Chocolate Mousse Cups

No drooling on the screen please.

I know I had you at Chocolate, right?  Don’t worry too much about the calories on this one, you will earn them.  Yes, I know it is me saying it, and I promised to make you chubby so I don’t have to diet quite so hard….but this time, I mean it.  This recipe dirties an incredible amount of dishes.  It is also quite whisky…but worth it (sorry, I couldn’t resist).  I felt like a genius after making these, until I tried to transport them.  They do not travel well.  One corner turned and they became an ugly pile of rich chocolate deliciousness that I needed photographic evidence to prove myself with.  In the future, I will make them at home and gorge myself on them before the dirty dish guilt kicks in.  For the cups, I cheated because I ran out of dishes, and just bought Athens Mini Fillo Shells  (I swear I included the link so you know I know how to spell).  I also used whipped cream out of a can, don’t judge me.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons coffee (if you hate coffee, use liqueur or water)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 large, room temperature eggs, yolks and whites separated
• 3 additional tablespoons of coffee (or water)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup additional sugar (are you beginning to see where all of the dishes are coming from?)
• 1/2 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 ounce chocolate for grating

Directions:

1. Heat a couple of inches of water in a saucepan just until bubbles start forming on the bottom of the pan.  In a heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate, butter, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of coffee (or substitute).  Please bowl in hot water, turning down the temperature to keep the water from boiling.  Stir until the chocolate is melted.  Remove from heat.
2. In another heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks, 3 tablespoons coffee (or water) and 3 tablespoons sugar until completely combined.  Please bowl in hot water and whisk constantly until mixture is thick and puffy.  Remove and whisk into chocolate combination.  Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. Pull out the stand mixer.  Beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.  Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar.  Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form.
4. Add 1/4 of the egg white mixture to the chocolate mixture to lighten it.  Fold in the remaining egg white mixture into chocolate until completely combined.
5. In another bowl, or after you wash the last bowl (sigh), beat heavy cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  Or, it someone bought you an over-sized stand mixer (like me), just whisk like mad.  It actually took less time to whisk the cream to soft peaks.  You just need to keep the bowl fairly cold.
6. Thoroughly fold the cream into the chocolate.
7. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  Add whipped cream, chocolate shavings and phyllo dough and enjoy!

Brownies to Cure All Ills

So the other weekend I stopped at the laundromat and put my clothes in the washing machine.  I then went to my office and worked for a few hours.  I then returned to the laundromat and discovered that my clothes were not in the washing machine that I placed them into.  WHAT!?!  Why wouldn’t my clothes be in the washing machine?  Not once have I walked in and found all of the washing machines in use, so where the hell were my clothes?  I went to a few of the other front loading machines to see if someone decided to relocate my clothing, no such luck.  I was about to go down the next aisle of machines…yeah, that is right, in my head someone not only relocated my laundry, but carried it to another row.  The only other person in the place smiled nicely at the lunatic racing around trying to find her clean clothing.  I turned the corner and saw that someone must have really needed my machine and took my clothes out of it and put them in a basket-cart thingy.  Ooookay, I can live with that, I think.  A little disturbing that a stranger touched my underwear, but I might be able to get over it.  Thinking the situation back to normal, I started throwing my clothes into a dryer.  I noticed that the load seemed a little light, and that my favorite jeans were missing.  The situation was not normal, it was quickly turning into one of those nightmares that you wake up from and find yourself in a new nightmare.  I tried talking rationally to myself, but it wasn’t easy.  I have an irrational fear of the laundromat to begin with.  In my head, it always turns into a Criminal Minds episode, and not one where I fall into Shemar Moore’s arms either.  This wasn’t quite that bad, but I really do love those jeans.  I cast about the room looking for my missing pants.  Luckily, the nice smiling lady had moved to the restroom, so there were no witnesses to my madness.  I thought that the stranger who touched my underwear may have used two basket-carts so I went to that side of the room…no such luck.  As I was passing the chair that held the coat of the nice smiley lady, I happened to look down and saw a grocery bag with some clothes in it.  Normally, I would be loath to touch the belongings of a stranger, but I really love those jeans and there was a pair of jeans in the bag that seemed very similar in color to mine.  This was not a coincidence, as I found not only my jeans, but my Badger t-shirt and a pair of my gray slacks.  I stole my clothes back and threw them in the dryer.  I then realized that when the nice smiling lady came out of the bathroom she was going to know that I knew that she stole my clothes.  Not wanting her to then shank me, I left, but stayed in my car to watch my dryer in case the clothes thief acted again.  Not sure how I was going to bust her ass, but luckily she did not attempt to re-offend.  I cannot tell you how much this incident has worked its way into my, admittedly, already damaged psyche.

Short story made long, some moments in life require the ultimate comfort food…in my mind brownies.  These are not just any brownies, these are my “Barry White Brownies”.  Called thus because they are deep, rich and chocolatey..plus after eating one you want to have a cigarette and tell me how amazing I am.  They are almost as quick and easy as a box mix, so even if your hands are shaking from bravely confronting the laundromat, you should be able to whip them right up.  Please feel free to comment and let me know what crisis these brownies would comfort you from!

