"Sweet Confections - Beautiful Candy to Make at Home" - Honeycomb Candy - Holiday party food!

Date I made this recipe:  December 3, 2017 – Party food!

Sweet Confections – Beautiful Candy to Make at Home by Nina Wanat

Published by LARK

ISBN: 978-1-60059-920-0; copyright 2011

Purchased at Corazon gift shop, Minneapolis

Recipe:  Honeycomb Candy (a/k/a “Angel candy” or “Angel food candy”) – p. 53.  (I also made Rocky Road Chocolate Bark p. 43)

I think my husband said it best: “Honey, candy-making is not in your future.”

This year, I thought it would be fun to add some candy into our annual holiday party offerings mix, thinking to myself “How hard can that be?”

Turns out candy making is extremely challenging, and by the time I threw in the towel, I was but a shadow of my former self.

You’d think I would have learned my lesson after burning myself on hot caramel this spring, but I didn’t, thinking, rather erroneously, that melting sugar and liquid for these candies was different than melting it for the caramel.  I know, I know, I think I might have singed my brain at the same time as I burned my hand because the process for making caramel and other candies is the same!

Earlier that day, I started out by making what I thought was a simple recipe for “Sour Cream Candied Walnuts” from another cookbook.  Four tries later, and just as I was going to give up, I nailed it.  There was much rejoicing, but my work had just begun.

Next, I tried a recipe for Divinity candy that also seemed easy until I started to make it and then it became my worst nightmare.  The recipe is simple:  melt some sugar and boil it until it reaches the temperature required by the recipe, then incorporate that molten mixture into some whipped egg whites. For the first time ever, the whipped egg whites became our kryptonite as they just didn’t turn into the peaks required to turn this concoction into heavenly, floating clouds.  Nope. Think “nearly-scrambled” eggs.  Why they didn’t whip right remains a mystery, especially given that summer temps usually play havoc with egg whites, not winter.

After four tries to heat the syrup properly (Sweet Jesus, that was difficult) and then incorporate the egg whites, I pulled the plug on this operation, shot the mixture into the garbage and promptly retired this recipe to the “Don’t Even Think About It” list forevermore!

Feeling whipped but not-yet-defeated, I moved on to the (allegedly) easy Honeycomb Candy.  Sigh.  Folks, it took me three times to get this thing right and what was going on here anyway?  My kitchen turned suddenly into a disaster zone; maybe burning some sage is in order?

Happily, and jumping ahead, the “Rocky Road Chocolate Bark” was a snap because all one has to do is melt chocolate and pour it over marshmallows and almonds.  That I can do and that I did, ta da!

And now back to the Honeycomb Candy, already in progress. 

When I was a kid, we alternated between calling this “Angel food candy” and “Sponge candy.”  These days, I think “sponge candy” is the most common name for this concoction.  At any rate, we purchased this confection every year and then and now, the pieces were quite huge which is to say high and airy like an angel food cake.  The trick to getting that height, I believe, is adding more baking soda to the mixture than called for in most modern day, made-at-home recipes.  This honeycomb candy is pretty flat, but the flavor is still there and that is all that mattered to me.

Still, getting this recipe to work out took some doing (again!) and four tries later, I finally nailed it and that was a good thing because my track record thus far was most decidedly NOT noteworthy!

Although I am no candy expert, I think most of these failures come down to failing to heat the sugar to the right temperature.  More than once, it started to burn just as it reached the required temp.  That irks!  Incorporating the other ingredients is also tricky and I ruined more than one batch because the ingredients didn’t fold together as expected.

Mostly though, the problem was with the sugar.  Candy-making requires a candy thermometer, and each thermometer contains the heating temperature necessary to achieve different stages of candy, for example, “soft ball stage,” “hard ball stage” and the like.  Seems pretty simple and I followed my (my mother’s) candy thermometer directions that called for me to [most of] the sugar I was using to 250F, i.e. the “soft ball stage.”  Not only did it take forever to achieve that temp, but when it did, it started scorching, the nerve of it!

So, I Googled “candy temperatures” and folks, per Google, the soft ball stage is 235, not 250, what the heck?  No wonder my recipes weren’t turning out.  Argh!  I have now purchased a new thermometer with more updated temperatures.

Still, knowing that did not solve my problem because the directions called for me to heat the sugar until it was “golden,” and “golden” was not a selection on the thermometer.  This meant we had to guess and we guessed wrong at least twice, damn it! 

The third time around, I thought we got the “golden” part right, but when we added the baking soda, it all went to hell.  Let’s just say that getting that ruined candy mixture out of a pan (warning, it hardens) requires a LOT of hot water to loosen it.  A LOT. In fact, the only way I got it all to come out was to add water to the pan, then boil the heck out of it until it turns back into a syrup that can be poured down the drain.

Finally, we got the sugar right and the baking soda right and the texture right and our world was right, and we let the mixture settle, then melted the chocolate, dipped our pieces, and called it a day, huzzah! The result made for a pretty presentation and our guests oohed and aahed over them which made me feel good, given what I went through to get these made!

You can make and store these candies a couple days in advance of serving, but do not store them too long or the honeycomb will start breaking down into the syrup from whence it came.

As mentioned above, I fared better with the “Rocky Road Candy,” and would make this again, but no surprise, my “boiling sugar” days are over!  Chocolate, I can melt, but boiling sugar is beyond my kitchen pay grade.

I must say that I felt vindicated at our party when several people said how challenging it is to make candy.  No argument from me!  That said, if you are up for the challenge, here is the Table of Contents containing options for all kinds of candy:

• Crunchy Candy – toffee, peanut brittle, lollipops, candied apples
• Chewy Candy – caramels, taffy, jellies, nougats
• Silky Candy – fudge, truffles, pralines, marshmallows
• In the Pantry – Vanilla Extract, Candied Citrus Peel, Roasted Nuts, Candied Ginger

Next time around, I wouldn’t mind making some fudge or truffles as chocolate candies are (usually) not that hard to make.  Personally, I don’t think fudge is as impressive as other candies which is why I opted for the two recipes I made for the party.  Until all this went south, I thought I’d make a toffee, but that recipe was relegated to the back of the stack as well.

