Cold Winter Nights and Hot Pudding Cake

The day began with a gray coating of thin clouds and barely a slice of sunshine. Children donned their winter jackets and heavy boots. The temperature outside froze at 11 degrees. The streets were barren because no one wanted to leave the warmth of their homes for a silly trip to the grocery store. It was a day like no other. 

In the depth of each kitchen, hot steamy bowls of soup were shared by the family. The aroma of freshly baked bread enticed even the pickiest of eaters to come to the table for dinner. Little hands reached out for the golden goodness of a toasted cheese sandwich, melted to just the right amount of gooeyness. Bellies were filled, and hearts were warmed as the meal ended and dessert was served. 

As the crock pot was brought to the table, the children murmured in disbelief. What was this? No one wanted more soup or vegetables. They were ready for something sweet, something to make their tummies happy, and their mouths shout hooray. Each of them stood up to rebel against this travesty. 

They sat back down when the lid came off the slow cooker. A hot beacon of steam escaped from the round container. The deep, rich smell of chocolate enveloped the room. As mom reached her giant spoon into the dark cake, she brought forth a wondrous surprise. Ladled into the first dish came a moist cocoa brownie swimming in a puddle of warm chocolate pudding. Over and over, she served her dessert until the bottom of the pan was empty except for a few crumbs sprinkled in the dark liquid. Mom didn’t stop there. For each guilty pleasure, she delicately sprayed a mountain of whipped cream and topped the dollop off with  a maraschino cherry.  Her masterpiece was completed and the family was overwhelmed. The only sounds left for the evening were the humming noises of content children as they devoured their treats at the end of a winter’s day. 

Everyone loves dessert. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a cold winter’s night, or a hot summer evening, the thought of something sweet after a good meal completes the picture. (It can also be the redeeming factor if the food wasn’t that delicious.) One of the best desserts that I have found is this  Chocolate Pudding Cake which bakes inside my slow cooker. I like it because it’s easy, the ingredients are simple, and it cooks without my constant attention. I can prepare this cake and then leave it alone while I do something else. It’s also nice because I don’t have to turn on the oven, which is helpful when the weather outside is broiling my tootsies off. 

This gooey treat bakes a firm brownie like cake that rises to the top, while a molten load of chocolate pudding lava bubbles underneath. For anyone who enjoys warm chocolate oozing over a delicious brownie, this is perfect for you. I especially love it with whipped cream and cherries, but my son enjoyed it with a scoop of black cherry ice cream on top. Both were fantastic. Its your choice. Try it this evening and be prepared to forget about the weather. It won’t matter anymore. 

Crock Pot Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
½ cup sugar
2 ¼ TBL unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup milk
2 TBL oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 ½ cups very hot water

Directions:

Spray inside of a 2-3 ½ quart crock pot/slow cooker with cooking spray. (If your crock pot is larger, double all ingredients.)

In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, 2 ¼ TBL cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, oil and vanilla and stir until smooth.**  Batter will be very thick. Spread in crock pot evenly.

In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar and ¼ cup cocoa. Add hot water and stir until smooth.  Pour evenly over batter in crock pot. Let sit – do not stir!

Cover crock pot and cook on high for 2 hours or until center comes out clean.
Turn pot off. Let stand for 30 minutes so sauce underneath is a nice consistency.

Spoon into dishes, and serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream on top. I like to add a cherry too!

** If desired, add ¾ cup of chopped nuts or cherries here. **

Little Bitty Bites of Goodness

A few years ago, the big trend in baking was cake pops. Recipes were plastered all over the internet about how to make them, bake them, roll them, and decorate them. It was a simple product made from three ingredients - cake, frosting, and melted chocolate. People were obsessed with decorating them into animals, faces, sports equipment, and beautiful masterpieces. Books described in detail the different flavors that could be used, and the variety of colors available for your eating pleasure. I will admit, I was one of those crazy bakers who had to try this new phenomena. 

