Arbuz's Kitchen

 photo by http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com

original recipe: http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/the-best-brownies-aka-chocolate-chewy-wonders

Ingredients:

Instructions:

- Kick the tires and light the fires to 350 degrees.

- I divided the chocolate chips into 2 portions, 2/3 of a cup and 1/3 of a cup.

For the white chocolate ganache, you need one bag of white chocolate chips and 1 cup of heavy cream. White chocolate did not seem to create the same heavy ganache that my dark chocolate ganache did, but I had mitigating circumstances on this baking project as well, interfering with my creating! I am going to try this with 3/4 cup of cream soon and see what the results are, but for now, this made an amazing tasting whipped ganache topping, so I will leave as is.

You should start the ganache first since it needs to cool, so combine the cream and chocolate in a pot and start on the stove on low heat. When the chips are melted, crank the heat slightly to medium, and continuously stir and heat it up for about 20 minutes. White chocolate is notorious for burning easily, so keep stirring!

Mine might not have turned out perfectly due to the fact that:

a) it was 9:30 at night and I had just got home from work

b) said work called desperate for someone to work the midnight shift that night * my mind keeps replaying the fateful moment when I stupidly picked up the phone *

c) in all the wrangling of figuring out how I was going to work that midnight shift, I lost track of how long I cooked the ganache

d) I had to throw it mercilessly into the fridge and speed into work and it sat there until 7 am, no stirring, nuttin.

Now for the brownies. Melt the butter in a pot, remove from the heat and stir in the white sugar.

Once that is combined, mix in your cocoa.

Add in your eggs. If you are using chocolate chips instead of chocolate chunks, you can mix in the 2/3 of a cup after the eggs are thoroughly combined into the mix.

Once all that is mixed very, very well, add in your flour and barely stir it in. Just barely. I read somewhere that stirring the flour mixture creates gluten, which in turn creates the cakey texture I don’t like for brownies. So in theory, the less your stir, the less gluten and then chewy brownies here we come!

Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper, or grease it, but parchment works the best. I am going to attempt this recipe in a 9×9 one day to see if you can make thick chewy brownies. For now, let’s leave it as is because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

I used chocolate chunks, which I placed on top of the batter. They are so heavy that they sink right into it. Bake at 350 for 15- 20 minutes, until the brownies pull away from the edges slightly.

This is why I use the chunks, they sink in right to the top level of the brownies. Cool the brownies and then we will frost them!

Now, I took my ganache and whipped it, since it wasn’t as hard as I wanted it to be. This turned out fantastic and went on the brownies soooo easily! If you want hardened ganache, just spread it on once it’s cooled, but not completely hardened.

To make the pretty chocolate doodles on top, I cut the brownies and placed them on the tray I was taking them on. My poor ladies at work finally got good brownies instead of the cakey ones I took in. Don’t feel too sorry for them, they love being my guinea pigs.

I put in the 1/3 cup of chocolate chips that I had quickly melted in the microwave, about 15 seconds at a time, stirring then re-starting the microwave again. Then I placed in a plastic icing bag and tip.

Then I just put pretty wavy lines on the top, which then hardened, so you have a crunchy little topping on top of a whipped ganache and a chewy brownie. These were absolutely heavenly!

Ingredients:

Cake:

*To make this healthier, you can reduce the sugars to 3/4 cup each and the butter to 1 cup. The cake won’t be quite as moist as it should be, but will still taste good.

Cream Cheese Glaze:

Instructions:

Ingredients:

FOR THE CAKES:

FOR ASSEMBLING:

FOR THE MERINGUE:

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the cakes: Sift 1 1/3 cups sugar, the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Combine oil, water, and vanilla.

- Whisk egg yolks with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and thick, about 5 minutes. With machine running, slowly pour oil mixture into yolks, and then add sugar mixture.

- In a clean mixer bowl, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed, gradually adding remaining 2/3 cup sugar, until medium-stiff peaks form. Mix one-third of the whites into cake batter, then gently fold in remaining whites.

- Divide batter between two 12-by-17-inch parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets, and spread evenly using an offset spatula. Bake until cakes are set and spring back when touched, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool.

- Assemble the baked Alaska: Coat six 11-ounce bowls or ramekins with cooking spray; line with plastic wrap, leaving an overhang. Cut out 6 cake circles to fit in bottoms of bowls (we used a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter), and place one in each bowl. Top each with 1/3 cup chocolate ice cream, smoothing surface. Cut out 6 cake circles to fit on top of ice cream (we used a 3 1/2-inch round cookie cutter), and place on ice cream. Freeze until set, about 30 minutes.

- Top each cake with 1/3 cup ice cream, smoothing surface. Cut out 6 cake circles to fit on top of ice cream (we used a 4-inch round cookie cutter), and place on ice cream. (This should fit just at the top of the bowl.) Cover assembled cakes with plastic wrap overhang, and freeze for at least 4 hours.

- To remove from bowls, open plastic wrap, flip cakes onto a baking sheet, and remove plastic wrap. Freeze cakes while making meringue.

- Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Make the meringue: Heat egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water, whisking often, until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch, about 2 minutes. Transfer bowl to mixer, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 10 minutes.

- Cover each assembled cake with 1 cup meringue. Bake until meringue is browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Alternatively, hold a small handheld kitchen torch at a 90-degree angle 3 to 4 inches from surface of meringue. Move flame back and forth until browned and caramelized.

 photo by http://www.gfreefoodie.com

original recipe: http://www.gfreefoodie.com/recipes/detail/514/

Ingredients:

14 oz. good quality White Chocolate (you may use Dairy Free White Chocolate, but follow the manufacturer's directions for melting rather than ours)

2 oz. pistachios, lightly toasted*

2 oz. macadamia nuts*

6 oz. multi colored marshmallows

3 oz. fruit flavored, multi colored jelly candies

3 oz. dried cranberries

Instructions:

Line the base and sides of an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 baking pan with wax paper and set aside.

Roughly chop macadamias, marshmallows and candy and place in a glass or stainless steel bowl. Add the toasted pistachios and cranberries and mix gently.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for approximately 45 – 50 seconds, then stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds then stir again. Repeat the process if necessary, until all the chocolate is evenly melted and has reached a relatively thin consistency.

Pour the melted chocolate over the fruit, nut and candy mixture and mix well to ensure all pieces are thoroughly covered in chocolate.

Pour into the prepared pan and then level with a spatula.

Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours (preferably overnight), then remove from the fridge, place on a cutting board (the paper will be very easy to peel off) and cut into your desired shapes and sizes. This will keep very well for at least two weeks, though it will soften slightly at warm room temperature.

*If you require a longer shelf life for your rocky road or want to make this nut free, replace the nuts with different types of dried fruit or candy.