In conclusion, besides having a good candy thermometer on hand but you’ll also need a lot of patience.  Patience is required when waiting for sugar to boil because man oh man, that process is “slower than molasses in January.”  Yes, I meant to say that!

If you nail this recipe, you will be mighty chuffed with yourself as it is delicious.  Enjoy!

Honeycomb Candy – Makes 1 1/2 pounds

¼ cup water

1 cup sugar

¼ cup corn syrup

2 teaspoons baking soda, sifted

2 pounds milk or dark chocolate, tempered, or coating chocolate (Ann’s Note: “Tempered” chocolate is made by slowly melting the chocolate to be discussed below.)

To temper chocolate, break chocolate into tiny pieces.  Place these chocolate pieces in the top half of a double boiler and/or a large saucepan or bowl placed over a smaller pan of boiling/simmering water.  The chocolate should NOT come in contact with the water as it will be ruined.  Stir frequently over the boiling/simmering water until it melts.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together the water, sugar, and corn syrup in a 2-quart saucepan without stirring.  If sugar crystals cling to the sides of the pan, dissolve them away with a wet pastry brush.

Boil over medium-high heat without stirring until the syrup just turns golden.  Add the baking soda.  Stir thoroughly and vigorously with a heatproof spatula.

Pour onto the parchment paper, and let cool without disturbing.  Once cool, use a long, serrated knife to cut honeycomb into 2-inch long pieces.  (It’s okay if they’re not exactly 2 inches long.)  Holding each piece between your thumbs and forefinger, dip halfway into the tempered chocolate, letting excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.  Place on parchment paper to set, and then store in an airtight container.

Ann’s Note:  These can be made a couple days in advance of serving, but if you wait too long to eat them, the sugar will start to break down and melt.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they are better crunchy!

"Caramel Knowledge" by the late, great local food writer Al Sicherman - Black Bottom (as in chocolate) Banana Cream Pie

Date I made this recipe:  September 4, 2017 – A tribute to a funny food writer

Caramel Knowledge – Bostess Bupcakes, Peanut Butter Coffee, Herring in a Cloud, Wienie Zucchini, and More Food and Culinary Musing for the Twisted Mind (Expanded Edition) by Al Sicherman

Published by Harper & Row, Publishers

0-06-096232-1; © 1988

Recipe: Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie – p. 128

First, some of you may not be old enough to get the pun in the title:  Carnal Knowledge was a 1971 movie starring (singer/songwriter) Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margaret, Jack Nicholson, and Candice Bergman.  The story takes place at Amherst College in the late 40's, and the plot centers around an exploration of sexual mores at the time.  It also focuses on a contest between Nicholson and Garfunkel to see who can bag the most babes. 

That's about all I know of this movie (thank you, internet) but I do recall that the movie raised eyebrows, even back when it was released in the free-wheeling 70's. 

Second, the writer of today's featured cookbook, "Caramel" Knowledge, Al Sicherman, passed away last week and I am really sad about this.  In observance of his passing, I give you this cookbook.

"Uncle Al," as he was known, was a food columnist for the local newspaper, StarTribune.  Well mostly food.  Sometimes he included stories about other things:  Hmmm, I wonder who that remind me of?

Al's columns were hilarious.  I used to just laugh out loud when I read them, probably because I always felt we shared the same perspective of things which is to say, if something went wrong, surely there was a comedic moment to mine;  Al did a lot of mining.

During the course of his 26-year tenure with the "Strib," Al wrote two columns, his main one, sample titles of which you will see below, and a second one, "Tidbits," and authored two books, Caramel Knowledge and Uncle Al's Geezer Salad.  The Strib noted that even after Al retired from the Strib, he continued to write the "Tidbits" column until 2016.  Very impressive, Al!

All this from a man who started his career as an electrical engineer!  True story.

I'm very happy that Al switched careers (engineering was apparently not for him) and got a masters in journalism so he could go on to write his column.  And while I enjoyed his "Tibits" column, a column where he commented on new food products, it was the longer column that drew me.

Caramel Knowledge is a curated collection of Al's columns.  Like the book's title, the chapters are equally hilarious and often tongue-in-check.  Here's a sampling of his narrative style: 

"Carrots, you will no doubt remember hearing, are supposed to give you good eyesight.  I can attest to the truth of that contention.  I was always able to spot carrots being prepared – even at very great distances – and try not to be home when they were finally served."

His "chapter," Popovers (and Bagels) is funny because of the ending(s), titled "Follow-Up;" "More Follow-Up;" "Still More Follow-Up," and "Final Follow-Up."

Uncle Al was very thorough.

Right from the start, the book's Table of Contest gives us a glimpse of more humor to come. 

• "Using Up Parsley"
• "Things That Go Bump in the Oven"
• "Food for the Twisted Mind"
• "Great Culinary Expectations"
• "An Upper Midwest Festival of Hot Dishes"

 You have no idea how much I wanted to make something from the last column seeing as how "hot dishes" (casseroles) are revered in this state, but alas, nothing tripped my trigger.  A "Tuna (or Crab) Appetizer Hot Dish" came close, but no cigar which was unusual for me as I like tuna and crab.  I might have gone with the "Chicken Salad Hot Dish," but paused when I saw that mandarin oranges, a staple of a cold chicken salad, were to be arranged on top of the casserole and then baked for 20 to 25 minutes, ew.  Warm oranges?  I'm thinking "no!"

Here though, are some recipes that I thought worthy of my time:

• "Chocolate Bread Pudding" – p. 14
• "Eggplant Casserole Deluxe" – p. 27
• "Cornbread-Topped Bean and Bratwurst Bake" – p. 34
• "Mocha Brownies" – p. 35
• "Six-Legume Soup" – p. 53
• "Arroz Con Pollo" – p. 182

 And then there are the "also-rans" otherwise known as "No Freaking Way."

• Herring in a cloud (of blended sour cream and yogurt) – p. 135 (from the Food In A Cloud chapter).  Cloud or no cloud, I don't "do" herring.
• Kippers (Cured herring.  Brits eat it for breakfast – gaaaaa!) – p. 187 (from the chapter, A British-Mystery Dinner.  How appropriate as it remains a mystery to me why the Brits enjoy the food they do!)
• Steak and Kidney Pie – p. 189 (same chapter above) Never, ever.
• Spirals of Starch (lasagna noodles + mashed potatoes + cheese + butter) – p. 212 (from the chapter, Food for the Twisted Mind) These ingredients would be fine if sold separately but not so much when combined. 
• Cold Lime Cream Soup – p. 216 (from Great Culinary Expectations) Maybe it's just me, but the "lime" in this equation is a record-scratch moment.  Now, lime and tequila, that's another story!