I found the basic recipe and bought all the ingredients to create my own cake pop. My kitchen was buried in cake mix, eggs, and oil. The first step was to make a 9x13inch cake according to the box mix. I chose a simple vanilla cake. I baked my cake and then let it cool until it was easy to touch. The next direction said to crumble my cake into tiny pieces, much like sand or small peas. I did that. There was a lot of cake! Now to add the frosting - a whole 16 oz container of vanilla frosting, and mix thoroughly. Once combined, it was time to roll the mixture into little balls. They were then chilled, and dunked into melted chocolate. The whole process took a long time, and honestly, I wasn’t thrilled with the outcome. The balls were so sweet that it hurt my teeth to eat just one. Plus I had all these vanilla balls with vanilla frosting. There was no variety whatsoever. I could have divided out the crumbled cake with different frostings, but that would have left lots of wasted leftover frosting. I didn’t need or want the aggravation. Needless to say, I never made this recipe again. 

A year or so later, a very smart engineer created a machine that baked your favorite cake mix into 12 individual small balls. The baking process only took 5 minutes. Being the small appliance queen that I am (I have at least 10 the last time I counted) I had to own this new little machine. Of course, once I decided I wanted one, there were none to find. My son, however, saved the day once more. He actually found one and bought it for me as a surprise. I couldn’t wait to try it out. 

JayRex and I bought our vanilla cake mix, but this time we tried something different. Instead of eggs, and oil and all the calories that went with it, we added diet soda to the mix. We then sorted the batter into 4 little bowls and added assorted flavorings and coordinating colors for each portion. With a tablespoon of batter into the little round compartments, the BabyCake Machine worked its miracle. The cake was perfectly formed and easy to remove. I then melted some white chocolate chips and dunked each ball into its sweet covering. Jay sprinkled each flavored ball with a particular color sugar so we would know the flavor inside. The whole process of baking and decorating more than 48 balls took us less than an hour.  So much easier than the first time I made cake pops, and these new treats were soft, moist, and extremely better tasting. 

I did poke lollipop sticks into a few of my new goodies to make a cute display. The rest never made it past the ball stage. I have to say  that all of them disappeared within 2 days. I proceeded to buy more cake mix again, only this time I melted dark chocolate for the topping. (Cherry cake with dark chocolate coating is like eating a chocolate covered cherry without dripping cordial on your shirt. I don’t know how many I have eaten so far.)

My recipe for these little bitty bites of goodness is as follows. If you can, find yourself a "BabyCakes" machine and get ready to fall in love with  cake again. I know I did! 

**You can find "BabyCakes" Cake Pop Machine at Amazon.com**

April and Jay’s Recipe for Cake Balls

Ingredients:

1 box of vanilla cake mix (or any other preferred flavor)
12 ounces of Diet Crème Soda (or any other preferred flavor that matches your cake.)
Assorted flavors such as almond, orange, raspberry, cherry, and coconut.
Food coloring to match your flavors
Assorted colored sugars for decoration

1 bag of white chocolate chips. (Can also use Wilton Candy Melts)
Lollipop sticks (Optional)

Directions:

Preheat machine.

Mix cake mix and soda in medium size bowl. Divide batter into 4 small bowls. Add favorite flavor and coordinating color to each portion. I used blue for almond, pink for raspberry, white for coconut, and orange for orange obviously.

With non stick spray, grease the machine’s top and bottom trays. Using a tablespoon, fill the cavities of the machine. Do not overfill because they will ooze out and have too much flash on the sides. Close lid and cook for 5 minutes. When finished, remove cake balls with toothpick. Careful - the machine is HOT!

Let the balls cool. When ready, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 30 second intervals. Stir completely after each interval. After 1 minute, it should be done.

Dunk each ball into the melted chocolate. Sprinkle with colored sugars while wet. Let dry on wax paper. If you are interested, you can poke each ball with a lollipop stick to make a treat on the go.

Store these goodies in an airtight container for best results. I guarantee they won’t last long once everyone has tried one. Enjoy with a glass of milk, a cup of tea, a mug of coffee or just by themselves. They are that good!

Cravings of April

I love cookbooks! I love browsing through the pages, collecting recipes, and drooling at the pictures. A good cookbook should always have pictures. Otherwise, how do you know if you’re following the recipe correctly? Pictures are a must. 

