em + the kitchen - chocolate cake + salted caramel frosting.

This secret-ingredient chocolate cake is my go-to recipe for impressing guests and is absolutely to die for. Add a salted caramel frosting to what was my first-ever layer cake (and a naked one at that!) and you've got a recipe for perfection. Also, gorgeous, right??

I teamed up with Jennifer at Busy Being Jennifer to really showcase this fabulous cake.

Click through to see exactly what the secret ingredient is and for the full recipe!

em + the kitchen - perfect chocolate chip cookies.

So, I've been known to talk a pretty big game about my baking skills.
Such a big game, apparently, that one of Pete's friends, Briggs, was tired of hearing about it and needed actual physical proof. He told me chocolate chip cookies were his favorite and he wanted to see exactly what I could come up with. Nothing fancy, he told me, just chocolate chip and nothing more.

So for this recipe, I went in search of two things:
1) Simple, plain, perfect chocolate chip cookies.
2) Huge. Big, bakery-sized cookies because everyone loves cookies as big as the palm of their hand.

In my search, I found a recipe that did not disappoint.
These cookies are buttery and big. Chocolate in every perfect, puffed-up bite.
They're also gigantic. In fact, the recipe only makes a dozen cookies, but could potentially make 30. I mean, if you like normal-sized, wimpy cookies. And I don't.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
(recipe adapted from Brown-Eyed Baker)

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup cold butter, cubed
3/4 cup + 4 tsp brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Beat butter on medium-high speed until a mass forms. Add sugars and beat for an additional 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as necessary.
Add eggs and vanilla, beating until combined.
Slowly add flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.

Put dough in fridge for at least 30 minutes. I left mine in for several hours.

Preheat oven to 375* and prep 2 cookie sheets.
Place large spoonfuls of dough in 2 rows - 6 cookies per sheet.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown on the outside, but still chewy on the inside.
Let cool on the sheet for an additional 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!
Are you a fan of plain ol' chocolate chip cookies? What's your favorite fun addition?
-e.

em + the kitchen: black bottom coconut bars.

July hasn't been the most baking-est month for me simply because, once you turn that oven on, you'd better be prepared for face-melting heat inside your house until the sun goes down.
...Okay, maybe an exaggeration, but seriously, it's hot. I can practically hear my AC grumbling at me when I decide I'm in the mood for baking.

That's why, if I'm baking something, it better be worth it. And, oh, are these worth it.
I was simply looking for a quick recipe to whip up for a potluck at work. I needed to have all the ingredients because I worked last night, too, and ain't nobody got time to run to the grocery store on 4 hours of sleep.
I pulled these up on my Pinterest board and they look quick and easy enough, but like a total crowd pleaser. I took a risk with coconut because a lot of people don't like it, but that just means more for me!

These bars are chocolately, gooey, buttery goodness with an extra side of toasty coconut thrown in. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that sentence. Bring on the sticky fingers!


Black Bottom Coconut Bars
(recipe from Bake or Break)

Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup AP flour

Topping:
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup AP flour
7 oz sweetened, shredded coconut -- reserve 1/2 cup for topping

Preheat the oven to 375* and prepare an 8" square baking dish. Set aside.

Melt butter in microwave. Mix in salt and sugar until dissolved. Mix in egg, cocoa powder, and flour until fully incorporated.
Spread evenly into bottom of prepared dish.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until sides start to pull away from the dish. Set aside to cool.

While the crust is baking, start on the topping.
Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until well mixed. Add flour and coconut until just incorporated.
Drop spoonfuls of topping onto base and spread evenly with wet fingers -- this will be sticky!
Top with remaining 1/2 cup shredded coconut.

Bake for 25-30 minute or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool completely, then cut into bars. Enjoy!

Is there any recipe for which you find totally worth turning on your oven in the middle of summer?
I'll admit there are many. I just can't say "no" to baked goods!
-e.

happy father's day!

Anyone who knows me knows what a serious sweet tooth I have. I usually make the joke, "does it have sugar in it? Then I'll like it." And now is the time to come clean...I stole that joke from my dad.

I absolutely got my huge sweet tooth from my father and it kills me. Ya'll. When I got in trouble as a kid, my punishment was that I couldn't have dessert. That's a problem.
We share this love for any and everything sweet - which is how I knew I had to make him something perfectly sweet for Father's Day.

These cookies are huge and chocolatey and perfect. I actually had to fill the mixing bowl with water so I would quit eating the leftovers. So. Good. As in, debatably the best cookie I've ever made. I know that's a big statement -- but I stand behind it.
Make these now. Your dad will thank you.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
(recipe from Handmade Charlotte)

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tbsp flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 & 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for rolling
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350* and prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Mix well.
Gradually add flour, mixing slowly, until just combined.

Roll large spoonfuls of cookie dough in bowl of extra sugar, then place on cookie sheets - you should be able to fit only 8 per sheet.
Bake for 11-12 minutes or until centers are puffed and cookies began to crackle over their surfaces.
Let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also got my dad these crazy lures because his hobbies include anything outdoorsy and manly - mountain climbing, kayaking, fishing, drumming, mountain biking, picking his nose, and farting. Yes, those last two are hobbies.
All I need him to do now is pick up motorcycling and shooting guns so he and Peter will be completely inseparable. Yeesh.

