Small batch chocolate cupcakes

http://celebratingsweets.com/small-batch-chocolate-cupcakes/
Small batch chocolate cupcakes

This recipe was perfect for our family of four. It made 6 cupcakes, but they needed 20 minutes to bake since they got so big. I did heaping 1/4 cup of cocoa, so much it was probably a 1/3 cup. Also I made this gluten free by measuring 70 grams of gf flour--about 1/2 millet and 1/2 all purpose aldi mix (which is a lighter mix). I added 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum also. (140 grams of flour per cup as was my basis for conversion to gf).

I did not try the frosting recipe as I had some leftover cream cheese frosting in the freezer that I used. I love how there is not an enormous cake leftover, only 2 cupcakes that we can split for dessert the next night.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Chocolate Chips

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Chocolate Chips
Magnolia Bakery cookbook p75

I made this for David's birthday. It was a nice cake, but it seemed like something you would be served with tea at Miss Bates house. I would bring it to a party but probably not make for a birthday again. It could be easily eaten without a fork, was very breadlike.

Chocolate Cake

https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=184&name=HERSHEY%27S-PERFECTLY-CHOCOLATE-Chocolate-Cake
Chocolate Cake

I made this and the frosting for David's birthday. I added a drained can of tart cherries too. I wasn't able to eat any of it, but everyone seemed to like it well enough.

Sugar Free Nutella

https://iquitsugar.com/recipe/sugar-free-nut-ella/

Sugar Free Nutella

This turned out great. I would make only half next time. The full recipe makes over 1.5 cups. I used dry roasted unsalted hazelnuts from trader joes, and the skins were mostly gone so there was no need to roast and remove skin. We ate it on crepes.

Note: the link is different from the book which is where I made it the first time. The ingredients on the website are correct except it should be 1/3 cup brown rice syrup. Using only 1 T is not enough. You need more to counter the bitterness of the nuts.

No-Cook Chocolate Pudding

No-Cook Chocolate Pudding, p 268 Meals Made Simple.

This is good if you have a long chill time. It is good pudding after 6 hrs, but if you have overnight or more then it is a quite thick and more mousse or cheesecake like, which I like a lot. This does taste like chia seeds though. I weighed medjool dates and it took 6 of them to equal the weight needed for the recipe.

Chocolate Cake with Frosting / gluten free & refined sugar free

http://blog.kitchentherapy.us/2010/03/beautiful-gorgeous-awesome-gluten-free-100-oat-flour-chocolate-cake/

This was  good, but a little short. I think it wasn't enough batter for a 9 inch pan. I used coconut oil and sucanat in it. It gets very hard if kept in the fridge. Probably because of the coconut oil. But David said he thought it was great as is.

Frosting:
http://simplysugarandglutenfree.com/whipped-cream-cheese-frosting/

I added 4 T baking cocoa powder to this, and probably used double the sweetener. I used honey instead of the agave nectar.

This was a good cake. It was a dark chocolate cake to be sure, and I put fresh raspberries on top and in the layer between. David loved the cake and frosting. These are keepers!

Chococonut Chip Cookies

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chococonut-chip-cookies/

I made this for fat tuesday, trying to get rid of all the chocolate chips and sweetened coconut left in the house. I did it in a bar cookie form. It turned out really well.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

http://mystoryinrecipes.blogspot.com/2013/06/gluten-free-chocolate-cake.html

This was great. I made it for Ila's 2nd birthday cake with unsweetened whipped cream on top. I used fructose instead of sugar so my mother in law could eat it.

I didn't think the gf flour mix smelled bad. It just smelled different. I liked it a lot. The bean flour mix is a nice alternative to other starchy gf mixes.

Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreecookierecipes/r/gfchocolatechips.htm

These worked great. Very rich though.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

http://www.ghirardelli.com/recipes-tips/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookies

This recipe is from the back of the 60% dark choc chip bag. Except it calls for 10 oz of chips, which is how big the bag is. I made this today using whole pecans. David really liked them. He is a fan of dark chocolate likes pecans better than walnuts.

Best Brownies

from the Hershey's 100th anniversary cookbook.

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup hershey's cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Bake at 350. Mix wet ingred first, then add dry. Put in 8x8 or 9x9 greased glass dish for 20-25 minutes. (I use 8x8 and it works great).

Note: I tried making this with 3/4 cup honey instead of sugar and it was totally ruined. It tasted weird and was cakey like I used applesauce instead of butter.
I've also made this gluten free/dairy free by using coconut oil instead of butter and bob's red mill gf flour blend for the flour. It was fantastic. I cooked it 20 minutes and it was at least as good as the original version.

