Are the Brownies Done?

Now that I am back living in the land of cheap ($.99) brownie mixes (on sale, anyway), being able to tell when the brownies are done properly has become a rather important skill. Really!

The first batches of brownies I made were...really pretty raw. I'd leave them out on the counter to dry them out before finishing them. They lasted forever.

Then there was the batch I overcooked. What a sad way to DESTROY chocolate!

Mixes say to not over bake!!! To check the appearance of the top of the brownie. But, I FINALLY found a mix that lets me use...

A TOOTHPICK

to determine doneness. This is WONDERFUL for me!

The mix said that when the toothpick comes back mostly clean when stuck in two inches away from the edge, the brownies are done. AND THEY ARE! Perfectly! Yeah Betty Crocker!!!

Fudge - Five Minute!

I have wanted to make fudge for years and years and years. But, I was too cheap to buy sweetened condensed milk in Japan and had no idea where to find marshmallow fluff. And I certainly do NOT put REAL fudge in the "Kantan" (easy) category.

Then, a few weeks ago our neighbor had a box of canned things they didn't need and asked if we could use. Yep! There were a few cans of evaporated milk (non-sweetened). Now my mother and grandmother always use/d this, but I rarely if ever buy it. But, for some wonderful reason I looked at the label. There was this 5 Minute Fudge recipe that DIDN'T call for sweetened condensed milk nor marshmallow fluff! If I'd have had this recipe in Japan...I just might have made it - I wonder if you can use milk for the condensed milk? Hmmm.

Five Minute Fudge

2 Tbsp. butter
2/3 cups undiluted Evaporated Milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine above ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Bring to a full boil. Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in the following ingredients:

2 cups (4 oz) miniature marshmallows (or cut up a bunch of bigger ones?)
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Stir vigorously for 1 minute (until marshmallows melt and blend). Pour into a buttered 8-inch square pan. Cool and cut into squares.

It was simply heavenly!

Note: I tried to make vanilla fudge for Ryu using this recipe and substituting vanilla white chocolate chips. Hmmm. I don't like white chocolate, but even so, it turned out quite a bit softer than the "real" chocolate fudge.

Easy Chocolate Cake

After failing to make "Never Fail Chocolate Cake" in Jr. High, making cake from "scratch" was never appealing. So, while living in Japan, I only made "that kind" of cake when I had shelled out $5 for a cake mix or brought one home from the US. Even then, I got out my kitchen scale (oh how I wish I had brought THAT with me here!) and halved the cake mix so I could make two desserts with it. Sometimes a single layer cake and sometimes a batch of cookies. YUM.

Well, a year or so ago, some readers and I discussed the "perfect" cookie. In the midst of that discussion, I got some good cookie advice from a new friend AND a question about a recipe for a GOOD "from scratch" cake recipe. I ran from THAT question as fast as I could.

Then, a friend here let me taste her scratch cake recipe. She used it while she was a missionary in Mongolia! It was good. I wrote it down. I lost it. I looked for something kind of like it in an old "potluck" cookbook that my Grandma Esther gave me in 1992. And I found something that I had the ingredients for. Of course, I took SOME liberty and changed a few things, but...it was BETTER than the cake mixes I can now buy for under $1 each! Lots better! AND, I know what's in it! AND, it doesn't take 3 eggs like most cake mixes seem to these days. It actually doesn't take ANY eggs. So, here it is!

Easy Chocolate Cake

1 cup sugar
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup sifted flour (no, I don't have a sifter and didn't sift it!)
3 Tbsp. cocoa - I put in a 1/4 cup.

Mix all this up. The recipe says to do this in a square baking pan. But, I like to MIX, so did it in a bowl. Add:

6 Tbsp. oil - I just put in 1/3 cup
1 Tbsp. vinegar - scared Ryu to death
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup cold water

Add and mix it all up.

I added 1/2 cup or more of chocolate chips.

I suggest greasing and flouring your 9X9 or deep round cake pan. I didn't and...things stuck to the bottom. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes. Mine took about 27 minutes.

This recipe was found in "Potluck Potpourri sponsored by Coos County Extension Homemakers Council 1991-1992, and was contributed by Mary Lundy.

"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have already published my "I LOVE YOU" Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I found it while living in Japan and it's small amount worked great for my small oven. But, then I moved back to the US. And all my favorite recipes written on paper...were in a box...somewhere. And the computer was off so it was a pain to find THE recipe. So, I turned to...the back of the chocolate chip bag. How's that for creative? Oh, and I have a full sized oven. Now if I just had another cookie sheet, think how FAST I could make LOTS of cookies!!!