Hug your pops extra tight today. I know I will. :)
-e.

happy momma's day.

I find it sort of ironic that when I was in high school and college and broke as a joke, I was always trying to think of the perfect give to buy for my parents for birthdays and holidays. Now that I'm a real grown up (or something like that) and make good money, I find that I'm much more inclined to hand make the gifts I give.
Sort of backwards, but maybe it's just that I discovered that these gifts mean a little bit more coming from my hands.

Because I love to bake, I tend to make sweets and treats for gifts. For my dad's birthday last year, I made a lemon chess pie. It was bangin'.

This year for Mother's Day, I went the same route. Not necessarily baking, but definitely a sweet treat for my mom to munch on. I saw these trail mix bites on Pinterest and knew immediately that she would love them. This is for the woman who dips her bananas in Hershey's chocolate syrup. She loves dark chocolate. And the trail mix? I've never been a fan, but my mom used to make some awesome gorp when she was my Girl Scout leader and she still loves to snack on the sweet/salty mixture when she's hiking, climbing mountains, and generally just being Wonder Woman.

These bites are so easy and pretty and portable!
They're perfect.
Much like my momma.

Trail Mix Bites
(this made about 24 bites for me)

Ingredients:
1 dark chocolate bar, 3.5-4 oz (I used 70%)
A handful of your favorite trail mix
--I wandered around Central Market's bulk section of trail mixes until I found one I thought fit what I was looking for. Because I don't eat much trail mix, I didn't want a whole bag for myself. This way, I controlled what I bought, which was about 1/4 lb of trail mix and it was exactly enough.

Prepare a cookie sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
Place coarsely chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in small bursts of 30 seconds, stirring in between until chocolate is completely melted.
Using a spoon, pour dollops of the melted chocolate onto your Silpat, about an inch apart. Mine were each 1-2 inches in diameter.
Place pieces of the trail mix in whatever combination you like on each chocolate round.
Place in freezer until completely hardened (about an hour to an hour and a half).

Enjoy. Hug your mom a little extra today. I know I will. :)

-e.

em + the kitchen - texas sheet cake cookies.

Have ya'll ever had Texas sheet cake? It typically shows up at many a church potluck, so moist and dense and delightful. The icing on top is basically fudge. It's delicious, quite possibly because it's made with 3 sticks of butter and an actual pound of powdered sugar. Ugh, my mouth is watering.

When I saw this recipe, I knew I MUST make it. Combining sheet cake and cookies? I can't even.

The dense cookie middle with drippy icing on top is hopefully enough to make you quit reading now and get to baking. But if not, let me just show you what I'm talking about.

Yummmmm.
Now get to baking.


Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
(recipe from cookies & cups)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temp
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 & 1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Icing:
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp milk
2 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350*. Prepare 2 cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
In mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy, scraping down sides.
Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Add all dry ingredients, slowly, until just combined. Batter will be very thick.
Pour melted chocolate chips (microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each, until melted) into batter and mix until evenly combined.
Drop by small spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake for 7-8 minutes. Don't overbake. These guys will probably look underdone in the middle, but that's okay. That's how we get them to stay dense.
Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Icing:
Combine butter, cocoa powder, and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until melted together.
Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar.
Quickly pour over cooled cookies. Let icing harden completely before serving.

Which of your favorite desserts would you like to see turned into a cookie?
-e.

em + the kitchen - cream cheese chocolate chunk cookies.

These cookies are utterly satisfying.
One, because they're chewy, have huge chunks of chocolate in them, and are a fantastic comfort food.
And two, because there are few things more satisfying to chop in the kitchen than a big chocolate bar. The way it flakes and is perfectly asymmetrical just can't be beat. Maybe my food nerd is coming out, but if you've never chopped up a hunk of chocolate, this is the perfect excuse to try.

Because there's cream cheese in the batter, these cookies are chewy through and through and stay that way days after being made (if they last that long in your home!)

The chocolate chunks flavor the cookies throughout and make them delicious fresh out of the oven or cooled at room temp.

I highly recommend these become your new go-to chocolate chip cookies.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chunk Cookies
(recipe adapted from here)

Ingredients:
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1 & 1/2 sticks butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups + 3 tbsp flour
8-10 oz dark chocolate, chopped

Beat cream cheese, butter, and sugars together on medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes until creamy.
Add vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Mix.
Mix flour just until white streaks of flour can no longer be seen in the batter.
Stir in chopped chocolate. Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 325*.
Roll dough into 1 & 1/2 inch balls (I was able to get 3 dozen cookies from this recipe) and place on cookie sheet prepared with parchment paper.
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until starting to turn golden brown around the edges.
Let cool on sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Is there something that you find oddly satisfying?
Does it reveal your inner nerd like mine does?
-e.

em + the kitchen - chocolate butterscotch oaties.

