WHITE CHOCOLATE CANDY CORN BLONDIES: Halloween!

Candy Corn is all about Halloween! I love it, but since it's pretty much pure sugar, it's not to everyone's taste. But if you're not going to go all out at Halloween with sugar, when are you? According to the National Confectioners Association, 20 million pounds (9000 tons) of candy corn are sold annually.

I love putting M&Ms and other candy in brownies, so why not candy corn? This is a great recipe for White Chocolate Candy Corn Blondies. It's simple and delicious.

This recipe was sent to me by Davidson's Safest Choice Eggs. Their eggs feature a special pasteurization process that submerges the eggs in large warm water baths. Unfortunately their eggs are not available in my area. The recipe is from Laura of Pies and Plots. If the recipe is too sweet for you, adjust the sugar as needed (or want). And, of course, you can put Candy Corn in your 'regular" chocolate brownies. Here's a recipe for Candy Corn Brownies that I posted last year. 

But for today, here's my recipe for White Chocolate Candy Corn Blondie.

White Chocolate Candy Corn Blondies

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup white chocolate, chopped (be sure it's 'real' white chocolate and not the disks that are made of vegetable oil)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 cup flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup candy corn

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter 9x13 baking pan and line with parchment, going up sides of pan. Do not butter parchment.
In medium microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and white chocolate in microwave in 30-second increments, stirring in between to help with melting. Be sure mixture is fully melted. It will separate. That's okay. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
In large bowl, mix together sugars, vanilla, and eggs with spoon or spatula. Add melted butter and white chip mixture, mixing until fully incorporated and mixture has lightened in color slightly. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined. Stir in candy corn.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of Blondies comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Cool completely in pan before cutting into bars and serving.
 

HERSHEY BAR CHOCOLATE CAKE: National Chocolate Day

Every day is Chocolate Day here on DyingforChocolate.com, but for National Chocolate Day, I thought I'd repost one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes. Remember, you can never have too many chocolate cake recipes!

Growing up in Philadelphia, my family often visited the Hershey Factory in near-by Hershey, PA. What a Willy Wonka experience. At the end of the factory tour, each child was given a Hershey Bar! I'm not talking mini, either, these were the 'regular' sized bars. Since I was used to buying penny candy (remember that?), this was a huge treat. Visiting the Hershey Factory was an experience I'll never forget, and even though I might now opt for more refined single origin organic dark chocolate bar, in a pinch, I would never turn down a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar.

So here's a Classic Chocolate Cake recipe that's perfect for National Chocolate Day. You'll find this in many of the older Hershey Cookbooks. And, yes, you can make the recipe using high end dark chocolate and syrup, but try it first with Hershey chocolate bars and Hershey's syrup. This easy-to-make cake will satisfy any chocoholic!

HERSHEY BAR CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk
2-1/2 cups flour
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup
1-1/2 cups sugar (you can take it down to 1 cup)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars (1.55 ounces), melted and cooled

Directions

Heat oven to 350. Butter either 12 cup Bundt Pan or 10" tube pan. 

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. 

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla with electric mixer. Add syrup and melted chocolate and mix completely. Blend in buttermilk. Gradually add flour mixture until well combined. 

Pour into prepared pans.
Bake in Tube or Bundt pan for 45 minutes to an hour -- or until done.
Cover with foil immediately to steam and make cake moister.
Keep covered until cake is completely cool.

GRAVEYARD CAKE & GRAVEYARD ICE CREAM PIE! BOO

Happy Halloween! There are many recipes for Graveyard Ice Cream Pie and Graveyard Cake for Halloween, but I have my favorites. 

This first recipe for Graveyard Ice Cream Pie is adapted from Martha Stewart. She calls it "I Scream" Graveyard Pie.  I use PEEPS' Marshmallow Tombstones instead of the Milano Cookies and candy skulls Martha uses in the original recipe. Want to make this even more chocolatey? Make a Chocolate Cookie Crust instead of graham cracker crust. 

The second recipe is for Graveyard Cake, and the recipe is from Betty Crocker. It uses a cake mix, but if you're a purist, use your own favorite chocolate cake recipe. Once again, I use the PEEPS' Marshmallow Tombstones...and Ghosts. Gotta love PEEPS.

