Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

Have you ever watched another human being actually melt? I did, this past Tuesday.

I don't know how the gods managed to align the stars the way they did, but on Monday, I decided that I wanted to make molten chocolate lava cakes and on Tuesday, the Tuesdays with Dorie group decided to make Dorie Greenspan's version. So I had a recipe sitting in front of me, taunting me not to try it.

Of course I did try the recipe, although, me being me, I had to tweak it. And, oh boy, what a tweak. I ended up with these absolutely incredibly gooey mounds of death by chocolate.

So I brought them over to my friend's house, along with a batch of freshly baked Brownie Batter Cookies. The night before, he and I had discussed the possibility of death by chocolate, and how that would be the best way to go. So we decided to test the hypothesis. He ate about 8 cookies and chased them with a glass of chocolate milk. And then the cake. His reaction after the first bite was incredible. I was tempted to call the paramedics.

So, basically what I'm saying is: I'm definitely making these cakes again.
And I'm keeping Shands on standby when I do.


Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes





Kay

(PS a direct quote after the first bite of the cake: "Oh my god. It's almost better than sex!" And that, my friends, is that.)

CoffeHouse Cookies

Over Christmas break, I got bored. I was sitting in my kitchen (in the corner by the bread box, which I claimed as my perch for the entirety of my stay at home), clicking from food blog to food blog, when I stumbled upon a recipe for green tea cookies. I thought to myself, "What a neat idea! If only I had Matcha powder..."

I realized, however, that we did have a surplus of chai tea in the pantry, just waiting to be commandeered for a crazy cookie recipe. I found a recipe for chai syrup and tweaked a basic sugar cookie recipe, and was left with, arguably, the most awesome cookies ever: Vanilla Chai Tea Latte Cookies.

Of course, all that vanilla and tea needs to be offset by some chocolate and coffee, so I made up a Mocha Caramel Macchiato cookie...and promptly lost the recipe. When I woke up this morning and decided that I needed to bake, I realized how necessary it would be for me to make some new Mocha Caramel Macchiatos. So.

I took a double chocolate cookie recipe, added some brown sugar, caramelized some white sugar, threw in some espresso to taste, and topped it off with a dollop of cream cheese frosting. Voila! Much, much better than my first recipe, frankly. I think the brown sugar did it; rather than a crunchy, thin cookie, I was left with a chewy mound of tastiness.

God, I love baking. There is nothing more fun than playing with sugar. And getting absolutely covered in frosting.

I need to make some Peanut Butter & Jelly and Peanut Butter, Honey, and Banana Cookies for my dad's birthday. Looks like I'll be covered in sugar again tomorrow!

Kay