I am happy to report that the recipe we selected, "Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie" (p. 127-128), was delicious.  This might have been the first time I ever made the "cream" portion of a cream pie and was very happy with the outcome even though I had way more filling than I had room; my finished pie looked like a volcano!

Although this recipe is fairly easy, it will take a bit of time to assemble as you have to melt the chocolate, scald and add some milk, then eggs, then mix again, etc. but it was worth it.  The only minor critique I have is that I pictured the chocolate layer mixing in with the banana cream layer for some total creamy goodness but that is not what happened.  After refrigeration, the chocolate layer sort of separated from the banana layer and so I felt like I was eating two different desserts, not that I cared but that's what it felt like.

No worries.  We love bananas, we love creamy custard fillings, and we love chocolate. I could have done without the pie crust but that's just me:  I'm also a person who prefers frosting over cake, no apologies.

In conclusion, you were a good man, Uncle Al, and I'm glad I purchased your cookbook a long time ago so I had it at the ready to pay you tribute.  And how fitting really, that your book's title is Caramel Knowledge, seeing as how my last attempt to make caramel went haywire, leaving me with scars. After the tears were gone though, I laughed about the incident because as you know, food and kitchen disasters can be funny.  Really funny.  Thanks for sharing your humor with us.

Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie – makes one 9-inch pie; serves 6-8

Bottom Filling:

1 ½ one-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (Ann's Note:  A while back, baking chocolate makers switched from one-ounce squares to ¼ ounce squares.  Although I am often math-challenged, this means you will need 6 of these little squares!)

6 tablespoons milk (Ann's Note:  You'll also need another 2 ½ cups milk for the filling)

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 baked 9-inch pie shell

Banana Filling:

½ cup sugar

6 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups milk

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 ripe banana's (or bananas)

½ cup heavy cream, whipped

Prepare the bottom filling:

Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan; set aside.  Scald the milk in a saucepan. (Ann's Note:  To scale milk, bring milk to a near-boil (i.e. bubbles start to form), then pull it off the stove.) 

In a mixing bowl, beat together the egg yolk, sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  Gradually beat in the scalded milk.

Pour the mixture into the saucepan in which the milk was scalded and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is smooth and thick – don't boil it.  (Ann's Note:  It seemed to take an awfully long time to thicken this mixture.  What felt like days was probably 10 minutes; be prepared!)

Stir the melted chocolate and spread over the baked pie shell.

Prepare the banana filling:

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in the top of a double boiler over boiling water.  Gradually stir in the milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened.  Cover and cook 10 minutes more, stirring constantly.

Beat the egg and egg yolk and beat in a small amount of the hot milk mixture.  Lower the heat under the double boiler so that the water stops boiling.

Pour the diluted egg into the hot milk mixture, stirring it in rapidly.  Allow the mixture to cook over the hot water for two minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.  Cool.

Slice 1 banana and arrange on the chocolate layer.  Immediately slice a second banana into the warm custard mixture and pour into the shell.  (If you wait a long time before you cover them, the first banana slices will darken.)  Chill.

Just before serving, whip the cream and pipe or spoon it over the top of the pie.

Slice the last banana and arrange the slices around the edge of the pie, inserting them into the whipped cream at a slight angle.  Serve immediately.

"The Great British Bake Off Perfect Cakes & Bakes to Make At Home" - Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake for my husband's birthday

Date I made this recipe:  March 4, 2017 for my husband's 60^th birthday

The Great British Bake Off Perfect Cakes & Bakes to Make at Home by Linda Collister, with recipes by Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood and the Bakers of 2016

Published by Love Productions/Hodder & Stoughton

ISBN: 978-1-473-61544-1; © 2016

Purchased at Bibelot, St. Paul

Recipe:  Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake – p. 40-42

Well folks, my darling husband just commenced firing on his 6^th decade which gave me the perfect excuse to make a recipe from this book.  And not just any recipe, reader, but a recipe involving chocolate and chocolate stout (beer) which he considers to be food of the gods.  I cannot argue with that!

Now even though Andy has a mean hand when it comes to making cakes, pastries and pies, particularly pies, I did not buy this book for him because he wouldn't have used it.  Instead, I do what I often do for Christmas and that is to buy a bunch of cookbooks for myself that I label as being from him; he does the same with bicycle parts that he wants and it works like a charm! In this case, although I would have purchased this book anyway, (from "me" to "me"), as soon as I saw the Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake recipe, I knew I would earmark it for his upcoming 60^th birthday because that's the kind of spouse I am!

I've mentioned in previous blogs how much I love The Great British Bake Off, the TV show responsible for cookbooks like these of the same name, and I won't go into a lot of detail here except to say I have updates and folks and fans, they are not necessarily good updates so brace yourselves: the show is leaving the BBC for another network that is not the BBC.  There, I said it.

You may be thinking "Well, so what?" but apparently this decision might just derail the show all together because judge Mary Berry, and hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc decided not to make the move and so are- gasp- out!  Double gasp!  How can this be?  The only one left standing who decided to try out the new network is judge Paul Hollywood. 

I am trying, unsuccessfully, to imagine a show with only Paul as the host.  I loved those three other ladies.  Loved them.  Now what?

Well not only did all of Britain have a collective meltdown but here in the U.S. we are left wondering "what next" as well because the show aired for us here on PBS which often rebroadcasts BBC shows.  So no BBC in Britain likely means no PBS rebroadcast here.

I shall stay as on top of this situ for you as I can.

Meanwhile folks, back to the cookbook and here is where I must take a few moments to critique the cookbook which I now call The Great British Bitch-off.  Why?  Because of the countless challenges I encountered while trying to pull together a simple birthday cake.  A simple chocolate + stout birthday cake.