Paleo Chocolate Cake in a mug

Yesterday was chocolate cake for breakfast day, and though we've had it on the calendar for many years have never actually managed to do it. Until yesterday.I made chocolate cake in a mug based on this: http://www.delightedmomma.com/2012/09/3-minute-chocolate-paleo-mug-cake.html

It was good. I halved the honey though, and I'm glad I did. It became drier with time, but was pretty good for a 3 minute paleo cake. It was the right sweetness for morning. Sweet, but not too sweet.

Quick Tiny Chocolate

1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted (or at least softened)
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp honey
a few pecans

Mix all except pecans until smooth, then stir in pecans. Use a very small dish. Put in freezer for 5-10 minutes.

Now you have a quick tiny chocolate.

Measurements are all approximate. I'm sure about the cocoa measurement, but everything else is a guess.

Serves 1!

No Bake Cookies

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/peanut-butter-chocolate-no-bake-cookies-recipe-2015085

These are a favorite of mine. I like to make a 1/4 batch for me and david. It makes about 8 cookies.

Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
http://www.food.com/recipe/worlds-best-chocolate-chip-cookies-26849

This is a better cookie recipe than what I made last week. I would reduce the choc chips to 2 cups though. It made 60 cookies.

Chocolate Chip cookies - one dozen

http://www.dessertfortwo.com/2011/04/1-dozen-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I've never made choc chip cookies much so have never established a favorite recipe. I tried this one yesterday and it wasn't my favorite. I think it is lacking flavor of some kind. I did add 1/3 cup chopped pecans to the dough. So this recipe was ok but I won't repeat it.

Bittersweet Chocolate and Pear Cake

Bittersweet Chocolate and Pear Cake
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/bittersweet-chocolate-and-pear-cake/

This was so good. I did just what the recipe said, except I used a cake pan instead of a springform pan. I'm not sure if browning the butter really makes a difference, but I did it anyway. The butter bubbled for a while, but then quieted down and I thought maybe it needed higher heat. But within a couple minutes the butter had turned brown suddenly. So make sure to watch it the whole time so it doesn't burn during the bubbling phase (you'll need to push it around the pot to prevent that) or get too brown. It really did smell a bit nutty when it was browned. I used extra dark chocolate chips that was 63% chocolate. David and I really liked it.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-14478

This was a great cake, very dense and rich. And dark. Definitely dark. I put in just over 1/2 cup sugar, and it was plenty sweet. Next time I'll try with 1/2 cup honey instead.

I whipped some cream to go on top (added a very tiny amount of sugar, like a tsp) and that went really well with the dish.

Chocolate Almond Cake

I first made this with a friend out of a dessert cookbook she had. It was so good I copied it down.

Cake:

12 oz unsalted butter

1 pound almond paste

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

8 large eggs

Mix ingredients one at a time. The ingredients mix easier at room temperature. Make sure the butter and paste are smooth before adding more ingredients. A stand mixer makes this super easy.

Grease and flour a large baking sheet (17x12x1 in.). Put parchment on the bottom of the sheet so it is close to the edges but doesn't go up the side. Pour in cake batter and distribute.

Bake 25 min @ 350 F and let cool 10 min.

Now it gets complicated, and I usually skip the rest of the instructions.

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Cut cake using round cookie cutter into as many rounds as possible.

Melt 4 oz 82% extra dark chocolate and brush top of cakes with it. Then stack each cake round in sets of two.

Melt together:

12 T (6 oz) unsalted butter, cut in cubes

8 oz 70% bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Drizzle melted mixture over stacked cakes and serve.

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The original recipe serves at least 8 people. I like to halve the cake recipe and put it in an 8x8 in. glass dish. It needs longer to bake, at least 10 min. longer (so 35 minutes total and maybe more). The center should not jiggle and toothpick comes out clean when it is done baking.

Instead of bothering with the complicated stuff that comes after the cake part, I just chop up some bittersweet chocolate and sprinkle over the top (while the cake is still hot). Or, I might take the brick of chocolate and smear it over the top of the cake in a single layer of chocolate. The end result is the same.

Chocolate Waffles

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/chocolate-waffle-recipe/index.html

Since January 27th is the annual eat chocolate cake for breakfast holiday, DH and I ate chocolate waffles for our observance of this day. The recipe was good, but I used regular milk instead of buttermilk (because that's all I had, unfortunately) and chopped up bittersweet guittard pieces (unevenly chopped, I might add) instead of choc chips.

The lack of buttermilk was lamentable, because it could have been so much better. As it was, the batter was way too runny and the choc chunks weren't well distributed due to the uneven sizes.