake

I have to admit, this particular cake seems slightly intimidating for some reason. Perhaps it is the long laundry list of ingredients, or the slightly complex assembly process. But you can't deny the draw of chocolate and mint! And it's gorgeous. . .

So the batter came together fairly easily. I baked the cakes on the lower end (35 minutes), and they looked great, but the centers did sink a bit after I took them out. So I suggest leaving them in for a few minutes longer. The cake is also extremely delicate, and will fall apart if you aren't gentle with it. But it does taste great!

The peppermint buttercream is pretty awesome! I've never made a cooked frosting with flour before, but it turned out great! It's light and fluffy without being as rich as a Swiss meringue buttercream. I also added 3 drops of green food coloring to get that lovely mint color. Tip for this frosting - make sure you beat the sugar/milk/flour mixture long enough! The texture will change completely, but it does take quite a bit of time. I also added an extra 1/2 tsp of peppermint extract to get a decent mint flavor.

I'm not sure about the ganache. I used Scharffen Berger 70% chocolate, which I think was too dark considering the recipe has no added sugar. I had to end up adding powdered sugar to make it balanced, which didn't hurt the texture.

The assembly of the cake is not as bad as I thought it would be. I put the ganache layered cake in the freezer instead of the fridge because my kitchen was a bit warm. The buttercream spreads on like a dream. You can really have a lot of fun with decorating this cake, but I wanted to keep it simple, so I just used chocolate chips.

All in all, I think this recipe is pretty good, and with one or two more tries, it could be pretty perfect! Oh, and try to have a kitchen helper, the dirty dishes are intense!

Melanie W.'s Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these today and just finished cooking them about 15 minutes ago, and I've already eaten at least five. Oops! Cookies sure are good warm though!!

Taking into consideration the other experiences, I made a few modifications to mine and I ended up having the opposite experience as LuAnn and Danielle! I thought the dough was ok but not the best, and my cookies didn't go flat! I wanted to make sure they wouldn't go flat, so I did some google research and found some helpful tips. Keep reading and I'll share the secrets to my success!

From what I read, the temperature of the butter and dough is super important. You need it to stay cold. The recipes said to use softened butter, but I used cold butter straight from the fridge. I also bought expensive butter imported from Ireland, mostly just to try it, and I don't think I'll ever do that again. I don't think it enhanced the flavor at all. Anyway, I creamed the cold butter with the sugars using a hand mixer- this way you have more control over how much the butter is creamed. You don't want to overcream the butter! What I read said blend a little, mash the butter with the beaters, blend a little, and it's ok if there are still a few lumps of butter. Then I stuck the creamed butter/sugar back in the fridge for 10 minutes to make sure it stayed cold.

I made sure my eggs were cold straight from the fridge. Make sure you blend them one at a time, thoroughly.

I added 2 Tbsp. extra flour. This also helps the cookies keep their fluff.

Make sure you don't over mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Mix just until blended. I used my stand mixer for the eggs, vanilla, and dry ingredients, then hand mixed the chocolate chips.

I used less chocolate chips than called for, only 12 oz. Too many chocolate chips can cause more spreading.

I chilled the dough for the full 6 hours. (This seemed a bit excessive, but I did what they said.)

I chilled my cookie sheets. Supposedly warm cookie sheets can cause the dough to spread faster. Honestly, I don't think this made much of a difference. It seemed like as soon as I took the cookie sheets out of the refrigerator they warmed up to room temp anyway.

I have an oven thermometer and I made sure the oven temp was exactly 375.

While I was waiting for batches to cook, I kept the remaining dough in the fridge so it would stay cold.

All in all, something I did worked and the cookies turned out nice. They were slightly crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and not overly browned. I don't think this is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe- they taste like a lot of others, but they were good.

Ok, this is pretty cheesy because it's just like the picture in the book, but I was having fun with my camera. :)

Danielle's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these a couple of months ago.

