MILKY WAY BROWNIES

Milky Way Bars have been around for almost a 100 years. Lots of Milky Way Ads from WWII, but I chose to post to post this ad for Milky Way Bars from 1930 because the woman is reading a book and eating a Milky Way. My kind of rainy afternoon. 

When I was young, my friend Donna always had Milky Way bars in her freezer, and I'd stop by her house on the way to school and have one. BTW, it wasn't really on the way, but worth the walk in the wrong direction through the park before turning around and heading in the other direction. I love frozen Milky Way Bars. When we were older, Donna and I got a ride to high school with a neighbor. While we waited for him, we availed ourselves of the Milky Way bars on his family's coffee table! Maybe this wasn't particularly healthy, but it was a delicious way to start the day. And, I must admit, my parents didn't know about candy in the morning. They would have been horrified.

Now, I buy miniature Milky Way bars to give out at Halloween. We don't get many kids where I live, so I put the 'extras' (that would be all of them) in the freezer. How to use them up? In Brownies, of course. And, these two recipes for Milky Way Brownies are great! One's for home, and the other's for a crowd!

1. EASY MILKY WAY BROWNIES!

Make your favorite Brownie Mix (I like Ghirardelli), following directions by adding the 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 egg, and 1/3 cup water. At 20 minutes into baking (350F), put about 7 ounces of chopped up miniature Milky Way Bars or Milky Way Bites on top. Bake another 20 minutes. Oh yum!

2. MILKY WAY BROWNIES FOR A CROWD!

Have a crowd coming over? Want to make a batch of Milky Way Brownies from scratch? This recipe is the Bees Knees!

Ingredients: 
1 pound unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 pound dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (or very dark - 90%), chopped
2 Tbsp instant espresso powder
7 large eggs
2 Tbsp pure vanilla
2 1/4 cups granulated white sugar
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 ounces miniature Milky Way bars, chopped
2 Milky Way Bars, sliced

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12x18x1-inch pan. Line with foil that hangs over sides (butter the parchment). This makes it easier to get brownies out.
In metal bowl or saucepan over saucepan of simmering water, heat butter and chocolate until melted and smooth; cool slightly.
In large bowl, whisk together eggs, espresso powder, vanilla, and sugar. Stir egg mixture into slightly cooled chocolate mixture. Cool to room temperature.
In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to batter. Stir chopped mini Milky Way bars into chocolate mixture. Then pour into prepared baking pan and smooth top with rubber spatula.
Place slices of full-size Milky Way Bar on top of brownie batter.
Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not overbake!
Let cool completely, then cover tightly and chill overnight. These are very gooey, so be sure to chill if you want to cut them!

RAINY DAY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

We're having a late Spring rain today, and it's super wet and wild. We need the rain, though, since it's been dry for two months! If you're stuck inside, what can you do? Well, make Rainy Day Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course.

You can never have too many chocolate chip cookie recipes! I have all the ingredients in my pantry and fridge, and I bet you do, too. I won't have to go out in this rain. Have fun!Your house will smell great, too!

Rainy Day Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients 
2-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1-1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt
2 cups dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Coarse sea salt

Directions 
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. When butter begins to foam, start whisking to prevent burning. After couple of minutes, butter will begin to brown on bottom of saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as butter browns and gives off nutty smell.
Immediately transfer butter to bowl to prevent burning. Set butter in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes or until room temperature.
Meanwhile mix together dry ingredients (except 2 sugars).
Once butter has cooled to room temp, with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg, yolk, vanilla, and almond extracts, and yogurt until combined. Add dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed until just combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.
Chill dough for 2 hours in refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are in a hurry (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Once dough is chilled measure about 1 heaping tablespoon dough and roll into ball.
Dip top of the ball into coarse sea salt.
Place dough on prepared cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake cookies about 11 minutes or until edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. Hint: Cookies will look a little underdone in middle, but will continue to cook once out of oven.
Cool cookies on sheets at least 2 minutes. Then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

DEATH BY CHOCOLATE COOKIE: Retro Ad with Recipe

Here's a great and easy Retro Cookie from Baker's Chocolate. I must admit I don't use Baker's Chocolate. Apologies to Baker, but I use high end chocolate, often reducing the sugar in the recipe. I, also, never use margarine -- only butter. And, because this is a  a Death by Chocolate Cookie Recipe, I add both Dark and Milk Chocolate Chips. It's all about the Noir!

So here's a fun and easyrecipe for Death by Chocolate Cookies. Recipe circa 1985. Be sure and incorporate the 2026 recipe changes above.

Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake: National Coffee Cake Day

Today is National Coffee Cake Day, and it's the perfect day for Coffee Cake. There are so many wonderful recipes for Chocolate Coffee Cake, Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake, and hey, lots of pound and bundt cakes are coffee cakes. Coffee cakes are sweet cakes usually meant to accompany coffee. They are usually single layer cakes, baked in loaf or bundt pans, but other shapes are fine. I have a square chiffon cake pan that works with the following recipe.

This recipe for Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake produces a cake with a dense texture that will appeal to both chocolate and white cake lovers--and it has coffee in it, so it's a perfect"Coffee Cake." This recipe is adapted from Stephanie Jaworski's - Joy of Baking. If you're not familiar with her website, you should get acquainted. Lots of great recipes.

Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake

Ingredients
2 1/2 ounces 65-75% dark chocolate, chopped
1 Tbsp brewed coffee or espresso
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Butter 10 inch bundt or tube pan.
In stainless steel bowl, over saucepan of simmering water, melt chocolate with coffee. Remove from heat and set aside.
In separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.
In bowl of electric mixer (or with hand mixer), beat butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until mixture is light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add beaten eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract and sour cream.
With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour mixture and milk to the batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with flour.
After preparing batter, pour half of batter into separate bowl. Stir melted chocolate into one half of batter, mixing well. Place batter into prepared pan by alternating spoons of vanilla batter and chocolate batter. Then, with flat knife almost to bottom of pan, gently draw swirls (up, over and down) through batter as you rotate pan (if you're using round bundt) to marbleize it. Don't over mix. Smooth top of batter.
Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before removing cake from pan to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I think this cake is fine the way it is (not too sweet), but you can dust with powdered sugar, drip with a chocolate glaze, or frost with chocolate ganache.

This cake will keep for a couple of days at room temperature or it can be frozen.