Bacon-Bourbon Brownies with Pecans

Posted by - Gerri

I found this recipe in my Food and Wine cookbook. I love chocolate, bacon and of course, bourbon on occasion. What a great way to have all the flavors in one place. This recipe was developed by Kat Kinsman, managing editor of CNN’s Eatocracy.

The recipe was very easy to follow. I used pre-cooked Armor bacon that you finish off in the microwave, and substituted walnuts for the pecans.

These rich, intensely flavored brownies are the perfect combination of sweet, savory and salty. Chase with a cold glass of milk. You may have to stop yourself from eating the entire batch!

Bacon-Bourbon Brownies with Pecans
Active: Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour, 40 Min
Servings: Makes 24 Brownies

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 pound sliced bacon

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 packed cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons bourbon

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1.    Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing 2 inches of overhang on 2 opposite sides. Spray the paper with vegetable spray. Spread the pecans in a pie plate and toast for about 8 minutes, until fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop the nuts.

2.    In a skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, turning once, until crisp, 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels and let cool; reserve 3 tablespoons of the fat. Finely chop the bacon.

3.    In a saucepan, combine both chocolates with the butter and stir over very low heat, until melted; scrape into a large bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat in both sugars with the reserved 3 tablespoons of bacon fat. Beat in the bourbon. Add the eggs and salt and beat until smooth. Sift the cocoa and flour into the bowl and beat until blended.

4.    Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the bacon and pecans on top. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the brownies are set around the edges but slightly wobbly in the center; a toothpick inserted into the center should have some batter clinging to it. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the brownies cool completely. Lift the brownies out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve.

Chocolate & Redcurrant Brownies

Posted by - Maria

I wanted to make something easy. You know... To get things started with my "new kitchen"... Something that everybody in this house could eat... even Georgie's 93 year-old grandmother (her brain must look like soup from Alzheimer's, but amazingly her blood sugar is lower than mine!!!). 

I chose Brownies for Have the Cake. It's been a while since I stopped by Rena's blog. I made them gluten free because I still need to keep to my diet as much as possible. Walking everyday into a fully operational chef and pastry-chef school, you cannot imagine and I cannot describe what a temptation that is for me. 

Unfortunately, I did not have time for experimentation with a sugar and egg free version of this brownie, so I just kept out the main culprits, gluten and lactose. I replaced the pecans, with dried red currants, partly because I wanted to participate in this months Chocolate Party and partly because my biggest customer (the said 93-year-old grandmother), has no teeth!!! I soaked the dried currants in a couple of shot glasses worth of cherry liqueur to puff them up a bit. The recipe came together easily and the results were satisfying to all! So if you want a "kitchen warming" brownie recipe this is it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gluten Free Chocolate and Red Currant Brownies

Adapted from Every Day Food, June 2012
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients
85 gr unsalted butter, plus a bit more for buttering the pan
1/3 cup cornstarch, levelled
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
340 gr dark chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup dried red currants, soaked for 30 minutes in 60 ml of cherry liqueur
Procedure
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
Butter a 20 cm square baking pan and like it with cooking paper, leaving about 5 cm of paper to hang on all sides - this will make lifting the baked brownie cake so much easier!!
In a medium bowl, whisk together cornstarch, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt and leave aside. Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave oven, using a large microwave-safe bowl or over a bain-marie (be careful if you go for the bain-marie that the boiling water in the pan does not come into contact with the bowl containing the chocolate and butter and that steam and water do not find their way into the melting chocolate!!)
When the chocolate and butter have melted, add the sugar and vanilla extract. Stir in the eggs, one at a time until absorbed.
Add the cornstarch mixture to the chocolate and eggs and stir vigorously until it becomes smooth. Drain the soaking cranberries - don't throw away the liquid, you can use it in another recipe or drink it and be happy :) and stir them into the mixture.
Pour the chocolate batter into the pan and smooth over the top.
Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, depending on the oven - until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
Let it cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, then lift the cake and cut into 16 squares.

Black Bean Brownies

Posted by - Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health

For the month of November, Have The Cake challenge was brownies and I immediately knew what I wanted to do- black bean brownies. 

Last time, I was very pleased with chocolate mint cake with red kidney beans.So why not brownies right? Even though I am trying to cut down on refined sugar to be acne-free someday,  its really hard to give up on sugar altogether. Blame that sweet tooth.