I don’t know how many cookbooks I actually own. There is a giant box filled with my secret pleasures sitting on the floor of my dining room. Like any dedicated reader, I can’t bear to throw any books away. I didn’t even discard any cookbooks when I moved across country to California. I stored the majority of them at my sister’s house, in her basement. I did bring along my own cookbook which was filled with those recipes I use all the time. That cookbook is my kitchen bible. (A sequel of this book is available at Amazon.com for your dining pleasure.)     April's Cookbook

Recently, I encountered another cookbook that I absolutely love. Originally, I discovered it on the shelf at Target. I couldn’t afford it at first; I was barely 

working enough hours to buy food, let alone buy a cookbook. So every time I shopped, I browsed through the book‘s pages. I even took a picture of one of the recipes to try it out at home sometime. I know it would have been easier to look up the recipes on the internet, but like I said, I love the cookbooks themselves. I enjoy flipping through the actual paper pages and being able to write on the recipe any changes I made or whether or not its worth making again. 

You can imagine how overjoyed I was when my son gave me this cookbook for a Christmas present this year.  I couldn’t wait to dive in and try out more dishes. The best part was that I already had many of the ingredients in my pantry or refrigerator! I only had to go to the store for a few essential items. I couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen and cook! 

By now, you’re probably wondering what the name of the cookbook is. I’ll be glad to tell you so you can enjoy these scrumptious and easy recipes too. The book is called Cravings, and it was created by one of America’s top models, Chrissy Teigen. At first, I wasn’t very familiar with her, but I grew to love this woman while watching her as the co- host of the show, Lip Sync Battles with L.L. Cool J.  Chrissy is also the wife of John Legend and recently gave birth to an adorable little boy. Let me just say, this woman can cook too. 

The recipe I tried first was Chrissy’s Spicy Italian Sausage Meatloaf. I had been craving meatloaf for some time, so now was my chance to dive in. I was a bit reluctant, however, because meatloaf has never been one of my best dishes.  My mom could make meatloaf and everyone raved about it. I made meatloaf and everyone ran away screaming. That’s why when I mentioned to my family that I wanted to try this entrée, there was a general moaning and groaning and negative consensus. But I was persistent and was finally granted permission to attempt my hand at meatloaf again, provided I followed the particular recipe. To some degree, I did; but there were some substitutions made due to  dietary restrictions. Our family does not eat pork,  nor does my son believe in combining two different kinds of meat in one serving. It freaks him out. So to make this recipe edible for him, I used ground turkey for the ground beef, and Italian turkey sausage for the sausage.  I also do not have a food processor, so instead of grinding up any day old bread, I used the Italian Panko bread crumbs I already had in the cupboard. The last substitution I made was because of sheer absentmindedness. I forgot to buy ketchup. I went down the aisle at the grocery store specifically to buy it, but I ran into a friend and we started talking. By the time we finished, I needed to get home to start dinner and I left the ketchup back on its shelf. I realized what I did when I arrived home; so I topped my meatloaf with the BBQ sauce I had already, and I skipped the ketchup/brown sugar mixture. The original recipe belongs to Ms. Teigen, but I have to admit that my substitutions were successful too. 

With baited breath, I waited for my family’s reaction. It was a total success! The blend of two kinds of meat, along with the red hot pepper flakes and other seasonings surprised our taste buds beyond compare. Meatloaf could now be put on the menu again! 

The recipe I enclose is my adaptation of Ms Teigen’s. If you would like to try the original recipe, please purchase her book, Cravings. Its well worth it! (You have to try her sweet and salty Coconut Rice too! Its amazing!!)

Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage Meat loaf

Ingredients: 

1 cup of Italian Panko Bread Crumbs

1/3 cup whole milk

1 lb of ground Italian turkey sausage

1 lb of ground turkey

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup finely grated carrots

1 large egg

1 TBL Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp red  pepper flakes 

2 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp ground pepper

¼ cup of Barbecue sauce

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a small bowl, pour the milk into the bread crumbs. Stir thoroughly and let sit. In a much larger bowl, combine the two meats until completely incorporated. Add egg and mix again. Get your hands into this; it’s the only way to insure your ingredients are combined well. Add breadcrumbs, onions, carrots, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. 

Form your meat into a mound and place in a lightly greased 9 x 5 loaf pan. Top with the barbecue sauce. Cook for approximately 50 - 60 minutes, depending on your oven.  Juices may form in bottom of pan, let meatloaf sit for 5 minutes to absorb them. This recipe makes a hearty dish to feed a family.  Enjoy your meatloaf with your favorite side dishes and/or  possibly in a sandwich the next day. 

Cravings by Chrissy Teigen