First, and in case you didn't know, England uses mostly the metric system for measuring things which means that instead of ounces, we're talking grams, instead of fluid ounces, we're talking liters and so on.  And while conversion charts abound (including one in the back of the book but not the front of the book which would have been more helpful), almost none of the measures I needed was on that inconvenient chart which meant I had to weigh them out anyway.  Besides, all the chart did was convert grams to ounces and I do not keep a runny tally of ounces needed in my head:  it's "cups" or bust!

But then to really yank this Yank's chain, some of the ingredients were in teaspoons and tablespoons.  Well fine, then, be that way.  In my opinion, not enough of the ingredients were in teaspoons but I take my wins where I could find them.

Still in all, measuring grams or ounces required a kitchen scale and let me say right now and we shall consider this a new and mandatory rule:  if you don't have a kitchen scale, get one. If you don't want one, this is not the recipe or cookbook for you.  Even then, by the time I finished measuring out the ingredients (both on a scale or by hand), I'd say a good hour had passed and I hadn't even started baking yet.  Major point deductions for that, folks.  Major.

Then there was the "guess what this ingredient is called in the U.S." game that I had to play with a couple of the ingredients listed in this recipe such as "light muscovado sugar" (light brown sugar), or "icing sugar," which is confectioners' sugar.

In fact, small story here about confectioner's sugar.  I Googled "icing sugar" and finally found a video of a British baker mixing regular sugar and cornstarch together in a Cuisinart.  So then I Googled "sugar and cornstarch" and up poppef "confectioners' sugar."  Ah ha!  So I doubled checked C&H's (sugar producer) website but couldn't find confirmation that icing sugar and confectioners' sugar were one in the same.  And the customer service person was no help.  When I asked her if "icing sugar" was the same as "confectioners' sugar" she said "I have no idea."

Really?  I mean, you work for a sugar company, surely you'd know this.  So I put on my best attorney voice and then said "Well, can you at least confirm (or deny – your choice) that confectioners' sugar is a mixture of regular sugar and cornstarch?"  "Yes, I can confirm that."

Now really, was that hard?

Okay then, so once I resolved those two issues, I was almost ready to go.  Still to be resolved:  how to make "self-rising" flour at home because I sure as heck wasn't going out to buy a large bag that I would never use.  This one was easy:  mix 1 cup of flour with 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder with ¼ teaspoon salt. Piece of cake, 'scuse the pun.  Except folks, it wasn't exactly a piece of cake because I needed more than 1 cup self-rising flour.  In fact, I needed 250g or 9 ounces.  Well, I was all out of patience with today's math problems so what my husband suggested and what I did, was to make up another cup of the mixture then measure out the 9 ounces I needed on my kitchen scale and then toss the rest.  I hate wasting ingredients but at this point, I just needed to get this cake done already.

The last thing I needed to do was to convert the measurements for the British baking pans and that was somewhat easy:  two 20.5cm pans are equal to two 8" round cake pans.  I know this because I have a tape measure in my kitchen with inches on one side and those ghastly centimeters on the other.  Not that I keep it around for projects like this but since I did and it was handy, it saved me yet another trip to my computer.

Please note that between tax, license, Google searches and measurements, the total elapsed time was now about two hours.  Good thing I decided to give this recipe a dry run the night before I served it.  Also?  This was one of the easier recipes in this book!

Speaking of which, please do make a note that the subtitle of this cook is "Perfect Cakes & Bakes To Make At Home," and no offense to the show, but are they kidding me? Let's take a look at our chapters and then we can talk:

• Cakes ("Greek Lemon-Yoghurt Loaf Cake;" "Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake")
• Biscuits & Teatime Treats ("Mexican Wedding Cookies;" "Posh Granola Bars")
• Breads ("Sprouted Wheat Bread;" "Cobbled Chocolate Loaf")
• Desserts & Puddings ("Chocolate-Hazelnut Rochers;" "Grand Strawberry Mouse" with homemade ladyfingers, no less.)
• Sweet Pastry & Patisserie ("Bitter Chocolate and Pear Tartlets;" "Gateau St-Honore," and even though "gateau" is the French word for "cake," you should run away from recipes like this because they are involved.  Very involved.)
• Savoury Bakes ("Roast Vegetable and Cashew Pie;" "Duck and Pistachio Pate En Croute."  Let that last recipe just sink in, okay?)

Some translation is required and so please make a note that:

• Biscuits = cookies
• Puddings = other desserts and not necessarily [Jell-O]pudding as we know it.
• Savoury, or as we say in America "savory," are things like crackers or canapés.

Far be it from the Brits to call a spade a "spade!"

Anyway, in my opinion, the degree of difficulty rises as we move from chapter to chapter.  The first one – "Cakes" – is relatively harmless except for the time spent measuring and "translating" ingredients.  But by the time we hit "Desserts & Puddings," my baking poker hand was getting weaker, by "Sweet Pastry & Patisserie," I was  bluffing badly, and by "Savoury Bakes," many of which require the use of phyllo dough, I folded!  Now then, will the person who makes "Duck and Pistachio Pate En Croute" at home on a regular basis please contact me ASAP?  Thank you.

And so now back to our recipe, already in progress!  Once I got everything measured, putting it all together didn't take long but cleaning up afterwards did.  I don't know about you, but I find working with melted chocolate to be a challenge because the cocoa "butter" in the chocolate itself makes it greasy and greasy items take some real elbow grease to get clean.  And since I had to melt chocolate a few times over for this endeavor, I was constantly wiping down melted chocolate from pans and bowls and spatulas and walls since it splattered here and there. 

So I tell you what, if it wasn't for my husband's birthday and his love of the two primary ingredients, I might have been tempted to chuck this book into the nearest dust bin (British-speak for "waste basket") but a birthday comes but once a year and a 60^th birthday is special.  Plus, and this is the big thing, the cake was delicious.  The cake itself was a little dry but only a very little, probably because I baked it the full 25 minutes but that's because it was still soupy at 22 minutes (baking time was 20-25 minutes).  Fair warning then: somewhere between 23 and 24, but not 25 minutes, is where you want to land.  Had judge Paul Hollywood sampled it, he would have likely said "It's good, but the sponge – which he pronounced "spooonge" is a little dry," so thank goodness for the frosting which was the real star of the show.

