Dark chocolate brownies

Probably the most expensive ingredient for this dessert is the butter or the chocolate that's used; but it's still a fairly inexpensive dessert to make for work--depending on the quality of ingredients. Of the three times I've made chocolate brownies in my lifetime, this is the first batch that didn't come out badly; and by badly, I mean to say nearly inedible.

I made a few edits to the original recipe, but not many. Instead of 1 1/2 cups of sugar, I used 1 cup; and instead of 6 oz of butter, I used 4 oz (1 stick). The order of operations is the same.

Ingredients

6 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 stick of unsalted butter, sliced into 1 tbsp chunks
3 eggs
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

This batch makes very short brownies if baked in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Instead of relying on the lightly buttered and floured baking dish method, I used silicone-treated parchment paper. No mess there and when the brownies cool, they remove easily without the bottoms sticking to the pan or the paper.

Directions

1. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla extract together. Set aside.
2. Using a double boiler method, whisk together the chocolate and butter until the chocolate is melted and glossy.
3. Turn off the heat, but leave the mixing bowl where it is (assuming you used the double boiler method to melt the chocolate). Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time until it is all incorporated.
4. Whisk in the egg mixture, a little at a time so it doesn't curdle or get scrambled.
5. Sift and whisk in the flour until it's blended in.
6. Pour the chocolate mixture into a prepared 9 x 13 baking pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick tester comes out clean from the center.
8. Cut into bars when completely cooled.

This is one of the reasons why my co-workers aren't losing weight with their diets. :)

A good chai latte

You'd think it would be easy to find loose leaf decaf black tea (or green tea) in any non-asian grocery store, but it's much harder than one would think. I have yet to find a local supply of good quality decaf loose leaf black tea. I may just have to order it or make a special trip to that hole-in-a-wall tea shop on Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park, the one that's across the street from T.S. Emporium. Although, to ask for decaf black tea would be really insulting most tea connoiseurs, so I'll probably just get what I need from the emporium. I started from this recipe, and have since then been trying to replicate the chai spice blend of an instant chai latte mix (of Middle Eastern origins) to something that isn't overly pungent (too much cloves) and has an overall warming effect (from the spices used, e.g., ground ginger, ground cinnamon, etc). I used 2 cups of filtered water and 2 cups of organic whole milk for the tea base. The original recipe was fair and mildly spicy, but it didn't really encourage me to brew the concoction again. It lacked depth. The current blend I'm using is about right, but not quite. There is something still missing but I can't quite figure out what. I'm inclined to say that it's the lack of allspice, an ingredient missing from my spice rack. I've seen allspice used in chai recipes and haven't used it in mine yet. The spice ratio: 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1 cinnamon stick 6 cloves 1 teabag (per person) worth of black tea or green tea Any sweetners (sugar, honey, stevia, etc.) used should be placed in the cup. In my experiments, I can recommend that you not use whole cloves and ground cloves together in the same chai recipe. There is a pungent aftertaste and it doesn't taste very good at all. Since I lack plain black tea, I used a Bigelow teabag called "Constant Comment" which imparts an orange citrus flavor to the tea. I suspect the "sweet spices" noted on the bag's ingredients are probably nutmeg, cardamom, mace, and perhaps allspice. I really have no memory map as to what allspice distinctly tastes like, only that it is a key spice in the pumpkin pie spice blend. (Update: 2/27/2008) I have found the "depth" I was seeking in the taste of the chai tea. It's from a combination of honey and the ratio of milk to water. More milk than water and certainly not a half-and-half ratio like noted above. Also, evaporated milk really brought out a little bit of the creaminess I was seeking but it didn't overpower the taste of the tea. Powdered milk (organic and regular) seemed to have little impact on the depth. The next ratio experiment would be to replicate the milk content of evaporated milk with powdered milk seeing how I don't quite have any fresh milk on hand at the moment.

Chocolate stout cupcakes

Sure, I probably could have asked friends for guidance on stout since I don't drink beer or any of its derivatives, but then my head would have been swimming with the intricacies of the types of stout and what they taste like. Fortunately, Trader Joe's made it easy and I went for the only stout that said, "buy me." The chocolate stout. Contrary to Wikipedia's definition of chocolate stout merely being named that way for the rich dark brown color of the brew, the Young's Double Chocolate Stout I used contains dark chocolate and chocolate malt.

The cupcakes taste fine although they do have a slight alcoholic twist. I have a lot of cream cheese sour cream frosting leftover. Maybe I'll use the other half of the bottle to make a chocolate stout cake, but I probably don't have enough stout if the recipe calls for more than a cup.

Ingredients/Directions:

(bowl #1) Whisk together:
1 cup chocolate stout
1 cup milk*
3/4 c. organic sour cream
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
3 eggs (add one at a time)

(bowl #2) Sift together:
2 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c. organic cane sugar
3/4 c. cocoa powder

(bowl #3) The frosting (blend until smooth):
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 c. sour cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Enough powdered sugar for sweetness

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If you're going to use those paper cupcake liners, use two instead of one.

Recipe edits: The original recipe called for 2 cups sugar, but I dropped it by 1/2 a cup because the cocoa I used was Ghirardelli's sweet ground cocoa powder. I didn't have milk, so I used 1/2 cup heavy cream plus 1/2 cup soy milk. On the frosting, I didn't measure the powdered sugar. I may have used three handfuls. What can I say.. I was baking after slogging through a 12-hour workday. I just wanted to eat something sweet and chocolatey for dinner.