Like LuAnn said, this recipe makes the most delicious cookie dough! A good portion of mine got eaten as dough as well.

I made them at night and it was too late to chill the dough if I was going to get to eat any. So I made some that night and then put the rest of the dough in the fridge. Both ways I made them (chilled and not chilled), the cookies spread quite a bit and were pretty flat. The chilled dough didn't spread as much, but they were still flat cookies.

I don't mind a flat cookie, but I didn't like that the cookies browned so much. Was that just my oven or is it the dough? If anyone else makes them, let me know if you had the same experience. I kept thinking they were burning but they didn't look set yet. Even though they were pretty brown, they stayed chewy, but I still didn't really like the flavor they got from being so browned.

I can't really say why, but I thought the cookies tasted better the day after I made them.

Overall, these were tasty, but this won't be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. I might make it again some day, but these won't replace my favorite recipe.

Danielle's Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie

This was delicious! Way better than pizookies. We took it over to share with some friends, and it was a hit for everyone! And the best part, it was super fast and easy to make!

Like Cami, I did mini pies. I had planned to halve the recipe, and doing individual dishes seemed like the only way to pull that off. I ended up making the full batch so we could share it with friends, and I'm glad I did so we could have a couple extra mini pies leftover. The full recipe only filled six four-inch ramekins -- not a huge batch.

Based on Cami's comment about the pie crust being a little odd, I went with a graham cracker crust. I'm glad I did because I loved it! I crushed up crackers and mixed it with cocoa powder, sugar, melted butter, and some vanilla. And it was delicious. The other change I made was that I used pecans instead of walnuts because that's what I had. I thought it was odd that they said the pie was a cross between pecan pie and a cookie, but the recipe called for walnuts...

Also, I put chocolate chips on top of my pie filling before putting them in the oven, but all the chocolate chips just sunk to the bottom anyway. So don't bother putting them on top. Just mix in what you want and leave it at that.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any ice cream to put on top. Ice cream would've been an improvement, but we put whipped cream on top and that was pretty good too. I'll make sure to have ice cream on hand next time.

Cami's Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie

I decided to make these into 4 inch tarts instead of a whole pie. It is easier to freeze and eat later than a whole pie. I think I have this mini obsession with small, individual serving desserts.

This was good, but not as good as I would have liked. I think the crust is confusing. I so heavily associate this crust with fruit pie that it seems weird to basically put a chocolate chip cookie inside. I think a graham cracker crust would be better. The inside of the pie was really good. Like a large, very gooey chocolate chip cookie. The recipe says to add chocolate chips to the top so you have a chocolate top but I kind of like it like this. Plus, I ran out of chocolate chips.

I accidentally made the whole pie crust recipe and am glad I did because it will be good with apple or cherry pie in the future.

Cami's Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

Sorry, no picture. I forgot to take one when I made them.

I'll be honest. I didn't make these this week. I made them a few months ago. We had some company for dinner and I thought they would be a nice casual dessert. They were just that and nothing more. I felt like these were just peanut butter and chocolate on top of rice krispy treats. I do like rick krispy treats but I'm a purist. I don't like M&Ms or chocolate chips in my treats. I like them plain. So maybe that's why I didn't love these.

Even thought I didn't think they were anything special I had a hard time not eating the whole pan. So I guess they were a success in that regard.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl

Good Morning Ladies!

Unfortunately Amy is sick and can't post this week, so I'm going to do it instead. The recipe is Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl on page 38. I haven't had the chance to make it yet but I will towards the end of the week when my family comes to visit! I have made sour cream coffee cakes in the past and they are moist and delicious so I expect great things from this recipe, especially with the chocolate cinnamon swirl.

Cami's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

I had high hopes for this loaf. It sounds like something I would go crazy for but in the end it was okay. Just okay. I also had problems with the outside being 'well done'. If I were to do it again I think I might drop the temperature a little so it cooked more evenly.

The taste did improve and deepen the next day. It also improved when I put some left over cream cheese frosting on it. That was tasty!