CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIE CUPCAKES: Guest post by Laura-Kate Rurka

I love when my mystery and chocolate worlds collide. Today I welcome back Laura-Kate Rurka. Laura attends many of the Mystery Literary Salons I host at my home. Everyone is thrilled when Laura-Kate comes because she brings such amazing baked goods! Here's her post with recipe for the divine Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cupcakes she made this summer.

LAURA-KATE RURKA: 

At a 4th of July party in Virginia this summer, a woman came up to me to ask about the chocolate chip cookies I had made (blogged about here on Dying for Chocolate a few years ago). I explained that I use an ice cream scoop to make them uniform, and we got to chatting about baking in general. She was clearly as much of a fanatic as I am, so I suggested we be baking pen pals. The first batch of recipes she sent included these chocolate fudge brownie cupcakes with cookie dough frosting, which I made for a salon at Janet’s and which were a lot of fun to make and even more to eat. Thanks to my new pen pal, Amy Anderson for passing it along. I’m looking forward to trying many more of her confections in the future, and to sharing them with all of you. For the salon, I made them in little baking cups and served them with a wooden ice cream spoon, but they can just as easily be made in a regular cupcake paper and eaten out of hand.

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cupcakes 

Ingredients (Makes 12): 
4 ounces of semisweet chocolate chopped (I prefer Ghirardelli chips)
Half cup of unsalted butter (8 Tablespoons) 1 Stick
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Frosting of your choice or use Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Over low heat melt butter and chocolate pieces just until the two are melted and combined. Do NOT boil. You just want the two melted until smooth.

Stir in the sugar and vanilla until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring or whisking vigorously after each addition.

Stir in the flour and salt.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 17-20 minutes or just until baked through. Do not overbake. The cupcakes won’t be domed like normal cakey cupcakes. They will be more flat and dense like a brownie.

Remove the cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely. Frost as desired.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting 

Ingredients: 
12 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
2 Cups of powdered sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons of milk or cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Half to one cup of mini chocolate chips

Directions: 

In a medium bowl with a handheld mixer beat together the butter, powdered sugar, brown sugar, flour, salt, milk or cream, and vanilla until very light and fluffy 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the chocolate chips. Frost cupcakes and serve immediately. You can refrigerate but remove them about an hour before you want to serve them.

***
Laura-Kate Rurka is a freelance writer, aspiring mystery author, and avid baker. She lives in Northern California with her husband and three kids.

MOLASSES SPICE COOKIES: Guest post by Laura-Kate Rurka

Laura-Kate Rurka is an amazing and avid baker and an aspiring mystery writer. I first met her at Left Coast Crime in Los Angeles where I was surprised and happy to learn that she lived in the Bay Area. Since that meeting, she has attended several of my Literary Salons where she has always brought the most amazing baked goods! Laura-Kate loves to see the expression on people’s faces when they bite into something delicious, and is always on the hunt for new recipes to make her friends and family happy. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, three children and a big, red lab. 

Laura-Kate recently brought these amazing cookies to a Literary Salon at my home, and I can attest they are some of the best cookies I have ever had. I know they're not chocolate, but you have to make them! Be sure to pay special attention to and don't deviate from the instructions and ingredients.

LAURA-KATE RURKA:

Every year during the holidays, (and in the off season, for Janet’s Literary Salon) I make hundreds of these chewy, molasses spice cookies, and every year I hear the same things:

“I hid them.”
“I didn’t share.”
“I told the kids they couldn’t have any.”
“Those are the best cookies I’ve ever had.”

And then:

“Can I have the recipe?”
“Don’t bother,” says one friend to the other, overhearing the request.
“They won’t taste like hers.”

It’s not true. They will taste like mine. All you have to do is use the proper ingredients and mind the extra instructions and soon, your friends too will be hoarding cookies and hiding them from their children. Or maybe you’ll keep them all for yourself.

The recipe is listed below and is pretty perfect in its own right, but follow these few tips and you’ll end up with the best cookies you’ve ever had. Deviate at your own peril.