For some reason, I haven't really been in the mood to bake lately.
I know, I know. That's blasphemy, basically.
Since I have the day off today, I told myself that it wasn't an option. I was going to bake and I was going to like, by golly.

And what do you know? I did.
And I think you will, too.
The bittersweet chocolate and oats sort of neutralize the sweetness of the butterscotch. They're perfectly gooey right out of the oven and stay that way even after they've cooled.

Chocolate Butterscotch Oaties
(recipe from Bake or Break)

Ingredients:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/4 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350*.
Melt your chocolate in the microwave or in a double broiler. Set aside to cool.
--(I use a makeshift double broiler by putting about an inch of water in a small saucepan and placing a glass bowl on top. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bowl. Bring the water to a boil and put the chocolate chips in the bowl - I find this way it's much harder to burn the chocolate and it's still a quick process!)
Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats in a bowl and set aside.
Mix the oil, sugar, eggs, milk, and extract on medium speed in your mixer. Gradually add the dry ingredients until just mixed. Stir in the pecans and butterscotch chips.
Place dollops of the dough about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes.
Let cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool completely.
--I was able to get 36 cookies out of this recipe.

-e.

em + the kitchen - german chocolate cookies.

I decided I'd give you guys a bit of a break from all the fall flavors I've been overloading the blog with. Today's cookie is a classic: chocolate. You really just can't go wrong there. Add in coconut and pecans? Yes, I'm listening.
Also, they're made without flour so they're still a little gooey on the inside and are rich, rich, rich.

YUM. Let's get to it, shall we?
Today's take on a cake-turned-cookie comes from Real Simple mag.
I must say, though, that name is a little misleading. The recipe in and of itself is simple, but the batter doesn't go down without a fight. It's thiiiick and sticky. You might as well wait until they're in the oven to clean your hands of it all. It's gonna get everywhere.

But it's totally worth it!

German Chocolate Cake Cookies

Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups roughly chopped pecans
3 large egg whites, at room temp
2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
1&1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325* with the racks in the upper and lower thirds.
Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
Add the chopped pecans, egg whites, condensed milk, and vanilla extract and mix with a hand mixer until just combined. Fold in the coconut and chocolate chips.
Drop 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until firm around the edges. Cool slightly on the baking sheets, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

They're soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and delicious all over.

Tired of baking posts yet? Come back Saturday for a Things to Do in Dallas (and call me if you want to tag along!).
-e.

em + the kitchen - pumpkin brownies.

Fact: These brownies are still in the oven as I type this.
Fact: I have not yet tasted them. Obviously.
Fact: I had to fill the batter bowls with water to keep from licking them any longer.

Fact: I don't even have to taste these brownies to know they're going to be killer.

I will perhaps soon move on from my fall flavors (I am out of apples, after all), but I'm enjoying them while they last. The weather finally matches what my kitchen's been churning out, so I am a happy girl.
I found this recipe in a vegan, gluten-free format, but I'm a big fan of full-fat anything, so I adapted it to my tastes. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Brownies
(adapted from here)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1&1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1&1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

Pumpkin Swirl
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
3 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1&1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350* and prepare a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
Start with the pumpkin swirl. Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and beat with a hand mixer. Set aside. Resist temptation to eat.
Cream butter and sugar in stand mixer for several minutes, until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and continue to beat well.
Add cocoa powder, salt, and flour, mixing just until combined.
Place about 3/4ths of the brownie batter in the baking dish. Top with pumpkin swirl and spread until it covers entire dish. Add remaining brownie batter on top in dollops and swirl with a knife to combine.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until brownie is set.

Eat. And eat. And eat and eat and eat.
Note to self: actually let the cream cheese soften before mixing. Patience is a virtue, and still-cold cream cheese looks chunky and gross in photos.

Have you ever known you had a great recipe on your hands before you even tasted it?
-e.

em + the kitchen - chocolate cobbler.

While in Denver, I stayed with my cousin and his wife, Emily. We decided to make lunch for the family and I was assigned dessert. Hurray!
I love watching Emily cook, anyway. She has so many cool recipes under her belt that she can just whip up. My from-scratch cream sauce comes from her and she's taught me many things about Italian cuisine. While she worked on her spring vegetable risotto (YUM), I got to work on this dessert that my cousin, Jerrod, chose from my ever-growing Pinterest board.

This is another one of those that photographs really well. Not to mention it was super rich and delicious. AND, you definitely have all of the ingredients in your pantry. You'll be amazed.

Emily said her family used to call it "Floaty Cake" or "Hot Fudge Sundae Cake". Whatever the name, you should make this now.


Chocolate Cobbler

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
7 tbsp cocoa powder, divided
1&1/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1&1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1&1/2 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350*.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tbsp cocoa, and 3/4 cup sugar. Stir in the melted butter, milk, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
Pour into an ungreased 8x8 dish.
In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 4 tbsp cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter.
Pour the hot water over the dish but don't stir!

Bake for 40 minutes or until set.
Serve warm (with ice cream if you're feeling especially rebellious!).

My Pop loved it so much, he plopped ice cream right into the baking dish to finish it off.

YUM!
-e.