Incorporating beans into baked goods is a great way to cut down on fats, carbs, thus calories while adding lots of good nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, & fiber. 

My dough master was little hesitant about the "black bean" brownies in the beginning but you can probably guess what happened to the remaining brownies. Dough master & I devoured it over the movie- Meet Joe Black (a must watch). And I think he ate few more for breakfast too..

The end result was very moist, rich and adding almonds (or any nuts) gives some texture to the soft texture of this brownie. There is no after-bean taste at all whatsoever!!

Black Bean Brownies (recipe adapted from here)

yields: ~ 12 pieces

Ingredients 

1-15.5 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

unsweetened coconut flakes, chocolate chips ( I used semi-sweet, dark, and white chocolate), and chopped almonds


Directions

-Preheat oven to 350 F. 

-Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. 

-Line 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper and pour the mixture.

-Top it with your choice of chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut flakes.

-Bake for 16-18 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

-Allow it to cool then cut it into pieces then enjoy!  

Note: I used blender and the batter was runny. I would recommend using food processor and keeping the batter smooth rather than runny.  

November Challenge: Brownies

Posted by - Rena

Hello fellow bakers! I hope all of you are safe after Hurricane Sandy. I live in NYC and we were hit quite hard. I was luckier than most in that I didn't lose power and wasn't flooded but most of my city was not so lucky. My heart goes out to everyone in Sandy's path.

Like everyone else in NYC who was ill equipped to deal with hurricanes - as we don't usually have them here - I ate. A LOT. I went to the store to get the "necessities" such as cupcakes and soda. Useless items in a true emergency but so tasty. Comfort food is key in this type of situation.

Our challenge this month is to make Brownies. Brownies are the ultimate comfort food. I visited my favorite bakery yesterday which had been closed all week due to the hurricane and they had trays and trays of brownies out. It made me smile.

You can make brownies or blondies. Put your spin on them! I'm thinking marshmallows... more comfort food!

Again, I hope all of you are safe and sound. Looking forward to see what you come up with this month.

photo from MarthaStewart.com

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Posted by - Laura Loves Cakes

I was quite intrigued by a cake with pumpkin puree in as I've never baked with pumpkin before so I thought I'd give it a go.

The recipe for this cake also includes nutmeg, cinnamon, buttermilk and soft dark brown sugar, so overall along with the pumpkin the resulting cake was really moist. It also wasn't overly chocolately and the nutmeg and cinnamon gave it a nice warm flavour. It was slightly reminiscent of a ginger cake.

I used tinned pumpkin puree which you can get from Waitrose or even Amazon if you can't find it in the supermarket. If you've got the time or inclination you can also make your own pumpkin puree using a recipe such as this one.

Inbetween the cake layers is a tasty orange cream cheese frosting, you can find the recipe here. I really like the frosting and would certainly consider using it with other cakes. To make sure my cake wasn't wonky I also levelled the two bottom layers using a cake leveller which you can see above.

To finish off the cake I made some chocolate leaves which you can see in the second picture. They provided nice decoration and also added to the autumnal feel of the cake. The recipe for the cake and frosting can be found on the Country Living website.

This Chocolate Pumpkin Cake is my entry into this month's Calendar Cakes...and no surprises for guessing that the theme is Halloween!If you're making a Halloween bake in the next couple of days then we'd love for you to enter it into our Calendar Cakes challenge. Calendar Cakes is hosted jointly here at Laura Loves Cakes and also by Rachel over at Dolly Bakes. Rachel is hosting this month so check out the details here.

Frightfully Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes

Posted by - Michelle Sturges

• I have not participated in the Have the Cake Challenge in a few months, but when I saw it was pumpkin themed, I had to do it!  I love this time of year with the pumpkin recipes and Halloween themed goodies!

I found this recipe on the Very Best Baking website.  They have such yummy looking stuff.

My granddaughter, Samantha had spent the night after the whole family watched the original "Halloween"movie.  The next morning, I asked if she wanted to help make cupcakes and she yelled "YES!"  I think she was excited!  She loves to bake with Grammy.  My daughter and the rest of  her family came over later.  She and her son, Austin helped to decorate the cupcakes.  I think for the decorating, I put orange food coloring in the icing and helped spread on.  The two of them did the rest.

The recipe was easy to do.  The chocolate and pumpkin blended great together and it was not too much a pumpkin flavor, just enough.