I think that cookies are my favorite food in all the world. Not bar cookies. Individually baked ones. And I love to share them with other people. While I lived in Japan, the "other people" often preferred a less sweet version of whatever I was making and I am no longer a "pack down the brown sugar" gal. I also cheated on butter, I see now. Oh well. But, the audience I bring my cookie offerings to lately are folks who like a little health in their food, but don't want to leave the taste at home. And, it was for them (AND ME) that I was making these cookies.

So, I started with the recipe on the back of the bag, substituted whole wheat flour and...flax seed meal. I read on a blog once about putting flax seed or flax seed meal in chocolate cookies. I was appalled. Why would anyone mess with the Queen of Cookies (aka: Chocolate Chip)? With FLAX SEED? But, as I mentioned, the consumers for this batch of cookies liked some health, so I threw in some.

I would just like to say that I-HAVE-NEVER-TASTED-SUCH-A-GOOD-AND-UN COMPROMISED-CHOCOLATE-CHIP-COOKIE in all my life! Yep. All of it! BTW, the basic recipe is ALSO found on the back of the soda box. Different name, but...same old recipe!

"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream together:

1 cup butter - I would just like to say, to my friends in Japan, I am consuming enough butter AND sour cream for myself and most of you! The scales support me in this. I'm about to check out the yogurt section of my supermarket.
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I NEVER used granulated in Japan - the wet white was fine.)
3/4 cup brown sugar (I never pack it in anymore.)
2 eggs

Add:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal (I'm so sorry, I have no source for this in Japan!)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda

When mixed well, add:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins

Chill the dough for an hour or two. Drop by rounded spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 9 minutes. So yummy!

Milk Chocolate Granola

For some reason, as I was creating granolas of various flavors, I felt that I MUST make a chocolate granola. As usual, I pursued the Internet for recipe ideas.

The first one just added small chunks of chocolate to a regular granola. I tried it. Jun picked all the chocolate pieces out, ate them and declared breakfast to be over! So...that wasn't going to work.

Then I tried a recipe based on unsweetened cocoa powder. It is pretty tough to maintain a balance of enough sugar for the cocoa and not using too much sugar for the granola. So...it didn't pan out either.

Then I thought of the Cinnamon Chip Granola recipe I had come up with and remembered that I had chocolate chips in my fridge. Well, I did then. We finished them off. Sad face.

They were semi-sweet chips. I cut them up, added additional sugar to my basic recipe and used some Hershey's Chocolate syrup a friend who was returning to the States sent me. This recipe (as were all the others), was pronounced GOOD by Jun. But, she likes chocolate. Ryu, my husband, on the other hand was not impressed. And, to be honest, it didn't make me burst out into song either.

So, this past week I decided to try once more. If THIS recipe didn't work - we would be forever Chocolate Granola-less.

And this recipe was eaten three times by Ryu - voluntarily. Jun loved it. We are out and it is Thursday. It's supposed to last till Saturday.

That being said, try it. You might like it. Honestly, I haven't burst into song over it, but I'm humming. If you use a less sweet chocolate, you might want to consider increasing the brown sugar to compensate...or not! Also, you will notice the basic recipe is quite close to my other granolas. It makes small clumps that stand up well in milk, as my friend Abigail noted, but that don't break your teeth, as my Mother noted!

Milk Chocolate Granola

Dry - mix these dry ingredients well in a large bowl

2 cups/180 gm oatmeal (I use old fashioned oats from Costco)
1/2 cup/60 gm whole wheat flour
1/4 cup/20 gm wheat germ
1/4 cup/35 gm crushed all bran cereal

Note - you are looking for a rough total of 1 cup of flours in addition to the oats. I currently have flax seed meal (from the US) - so add some of that. I have used corn flour, corn meal, and have seen a recipe using rye flour - which...hmmm. I have also crushed up genmai cereal flakes in my coffee grinder and used them in place of other flours. So, use what you have!

1/4 cup/35 gm brown sugar (you may want to increase this if you use a less sweet chocolate.)
1 tsp/5cc cocoa powder - I use this to add a bit of color!
1/2 tsp/2.5 cc salt
1/2 cup/70 gm chopped milk chocolate - I used bar chocolate we just HAPPENED to have in the house. Cut about 1/2 of it rather finely and chop the other half more coarsely for some BURSTS of chocolate in your granola.