Barry White Brownies

Ingredients:

• ½ teaspoons strong coffee
• 5 ounces (about 10 tablespoons) of unsalted butter
• 10 ounces (about 1 ¼ cup) sugar
• 3 ounces (just over ¾ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 ½ ounces (about ½ cup) all-purpose flour
• ½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips-I like to use Ghiradelli

 

Directions:

1. Position rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 325° F.  Line a 9×9 inch pan with aluminum foil and butter the foil (you could also use parchment paper).
2.  Brew a pot, if you like to drink it, or a small amount of strong coffee.  If you don’t have a brewer, making a small amount of strong instant coffee will do.
3. Add the butter, cocoa powder, sugar and salt to a medium sized microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for one minute, stir.  If not completely melted, continue microwaving for 30 second intervals stirring in between, until thoroughly mixed.  The mixture will not be smooth, but grainy.
4. Set aside for a few minutes if necessary until it is warm, but not hot, to the touch.  This will prevent the eggs from cooking when you add them.
5. By hand, stir in the vanilla and the coffee.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one.
7. Once the eggs have been completely incorporated, and the mixture looks shiny and thick, add the flour until mixed completely.  Beat vigorously for another 35 strokes.  Add the chocolate chips and stir until they are evenly mixed into the batter.
8. Spread the brownie batter evenly in the lined pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
9. Let cool completely on the rack before cutting.  Your best bet is to lift out the brownies using the foil and put on a cutting board.
10. Enjoy

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, From Stress to Bliss

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I may have mentioned that I bake more when I get stressed out.  Stress baking adds fewer pounds than stress eating.  It can actually make you look thinner, as you feed the results to those around you.  I fear I am getting too predictable, because when I announce that I am making a cheesecake, my mom starts saying poor baby and feeling bad for me.  She even told my son to go easy on me, all without me complaining or moping about a thing.  Maybe I should try baking these on good days…Today wasn’t a good day though and so I dove into the joy of making a fluffy, silken, fat-laden delight.  As much time as cheesecakes take, and they are a black hole of time, I love making them.  Each step is fairly simple, and the results are so out-of-this world in relation to the effort.   Besides, the time spent is worth it when you consider how therapeutic it is to crush all of those graham cracker crumbs (I use the flat part of my meat tenderizer-works great on bad days).  Not to mention slitting the vanilla bean open and scraping with the back of your knife and whipping the cream.  Perfect way to get any violence out of your system says I.  The next day you get to practice your evil laugh as all of those guinea pigs (also known as coworkers) eat their way through all of those calories.

Even if you can’t resist the cheesecake yourself, it is worthwhile.  This recipe has it all, the sweet warmth of vanilla and the luscious comfort of chocolate.  From stress to bliss.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:

16 ounces low-fat cream cheese

16 ounce cream cheese

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Mousse Topping

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

4 ounces low-fat cream cheese

1 cup dark chocolate wafers, melted

Directions:

For the crust:

• After crushing the graham crackers, mix all of the crust ingredients together.
• Press onto the bottom and sides of a 9″ springform pan.
• Chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator

For the filling:

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• In a stand mixer, beat cream cheese on low speed with the  sugar and the vanilla seeds until just combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract. Slowly mix in cream until smooth.
• Pour batter into pan and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until lightly golden and slightly jiggly in the center.  Start checking after 65 minutes.
• Turn the oven off, open the door and allow the cheesecake to cool for 15-30 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool for an hour.

For the Chocolate Mousse:

• In a cold mixing bowl beat cream until soft peaks form.  Gradually add powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Put this in a bowl  in the refrigerator.
• In a small bowl melt chocolate wafers.  Let them cool then beat them into the cream cheese until thoroughly mixed.  It is very important that these not be too warm, as the next step will mess up the whipped cream if the chocolate mix isn’t cooled enough.
• Remove the whipped cream mix from the refrigerator and beat the chocolate mix into it slowly.
• Top the cheese cake with the mousse and refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy!

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Chocolate Chip Muffins are Healthy, Right?

The inspiration behind choosing this recipe is, quite frankly, PMS.  Not mine, for those of you screaming TMI!  A dear friend (who shall remain nameless) was having this issue and more.  I only know one solution to any problem and that is to throw calories at it until it stops or dies of a heart attack-which is the same thing.  Not wanting my dear friend to die of a heart attack, I did make one substitution to the recipe.  The original appears below, I took out the sour cream and replaced it with non-fat, unflavored yogurt.  I apologize for any of you who are a literal as I am and do not possess a scale.  The recipe came from a book called Comfort Food by Parragon Publishing.  While I love the recipes, my brain runs in circles at directions like scant and generous…I mean come on, I am generous but how generous should I be?  Oprah generous?  I also ended up with 16 muffins rather than 12 which always worries me.  On the positive side, this recipe called upon me to purchase superfine sugar.  No recipe has every requested that before.  Every time I see the name I picture a 1970’s disco theme, and a deep voice saying “Superfine”.  Either way, the recipe was nice, the muffins are not healthy, but there is plenty of bran in the world for those of you who want that sort of thing.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 oz butter, softened
• Scant 2/3 cup superfine sugar
• Scant 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 5 tablespoons milk (whole)
• Generous 1  3/4 cup four
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• Generous 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper muffin cups.
• Put the butter, superfine sugar, and brown sugar into a bowl and beat well.
• Beat in the eggs, cream, and milk until thoroughly mixed.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, and unsweetened cocoa into a separate bowl and stir into the mixture.
• Add the chocolate chips and mix well.
• Spoon the batter into the paper cups.  Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  Turn out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.  Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!