BEST BROWNIES EVER! Guittard Brownie Recipes for National Brownie Day!

Today is National Brownie Day. So many recipes for Brownies. I've probably posted over 100! Although there's great chocolate from all over the world, I thought I'd feature my favorite baking chocolate: Guittard--and it's a local company.

The Guittard Chocolate Company, based in Burlingame, CA, has been around for over 150 years, so it's not surprising that they have developed some fabulous chocolate. They've been crafting chocolate for five generations, using a combination of a time-tested craft, innovative techniques, long-standing relationships and a complete obsession with making a premium chocolate that delivers a spectrum of flavor for a variety of applications.

I often use their cocoa, bars, chips, and wafers, and I really love their Collection Etienne Chocolate. Their 100 percent cacao bars are amazing, but they also make 64 and 70% bars--all fair trade-certified, non-GMO, kosher and whatever else you want on the label. These are also available as wafers. I love this company! So here are two recipes from Guittard for incredible Collection Etienne Brownies. You will marvel at the intense chocolate flavor in both. The first recipe is my favorite, since it's fudgy. The second recipe is more cake-like, but equally fab...just different. Let me know which you prefer.

Incredible Collection Etienne Best Brownies Ever!

Ingredients
6 ounces Guittard Collection Etienne unsweetened chocolate (100-percent cacao), broken into pieces
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9-by-9-inch pan with foil, covering bottom and extending up sides.
In double boiler set over hot, not boiling water, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Set aside.
Using electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt at high speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and creamy. Blend in melted chocolate at low speed, stopping to scrape sides as needed. Add flour just until incorporated.
Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until top is puffed and cracked, and toothpick inserted in center test moist. Brownies will set as they cool. Cool before cutting.

Best Cake-Like Collection Etienne Brownies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (8 oz) Collection Etienne 74% Cacoa Organic Bittersweet Chocolate Wafers
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups evaporated cane sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temp
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Line 8-inch square pan with foil
Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler until smooth and melted.
Transfer to large bowl of electric mixer. Mix in sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, blending until smooth and glossy, stopping to scrape sides as needed. Add flour until just incorporated.
Spread into prepared pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until puffed around edges and cater tests most. Do not overtake. Cool before cutting.

CHOCOLATE PINWHEEL COOKIES: Cookie Month!

December is Cookie Month! No surprise there!

There are many types of cookies--Bar Cookies, Drop Cookies, Pressed Cookies, No-Bake Cookies, Molded Cookies, Rolled Cookies, Sandwich Cookies, Fried Cookies, but today I'm posting a recipe for one of my favorite type of Cookies: Refrigerator Cookies aka Icebox Cookies.

Refrigerator Cookies (icebox cookies) include a variety of cookie styles that require chilling. Very often, as in the case of the recipe below, the cookie dough is shaped into a log, so that when chilling is complete in the refrigerator, the dough is easily sliced and baked.

My most favorite Refrigerator Cookies are Pinwheel Cookies. My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up, and she was a terrific baker, so my mother didn't do a lot of baking. But my mother did make Pinwheel Cookies. I used to help her roll out the dough, and after it was cold, she put the two doughs together. I got to cut them. How fun. So visual, too!

The following recipe for "Chocolate Pin Wheels" is from my copy of Baker's Famous Chocolate Recipes, 1936. I love vintage cookbooks and pamphlets. Note that cookie is spelled "cooky" in the cookbook!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COCA COLA CHRISTMAS CAKE: Retro Recipe for St. Nicholas Day!

Happy St. Nicholas (aka Santa) Day! I love this recipe for Double Chocolate Coca Cola Christmas Cake. It's really good and easy. So Retro to use Coca Cola, but obviously Santa likes it!

CHOCOLATE BARKS FOR SANTA AND FRIENDS!

Just 3 weeks until Christmas, and you might still need to make a gift or have treats ready for Santa. I can't think of anything easier or more versatile than Chocolate Bark. What do you have in your pantry? Well, chocolate, of course, and you can add anything to the chocolate, and voila! instant Treats! Package your bark nicely in a tin, and you have a gift for Auntie Em! Put it on the table for Santa, along with cookies and milk, and he'll love it!

So here are recipes for a variety of Chocolate Holiday Barks! Let's face it, you can never have enough barks! Woof!

1. White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Ingredients
1 pound white chocolate
candy canes, crushed to make 1/2 cup

Directions
Heat white chocolate in double boiler over low heat until melted.
Add crushed candy cane to white chocolate. Make sure white chocolate stays warm.
Pour mixture onto wax paper-lined cookie sheet, spreading very thinly with spatula.
Place cookie sheet in freezer until  mixture has hardened.
Take out of freezer and crack bark into small pieces.
Remove from wax paper and store at room temperature.

2. Microwave White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Ingredients
1 pound white chocolate
1/2 cup crushed candy canes

Directions
Place chocolate in microwave-safe dish. Microwave on 50% power, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and of creamy consistency.
Stir in crushed candy canes.
Spread on cookie sheet and place in the freezer until set (about 20 minutes).
Break into pieces.

3. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Ingredients
12 ounces high quality dark chocolate
1/2 cup crushed candy canes
1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions
Melt chocolate in top of double boiler (or saucepan on top of saucepan of simmering water).
Remove from heat, add peppermint extract and stir.
Pour melted chocolate onto cookie sheet lined with wax paper and spread out with spatula or wooden spoon.
Sprinkle peppermint candy chunks on chocolate and gently press in with hands.
Put in freezer until hardened (5 minutes).
Break into pieces. Store in fridge in an airtight container.

And, here are two recipes for festive holiday barks that feature red --and red and green--in the bark.

4. Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Ginger Bark

Ingredients
6 ounces dark chocolate (65-70% cacao), chopped
2 Tbsp crystallized ginger
1 cup pomegranate seeds
1 tsp sea salt

Directions
Melt chocolate in top of double boiler or saucepan over saucepan of simmering water.
Remove saucepan with melted chocolate from stove and stir in crystallized ginger and half of pomegranate seeds.
Line baking sheet with parchment. Pour melted chocolate mixture onto sheet. Using a spatula smooth chocolate into even layer about 1/4 inch thick.
Sprinkle with remaining pomegranate seeds and sea salt.
Chill 20-30 minutes (until firm).
Break into pieces and store in airtight container, separating layers with waxed paper.
Serve same day, if possible.

5. Cranberry Nut Chocolate Bark
This recipe is from King Arthur Flour. I love the innovative recipes on the website and blog, and, of course, King Arthur Flour's great products! This recipe is very festive with red cranberries and crunchy pecans...and it uses both white and dark chocolate layers.

Ingredients
1 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup toasted diced pecans
2- 2/3 cups chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted
2- 2/3 cups chopped white chocolate, melted

Directions
Toss cranberries and pecans together. Set them aside.
Melt dark chocolate (in the top of a double boiler--see above), and spread into 8" x 12" oval on parchment paper.
Allow chocolate to set, but not harden completely.
Melt white chocolate (in the top of a double boiler-see above) and mix with about 3/4 cup of cranberries and pecans. Spread this over dark chocolate.
Sprinkle rest of nuts and fruit on top, pressing them in gently.
Refrigerate for about 10 minutes--no more than 20-- until hardened, then break into chunks.

6. Whiskey Marshmallow and Caramel Bacon Bark from Bakers Royale

Happy Holidays!