Wet - Mix these ingredients together before adding to the dry ingredients

1/4 cup/60cc oil
1/3 cup/80cc cold water
2T/30cc Chocolate Syrup. If you don't have it - use honey or Karo Syrup or ???

Stir the wet and dry ingredients together well, using your hands is a good idea. Spread the granola out on a cookie sheet (you might want to use oven paper or foil...or not) and bake at 140C/275F for 1 hour. I stirred it rather frequently after the 30 minute mark because I didn't want the precious chocolate to burn! It didn't!

I tried this granola with raisins. Killed the chocolate flavor. I tried it with peanuts. Same problem. Maybe chocolate flavored raisins? HAHAH!

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

THERE! By THAT name, perhaps people who WANT to make these cookies can actually find a recipe to do so!

This recipe is called Peanut Butter Cookies in my "Old-Fall-Apart-Cookbook" Favorite Recipes of the Great Northwest. Anyone who has EVER made a peanut butter cookie knows it is round, light brown, and has fork marks making an x across the top! These cookies are NOT Peanut Butter Cookies! I am shouting!

And, I CANNOT make these cookies successfully. Again - one more point AGAINST DNA, and FOR ... what was the other ... Nurture!

My Mom and niece make them regularly. Successfully! The problem is not in the recipe! Well, not now that I called my Mom and asked HOW she made those cookies, and what "full boil" really means! The problem is in ... my favorite things in the world - substitution and scrimping!

I have tons of old fashioned oats from Costco. I use them for making granola. This recipe calls for quick cooking oats. I don't have any of those and am not really sure WHERE to get them in my town. So, I used the old fashioned kind. Big big looser. Took the batch to church. No one actually said it tasted like they were eating chocolate covered horse food, but...

The next time I decided to toast the oats before using them. I was too embarrassed to take this batch to church - burnt the oats a bit - so they tasted like chocolate covered burnt horse food.

So, as Japanese cornflakes seem to be harder, thicker and crisper than US ones, I decided to use them instead. This was the worst substitution yet. Though they may be a bit crisper, I bought the cheapo store brand, and I ended up with soggy, tough chocolate covered cornflakes. ARGH!

So, unless someone has a good way to make old fashioned oats into quick cooking oats, I may have to put off making this recipe till I find the "real" thing. Or, until I think of another option. Seriously - don't you think this recipe would be good with slightly broken up salty pretzels? Mmmmm?

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies (Peanut Butter Cookies)

contributed by Mrs. Fred T. Mellinger, Portland, OR page 168

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter (we use margarine)
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
2/3 cup peanut butter
3 tsp. (1 Tbsp.) vanilla
3 cups oatmeal

Combine sugar, butter, milk and cocoa in saucepan. Bring to a full boil. (Full boil means a boil you can't stir down. Then I counted to 10.) Remove from heat and add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. Spoon onto waxed paper. Cool. Yield 3 dozen.

From my experience, one should not skimp on any of the above ingredients (sugar, peanut butter)! Also, from my experience, if making a substitution for the oatmeal, one might just want to start with a half batch!

I tried other recipes like this one that had less peanut butter. They tasted more chocolaty, but didn't set well. This really tastes like peanut butter chocolate fudge with oatmeal in it. If you make them right.

Remember, I am waiting for your ideas about a better substitution for the quick cooking oats!!!

NOTE: I DID try to cut those oats up in my blender/mixer thingie before trying again. And they were much much better. If I had quick oats, I think they are still best, but "blended up oats" worked just fine! Thank you for the suggestion!

HEY! I might use the chocolate/peanut butter mixture as frosting on my birthday cake this Friday!!!??? What do you think??

NOTE: I DID use the "chocolate sauce" part for frostening on my cake! It turned out great! I made 1/2 batch to "frost" a single 8" layer that I cut in half to make two layers. And you don't need a knife!

Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

This summer I have been playing with making frozen yogurt. It began with wanting a lemon dessert and having no lemons! I had a small can of lemon pop, mixed it with a small carton of yogurt and froze it! A great sherbet! Even better when I added sugared crushed raspberries!

From there I (and Jun) forged into uncharted territory - for us. The latest recipe-less yogurt was banana, cinnamon, peanut butter yogurt. As strange as it sounds - it was healthy and pretty good.

However, the time had come to start Googeling Frozen Yogurt recipes. And chocolate was the flavor we NEEDED! I found a cooking blog called Chocolate and Zucchini. I like both of those, and, actually, my grandmother used to make wonderful chocolate zucchini bread and it was just like cake, but...I wasn't sure what I'd find here - frozen yogurt with zucchini?