Frightfully Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 12/ cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin (libby's 100% pure pumpkin)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
3 large eggs
1-16 oz container prepared white frosting
Halloween decorations
 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Paper-line 20 muffin cups

Microwave 1 cup morsels in small, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 1 minute; stir.  If necessary, microwave additional 10-15 second intervals just until morsels are melted.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Beat sugar, pumpkin, oil, milk and eggs in larger mixer bowl until smooth.  Beat in melted chocolate.  Stir in flour mixture.  Spoon into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.

Bake for 22-27 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes; removed to racks to cool completely.  Frost cupcakes and decorate.

My daughter, Kelly, decorated these.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Posted by - bakingaddict

It's October which means Halloween! On my recent trip to America, I bought a can of pumpkin puree and assorted Halloween goodies. Yes I know you can buy this in London but it's quite expensive here. Anyway, I was quite excited to bake with it as I've never used it before and I remember seeing this recipe on our recent Secret Recipe Club reveal which I'm also a member of.  It was on So Tasty, So Yummy's blog who in turn got it from Loving Life.

What can I say? Everyone loved it! It was delicious and moist, almost like a carrot cake with the spices but with a different texture. My kitchen smelled amazing when I baked this! I have to make this again even if I have to buy expensive pumpkin puree. Or perhaps they'll go on sale after Halloween? :) 

 My well travelled slightly squashed can of pumpkin puree 

 gorgeous colour! 

 ready to go in the oven 

 fresh from the oven 

Recipe adapted from So Tasty, So Yummy (I reduced the sugar amount and chocolate chips and it turned out beautifully) 

250g plain flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

225g butter

225g sugar

1 eff

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

300g chocolate chips 

• Preheat oven to 180C. 
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.  
• Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. 
• Add pumpkin puree. 
• The mixture will appear curdled - don't worry! 
• Reduce speed to low and add in dry ingredients. 
• Finally, stir in chocolate chips.
• Spread batter evenly in  a baking tray.
• Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before slicing into squares.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Blondies with White Chocolate Chips and Dried Cherries.

Posted by - Meg from Sweet Twist of Blogging

I just love how bloggers get obsessed with pumpkin in the fall. There are so many different uses and they all just look so delicious!   I can't get enough so I am super excited to see what else gets posted on Have the Cake this month.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Blondies with White Chocolate Chips and Dried Cherries. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries

Icing:

• 1/4 cup butter, room temp.
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, room temp
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar (give or take)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter a 8 inch square pan. 

2) In a medium bowl, add flour, cornstarch, baking powder/soda, cinnamon and salt. 

3) Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl or mixer bowl and beat until creamed together.
4) Add pumpkin, eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. 

5) Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix on low until almost combined.

6) Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries.

7) Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes,  outside will be starting to brown on edges and tooth pick will come out clean. 

8) Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Cut into squares and serve.
9) Make the icing : In a large bowl or mixer bowl beat together butter and cream cheese.  Add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and beat together until just combined.  Adding more sugar if you want a stiffer icing.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted by - Dorrie

I am always trying to hide vegetables in my kids' food - they are pretty picky and not willing to eat more than about 5 vegetables.  I often slip pureed cauliflower in with their pasta and have been known to throw pureed butternut squash in their quesadillas. 
As such, one of my favorite cookie recipes, not just for the sleight of hand but also for the cakey texture, is a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I found years ago.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:  (makes about 4 dozen cookies)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mix together:
1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin
2 cups of sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Then add:
4 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz chocolate chips

Put on greased cookie sheet - spaced 2 inches apart and bake for 12-13 minutes.

I began mixing the recipe while the kids were taking their nap so that by the time my daughter came down to help, she had no idea that she was happily making chocolate chip cookies with pumpkin in them:

My gooey helper

After the cookies are baked they produce a lovely, cake-like cookie (with no pumpkin taste) that will easily fool anyone into eating more than a few!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

October Challenge: PUMPKIN

Posted by - Rena

It's October! It's only fitting to make pumpkin our flavor of the month. The challenge is to make a dessert that includes pumpkin. One of my favorite cakes is a "fake cake" which mixes a box of vanilla cake mix with a can of pumpkin puree. I know it's cheating but it's so very delicious!

Have fun with your pumpkin challenge! I can't wait to see what you come up with.