I have previously mentioned in this blog that I am all about the frosting as the cake doesn't interest me much at all, and this frosting was delicious.  That "icing sugar" (!) was just the ticket and I could have eaten the entire bowl and skipped putting it on the cake all together except Andy had some guy friends over and we needed to be able to serve a frosted cake to our 15 or so guests. Said guests then inhaled every single crumb of this cake, every single piece and so my plan for leftover frosting (and oh sure, the cake, too) went out the window.  Damn and blast!

Now then, I have one last piece of unfinished business to discuss and it's the alcohol in this cake.  For those of you with concerns, let me just talk out loud about a couple of things:  You might (emphasis on "might") be able to substitute a chocolate syrup mix for the chocolate stout if you wish; consider the "Hot Bitter Chocolate Sauce" recipe on p. 20 of the book.  You might also consider using a slurry (I just love that word) of chocolate syrup, malt powder (used in the recipe) and milk instead of the alcohol.  Or, you can think of it this way:  the recipe calls for 150ml of chocolate stout (or porter) which is the equivalent of just over 5 ounces (8 ounces is a cup).  Andy cut this cake into 15 slices and so it you divide out that 5 ounces into 15 slices, you basically have about an eye dropper full of chocolate stout per piece which is to say not much of anything.  That said, I am not here to encourage you to cook with alcohol if you're uncomfortable, but I think it was there to just enhance the flavor and add to the volume without intending to give anyone a hangover.

All in all, my husband had a great 60^th birthday and this cake helped a lot.  He was a little nervous about inviting "the guys" over since sometimes men can be reticent about going to a birthday party, but a good number of them came over and enjoyed the cake and other savoury/savory items, and it was a lot of fun.  I'm still on the fence about the level of fun I experienced making the cake but that is to be expected as the bakers in this cookbook were all (2016) contestants on the show and they could out-bake me with their hands tied behind their backs.  In the end, I'll take the fact that I didn't go nuts, didn't scream at anybody and didn't burn down the house as my own version of a "win" on The Great British Bake Off – "At Home with Ann and Andy!" 

Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake – serves 10-12 – Ann's Note:  it helps to have a kitchen scale

For the sponge

40 g cocoa powder

1 tablespoon malted-milk drink powder (use "original," not diet or flavoured versions)

150 ml chocolate milk stout OR porter

150g unsalted butter, softened

120g caster sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a superfine sugar)

120g light muscovado sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a light brown sugar)

2 medium eggs, at room temperature, beaten to mix

4 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature

250g self-raising flour (Ann's Note:  *see below for how to make this at home)

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (Ann's Note:  a/k/a Baking Soda)

Good pinch of fine sea salt

*The standard "recipe" for making self-rising flour is to add 1 ½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt to 1 cup All Purpose Flour.  Since you will need more than that for the recipe, make a double batch of the recipe then weigh it and subtract out what you don't need. 

For the chocolate filling and frosting

85g dark chocolate (about 70% chocolate solids)

1 ½ tablespoons malted-milk drink powder ("original")

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons boiling water

115g unsalted butter, softened (Ann's Note:  one stick of butter is 113g so you will need a little more from another stick)

25g light muscovado sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a light brown sugar)

75g icing sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a Confectioner's sugar)

Good pinch of sea salt flakes, or to taste

To finish

15g dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa), grated

Pans

Ann's Note: You'll need two 20.5cm round, deep sandwich tins, greased with butter and base-lined.  Translation:  two 8" round cake pans, greased then lined with parchment paper. I have no idea why round cake pans are called "sandwich tins," but mine is not to question why, mine is to Google search to figure it out!

Heat the coven to 350F.  Measure the cocoa and malted milk powders into a small pan, add the milk stout and set over low heat.  Whisk constantly with a small hand wire whisk until the mixture is smooth and comes to the boil – take care it doesn't catch on the base of the pan.  Remove from the heat and leave until cooled to room temperature.

Meanwhile, put the softened butter into a mixing bowl, or the bowl of  free-standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, until creamy and mayonnaise-like.  Scrape down the side of the bowl, then beta in the caster sugar.  As soon as it is thoroughly amalgamated, beat in the muscovado (light brown sugar) sugar (press out any lumps first).  Once combined, scrape down the side of the bowl again, then beta for 2 minutes to make a soft, light creamed mixture.

Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition and scraping down the side of the bowl from time to time.  Beat in the buttermilk a tablespoon at a time, adding a tablespoon of the weighed flour with the last 2 additions.  Sift the remaining flour with the bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and salt into the bowl.  Add the cooled cocoa mixture.  Mix in using the whisk on its lowest speed, stopping as soon as the mixture is very smooth.

Divide the mixture equally between the 2 sandwich tins and spread evenly.  Bake in the heated oven for 20-25 minutes until the sponges are well risen and springy when gently pressed in the center. (Ann's Note:  20 minutes is too short.  Twenty two minutes was also too short. Twenty five minutes was too long.  Try for 23-24 and then stop.  Immediately.)  Remove from the oven and run a round-bladed knife around the inside of each tin to loosen the sponge, then turn it out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.

When sponges have cooled to room temperature, make the chocolate mixture for the filing and frosting.  Gently melt the chocolate then leave to cool until needed.  Put the malted-milk powder and cocoa powder into a small heatproof bowl, add the boiling water and stir to make a smooth paste.  Leave to cool.  (Ann's Note:  this didn't really make a paste as it was more like a thick syrup.  No matter, it worked.)

Beat the butter in a mixing bowl until very creamy using a wooden spoon or hand-held electric whisk, then beat in the muscovado sugar (press out any lumps first).  Add the cooled melted chocolate and beat well, then beat in the cooled cocoa liquid.  Sift the icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) into the bowl and beat, slowly at first, until the mixture is very smooth and light in texture.  Sprinkle over the salt and stir in.

Now set one sponge, crust-side down, on a serving plate.  Spread over half the chocolate mixture.  Set the other sponge on top, crust-side up.  Spread and swirl the rest of the chocolate over the surface.  Grate the dark chocolate on top – or decorate with chocolate curls shaved off with a vegetable peeler.  Leave the frosting to firm up for at least 2 hours before cutting the cake.  Store in an airtight container and eat within 4 days.

