Blog Swap-Cookes and beer!

One of the coolest people I know, Ben from Ben Likes Beer came up with a brilliant idea the other day (or should I say month since I'm a procrastinator and waited forever to start on this). That idea was to do a sort of hybrid blog post swap where we each give each other an inspirational piece of work. Since Ben is the resident beer connoisseur and I am the resident baker, we are swapping concepts and creative direction.

I have provided Ben with a recipe for "Spiced Bourbon Apple Pie" I was convinced that the warm, spicy deliciousness of this pie would allow Ben to have a fun time finding a beer to compliment. Also, remember how I said Ben was a genius? Well, I'm sure I could've provided him a recipe consisting of celery stalks, cinnamon and cumin and he would've found a beer to pair it with.

Whether you drink beer, sip on wine, or prefer your adult beverages in the form of a flaming neon shot, I urge you to visit Ben's blog where you can see his hilarious, sharp wit and understand clearly why everyone just adores him so much.

The fantastic post he did with the Spiced Bourbon Apple Pie is here.

Is it just me or is he too good at stuff?

For my part of this fantastical swap, Ben has given me Dogfish Head's-Theobroma.

and mmm mmm mm is it delicious. I of course could not give an appropriate review of this beer since I would certainly do it an injustice, but I can tell you that Ben described it to me as a "spicy chipotle coffee/chocolate beer."  Boy do I love nothing more than chocolate. Except for bunnies maybe, and sunny days of course. But I'm sure you already knew that.

So this spicy, chocolaty concoction was a beautiful beer to sip after dinner and enjoy. Also, I don't know if perhaps I drank a bit too much of the Theobroma but for some reason I took terrible pictures that did not do it justice. I was going for that whole Beer commercial slow poured ice goodness but it turned out like one of those grainy pictures from a child's Fisher Price plastic digital camera.

So because I did not do the beer any justice just trust me that it was delicious.

So now came time to figure out a baked good to pair with this spectacular beer.  I knew immediately that I needed something chocolate because...well it doesn't take much for me to decide I need chocolate. But since this had notes of chipotle and spicyness I wanted to do something a bit different.  Several months ago I had stumbled upon a recipe for "Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies" and that seemed almost too perfect.  

Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

1 stick unsalted butter

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup AP flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melt the butter and the chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave.

In a stand mixer beat the brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Slowly pour in the melted chocolate until mixed thoroughly.

In a seperate bowl mix and sift the dry ingredients. 

Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate batter slowly until it is thoroughly mixed and then fold in the chocolate chips.

Take an ice cream scoop and place balls of dough on a non stick baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 14 minutes and rotate halfway through.

The cookies were definitely different. Just like the name indicates, it's similar to chewing on a mexican hot chocolate. To keep up with tradition, I didn't take any good pictures of the cookies themselves until they I had already eaten some of them and then bagged them up to take to work.

I had such a fun time with this challenge and swapping creative ideas with Ben. Hopefully we can do it again soon in the future if he isn't too disappointed in my procrastination!

No Bake Recipe: Eclair Cake

Sometimes I get in the mood to bake and there is nothing that will stop me, well, except for a lack of ingredients or a scorching 100+ day. 

Other days, I crave dessert but I just don't feel like going through the process of measuring and mixing and scooping and fitting into cupcake liners. If you have any days like that, this is the perfect recipe for you!

The first time I had chocolate eclair cake was at Shaun's parents house for Christmas. I'm not much of a regular eclair or Bear Claw or even cake type person so I took my small slice hesitantly. 

What I was expecting was the typical custardy filling with a "chocolate-flavored" frosting on top. Boy do I hate artificial chocolate flavor!

But to my surprise and delight, the eclair "cake" wasn't much of a cake at all. There were no spongy layers or bright colored frosting that made me gag at every childhood birthday party (including my own).  This cake is cool, soft, delicate yet rich in flavor. Pretty much everything I needed at that exact moment.

Luckily I was able to recreate that recipe so I don't have to wait for that one time of year when it is served during the holidays!

If you're looking for a recipe that is perfect for those days you'd like to leave the oven off, I suggest you try this. Even if you're not a chocolate lover you'll appreciate the flavors that go into this beauty!

What you'll Need

Box of Graham Crackers (I used the basic honey flavor, but cinnamon might be delicious too!)

2 packages of French Vanilla instand pudding

1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip (fridge temp)

3 1/4 cups milk

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup white sugar

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

9x13 baking dish

small to medium saucepan

The other wonderful thing about this recipe is that you might already have all these things on hand. At most you might have to go out and spend $2 on the instant pudding or Cool Whip but otherwise you've got an in-stock pantry dessert ready to go!

What you do

1. In a large bowl or stand mixer, mix up your pudding mix and 3 cups of the milk. 

Once this is smooth and free of lumps, fold in your cool whip and mix until completely blended

2.  Butter your baking dish and add one even layer of graham crackers to the bottom. It doesn't have to be perfect!

3. Gently spread 1/2 of your pudding mixture onto those graham crackers being sure not to overlap the graham crackers in the process. 

Rub this layer with the back of a spoon or a spatula until smooth.

4. Add another layer of graham crackers and repeat with the other half of the pudding mix.

5. Finally top of with a layer of graham crackers. This is the only layer that I like to focus on to make sure everything is even.

6. In your saucepan heat your 1/4 cup milk, sugar and cocoa over medium-high heat allowing it to boil for 1 minute. Make sure you whisk or stir while it is cooking so it doesn't burn!

7. Remove pan from heat and add butter and vanilla. Continue to whisk until evenly combined. Allow this to cool for several minutes.

