Easy Microwave Brownies and a Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!  It’s, by far, my favorite holiday, and with good reason – it revolves around sweets!! Even though I’m 21, I trick-or-treated dressed up as a 17th Century Italian commedia dell’arte “Truffaldino” complete with a masquerade mask and crazy gilded jacket (and tights of course.) Dressed up like that, I looked no more than 15, and easily got away with grabbing candy that should have gone to the youngsters.

Of course, the candy wasn’t enough for me, so I decided to make the Treasury of Home Baking’s Easy Microwave Brownies.  What’s great about the book is the balance between recipes like this, and those that are quite sophisticated and take some time to make.  Regardless, these are perfect for the student trapped in a freshman dorm room with nothing more than a microwave and a refrigerator for holding eggs.  As for equipment, two medium-sized bowls, a spoon, and a microwavable baking dish are all that you’ll need.  Here’s the recipe:

Easy Microwave Brownies:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Here’s how you do it:

1) Lightly grease 8×8-inch microwaveable baking pan. (I didn’t have one so I used a casserole dish of similar size.  Worked out just fine.)

2) Combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla in large bowl. (By the way, if you happen to have two egg yolks at your disposal, substitute them for one egg – I did it and it came out great.)

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. (Here’s your opportunity to add any seasonings you might want.  I’d suggest cayenne pepper and cinnamon for a spicy Halloween.)

 Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; blend well.  Spread batter in prepared pan.

3) Microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) 3 minutes. Here’s what it looks like:

Still very soft with only a few baked spots.

 Rotate pan 1/2 turn; microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH 3 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan and surface has no wet spots. (If brownies are not done, rotate pan 1/4 turn and continue to microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH, checking for doneness at 30-second intervals.)  Let brownies stand 20 minutes.  When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into squares.

Done after several 30-second turns. Can you spot the face??!

Considering this is for Halloween, it’s pretty creepy! It came out just the way I like my brownies – thin, chewy, and extremely dark from the cocoa powder.  You’ll notice I didn’t top it with powdered sugar, but try cutting out a seasonal stencil and then dusting – you’ll be left with a pretty design.  Have a Happy Halloween and drive safely.

Favorite Brand Name Easy to Bake Cookbook’s Coconut Clouds

There are a few things you should know about me.

1) I never use cake mix unless there is a dire need for it and will facilitate my grades.

2) I avoid brand names.  To me, white label or not, it’s all the same.

Behold the cake mix. Notice how it's America's Choice.

However.

I cannot deny the enticing qualities of this book’s Coconut Clouds. They’re made with your standard boxed yellow cake mix, and only require a few extra ingredients to come out soft and mushy with a crispy outer shell. There is a strong almond taste due to the extract, but the warm coconut flavor really shines.

The other recipes in the book range from scratch recipes to things of the more college-oriented variety .  The cookie section, as you can already tell, has some of the more interesting recipes.

 On with the recipe:

2 2/3 cups flaked coconut, divided
1 package DUNCAN HINES Moist Deluxe Classic Yellow Cake Mix
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract

Procedure:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Reserve 1 1/3 cups coconut in medium bowl.  Set aside.

All of the ingredients, together in harmony.

 2) Combine cake mix, egg, oil, water and almond extract in large bowl.  Beat at low speed with electric mixer. 

Work that in there. I used a combo of unsweetened and sweetened coconut.

3) Stir in remaining 1 1/3 cups reserved coconut. 

It's like a pee-colored, coconut-flavored snowball!

4)Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into reserved coconut. Roll to cover lightly. 

Be sure to place them far apart because they WILL spread like cream cheese on a bagel.

5)Place on ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, placing balls 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on baking sheets. Remove to cooling racks.  Cool completely. Store in airtight container.

I'm dreaming on coconut clouds...

  Makes 3.5 dozen cookies.  Buy the book here at the Kollege Kitchen Amazon Webstore!

 

Ghoulish Goodies’ Cup of Worms for Halloween

While Christmas is my favorite materially-based holiday, the winner might just be Halloween for its aura, meaning, and overall sense of fun and anarchy.

As a result, I’ve been busily scrounging the depths of every holiday cookbook to find cool recipes that evoke the spirit of Hallowe’en.  This recipe – Cup O’ Worms – is by far the easiest and creepiest, and it’s from The Ghoulish Goodies cookbook by Sharon Bowers.  Perfect for the poor college student who has no oven and only some milk, a spoon, and bowls at their disposal. 

