Frozen Banana, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Frozen Banana, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Makes 1 large shake or 2 small shakes

2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 cup skim or 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Freeze the bananas in a covered container for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Blend frozen bananas, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla in a blender until smooth. Add the chocolate chips at the end and pulse or blend briefly until they are chopped and incorporated.

 

Seriously good.  You must try this.  Originally found at: http://www.thekitchn.com/lighter-treat-recipe-frozen-banana-peanut-butter-chocolate-milkshake-111540 

Chocolate Chip Brownies

These were delicious!
Ingredients:

Oil or butter for greasing pan

1/2 cup almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

12 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch slices

6 oz unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of 8- or 9-inch pan. Put nuts in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add the flour and salt, and pulse a few times to combine.

2. Put butter and chocolate in large saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until they melt and the mixture is smooth. (Or combine in microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted). Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Beat together eggs and vanilla in a small bowl, then add egg mixture to saucepan and stir to combine. Stir in first the flour mixture, then chocolate chips, and transfer batter to greased pan.

3. Bake until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes. Cool thoroughly before removing from the pan and serving. (The brownies will keep for a few days wrapped in foil or parchment paper at room temperature.)

Notes:

- This recipe is from: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/02/08/the_richest_fudgiest_brownies_a_recipe_with_chocolate_chips_and_ground_nuts.html

- When I make these again, I'll use a rectangle pan; this is solely based on my personal preferrence. The square pan made for pretty thick brownies.

- I used some milk chocolate chips and some semisweet.

Seriously, these were really good!

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Ingredients:
2 tbsp + 3/4 cup butter, divided
8 oz of bittersweet chocolate (I used semisweet)
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. Generously butter six 6-oz ramekins or custard cups with two tbsp of butter.
2. Stir 3/4 cup butter and chocolate in medium saucepan over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Beat eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until thick and pale yellow, about 8 minutes. Fold 1/3 of chocolate mixture into egg mixture. Fold in remaining chocolate mixture and flour until well blended. Divide batter evenly among prepared ramekins. Place in oven.

3. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until sides are set and 1-inch centers move slightly when shaken. Remove from oven to wire rack.

4. To serve, run a thin knive around top edge of cakes to loosen slightly; carefully invert onto serving plates. Lift ramekins off of cakes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.

Notes: Be careful not to cook too long. I served this directly out of the dish -- I did not remove them onto a plate. These are delicious with vanilla ice cream!

Chocolate-Soy-Banana-Peanut butter-Delicious-Smoothie

Ingredients:
3 cups of soy milk (or almond milk or regular milk)
2-3 frozen bananas, chopped
1 Tbsp unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup flax seed meal (optional)
2-3 Tbsp peanut butter

In a blender add the chocolate chips, cocoa powder, peanut butter, and 1 cup of soy milk.  Blend for 30 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until liquified and combined.

Freeze any leftovers to eat as popsicles (in popsicle molds or dixie cups).

I froze some, but preferred it as a shake, so I  re-blended them with some more soy milk to make a shake again.

A Slight Variation on Homemade Samoas

So, Mom gets credit for the main concept here. But, basically, you take a Lorna Doone shortbread cookie, smush some caramel on top of it, and then dip in chocolate. Mom usually sprinkles toasted coconut on top (hence the likeness to Samoas), but I changed things up, sprinkling chopped pecans on some, and drizzling others with white chocolate.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

This is a pretty good cookie recipe.  It tastes like an oatmeal cookie with a hint of cinnamon, but still has the chocolate cookie taste.  

This recipe makes about 2 1/2 dozen... I think.  After eating some dough, I had to guess.  

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 6 eggs
• 
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
3. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
6. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Jax's Notes:

~ I used a 9 inch pan instead of a 10 inch. If you have a spring form pan (a cheesecake pan), that makes it much easier to display the cake, if you’re interested in doing that, because you don’t have to remove the cake from the tin.
~ Grease the pan really well. I greased it and then floured it, and the pieces came out fine. (Scott pointed out the irony in my flouring the pan of a flourless cake. . .)
~It says to refrigerate overnight so it can set. I didn’t have time to do that, so I put it in the freezer for about 3 hours, and it was fine.

~The cake is pretty rich, so you don’t have to cut huge slices – so, a single cake definitely probably serve a dozen people.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-I/Detail.aspx?src=etaf 

Dense Chocolate Cake

http://www.ehow.com/how_3391163_make-dense-chocolate-cake.html

Things You'll Need:

• Round cake pan or muffin tin
• Shortening
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder, divided
• 5 1-oz. squares semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• Double boiler
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Medium bowl
• Toothpick
• Wire cooling rack
• Confectionery sugar

Directions:

• 1
  Grease the cake pan or muffin pan (for individual cakes) with shortening. Use about 1/4 cup of the cocoa powder to dust the cake or muffin pan.
• 2
  Select the baking temperature according to the type of baking pan you use. Some pans require either a lower temperature or less baking time. Preheat the oven at 300 degrees F.
• 3
  Melt 4 chocolate squares with the 1/2 cup of butter in the double boiler on low to medium heat. Fold chocolate and butter to mix well throughout the cooking process.
• 4
  Mix 3/4 cup sugar, remaining cocoa powder, 3 beaten eggs and 1 tsp. of vanilla in a medium bowl.
• 5
  Remove the melted chocolate and butter mixture from stove. Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into greased cake or muffin pan.
• 6
  Bake for approximately 30 minutes (about 22 to 27 minutes for muffin or cupcake size cakes). Insert a toothpick to test the cake, about 2 to 3 inches from the edge of the pan.
• 7
  Take the cakes out from oven and cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Turn the pan over onto a wire rack for the cakes to cool. Dust the cakes with confectionery sugar and shave the remaining ounce of chocolate over the top of the cake. Warm the cake before serving.

  
  

  
  

  Tips & Warnings
• ~While this cake is dense, almost like a brownie, you can adjust the cake texture by using more cocoa powder. Less cocoa powder and more chocolate squares create a silkier cake.

~When using more chocolate than cocoa, bake longer for the cake to set.

~Tweak the flavor by adding a flavoring extract or creating a custom glaze. Coffee, mocha, hazelnut, coconut, almond, orange or raspberry are all flavors that complement chocolate

~Substitute sugar with a sugar substitute or the eggs with egg whites or an egg substitute to create a low-calorie dessert.When using more chocolate than cocoa for a silkier texture, bake longer for the cake to set.

~If the cake falls, adjust the amount of liquid in the recipe or whip the ingredients longer before pouring the batter in pan.

From Lily