1) Use Challenge or Land O’Lakes butter, softened on the counter for at least one hour.
2) Have your eggs at room temperature.
3) Use C&H dark brown sugar and Brer Rabbit full flavor molasses (not blackstrap or mild).
4) Conventional granulated sugar is fine for the batter, but use organic evaporated cane juice to roll the cookies and roll them generously. You may require more than the recipe calls for.
5) Make them big! I use an ice cream scoop from the restaurant supply store.
6) Bake them one sheet at a time on a parchment or Silpat lined un-insulated pan in the middle to upper third of the oven. This ensures the perfect sugar crusted crackly top.
7) Batter can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a day or two. Soften for half an hour before rolling and baking.
8) If you use a large ice cream scoop, one batch will yield 12 big cookies. Batch can be doubled without issue.
9) Underbake! Start with 10-12 minutes baking time. The cookies should look slightly wet in the crevices of the crackles. Once cool, this will produce a crisp outside and chewy middle.
10) Make sure your spices are fresh.
11) Enjoy!

Molasses Spice Cookies Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes. Makes 12 large cookies.

Molasses spice cookies are sort of like ginger snaps except bigger and chewy. The recipe for these cookies comes from Cook's Illustrated's The Best Recipe Cookbook.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling cookies
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice together in a bowl and set aside.

With a mixer (or by hand), cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl.

Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.

Place remaining 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Working with 2 Tbsp of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.

Bake until outer edges begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, about 11 to 13 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks with a wide spatula.

Best Ever Gluten Free Brownies: Guest post by Laura-Kate Rurka

Today I welcome back one of my favorite bakers. My two worlds collide again--mystery and chocolate. I met Laura-Kate Rurka at Left Coast Crime  several years ago. We found we had a lot in common--crime novels, molas, and chocolate--but her baking was an added bonus! Laura-Kate often attends Literary Salons I host at my home for visiting and local mystery writers -- and she usually bakes something fabulous, often featuring chocolate. In between bouts of baking and ferrying her three children from one activity to another, Laura-Kate carves out a little time to work on her novels. Thanks, Laura-Kate, for  bringing these fabulous brownies to the Colin Cotterill Lit Salon last week--and for sending this post!

Laura-Kate Rurka:
Best Ever Gluten Free Brownies

I don’t even want to tell you the secret of these brownies. I’m afraid if I do, some of you will turn away in disgust. Instead, let me tell you how good they are, melt-in-your-mouth, almost more of a truffle than a brownie and so rich, the smallest square will do, even for a dessert fiend like me. Are you cranking up the oven yet? Yes? I can tell you the secret then; they’re gluten free, but trust me, you won’t miss the flour. As a bonus, they’re also unleavened, perfect for Passover, or anytime really. Nigella serves them with a hot chocolate sauce, which to be honest, I’ve never tried. It’s hard to imagine making them any more decadent than they already are. Still, I’ve included the recipe in case you’re feeling wicked.

Recipe from Nigella Lawson

BEST EVER GLUTEN FREE BROWNIES

For the brownies:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa solids minimum)
2 sticks of butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup caster’s (baker’s) sugar (I’ve made them with regular granulated sugar and it worked just fine) 3 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups almond meal (I use Bob’s Red Mill, but I believe Trader Joe’s carries a version. Just make sure it’s made with blanched almonds)
1 cup chopped walnuts (I prefer mine without, but the original recipe does call for them)

For the Hot Chocolate Sauce: 
3 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp instant espresso powder
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp golden syrup or light corn syrup (you can find Lyle’s Golden Syrup in some areas of the U.S., but I’m sure corn syrup will work just as well)

For the brownies:
1 Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325ºF. Melt the chocolate and butter gently over a low heat in a heavy-based saucepan.
2 Take the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla and sugar, and let it cool a little.
3 Beat the eggs into the pan along with the almond meal and chopped walnuts. Turn into a 24cm / 9 inch square baking tin or, most sensibly, use a foil one. (I like to line the bottom of the pan with parchment so I can remove them after they’re cool and cut them neatly on a board).
4 Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, by which time the top will have set but the mixture will still be gooey. Once cooler, cut carefully, four down, four across, into 16 squidgy-bellied squares.

For the sauce:
1 Break up the chocolate and put into a heavy-based saucepan.
2 Dissolve the instant espresso powder in the water and add this, along with the remaining ingredients into the saucepan, then place the pan over a gentle heat and let everything melt together.
3 Once everything has melted, stir well, take off the heat and pour into a jug to serve.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies: Laura-Kate Rurka

I always love when my chocolate and mystery worlds collide. I met Laura-Kate Rurka, an aspiring Bay Area writer who loves both chocolate and mysteries a few years ago at Left Coast Crime: Booked in LA. Both she and I are glad we met because since that time she has shared both delicious treats and great stories at the literary salons at my home in Berkeley. 

