Big Fudge Brownies

This is the biggest pan of brownies you've ever seen.

At least, it was the biggest pan of brownies I've ever seen.

I took some to friends and froze the rest in nice little cellophane packages.

I need to warn you: these brownies have to be refrigerated before they're really good.  I'm the queen of hot, gooey brownies.  And these are not that.  But they are really delicious, and they keep well in the freezer.  You know, in case of brownie emergencies.

Am I the only one who suffers from that on occasion?

So here's what you want to do.  Melt the butter and 2 2/3 cups (which also happens to be one pound) of chocolate chips with the unsweetened chocolate in the microwave.

You want to do this slowly, because the butter will melt faster than the chocolate and then the chocolate will burn if you're not careful.  Microwave the mixture in 30-second intervals, stopping to stir well in between each interval.

Here we are, about a minute in:

Mine went for a total of 2 1/2 minutes.  Cool this to room temperature, and don't cheat because you don't want the hot chocolate to scramble the eggs we're fixin' to add.

Now whisk together the eggs, coffee granules (and don't even think about leaving this out), vanilla and sugar.

Okay, so basically we're going to whisk together the melted (and cooled!) chocolate mixture with the egg mixture.

Use your biggest mixing bowl for this.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Okay, now dump in a cup of flour, baking powder and salt.  Fold everything together until just mixed.

Did you get that?  We just used four sticks of butter to one little skimpy cup of flour.  I likey this ratio.

Now mix the 1/4 cup flour with the milk chocolate chips, and dump those into the batter.  Fold it together and spread it in a greased and parchment-papered half-sheet pan.

Bake it for 28 minutes and when you take it out, whack the bottom of the pan on the counter.  The brownies will flatten a little, which is exactly what you want.

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Now comes the weird part.  Cool the brownies completely and then refrigerate them.  When they're cold, cut them into 24 squares.

If you want to be like me, give most of them to your friends and wrap the rest of them into individual brownies and put them in the freezer.

You just never know when you may have a brownie emergency.


Big Fudge Brownies
Heavily adapted from Barefoot Contessa


1 pound butter (I use salted, if you're curious)
2 2/3 cups (1 lb.) semisweet chocolate chips
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate
6 eggs
1 1/2 T instant coffee granules
2 T vanilla extract
3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour, divided
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups (about 12 oz.) milk chocolate chips

Place the butter, one pound of semisweet chips and the unsweetened chocolate in a large bowl and microwave it in 30-second intervals, stirring well after each 30 seconds, until it is melted and smooth.  Cool completely to room temperature.

Whisk together the eggs, instant coffee granules, vanilla and sugar.

When the chocolate is cool, whisk it together with the egg mixture.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until just incorporated.

Toss together the remaining 1/4 cup flour and the 2 cups milk chocolate chips.  Fold this into the batter.

Place a sheet of parchment paper in the bottom of a half sheet pan (12x18) and then spray the whole thing with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread the brownie batter in the pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 28 minutes.  You want the brownies to be a little gooey when you take them out - DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!!

Drop the sheet pan on the counter to release the air between the brownie and the pan.  When you do this, the brownies will flatten a little bit - which is exactly what you want them to do.

Cool completely to room temperature before cutting into 24 squares.  Store in the refrigerator (or freezer!).

Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese is winter in on a plate.  I'm serious.

The interesting thing about bolognese is that it's not just marinara sauce with some browned meat mixed in.

Not in the slightest.

Not even close.

It's all about the meat, less about the tomatoes.












It has carrots and celery which give it a great depth of flavor.

The celery, carrots and onion are cooked for a long time so that they caramelize and all their sweetness comes out.

The meat is browned in the vegetables, then the tomatoes, seasonings and garlic are added.

Milk is then added to the sauce.  Weird, but it gives the sauce a great color and flavor and makes the meat even more tender.

It's simmered for a couple of hours to concentrate the flavors.  It also gets wonderfully thick.

It's tossed with the pasta right before serving.

Or you can do it the American way and ladle the sauce over the pasta.

Either way, well worth the effort and wait!

Spaghetti Bolognese

2 T olive oil
2 sweet onions, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
1 lb ground beef, preferably 80/20
1 lb Italian turkey sausage (hot or sweet)
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 T sugar
28 oz. crushed tomatoes
6 oz. tomato paste
14 oz. tomato sauce
1 cup beef stock
1 cup whole milk

For serving:
1 lb spaghetti (or angel hair), cooked according to package directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the onions, celery and carrots and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until they start to soften.

Add the beef and sausage and cook until browned, stirring often to break up the meat.  Drain most of the fat from the pan but leave the meat mixture in the pan.  Return to the stove and add the garlic, bay leaves, basil, thyme, oregano, cinnamon, sugar, salt and pepper and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce, beef stock and milk.  Simmer on low heat for about 2 hours, until the sauce is thick and flavorful.  Taste the sauce and add salt if needed.

Serve with spaghetti.

