Chocolate Love!!

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A few nights ago, I was desperate for chocolate. There were no Cadbury bars left in the fridge so I decided it was time to pull out the recipe books and make myself a treat. It was already after 6, so I had to find a recipe that called for ingredients I already had in the house as there isn’t a 24 hour Family Fare right next door to us like we had at when we lived in the apartments. My friend Amy, who writes a fantastic blog that I wish I could link to, but can’t because I am offline (I am almost positive her blog is called everyday-mom.com and if I am wrong, I hope Amy will correct me in the comments!), sent me the Sunnyslope CRC cookbook, which is the church where my dad was a pastor when I was in elementary school, a few months before we moved to South Africa. How’s that for a run-on sentence? Anyways, Amy sent me this cookbook and a few nights ago I made Joan J.’s brownies and they were fantastic!! So here is the recipe for you all to enjoy the next time you find yourself without a brownie mix.

Joan J’s brownies

2 cups sugar, ½ plus 2 T. cocoa, 1 tsp. salt, 1 cup cooking oil, 4 eggs, 2 tsp. vanilla, 1 ½ cup flour, 1 cup nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the sugar, oil, eggs, cocoa and vanilla together. Add the flour and salt. Blend well and add nuts if desired. Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish and bake for exactly 30 minutes. Remove from oven and pour topping over brownies.

Topping:

6 T milk, 6 T butter, 1 ½ cup sugar, ½ cup chocolate chips

Place the milk, butter and sugar in saucepan and bring to a full boil. Boil for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until well blended. Beat until thickened and chips are melted. Pour over brownies.

I made ½ a batch because at the time we only had a 9x9 pan. They were so good and I could eat the frosting plain. I just might do that sometime, only make the topping and eat it without the brownie. That brings us to our second recipe. This comes from our new friends Mirjam and Alex. We went to their house last week and Mirjam made this cake for us. Last night we made it to bring to some other friends. Sadly our frosting did not turn out quite right, so the cake looked a little ugly, but it was still delish.

Mirjam’s Chocolate Cake

½ cup butter, 1 cup water, ½ cup oil, 3 Tbsp cocoa: Mix all together and microwave for 4 minutes

2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda: Add dry ingredients to dough

½ cup milk, 2 eggs: Add milk and eggs and beat well

Bake for 30 min at 180ยบ (that’s 350 Fahrenheit)



Fudge icing:

2 cups icing sugar, 2 Tbsp cocoa, 2 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbsp water: Place in microwave for 30 sec on high. Mix and spread over cooled cake.

We have had a fun, but busy week. Last night we had a fun evening with new friends, which ended with a power outage, which always makes for fun memories. Now it’s Saturday and we are looking forward to a quiet day around the house. Hopefully it will be less windy than yesterday so we can sit in the sun for a bit, but If not I’ll just spend another day cuddling my hot water bottle and that will be nice too.

Comments

Jenny Z said…
Glad you got your chocolate! Speaking of which, I need some right now... :)
August 1, 2011 at 9:02 AM
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