More Frustration than Jollies

So today I'm feeling a bit like this...

We are going through some changes here on Jolts & Jollies so please bear with me as things are getting situated and remember...shift happens.

Thank you for understanding.

Have a nice day.

Congo Bars

To many, chocolate chip cookies are a Godsend, a cure-all, the answer to all life's little problems. Cookies, especially the chocolate chip kind, spell happiness, home, and just plain contentment.

Brownies, on the other hand, are a bit more decadent. Something for a slightly more special occasion? Maybe...

I have found that that there are two kinds of people. Cookie people and brownie people. But what if both of these worlds can coexist? What if there could be cookie and brownie harmony in the world? If I could take all the cookie people and all the brownie people and throw them in a mixer together...what would I get?? A congo bar, that's what!!

This, my friends, is what heaven is really all about. I found this over at the Bakerella site and decided that I had to try it. It's not a cookie, it's not a brownie, but it's kind of like a cookie on crack?? Definitely a cookie...with the texture of a brownie! Who could ask for anything more??

Well...maybe a glass of milk.

And a bigger pan.

Okay seriously. Go make these right now. They are amazing! I adapted mine a bit and used Ghiradelli chocolate chips and Heath toffee chips. They were exquisite fresh from the oven. However, if you happen to have any leftover then next day, chopped nuts would take those over the edge. So I would suggest you add some nuts in there as well and oh my! Okay go!

Congo Bars
Adapted from Bakerella

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5-12 ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 cup toffee chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

By mixer:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand (I used this method):
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30** minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

Enjoy!

**Note: I had to bake mine a bit longer (about 5 minutes or so) so don't be nervous about baking a bit longer. If it starts to brown too much on top and is still not done in the center, cover with foil for the remainder of the baking time. 

Tea Cakes with Earl Grey Icing

I know what you are thinking...why on Earth would a coffee obsessed person like me be making tea cupcakes??? I'll tell you why...

This guy. He makes these crazy faces at me and I do whatever he asks just to get him to stop looking at me like that! Stop it!!

But really. He was flipping through my Food Network Magazine and he came across this recipe. See...he's a tea drinker. I know, I know...how did I, a coffee addict, end up with a TEA drinker? Well, we've always been complete opposites but somehow it has just always worked. So I decided that if any cupcake recipe could make The Hubble that excited, I had to make it for him. So let's go make some cupcakes!

First up...ingredients.

Go ahead and line your pan with cupcake liners or non-stick cooking spray before we start...just to get it out of the way.

Now, take your chocolate...

And chop it to bits!

Grab a couple sticks of unsalted butter...

And chop those bad boys up too.

Throw the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl...

And place it on top of a pot of simmering water (be careful that the water and bowl don't touch).

Heat until everything is melted and it's nice a smooth.

Remove the bowl from heat. (Leave the heat on so the water can continue to simmer, we will revisit in a bit)

In a separate, large bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, and salt.

Dump it into the chocolate butter mixture.

Stir until smooth.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and mixing in each one before adding another.

Whisk in the vanilla.

Evenly distribute the batter into your cupcake liners, filling each one about 2/3 of the way full. Then throw them in the oven to bake. While those are baking we can talk about what is really important in this whole process...

The coffee. Of course the whole time I was making these tea cakes I was drinking the coffee. Naturally. It's what I do. It's how I live. Without coffee I couldn't breathe. I would no longer have a reason to live. So, in order to not feel like a complete traitor to the sweet nectar of life, I showed some love to my sweet, delicious coffee. Okay, okay...back to the cupcakes.

While the cupcakes are baking we can start on our Earl Grey icing. Whisk the sugar, egg whites, lemon juice, and salt, by hand, in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Cut open the tea bags and dump the leaves in that mixture.

Place this back on the pot of simmering water and stir until the sugar dissolves and everything is mixed together, about 2 minutes.

Once the sugar dissolves, move the bowl back to the mixer and start that bad boy up and whip on medium high power.

Whip it until the icing forms stiff peaks when you lift the whisk, about 5 minutes.

At this point the cupcakes should be done and cooling.

Now transfer the icing to a resealable, thick, plastic bag.

Cut the tip off the bottom of the bag.

Then pipe your icing onto your cupcakes.

Voila!

Now give one to The Hubble so he can stop giving you THOSE faces...

And instead give you these...

AND THESE!!

Little Butt wasn't quite sure at first...

But I think she had fun with them.

Enjoy!

Tea Cakes with Earl Grey Icing
Adapted from Food Network Magazine

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Icing:

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of salt
• 2 bags Earl Grey tea

Directions

1. Make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. 
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water). Whisk until smooth, then remove the bowl; keep the water simmering in the saucepan. 
3. In another bowl, whisk the sugar, flour and salt; mix into the melted chocolate. Add the eggs, one at a time, then whisk in the vanilla until smooth.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared cups, filling each 2/3 of the way. Bake until the cakes spring back when touched, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool on a rack.
5. Meanwhile, make the icing: Whisk the sugar, egg whites, lemon juice and salt by hand in the bowl of a stand mixer. 
6. Empty the tea bags and add the loose tea to the bowl, then set the bowl over the saucepan of simmering water and whisk until the mixture is hot and the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. 
7. Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer and beat with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed until the mixture holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes. 
8. Transfer to a large resealable plastic bag, snip the corner and pipe the icing onto the cupcakes.