GRAVEYARD ICE CREAM PIE

Ingredients
16 graham crackers, broken into large pieces
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened
1 cup roughly chopped chocolate flaky-crisp candy bars, such as Butterfinger "fun size" (about 8)
1 pint chocolate ice cream, softened
1 cup roughly chopped chocolate-coconut candy bars, such as Mounds "snack size" (about 8)
2 tablespoons chocolate chips, melted and cooled
20 chocolate wafers

Directions 
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In food processor, process graham crackers until finely ground (you should have about 2 cups). With motor running, add butter in slow, steady stream and pulse until combined. Firmly press crumb mixture into bottom and up side of a 9 1/2-inch pie plate. Bake until crust is dry and set, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely in plate on a wire rack, 45 minutes.

In medium bowl, stir vanilla ice cream with wooden spoon until smooth. Fold in flaky-crisp candy bars. With small offset spatula, spread ice cream mixture evenly in crust. Freeze until firm, 1 hour 20 minutes.

Stir chocolate ice cream until smooth. Fold in coconut candy bars and spread evenly on top of vanilla ice cream layer. Freeze until firm, 1 hour.

In clean food processor, pulse wafers until finely ground (you should have about 1 1/4 cups). Spread crumbs on top of pie. With a knife, cut slits for "tombstones" and insert PEEPS Marshmallow Tombstones. 

GRAVEYARD CAKE

Ingredients
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist devil’s food cake mix
Water, oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting
4 PEEPS® brand marshmallow ghosts
4 PEEPS® brand marshmallow tombstones
1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (10 cookies)

Directions
Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
Make cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan. Cool in pan on cooling rack until completely cooled, about 1 hour.
Spread chocolate frosting on top of cake; place marshmallows around edges of cake.
Sprinkle cake cookie crumbs to look like dirt.
Cut into 5 rows by 4 rows. 

 

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP PECAN BISCOTTI: National Pumpkin Day! Thanks, Sarah Husmann

My friend Sarah Husmann makes these fabulous Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pecan Biscotti every year  around Halloween. They are fabulous! 

***

Sarah Husmann:

I am an amateur baker, bread maker, mixologist, and chef. I also LOVE books, cats, and trash tv. Janet and I became friends through our love of books. 

I always loved cooking with my mom, but I never really did any serious baking--until last year. With the holidays fast approaching, I was looking for new recipes to try. I’ve always wanted to make Biscotti, but I thought they would be too complicated. They're so delicious! And, I was pleasantly surprised by how very easy they are to make.

The recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Biscotti (Barley & Sage) that I used calls for browned butter, and I have to say who DOESN’T love browned butter? Browned butter is easy to make, and I loved how it enhanced the taste of the biscotti.

The only adjustments I made to this recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Biscotti was adding 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and using melted semi-sweet chocolate instead of white chocolate for drizzling on or dipping the biscotti.

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP PECAN BISCOTTI

Ingredients

Biscotti
1/2 cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (you can always make your own!)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans optional

Topping
4 ounces semi sweet chocolate melted (original recipe uses white chocolate)
chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat together the softened brown butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.

Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Then beat in the pumpkin puree.

Add in the flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, and salt and mix until fully incorporated.

Then stir in the chopped pecans if desired. The dough should be sticky.

Scoop half the dough onto one side of baking sheet and pat it into a 10 inch x 2 inch rectangle that’s about 1 inch thick (lightly wetting your hands helps a lot with this step). Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown all over. Remove from the oven and let cool for 25 to 30 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Carefully transfer the logs to a cutting board and use a spray bottle filled with room-temperature water to very lightly spritz them (just one spray on each section of the logs). Wait about 5 minutes before using a very sharp serrated knife to slice biscotti ½ inch wide.

Return the pumpkin biscotti slices to the baking sheet, standing them up with ½ inch in between them, so air can circulate around them. Bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until dry and golden.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Dip or drizzle the pumpkin biscotti in the melted semi sweet chocolate (or white chocolate) and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Let the chocolate fully harden before storing.

Notes
Store biscotti in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

To make brown butter:
Melt unsalted butter over medium heat, stirring frequently. Watch closely for the butter to develop brown specs and a nutty aroma. Once you start seeing brown specs, let cook for just a few seconds longer (watch very carefully or it will burn). Remove from the heat and pour into a small bowl so that it doesn't continue to cook. Set aside and let cool for about 20 minutes in the fridge until soft and pliable.