The Wilke Report

One of the parents from Emma’s class gave us this recipe after Emma’s birthday party. We finally made them tonight. Be careful when you make them that you don’t eat them all in one night.

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

You can mix these incredibly easy, fudgy cookies right in the saucepan. When
freshly baked, these thin cookies have crisp edges and chewy centers. You
can make them with either Dutch process or natural unsweetened cocoa powder. We mixed our Dark Dutch Cocoa and Black Cocoa from King Arthur Flour, just like we do in our hot fudge.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine
flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over
medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will
resemble coarse sand). Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine. Add
flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches
apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. (We did not use the cooking spray, but our cookie sheets are well seasoned, and food rarely sticks.)

Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3
minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

We had Emma’s birthday party yesterday at Northshore Gymnastics. She asked for a chocolate chip cookie cake, so we took our favorite basic chocolate chip cookies, and made a cake with that recipe. I decided it was worth sharing, so here you go.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup Butter Softened
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 12 oz. Bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and
vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients. Add
dry ingredients to creamed butter and sugar, and mix. Add chocolate
chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake
for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before
moving from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix batter the same as above. Spoon into
deep pizza pan or jelly roll pan lined with parchment, about 1/2 inch
thick. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. It should be golden and
somewhat firm. The cookie bar recipe we looked at said that a toothpick
inserted in the center should come out clean.

The parchment slides around a lot as you spread. If you have a good way
to keep it still, let us know.

We had extra batter left over, so we cranked the oven to 375 after the
cake was done, and baked a tray of cookies.

Yummy!

Emma and I made brownies this evening.  Unfortunately, I pulled them out too early, and had to put them back in the oven after they had cooled.  They seem to have survived my overzealousness to make sure they weren’t overcooked.  If you want some dark, rich brownies, give these a try. We are still working on the time, 35-40 minutes may be better.  We’ll post again when we get it figured out.

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbs. salted butter
• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 4 ½ oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ¾ cup flour
• 2 Tbs. black cocoa
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter 8 inch square baking pan.
• Combine butter, chocolate and sugars in a saucepan over low heat.  Let cool.
• Mix eggs and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
• Whick cooled chocolate mixture into egg mixture.
• Mix flour, cocoa and baking powder together.
• Fold flour mixture into batter.
• Add chocolate chips.
• Pour into greased baking pan, and bake for approximately 25 minutes. (?)

The last time we bought Susan some coffee ice cream, it didn’t seem as good as it used to be.  I decided to make some from scratch.  Here is the recipe I came up with:

1 cup whole milk
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
6 oz water
5-6 Tbs ground coffee
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

1. Mix coffee and almost boiling water, and let steep for 20-30 minutes (I use a french press.  If you do not have one, you will need to pour the coffee through a filter to remove the grounds.)
2. Mix eggs, egg yolks, and dark brown sugar in a large bowl.
3. Mix milk and cream in a sauce pan and bring almost to a boil.
4. Slowly pour 1 cup hot milk mixture into egg mixture while stirring briskly.
5. Mix egg mixture and coffee into hot milk.
6. Cook until the mixture starts to thicken, stirring constantly over low heat.  It should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
7. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap so that the plastic wrap touches the top of the mix.  This will keep the mix from forming a skin.
8. Place in the refrigerator until completely cool.
9. Freeze according ice cream maker instructions.

I folded about a cup of broken up Oreos in after I took it out of the ice cream maker.  It probably could have used a cup and a half.

I am making and freezing a bunch of food so we have some easy meals once the baby is here.  Just made a huge pot of grillades.  We will be having some over grits for dinner.  If you want some, here’s my recipe:

Hal’s Grillades

4 lbs. Chuck Roast

Cajun Seasoning

Flour

Olive Oil

1 Bell Pepper, chopped

1 Large Onion, chopped

2-3 Stalks Celery, chopped

3 Cloves Garlic, chopped

3-4 Cups Beef Broth

3 Bay Leeves

¼ teaspoon Thyme

worchestershire

1 can Stewed tomatoes

¼ cup fresh chopped parsley

Slice the Chuck Roast into ½” – ¾” thick slices, and cut into two or three pieces. Season with Cajun Seasoning and then dredge in flour. Brown in Olive Oil and remove from pan. Make a medium to dark roux in the remaining oil. If there isn’t sufficient oil, add more. Add bell pepper, onion, celery, garlic ans tomatoes to the pot, and cook till softened. Return meat back to the pot, along with any collected juices. Add worchestershire, beef broth and thyme. Cook for about two hours. Until the meat falls apart and the gravy has thickened. Add the chopped Parsley shortly before removing from heat.

As requested by my friend Pearce

Evacuation Hot Fudge

1 Stick Salted Butter
2 Cups Dark Brown Sugar Not Packed
2/3 Cups Special Dark Cocoa
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Pinches Sea Salt
1/2 & 1/2 until desired thickness
-------------------------
1. Over low heat, melt butter
2. Add sugar and stir
3. When sugar disolves add cocoa & stir
4. Add salt & vanilla & stir
5. Add 1/2 & 1/2 slowly until desired consistency is reached.
6.  Serve warm over your favorite ice cream