Ann's Final Note:  I didn't have time to let the frosting firm up but it was just fine and met my strict frosting requirements, thank you very much.  Also, intriguing as it is to know that this cake lasts 4 days, I don't think it lasted for four minutes once Andy started cutting it. Of course, it helps to have 15 people helping to eat it but still, this was one tasty cake.  It looked like hell but I was not trying for bakery-competition worthy so there you go. 

"Southern Living Incredible Cookies" - Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies - Holiday Party Food!

Date I made this recipe – December 4, 2016 – Holiday Party Food!

Southern Living® Incredible Cookies by Southern Living® magazine

Published by Oxmoor House, Inc.

ISBN: 0-8487-2389-9; © 2000; Fourth Printing 2003

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Store, St. Paul

Recipe:  Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies – p. 71

So I had my sweet treat lineup all ready to go and then as per usual, I got "cold feet" wondering if I had enough cookies and if so, were they the "right kind" of cookies?

And by "right kind," I mean something chocolate.  Even better?  Chocolate and caramel.  This recipe fit the bill nicely.

I mentioned in a previous blog that there's no rhyme or reason per se for how we select cookies, but we do seem to opt for those that are unique, or those that have interesting (but good) flavors, and sometimes overlook party favorites i.e. anything chocolate. 

Except that's not quite right, either.  We do have chocolate cookies but not necessarily all-chocolate cookies like these are.  So at the last minute, I decided to add this one to the mix.  We made a similar cookie the past couple of years but this one was much easier to make and more chocolate-centric than the other one.  Plus, can we talk about the addition of caramel in the middle?  Oh yes we can and it was a game-changer!

Now these almost didn't happen because while I like this cookbook, the first couple of pages were iced and decorated cookies, and as I also mentioned in a previous blog, I eliminate those right off the back because they are time consuming. 

Then we had some shortbread cookie options– nice, but dull – and some "fruit" cookies but we already had one on deck and so there went that.  And so just as I was thinking I was going to have to re-shelve this book for another day, I stumbled upon these.  And after a quick consult with our star baker, my husband, Andy, we were "'Go' Flight!"

Cookie categories in this book are divided into the following:  "Rolled & Cut Cookies;" "Drop Cookies;" "Shaped Cookies;" "Bar Cookies," and "Simple Cookies." I'm not sure what distinguishes a "simple" cookie from another cookie but the editors decided to make it so and so it is so.

And speaking of editors, this cookbook was compiled by the editors of Southern Living® magazine, and while I can't say that anything I saw here smacked of being indigenous to the south, the recipes looked good and the one we selected tasted great.  I have several other Southern Living® cookbooks that are filled with more standard southern fare than this one, and I also enjoy leafing through Southern Living magazine, particularly their recipe sections.  But if you are not a magazine or cookbook person (what?!) but like looking at and making southern recipes, their website – www.southernliving.com – has plenty in every category that your heart desires.

Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies – Yield:  4 dozen

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup cocoa

1 cup finely chopped pecans, divided

1 tablespoon sugar

1 (9-ounce) package chewy caramels in milk chocolate

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until cream; gradually add sugars, beating well.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

Combine flour, baking soda, and cocoa; gradually add to butter mixture, beating well.  Stir in ½ cup pecans.  Cover and chill dough at least 2 hours.  Combine remaining ½ cup pecans and 1 tablespoon sugar.

Divide each portion into 12 pieces.  Quickly press each piece of dough around a caramel; roll into a ball.  Dip 1 side of ball in pecan mixture.  Place balls, pecan side up, 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.  (Cookies will look soft.)  Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

"The Barnes and Noble Cookie Bake-Off" cookbook - Cherry Hideaway Cookies

Date I made these recipes December 4, 2016 – Holiday Party Food

The Barnes and Noble Cookie Bake-Off – Top 75 Recipes from Around the Country

Published by Sterling

ISBN: 978-1-4549-1745-8; © 2015

Purchased at Barnes and Noble!

Recipe:  Cherry Hideaway Cookies, submitted by contestant Catherine Davis, Marion, IL – p. 57. 

Please note, we also made two other cookies from this book – "Cranberry Lime Snow Cookies," submitted by contestant Zachary Whitworth, Roebuck, SC and "Michele's Rainbow Cookies" (a/k/a "Italian Rainbow Cookies"), submitted by contestant Michele Martise, Kirkwood, MO.  Both were great, and in fact, Michele's Rainbow Cookies were off the chart and are one of my (childhood and beyond) favorites. But alas folks, I decided to feature just the one in the interest of time and complexity.  The Rainbow Cookies are a bit time-consuming which is why it is not a featured recipe for this blog – at least not for today!

So let's begin! For those of you who read my latest blog about the party meatballs (posted 12/21/2016), you know that I went on a mini-rant about the lack of clear directions.  To me, the worst thing that can happen to a recipe is to leave one confused or stranded, mid-making by incomplete directions.

But that was then, this is now because brace yourself kids:  not one single recipe in this cookbook, not a single one of the 75 recipes listed here in this book, gives you the yield.

Can you imagine?  I mean what, are we supposed to just guess how much they make?  Apparently so.

I emailed the publisher since you can't exactly fire off an email to Barnes and Noble (or can you?) saying "What the hell," but really—What. The. Hell? How can you publish 75 recipes and not tell us how much they make?  It's insane! Sadly, I did not hear from them and that is a major "I'm going to have to ding them" moment.  A huge demerit.  A black eye for them, whoever "them" is.

Happily for you, these cookies were fantastic and the recipe gave a hint about how many they made (36) but no cook or baker should have to hold up the cookbook to a mirror to search for hidden or backwards messages.  No sir.

Now I shop at Barnes and Noble all the time, both online and in-store, and I have to tell you that I was rather surprised to see this cookbook because really, did anybody else know about this bake-off contest and forget to tell me?  Not that I have recipes to submit, but "mum" was definitely the word of the day.

So the cookbook starts with an introduction and then the judge's biographies follow (nine in all, and all of them heavy-hitters in the restaurant industry) and then bios and photos of the winner and the two runner ups, and then we hit the ground running with cookies by category (but with no yields).