8. Before the chocolate topping solidifies, pour over top of the last layer of graham crackers and distribute evenly. You can use a spoon or spatula to smooth over the cracks and crevices. 

9. Allow this to cool in the fridge for at least an hour or until the chocolate topping has set. 

10. Enjoy! This cake only gets better with time, so make sure to leave it in the fridge for a couple days and come back to it when the graham crackers have soaked up all that french vanilla goodness.

Weekend Memories and Creating New Ones-Gurgle and our Eastern Shore chocolate/sushi/oyster/outlet days

You know how you have those childhood friends that you've known since you were born so they were always around? Then you have those friends you've known for almost forever but it's kind of the same thing? It feels like there was never a time in your life when you didn't know that person? Well, that's Gurgle.

One of our many trips to the best sushi place in the world!

This girl right here I've known for what feels like forever. In reality we have known each other since Middle School. Since 7th grade art class to be exact. When I was on this big Blink 182 Kick and we shared the mutual appreciation for them...ok it was more so she appreciated their music and I was obnoxiously in love with them, but you get the point.

Before I begin talking about how awesome Gurgle is, let me tell you how she actually got her name Gurgle, it's not as creepy/disturbing as you would think.

So when we met in Middle School, AIM was the big thing.  So of course upon meeting and clicking we exchanged screen names and began to chat outside of the dreaded middle school atmosphere.  I was Beatlesbaby and she was grlgoneinsane. Now, any normal person would read that screen name as it was supposed to be "Girl Gone Insane" but no, not me. For the longest time, I mean almost a year, I had thought her screen name was "Gurgleinsane" because, well who am I to judge and also, I just don't pay that much attention. So one of my more perceptive days I noticed it when we were chatting and I mentioned it to her. "hey, so I thought your screen name was Gurgleinsane" of course laughs were had at my stupidity and we carried on. But from that point forward, I thought that since I had thought this entire time it was Gurgleinsane, that her properly coined nickname should be Gurgle. And bless that girls heart if she didn't find it or me offensive. Middle school me was incredibly stupid and angsty and therefore I didn't see that it wasn't the sweetest nickname you could give a friend but she was Gurgle and she's been Gurgle ever since.

Ok. Now that that's over with. I'd like to share with you just how awesome of a friend Gurgle is. Gurgle has been there through every single one of my boyfriends. She has been there through me being a complete idiot as a teenager, all of my faults and craziness and she has still remained my friend. She was in the car when my ex boyfriend (who was 24 and stoned at the time) crashed my car into another car in Curtis Bay (if you know Maryland you know how much of a hole this place is) while we were in the car and allowed me to take the blame for it. She was still my friend after that. She was my friend when I was a selfish little preteen who cared about nothing but myself. She was my friend when I was angsty and oh so stupid with my hormone-filled rants (that sometimes still continue to this day) and through all the flaws and problems I've been through, she has been my friend.  I don't know if any of you have those kinds of friends, the ones that you can call and talk about absolutely absurd things to and they don't judge you, they don't think you're crazy and they don't expect anything from you. That's the kind of friend Gurgle is.

This is coming back from one of our favorite local bands shows in Virginia. That's all I'll say about this one!

I've always known that she was a great friend and that I probably shouldn't take her for granted, but sometimes life gets in the way. When she was in college, since she's so intelligent and such a hard-worker she cut off communication with most of the outside world. A thing I was never strong enough to do. She did what she had to do to get where she wanted to be and damn if I can't admire that quality in a human being.

a fun little music cafe we found in Ellicott City (that's not there anymore unfortunately)

Our Joss trips! 

She and I fell in love with baking around the same time and we had these awesome get togethers where we would bake cookies and cupcakes and fill the house with the smell of chocolate and sugar.

We held a bake sale for Cookies for Kids Cancer which entailed us staying up all night baking and decorating (plus one day prior).

Some of the billions of cookies, brownies and cupcakes

This was night one

Our finished product

We went to Myrtle Beach and she put up with my sick butt the entire time and even cooked a huge pile of bacon in the morning (<wife material right there guys!)

Standing on the balcony! Isn't she so pretty?

My stuffed dolphin, Weetee and her Pookie (From Garfield) made the trip with us

This 8000 calorie hot fudge sundae shake+a little sunshine made my sickness go away instantly

We've also been total goobers together

Gurgle was sick for a while so I came to operate visit her.

We also went to numerous concerts, shows and shopping trips. Our most routine one now is Abbey Road on the River which is held every year at National Harbor. 

One of our first years!

This past year, Natalie came (who is also a dear friend from Middle School) and we took this painful/amazing shot of all three of us 10 years later.

Kind of crazy what will happen in 10 years time, isn't it?

That is just what I could find on facebook. There are a billion other awesome memories I have with gurgle. Some of our most recent is road-tripping to the Eastern Shore to get fried oysters and pit-ham from the AVF hall. We are typically the youngest ones there by about 50 years. Afterwards we'd hit up Oh My Chocolate for some delicious Tiger Butter and Tiger Butter Crunch.

When the VFW was closed and the oysters were out of season we'd hit up the Queenstown Outlets occasionally and get a little shopping done. One of those occasions we discovered an amazing little sushi place, second only of course to Joss, that had BOGO sushi! And it was fresh and delicious! And amazing! Joss Sushi became one of our instant new favorites although we haven't frequented there as much as we would like it still holds a very special place in my heart and I'd love to visit there again soon!

These are just a fraction of all the amazing adventures and good times I've had with Gurgle. She represents this calm part of my life, the well put-together, you can do it side of my life. She holds herself with such poise and grace that I can only one day hope to be on her level.

<3