Tzatziki

Okay, I'm off my bread kick (temporarily) and on a healthy kick.  Read ahead for a recipe that contains yogurt (very good for you), cucumbers (an actual vegetable), lemon juice (known to help you lose weight when consumed in massive quantities) and garlic (super good for you.  duh.).

Because you see, here's the deal.  I'm pretty sure I was Greek in my previous life.  Or maybe I was Italian.  My previous life is a little fuzzy.

Either way, it explains that when I discovered tzatziki, I knew it was for me.

Basically, tzatziki is a Greek yogurt dip with the above-mentioned good-for-you ingredients.  I sampled many different tzatzikis in Greece, but all tzatzikis had these things in common.

Oh, and they were all delicious.

The only trick to a really good tzatziki is draining the cucumber and yogurt to get out all of the excess moisture.

Look at all the moisture that came out!  Who knew.

And I like to dice my cucumber and grate my garlic, instead of grating the cucumber and dicing the garlic like some recipes say.

I'm just a rebel like that.

Plus, I love to eat things that taste fresh and clean between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Because the only other thing I eat during that span of time is like M&M's and the super rich and delicious bolognese that I'll show you tomorrow.

So do yourself a favor, and whip up a batch of this yummy dip.  It really is fabulous.

Tzatziki


1 English cucumber, peeled and diced very fine
2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups plain yogurt, drained in a sieve for at least 2 hours (until the yogurt is very thick)
1/2 cup sour cream
Juice of 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 T olive oil
1 T minced fresh dill (or 1/2 tsp dried dill)
1/2 tsp black pepper

Toss the cucumber with the salt and let it drain over a bowl for a couple of hours.  The cucumber will release an amazing amount of water.  Discard the water from the cucumber and the yogurt.  In a large mixing bowl, toss together the cucumber, drained yogurt, sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, dill and pepper.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours to let the flavors blend.  Serve chilled.

Banana Bread

Banana bread is not something that I plan.

It's something that just happens.

Because black bananas just happen sometimes.





I've tried a lot of banana bread recipes in my life.  And in all of my different recipes, I find that the recipes that call for oil - instead of butter - make a moister bread.

It's true.  So I just make sure to put butter on the bread while it's hot.

Oh, and I also don't believe that banana bread is meant to be cooked all the way through.  A little bit of goo in the middle is just right.

Yum.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup milk
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and smashed (about 1 cup of banana puree)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Whisk together the oil, eggs, sugar, milk, bananas and vanilla.  Add the remaining dry ingredients and whisk until just incorporated.  Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake on 350 for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out (mostly) clean, or with a few crumbs clinging to it.

Blackberry-Corn Mini-Muffins

Hi.

There were several things I could have shared with you today.

And I chose this one.  Because these little baby muffins are awesome.


I know.  They don't sound that great.  But there's nothing that I can say besides your ears don't know everything.

These little babies have a big, flat, juicy blackberry in each one.  It's like jam built right into your corn muffin.

It's as simple as simple gets.

Wet ingredients.

Dry ingredients.

Incorporate.

Fold in the blackberries.

Scoop into a mini-muffin pan.  You should get one blackberry per muffin.

They should hold a little sign: Just add butter.


I served these with White Chili.  But they would be great with regular chili, breakfast, or pretty much anything you feel like.


Blackberry-Corn Mini-Muffins
Adapted from Foster's Market

3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
6 T milk
6 T oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz. (about a cup) of fresh blackberries (frozen would work too)

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt.  In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, oil and vanilla.

Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, whisking to combine.  Use a spatula to carefully incorporate the blackberries.

Scoop the batter into a mini-muffin tin, filling the cups about 3/4 full.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-11 minutes.  Serve immediately with butter.

White Chicken Chili

The title of this recipe has a misplaced modifier.  Or is it a displaced modifier.

Whatever.

The point is that the chili is white.  As well as the chicken.  Because chicken is always white, so that's a given.




But chili is not usually white.  Unless it's made with white chicken and white beans.

Which makes it white.

Like this.

Maybe someday I'll stop posting recipes for soup.

But not anytime soon.

Because I'm obsessed with soup right now.

Just wait until I show you what I served with this soup.

I'll show you that tomorrow.

It was even better than the soup.

And the soup was delicious.

White Chicken Chili


1 T olive oil
2 sweet onions, diced
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
2 7 oz. cans chopped green chilies

2 T cumin
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 lb. dried navy beans, soaked in water overnight, drained and then rinsed

7 cups chicken stock
4 cups chopped chicken, cooked (about 4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts)
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, minced
Additional shredded Monterey Jack cheese, for topping the soup
Lots of sour cream

Saute the onions in the olive oil in a large pot for about 10 minutes, until they soften.  Add the garlic and cook another couple minutes.  Add the green chilies, cumin and white pepper.  Stir well.  Add the drained beans and the chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 hours over medium-low heat, stirring frequently.

At this point, I like to add frozen boneless chicken breasts and cook them in the soup.  When they are done, I take them out, chop them into small pieces, and return them to the soup.  Add the salt and simmer for another 30 minutes.  Right before serving, stir in the cilantro and one cup of Monterey Jack.

Serve with additional shredded Jack and sour cream on top.