The categories for your perusing pleasure are "Sugar & Spice;" "Sweet & Savory," and the all-encompassing "Chocolate."  Today's featured recipe, Cherry Hideaway Cookies are in the Sweet & Savory section (as are the "Cranberry Lime Snow Cookies") yet "Michelle's Rainbow Cookies" ended up in the Sugar & Spice category.  Huh.

Some of you may be wondering how my husband and I end up with the cookie selections we do year after year and I don't have a good answer but I can tell you what I avoid:  no peppermint, ever (I hate it); no sugar cookies, not because they don't taste good but they're kind of boring; absolutely nothing requiring intricate frosting endeavors (which are not in this book, but I'm just saying), and nothing requiring fancy equipment other than baking pans.  (That said, I searched high and low for Michele's Rainbow Cookies 9 x 9 baking sheets and could not find that exact size.  But I found a slightly larger baking sheets at Target that fit the bill (Threshold brand) and so bought three, one for each layer.  Still, my husband, who made them, had to make adjustments.  Sigh.)

What we do look for is something unique and that stands apart from the usual line-up.  This year's party guests were duly impressed by the Rainbow Cookies (as they should have been), but like I said, they were intricate and so I'm not going to reprint them here.

And the rest of the cookies we bake are just ones we think guests will like and that will compliment the ones we make every year such as "Betty Crocker's Almond Bon-Bon cookies."  (This recipe is on my blog but I can't recall what year I first published it.  Check out recipes posted for the month of December.)

Because my husband likes to bake and I enjoy the savory side of life, I tasked him with all these cookies plus a few homemade crackers to boot.  It didn't start out that way this year, but after I had to remake the bon-bon dough – twice – I just threw all the recipes at him and asked them to get them all done.  And as always, he is a master baker and deserved every accolade that came his way.

And so to our star recipe, Cherry Hideaway Cookies.  As you might suspect, a maraschino cherry is "hidden" in the dough.  Then the cookies are frosted on one side with a chocolate frosting and then topped with shredded coconut.  They looked awesome and our guests had fun eating them.   You should know that although regular, store-bought coconut will do, I purchased some desiccated coconut from Whole Foods to put on top and loved the look.  Desiccated coconut is dried to reduce the moisture count.  You can achieve the same effect by buying a coconut, splitting it open, shaving it and then letting it dry out.  But please—we were in party mode so as long as Whole Foods had it, there was no need for me to get all Martha Stewart here.  Sorry, Martha. (Martha probably owns her own coconut grove somewhere in the world.  Just sayin...)

Cherry Hideaway Cookies – yield not listed but the ingredients give us a hint:  you'll need 36 maraschino cherries!

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

36 large maraschino cherries

8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

½ cup shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350F.

With an electric mixer or a stand mixer, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, and vanilla.  Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  Mix until combined.  Drain the cherries on a paper towel and pat dry.

Wrap about 1 tablespoon of dough around each cherry and place an inch apart on a baking sheet.  Bake for 10-13 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown.

Cool for 15 minutes.  Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl.  Dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate and sprinkle with coconut.

"Extreme Brownies" by Connie Weis - Birthday treats!

Date I made this recipe:  October 19, 2016 – Happy Belted Birthday to me – dessert!

Extreme Brownies – 50 recipes for the most over-the-top treats ever by Connie Weis

Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-4494-5032-8; copyright 2014

Purchased at Barnes and Noble

Recipe:  Holy Heavenly Hash Brownies – p. 37-38

My birthday was a few weeks ago but I didn't really get my birthday cake.  Oh sure, I had cake and ice cream for dessert at Spoon and Stable, but it wasn't really "birthday cake" birthday cake which is to say it didn't have frosting.  It was "fancy" cake  - a lovely honey cake with sweetened condensed milk ice cream and caramel and...stuff.  It was the type of dessert for which restaurant pastry chefs win James Beard Awards. The presentation was spectacular, it tasted divine, but it wasn't "cake" cake.

When it comes to cake, it seems to me that people are either "cake" people or "frosting" people, but not normally both.  I am a frosting person.  Final answer. Cake is okay (my husband likes cake) but I am all about the frosting.  ALL about.  The more the better!  My favorite is Seven-Minute Frosting, a frosting my mother favored for the angel food cakes she made for all of us for our birthdays, but it would have been unseemly for me to make and then eat an entire bowl of it, wouldn't it?

So, I punted.  Instead of making or buying a cake, I, for the first time ever, had birthday brownies.

I love brownies.  I love brownies better than cake.  Maybe it's because brownies are a lot more dense and the flavor stands out more.  Or maybe it's because brownies are portable:  I cannot tell you how many times I stuff a cling-wrapped brownie into my purse for "sustenance."  (Cookies get the same treatment).  Cake is much harder to transport and of course, frosting, nearly impossible!

And folks, were these brownies ever good.  Really good. Plus, and I am chuffed to say this, my brownie looked exactly like the brownie featured on the cookbook cover – exactly!  That almost never happens.

But I have to tell you, I am not sure I can take credit for this success because it was a matter of following directions. Granted, there are many steps involved in making these but I was patient and I also made them over the course of two days.  I started the brownie layer one night but then ran out of time to do justice to the other layers so I started anew the next afternoon.  Sometimes taking a leisurely approach has its benefits.

Since my cookbook collection is ever-growing, I often box up and store cookbooks once I have used them but not this time around.  This time around, there's potential for reuse because of all the scrumptious recipes found in this book, of which today's featured brownie is one of them. 

And I'll just say that if you cannot find a brownie to suit in this book, it's because you are not looking hard enough.  There are "chip" brownies, fruit brownies (like raspberry), coffee brownies, mint brownies (ew), candy brownies and cordial brownies.  And then there are blondie brownies with all kinds of flavors and toppings, such as apple walnut and lemon coconut and even fruitcake blondies.  I love both kinds of brownies but I had to go with chocolate and happily, there are several other delicious chocolate brownie recipes that I might have to double back and try.

So.  Things to know about this recipe for Holy Heavenly Hash Brownies are that you'll use several kinds of chocolate and chocolate chips (bring it on!) and also a small amount of chocolate extract.  Let's discuss this last ingredient.

I tried to find chocolate extract before I made these brownies, but after trips to three different grocery stores (a few that were upscale), I didn't find it and wanted to get these brownies baked before I aged another year.  It would figure then, that about a week after I made them (and we inhaled them), I stopped at Penzy's (spice store) who didn't have them but referred me up the street to the Golden Fig Fine Foods.