But, no! She has a wonderful recipe for Chocolate Frozen Yogurt.

However, her pantry and fridge are a little more exotic than mine. I would love to try the REAL ingredients, but...here are my humble substitutions.

Good quality bittersweet chocolate - the remaining box of too bitter chocolate in the cupboard supplemented by some of those semi-sweet chocolate chips I am hoarding.

Creme fraiche or heavy cream - Jun kindly allowed me to use some of her milk. It is 3.6% milk fat. That's about has heavy as our kitchen gets.

Raw cane sugar - I suspect I could find this in Japan, but haven't. I used regular old white, cheap, moist sugar.

Good quality unsweetened cocoa powder - I hoard this too, but I used my Hershey's cocoa. That's as good quality as we get here.

Sea salt - Ummm. Not sure where ours came from, but Ryu bought the cheapest he could. Now I have a whole kilo of wet (a pain to use and unable to be shaken) salt. (Actually, now that I think of it, I forgot the salt! Oh well!)

Natural Vanilla Extract - Good old imitation here, though would LOVE some of the real thing!

Greek Yogurt - Well, I have no idea what makes yogurt Greek, and have only seen Bulgarian yogurt here - and I'm sure it isn't Bulgarian, though Kotoshu has been on some of the commercials for it and HE's Bulgarian. Instead I bought the cheapest low fat yogurt at the store. I hate to eat it, but don't mind it in my yogurt concoctions. However, first I drained it (thanks for loaning me your coffee maker/filter, Ryu) to make it a bit thicker.

I used a cooking method I thought was easier. I combined the yogurt and vanilla in the freezer container. I put the dry ingredients in a small sauce pan and made sure the cocoa was lump-free. Then I added the milk and stirred constantly over very low heat. When the chocolate was about 1/2 melted, I took it off the heat and kept stirring till it was all melted and mixed in well. Then I poured it slowly into the yogurt while Jun and I stirred.

The blogger, Clotilde Dusoulier, gives good advice on how to be sure the frozen dessert is sweet enough and how to make it without an ice-cream maker! Good common sense advice!

I made half batch, as we are only three. Each time we stir it, we taste it. And we love each taste so far. I hope there is some left for dessert tonight!

I will be visiting this food blogger often, I think!

Peanut Butter Cookies (With Chocolate Chips)

Ryu didn't grow up on American cookies and cakes. Poor guy! Probably why he was as skinny as a rail when I married him. But he loved my chocolate chip cookies! So, those were the cookies I made. Then, and I don't remember why, he asked for a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. So, I tried. I added peanut butter to the chocolate chip cookie recipe. Nope. Then I added chocolate chips to the peanut butter cookie recipe. Nope. Ryu was "happy," but I was not satisfied.

Then, a few weeks ago when I was looking for an egg-less peanut butter dessert (and found the lovely recipe for Peanut Butter Shortbread), I also ran across this recipe. And, it is the winner, hands down! I love it. Ryu loves it. Jun? She just likes cookies!

I made the cookies according to the recipe. I bought "coffee sugar" to roll the cookies in, but lost it as soon as I brought it home. Oh well, I'll be making these cookies again! Also, I had a cosmetic debate. REAL peanut butter cookies are rolled into balls and then imprinted with a criss cross of fork tines. These aren't REAL. So, I first dropped some dough into some regular (wet) white sugar and flattened it out gently with the bottom of a glass. Then, I rolled the rest of the dough into balls and rolled them in sugar and flattened them out too. I kind of liked the look of the "dropped" cookies. Kind of rustic. But, Ryu loved the ones I rolled into balls. Something about the uniform size and shape.

This recipe is a keeper! (As long as you have a nice big quantity of peanut butter!! Thanks, Tana!)

Peanut Butter Cookies (With Chocolate Chips)

Scotcharoos

Last fall, our last (and first, I think) overnight visitor of the year, Tammy from Ukraine, practically twisted my arm until I got signed up for Facebook. Already a bit busy with blogs and life, I didn't expect to find it so fun! Blast after blast from the past blew me away during the first few months. One friend from college, that I got reacquainted with, Tana, uses the SAME Cooky Cookbook that my family has ALWAYS used. One note led to another, and...she sent me a wonderful box...

filled with yummy ingredients...

to make these SUPER DUPER yummy bar cookie-like snacks! Please forgive my poor photography, and documented inability to melt chocolate and butterscotch chips! The results were great, in spite of my downfalls! In fact, my hubby, who "doesn't eat much sweets" said that these were too wonderful to be homemade and should need to be purchased in a store! YATTA! (Means "yay" for me!!!)

