Recipe: One Bowl Brownies

This is a true one bowl recipe if you start off with a large enough bowl. By using a 9x9 pan a thick brownie (almost and inch think) is made and its delicious.

4 squares Baker's unsweetened baking chocolates, broken in half
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
~ 1cup add-ins like chocolate chips or nuts (optional)

In a medium microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate squares and butter until the butter is melted. stir until the chocolate melts as well. Add in sugar then eggs and vanilla, combining well. Add flour and add-ins. spread in to a 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Baked Bacon

It's almost the weekend which means there will hopefully be time to make a yummy breakfast, with bacon! Bacon is delicious but frying it can be messy and painful when it sends grease flying out of the pan and on to your arms. I decided to look in to baking bacon to save myself from the bacon popping and it has become my favorite type of bacon. It turns out firm and crunchy without crumbling and burnt like fried crispy bacon. Yet it's soft without being chewy like fried chewy bacon. It's also really easy to do and allows you to work on the rest of the meal.

Spread out bacon onto a foil boat on a baking sheet on layer thick. Place bacon into cold oven and turn on the oven to 400. Bake for 20-25 minutes starting from the time you begin heating the oven. The bacon should be crisp when done. Move on to paper towel plate to remove excess grease and enjoy. Throw away foil and grease once cooled. The pan may have to be lightly washed as well.

Notes:
When looking up how to bake bacon I found a site saying to use parchment paper. You can use it but it will be a lot messier because it seeps through and it's not easy to contain the grease.

Ice Cream Cake: Chocolate and Mint Chocolate Chip

I'm a baker and part of my gift to my boyfriend is a cake, his birthday has long since past but now to tell you how I made his cake. I decided to try my hand at making an ice cream cake for him and even though I though, more than once, that I had failed it ended up fantastic! I will be making more of these in the future hopefully with more variations and I'll be able to help you make them successfully as well



German Chocolate Cake:
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plus 3 tbsp butter, softened
2 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Ice cream- I used mint chocolate chip

Stir together cocoa powder and water into a small bowl until smooth then set aside. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. While in a large bowl beat butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Stir in the vanilla extract. Then alternate adding the cocoa and buttermilk and flour. Pour in to two 9 inch spring form pans with lined and greases bottom and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
Allow to cool completely, refrigerating to speed up the process. Once cooled loosen from pans and  scoop softened ice cream on top of one cake and smooth, keeping it in the pan. Place the second cake on top and re freeze.
For frosting I used the ganache recipe from a previous post. The ice cream provided a sweet flavor contrast  against the rich ganache. The trick is to pour and spread quickly so the warm ganache doesn't melt the ice cream and it can go into the freezer again sooner.

New Year, Happy 2015

Happy New Year's everyone!
Hope 2014 went well for you all and that 2015 will be great as well.
I actually made resolutions this year, if you can call them that, and I want some help with them. I found a link on Pinterest for things to try in the new year relating too cooking and I thought this is perfect for me.  While I may have been in the kitchen for years I mostly know the basics and would like you to suggest some for me to try.
Expect a year with more posts, new ingredients (at least to me), and other tricks.
Happy 2015!