I've mentioned the Golden Fig before; it's a specialty foods shop on Grand Ave in St. Paul. And sure enough, they had chocolate extract and a few other extracts that might come in handy.

Since owner Laurie McGann Crowell was there that day, we had a little chat about the extract and how it just adds a nice, smooth, subtle chocolate flavor to baked goods.  Plus, it had an expiration date of 2018 so that was in its favor; longer is better.  It's a little pricey compared to other extracts, but I think it was worth it. And of course, it gives me another reason (as if I needed one) to make these brownies again.  Sold!  By the way, you can mail order this item if Laurie's store is not in your neighborhood.  The brand is Nielssen Massey and you can find it online.  Pricewise, Sur La Table is the "best" of the online bunch, coming in at $8.00.  My bottle cost $6.95 and looks like that was a steal; Amazon's price is $14.99 – yikes!

Now I'll warn you that the ingredient list looks long (and hopeless) but it's really not.  If you bake at all, you likely have three-quarters or more of the items you need already on hand.  And I must confess to leaving out the almonds.  Much as I like almonds, I just didn't want them in my brownie.  And since it was going to be my birthday brownie, I got to do what I wanted. 

One other tiny confession:  I did not freeze the brownie layer for a short time period as directed.  Since I made the brownie base the night before, I just wrapped it up and let it set out.  In hindsight, I might have wanted to at least refrigerate it for a bit.  The brownies were a little squishy (but in a good way) and they probably would have benefitted from firming up just a bit.

Finally, these are very rich, so you might want to consider making a half a batch like I did and then cut yourself a tiny piece a day until they are all gone.  And remember, as with the mini meatloaves I made earlier in the week, there are next to no calories in mini bites. 

Birthday or not, you need to make these!

Ann's Note:  you'll notice the author gives you the ounces needed for each ingredient. Since I have a kitchen scale, I weighed most of mine (but not all) but if you don't, you might want to eyeball some of them because 1 cup is not always 8 ounces. For example, notice that 1 cup of sugar = 7 ounces, not 8 but you will use a full cup (8 ounces) for your light brown sugar but not a full cup for your flour (use 4.5 ounces).  Bakers like to weigh things!

Also, page xvii contains her tips for measuring, baking, whisking and whatnot.  If you have the book, you might want to take a look-see.  That said, I have the book and did I look there?  Nope [insert sheepish look here].

Holy Heavenly Hash Brownies – makes 12 large squares or 24 smaller bars

Brownie Batter

Vegetable shortening for pan

2/3 cup (3 ounces) roasted salted whole almonds

½ cup (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter

3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

1 cup (6 ounces) 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar

1 packed cup (8 ounces) light brown sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup (4.5 ounces) bleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Chocolate Nougat

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter

1 cup (7 ounces) sugar

¼ cup (2.2. ounces) evaporated milk

7.2 ounces (1 ½ cups) marshmallow creme, such as Fluff

½ cup (3 ounces) 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon pure chocolate extract (Ann's Note:  Naturally, I didn't purchase mine until after I was done with the recipe.  I couldn't find it before then.  If you don't have it, you can leave it out.)

Topping

1 ½ cups (2 ounces) miniature marshmallows

¼ cup (1 ounce) roasted salted whole almonds

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate drizzle

1 tablespoon (0.05 ounce) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon (0.02 ounce) light corn syrup

¼ cup (1.5 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon very hot water

To Make the Brownies

To make the brownies, adjust an oven rack to the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350F.  Prepare a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil as shown on page xvi.  Lightly great the foil in the pan.

Cut the almonds in half widthwise and place in a small bowl with the semisweet chocolate chips.  Set aside.

Cut the butter sticks into 1-inch slices.  In a small, heavy saucepan, melt the butter pieces over the lowest setting.  While the butter is melting, chop the unsweetened chocolate into ¼-inch pieces and add to the melted butter along with the bittersweet chocolate chips.  Use a small whisk to speed the melting process.  When the chocolate is melted and completely smooth, turn off the heat but leave the saucepan on the burner while proceeding with the recipe.

Using a large whisk, lightly beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Place the sugars and salt in a separate small mixing bowl, then whisk into the eggs just until incorporated.  Briefly whisk the melted chocolate mixture, then gradually whisk into the egg mixture until just combined.  Briefly whisk in the vanilla.  You can set aside the saucepan – no need to wash it – to use for the chocolate drizzle.

Place the flour and baking powder in the small mixing bowl; whisk together to combine.  Sift through a medium strainer directly onto the batter; stir in with a silicone spatula until just combined.  Sprinkle the almonds and semisweet chocolate chips over the batter; fold in until just combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly with a small offset spatula. Bake for 28minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let cool at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, then transfer the pan to the freezer to chill the slab while preparing the chocolate nougat.

To Make the Chocolate Nougat

Cut the butter into ½-inch thick slices.  Place the butter, sugar, and evaporated milk in a medium (1 ½ to 2-quart) saucepan.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally with a silicone spatula, until the butter is melted and the sugar is completely dissolved.  Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to the lowest setting and boil gently for 5 minutes, without stirring.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the marshmallow creme until very well incorporated, then add in the chocolate chips, salt, and extracts, stirring vigorously until the mixture is well blended.  Dollop the nougat over the chilled brownie slab and spread evenly with a small offset spatula.

To Add the Toppings

Evenly place the marshmallows over the nougat, gently pressing to slightly embed them.  Cut the almonds in half, then embed them in the nougat; repeat with the chocolate chips.

To Make the Chocolate drizzle

To make the chocolate drizzle, melt the butter and corn syrup over low heat in the reserved saucepan.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate chips; stir with a small silicone spatula until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Stir in the hot water to think it out.  Use the spatula to drizzle thin, random stripes over the top of the brownie slab.  Let the slab sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, then refrigerate pan for 7 to 8 hours or overnight.

Can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Ann's Note:  I mentioned above that I did not freeze the brownie slab for the allotted time, nor did I put the mixture in the refrigerator for 7-8 hours.  I mean come on—after all the work of making them, you want me to sit this out for another 8 hours?  Don't think so!