Here’s the recipe.  It serves 8 normal people (and 4 people like me.)

Ingredients:

2 3.5 oz boxes instant chocolate pudding mix
4 cups milk
24 chocolate wafers or 12 Oreos
Gummy Worms
Cocoa Powder

Procedure:

1) Prepare the pudding and milk according to the package directions.
2) Place cookies in heavy zip lock bag, and crush with a rolling pin or wine bottle (for you college boozehounds.)
3) Coat worms with cocoa powder (I totally forgot this step.)
4) Layer 2-3 tbsp. of pudding at the bottom of a clear glass. Top with one gummy worm, followed by more pudding, chocolate cookie crumbs, and 3 gummy worms.  Serve.

I decided to mix this really cool recipe up a little. I made both chocolate and pistachio pudding.  I figured the latter could count for sludge, slime, or algae.  I forgot the cocoa powder-ha-and used wine glasses instead of regular ones.   Regardless, this is the kind of recipe that you can manipulate any which way you want, so have fun with it. Maybe you can use vanilla pudding and it can be pus? Happy (early) Halloween my minions!

Mmmm slime and mud.

 

I prefer these but the filling in Oreos could look like maggot bits!

I chose Sour Neon - but take your pic. I'd even suggest those gummies that look like body parts.

I'll take the white wine glass, thanks.

You can buy Ghoulish Goodies by Sharon Bowers here at the Kollege Kitchen webstore!

The Everything College Cookbook’s Easy Brown Betty

Yet again I’ve succumbed to the simplicity of these college recipes. This time around it’s the “Easy Brown Betty for Late-Night Snacking,” and it’s delicious despite my general disinterest in apples. So much so that I ate half of an 8 inch square pan…that’s 32 square inches of applesauce, butter and graham crackers….heh.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup applesauce
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
4 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice
3/8 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/3 cup butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs

Procedure:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8″x8″ baking pan.
2) Combine the applesauce, granulated sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, 1/8 tsp. of the cinnamon and ground ginger. Set aside.
3) Melt the butter. Toss the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter.
4) Press the graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the prepared pan.  Spread the applesauce mixture along the top.  Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon on top.
5) Cover with aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes, to lightly brown the applesauce.  Let cool on a rack.  Cut into squares.  Serve warm as is, or topped with ice cream or whipping cream.

(Serves 4-6)

Here’s how I did it:

Consolidate equipment by crushing the crumbs right in the pan.

I find crushing the crackers in a ziplock pan with a rolling pin works best – and is a great stress-reliever.

Melt the butter in the microwave.

Graham cracker crust, pressed.

I would mix the butter and crumbs in the pan – just do it with your hands. It’s so much quicker and easier.

Applesauce - stir together with the tablespoon used for the spices - less mess.

Ready to be baked...

Going into the oven!!!

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The result is a plain, slightly moreish looking little slice that somehow possesses a firm filling of applesauce.

Look at that beauty...don't bother using a fork!

I need more suggestions for desserts that make apples taste good. What do you think?

The Everything College Cookbook’s Chocolate Mousse for 1

Hello fellow dessert-o-philes. First off – welcome to the blog. It is here where I will be sharing you everything and anything having to deal with sugar, from easy desserts to three-hour productions…awesome New York bakeries to international sweet oddities. 

Have your toothbrushes and Trident gum ready, because this blog will inevitably cause you cavities.  

And now for my first blog recipe…ever.

I can assert that I adore a well-made chocolate mousse. It should be intense, ethereal, but rich and completely overwhelming.

This recipe sort of achieves  that.

It has four ingredients and takes – I counted – 2 minutes to make. Throw it in the refrigerator, have dinner, and it’ll be waiting for you, creamy and thick, to devour it.

Here’s how it works:

1) Pour a half cup of heavy cream into a blender.

Mmm...35% butterfat...

2) Add 2 tbsp. each of unsweetened cocoa powder…

This is Valrhona but don't be afraid to use Hershey's!

 3) 2 tbsp. of confectioner’s sugar…

Did you know confectioner's sugar has cornstarch in it?

4) And 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract to the heavy cream.

This brand is significantly cheaper than McCormick's...

5) Put the lid on the blender, and blend until the mixture thickens (which will take an extremely short amount of time so don’t get comfortable with your finger on that button.)

Look at it go!

6) And you’re done! Simple as that. Chocolate mousse in less time than it takes to brush your teeth! Now just throw it in the fridge (or the freezer for an ice cream-like consistency) and indulge.

Om.

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