Magic M & M Brownie Cake

Is it magic? It sure looks like it! This was a super fun cake to make. If you google “gravity cakes” you will find many cool versions of this. Some of them use balloon sticks but I always need a short cut…it’s a lack of patience thing for me. So….I used a chopstick! My chopstick part is inedible and just for the look, but the rest of the cake is perfectly delish! So, here’s how I made that part. I put hot glue on the chopstick and glued on some m & m’s. Then, I hot glued an empty bag to the top of the stick and stuffed it with cotton balls. Glue that shut too! Of course, you’ll let the kids know not to eat that one part, so no worries there!!! You could also use chocolate “melts’ as the glue if you’d like or even chocolate frosting!

For the Cake, I used two brownie mixes. I baked one in an 8″ greased cake round for 45 minutes. The other I baked 65 minutes in a 6″ greased cake pan. (Next time, I’d leave out some of this batter in the 6 inch pan as it took a really long time to bake it all the way through.) I let both cool and then froze them so they’d be sturdy. Once frozen, I placed the large one on a cake plate and frosted it. (Use parchment under it for neatness.) Place the smaller cake on top and frost that. You can use canned or homemade frosting. Then, the fun-add on your M &’M’s and yes, you’ll need lots!!!! When you like how they are placed on, place the chopstick in and voila!!! A Magic M & M Masterpiece. My boys were quite thrilled when they returned from camp and saw this. Can you guess what they ate for snack? YUP!!

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Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

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Today is day 2 of my coffee detox {yes I quit again}. I am feeling much better than yesterday, which consisted of laying on the coach groaning from a terrible headache and dreaming of a nice hot latte. Why am I quitting again? I just decided I don’t want to be a slave to it every morning anymore. The feeling of not being able to function properly without it is awful! I am not a student anymore, so I don’t really have an excuse these days. For all of you who don’t have a caffeine addiction, I envy what it must feel like to wake up normally in the morning. I will let you know how that feels next week! Whenever I try to give up coffee, my food cravings go crazy. Especially for things with sugar and caffeine, like CHOCOLATE. Thus, this chocolate zucchini bread happened. I added chocolate chips to make it even more chocolately, and pecans for texture. It turned out SO GOOD. Don’t worry, I have been making really healthy smoothies too with lots of fruit and vegetables…I call them my “guilt smoothies”…

When I first saw recipes for zucchini bread floating around, I immediately wanted to try it because I was so curious about the taste. To my surprise, the zucchini doesn’t really taste like anything in this bread, which is probably a good thing since I love the rich chocolate flavor. It does, however, make the bread incredibly moist! I used a 5-star recipe I found in Cooking Light magazine, but made some changes (for example, I didn’t have applesauce so I used buttermilk instead). I also decided to omit the cinnamon, but I can imagine it must taste delicious with it included. I hope you enjoy this bread as much as I did!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total

1 hour 15 mins

Type: Dessert

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 medium organic zucchini
½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup milk + ½ tbsp white vinegar)
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp fine salt
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a 9×4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Finely shred the zucchini by hand or using a food processor, and gently press out the excess water.
In a mixing bowl, stir together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add the zucchini and stir.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually add the flour mix to the batter, stirring in-between, until all is added.
Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips, then transfer to the loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick comes out dry.
Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool until ready to serve.
Wrap with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days for best freshness.

Makes 1 loaf

3.2.2708

Recipe adapted from Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread, Cooking Light 2014

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Marbled Banana Bread

Cranberry Walnut Bread

Double Chocolate Cookies

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Spicy Bacon and Scallion Dip

White beans give this spicy bacon and scallion dip a luxuriously creamy texture and makes it great substitute for cheese dip.

For today’s contribution to the Tabasco 10-Ingredient challenge, I decided to make a recipe that’s a little more traditional than yesterdays roast chicken and farro. This bacon and scallion dip makes an awesome mid-afternoon snack with raw veggies or pita chips (Sunday football, anyone?); you could also roll it in a tortilla for an ad hoc burrito.

White beans give the dip a luxuriously rich and silky texture and if you didn’t know better you’d sweat there was queso hiding in there somewhere.

It’s also crazy easy to make; the hardest part is waiting for the bacon to cook up nice and crispy – there’s nothing worse than flabby bacon in your dip – and then waiting for it to cool without eating it all.

Spicy Bacon and Scallion Dip

Author: Lauren Keating

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

4 ounces bacon
1 can (15.8 ounces) great northern beans, undrained
1 teaspoon olive oil
20 dashes Tabasco® Original Red Sauce
2 scallions, white and green parts, sliced

Preparation

Cook the bacon until very crisp. Drain on paper towels until cool; crumble.
In a food processor, puree the beans until very smooth, about 30 seconds. Drizzle in the olive oil and Tabasco; pulse 5-6 times or until combined.
Stir in half the bacon and scallions. Pour into a serving dish and top with remaining bacon and scallions.
Serve at room temperature or chilled.

3.2.2124

Disclosure: I received monetary compensation for creating recipes for the Tabasco 10-Ingredient Challenge.