At the latest literary salon for Scottish Mystery Author Catriona McPherson (who brought CAKE), Laura-Kate brought awesome Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies. What a wealth of sweet riches. I had to have the recipe, so I asked Laura-Kate to share with DyingforChocolate readers. Here's the tale and recipe!

LAURA-KATE RURKA: Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone with this recipe. I've tried both with the salted peanuts and without and prefer without. The peanuts disrupt the glorious texture.

Also, I just realized in making them this time that I put a full stick of butter in the peanut butter ganache layer instead of the half a stick that it calls for–cardiologists stand by your beepers! (Do they even have those anymore?)

The bars are best served cold, though I find it better to let take them out of the fridge about 15-20 mins before I cut them into bars, otherwise the layers separate. They're not bad warm, just not quite as good.

They need to be made a day ahead. I usually prepare them through the peanut butter layer, put them in the fridge overnight, and then make the topping the next morning. This keeps the chocolate from melting into the peanut butter ganache. 

Here is the original recipe from Anne Thornton on Food Network, if you want to be a purist, but read Laura-Kate's notes and adaptations above for an even more fabulous Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Bar!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES

Ingredients 

Decadent Brownies:
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, plus more, softened, for pan
1 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Buttercream Layer:
1 cup creamy peanut butter (don't use old-fashioned or natural)
1/2 stick sweet butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups salted cocktail peanuts

Ganache:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
7 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
For your brownie batter: Melt your butter in a medium (or large) heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.
While the butter is melting, whisk the cocoa powder, sea salt and sugar in a separate bowl. (The sugar and salt will work as abrasive agents to get any lumps out of the cocoa.) Whisk the cocoa/sugar/salt combo into the melted butter until the sugar has dissolved fully. The mixture should look like fudge and pull away from the bowl into a ball. Take off the stove and set the pan on a dishtowel on your counter. Allow the fudgy mixture to cool down until it's warm, but not hot anymore.
While that is cooling, line the bottom and sides of your 9 by 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper or foil. You want to leave about 4 inches of overhang on the 2 opposite sides. These serve as your handles to remove the brownies from the pan in 1 piece, so make sure that there is enough of the overhang for you to have a solid grip. Grease the parchment or foil well.
Stir in the vanilla into the cooled fudge mixture to loosen it up. Add the eggs into the mixture 1 at a time, adding the second egg after the first egg is fully incorporated. The batter should look shiny and well blended. Add in your flour and stir it until it's fully incorporated. Once it looks fully blended, beat the batter vigorously for at least 45 strokes. This'll not only get out any pent up stress, but it will make the brownies chewy. Fold in your chocolate chips. Spread the very thick and fudgy brownie batter evenly in the lined pan with an offset spatula or your greased hands.
Pop the brownies in the oven and bake until they get a nice crust and your house smells like brownies, 30 to 35 minutes. Let them cool completely on a rack or a dishtowel on your counter.
While the brownies are cooling make the buttercream and ganache.

For the buttercream:
Mix your peanut butter and butter together in a stand mixer until they are totally blended. Turn your mixer down and slowly add your powdered sugar and fine sea salt. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Turn your mixer back to medium, add your milk and vanilla and keep mixing until it's fully blended. Dollop the peanut butter buttercream in heaping spoonfuls on top of the cooled brownies. Evenly spread it with the back of a butter knife the over the surface. Scatter the peanuts evenly over the buttercream, pressing into the buttercream so that the ganache has something to hold on to and the peanuts are all covered.

For the ganache:
Melt the chocolate chips and butter together in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Allow the ganache to cool down slightly for 10 minutes or so, then pour it evenly over the peanut butter buttercream layer. Smooth the ganache out with the back of a butter knife, making sure to cover the buttercream and peanuts completely. Chill the brownies in the refrigerator until the toppings are set, 1 1/2 hours or so.

Remove these delicious guys from the refrigerator. Lift up the ends of the foil liner and place the Fudgy Salty Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies on a cutting board. Cut into squares.