Jun loved the making of the Scotcharoos...

And, couldn't get enough of that GREAT CEREAL! Sugarless and milk-less, to go with her clothes-less state of dress.

Now, for those who might live in a place where some of these ingredients are hard to come by...like Japan, I'll give you some ideas for substitutions at the end! So, read on!

SCOTCHAROOS

In a saucepan, melt:

1 cup sugar

1 cup Karo syrup

When it reaches a bare boil, remove from heat and add:

1 cup peanut butter

Stir tell melted and blended.

Pour over, and mix into:

6 cups of Rice Crispie cereal

Press firmly into a well buttered jelly-roll pan, with a well buttered spoon/spatula.

Melt:

1/2 pkg. chocolate chips

1/2 pkg. butterscotch chips

Spread over the top. When set, cut and EAT!

Now, I am not sure if Karo syrup and Japan's "gum syrup" are interchangeable. I kind of think that "gum syrup" is too watery. So, if I were doing this with ingredients I could find in Japan, I would take two packages of marshmallows (in the candy section at the super), and melt them with a bit of butter in a deep fry pan When melted, I'd mix in 1/2 cup peanut butter. I'd semi crush a box of cornflakes, and mix it all together. I'd probably use a well buttered round or square cake pan. Then, sighing sadly at the lack of butterscotch chips, I'd buy a few milk-chocolate bars at my local convenience store, melt them, and "frost" the top of the cookies. It wouldn't be exactly the same, but...it'll give you the chocolate peanut butter, crunch, YUM!, without waiting for the next trip home, or without breaking the bank finding the imported ingredients here.

Chocolate Crinkles

This was a childhood favorite. From that Betty Crocker Cooky Book that Jun loves to read, also! I love the way they look in the picture. Dark chocolate with white splotches. They are fun and yummy to make. And, they don't take shortening, which is harder to come by here in Japan! However, they do take powdered sugar which, at your local supermarket, is usually sold by the Tablespoon. So... I happen to have some powdered sugar left over...from a long long time ago, that I want to use up. I used some last week when I made cinnamon butter, and it seemed alright. So, I will make these for Ryu for Valentine's Day!

Check out the picture! Yummy!

Chocolate Crinkles

Feb. 17 Update! I made these cookies for the first time in forever. I should have read the recipe. The dough needs to be refrigerated before baking. But, I started the cookies at nap time on Valentine's Day. Finished them up after dinner. And, we were a little disappointed. So, I put them in some plastic storage boxes and Ryu took a box to church the next morning - and they were WONDERFUL! I just had two more for Mama's snack time, and they just keep on getting better and better. I guess as a kid, they never lasted this long. But, they get moister, and chocolatier and yummier with time! Some people put chocolate chips or walnuts in them. Ohhhhh! Sounds so so good!

Brownie Pudding

I realized I have enjoyed "experimental" or strange recipes for quite some time. This is one of those I found as a kid still at home. You make a nice brownie-like batter, spread it out in a cake pan, and then pour hot water all over it! Pretty wierd and fun, huh? I hate to tell you the end of the story, if you love to make NEW things, so, stop reading here if you don't WANT to know how it turns out. It ends up with a brownie on the top and chocolate pudding on the bottom!!! YUMMY!



Here is the link to the recipe. Try it, especially if you have some vanilla ice-cream handy!



BROWNIE PUDDING

Pour On Chocolate Frosting

My Mom used to use this recipe for frosting every time she made a chocolate sheet cake. She always took it to church potluck dinners and everyone always asked her for her recipe. "It's an old secret family recipe," she lied - AT CHURCH!

Yep! This recipe is from that old "fall apart cookbook" that I have written about a couple of times! (Favorite Recipes of the Great Northwest copyright 1964. It was submitted by Mrs. Barbara Clark, Pres. Oakridge-Westfir Jaycee-Ettes from Oakridge, OR.)

So, the secret started with my Mom! Today is my Mom's birthday, so I made a chocolate sheet cake and this wonderful frosting. Jun sang "Frosty the Snowman" when she heard the word "frosting!"

Mom said I could share this wonderful "secret" yet PUBLISHED recipe with you all. It is easy and yummy!

Pour On Chocolate Frosting

1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. cocoa (powder)
dash of salt
1 cup hot water
3 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients. Add water. Stir until well blended. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla. Pour over a warm cake. (Like 15 minutes out of the oven.) Spread it with a spoon. Shiny and YUMMY!

But, remember, this is a SECRET recipe!!!