Hummingbird Bakery Frosted Brownies

This recipe yields, without a doubt in my mind, the BEST chocolate brownies I have ever eaten. The base is a rich dark chocolate that is thick, sweet and chewy.  The chocolate cream cheese frosting is just that - icing on the cake.  Smooth, creamy and rich with dark cocoa powder.  This combo is a winner!

Thank-you, Hummingbird Bakery, for another amazing recipe.  Every one I have tried so far from their gorgeous cookbook has been a huge success.  This one is no different.

Strawberry Swirl Pavlova

My first attempt at making pavlova and let me just say this: I now have no idea why I was so afraid of making this in the past ! It was dead easy and came together without much fuss at all. I wanted to keep the berry theme going in our house and had a quart of strawberries on stand-by.

I decided to go with Martha Stewart's recipe for raspberry ripple meringue but obviously swapped out the raspberries for sweet and juicy strawberries.

The filling is nothing more than sweetened whipped cream topped with macerated strawberries. I love the combo of chocolate and strawberries so I wanted a suitable drizzle to finish things off. Out came the Lindt dark chocolate baking bar and some heavy cream. Before you knew it, a ganache was born.

Give yourself several hours of bake time for this one. The pavlova requires nearly 2 hrs in the oven then 1 hour cooling time. The wait is well worth it. This was a superb dessert that is easy enough to make any day of the week but definitely fancy enough in terms of presentation to be a welcomed dessert at any dinner party.

If you don't have strawberries then try raspberries or blueberries. Even blackberries would work wonderfully.

Let's put these guys to good use

What better way to eat strawberries!

LET'S BEGIN!

RECIPE:
adapted pavlova recipe: Raspberry-Ripple Meringue; Martha Stewart

WHAT YOU NEED

Pavlova

2 cups strawberries, sliced
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons fine granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 large egg whites at room temperature
pinch of salt

Filling

2 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon fine granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Drizzle

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream

MAKE IT

PREHEAT OVEN to 200F (100C)
USING a 8" cake pan as your stencil, with a pencil draw a 8" circle on a piece of parchment
paper
FLIP paper over and place on a cookie sheet

PUREE 1 cup strawberries, 1 tablespoon of sugar and lemon juice in food processor until smooth
STRAIN through a sieve into small bowl and set aside

IN SMALL BOWL, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar and cornstarch
IN LARGE BOWL, with stand or hand-held mixer, whisk egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until foamy
ADD sugar/cornstarch mixture in 3 batches, whisking 30 seconds after each addition
SCRAPE down sides of bowl
WHISK 4 minutes on HIGH SPEED with stand or hand-held mixer until stiff peaks form

ADD 2 tablespoons of strawberry puree to meringue cutting in slightly with a knife
WITH RUBBER SPATULA, mound meringue onto parchment paper to take form of a 8" circle
WITH FINGERS, gently smooth out the center of the meringue so you have an indentation (approx 5 " circumference) which will later be filled with whipped cream.
BAKE for 1 hr 50 minutes
TURN OFF OVEN, open door so it is slightly ajar and let meringue cool in oven for 1 hour
REMOVE , peel of parchment and gently place on a serving platter. Be extra careful as it is delicate and can break easily

SLICE remaining strawberries and place in MEDIUM bowl
SPRINKLE WITH 1 tablespoon sugar, stir and set aside

IN DOUBLE BOILER, melt chocolate and whipping cream, whisking continuously until combined and shiny
SET chocolate aside to cool 15 minutes
WHIP whipping cream, vanilla and sugar until soft peaks form

MOUND whipped cream into center of meringue
TOP with sliced strawberries
DRIZZLE with remaining strawberry puree and chocolate sauce

ENJOY ( I know I did) !

Chocolate Banana Brownies

Rich, filled with chocolate, moist with bananas and the size of a piece of cake ! These brownies are amazing and shouldn't be missed. Thanks goes to Chef Michael Smith for, yet again, another superb sweet recipe.

These brownies are quite dense and moist due to the addition of 1 cup of butter, 4 bananas and 4 whole eggs. Let's not forget an entire POUND of dark chocolate.

I did adjust the recipe a tad by adding chopped white chocolate to the batter along with 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.

Due to their weighty batter, these babies take a full 1 hour and 15 minutes to bake. And surprisingly, you can get all of this batter nestled nicely into an 8" X 8" baking pan. I usually bake my brownies in a 9" x 13" pan so this was a bit on the scary side for me. I wasn't sure if they were going to rise up properly let alone cook all the way through. Trust in Chef Smith for he is the master! Sure enough, these were PERFECT.



LET'S GET STARTED

RECIPE*:
*source recipe: Banana Brownies


WHAT YOU NEED

1 pound of dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup of unsalted butter
4 eggs
4 ripe bananas (med size preferred)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 ounces chopped white baking chocolate

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven 325F
BUTTER AND FLOUR 8" X 8" square baking pan
In MED saucepan, melt butter and dark chocolate. Set aside
IN LARGE BOWL, mash together eggs, bananas and vanilla extract
WITH WOODEN SPOON, stir in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder
FOLD in melted chocolate/butter
FOLD in chopped white chocolate
POUR into prepared pan
BAKE 1 hr 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean & brownies are firm to the touch.

ONE WORD: WOW!

Also seen here:

Chewy Mocha Dream Cookies

Thank-you Clean Eating magazine for this great recipe! It is gluten free, only 56 calories per cookie and really knocks it outta the ballpark in terms of its chocolate impact! I love them and the kids are loving them too. If your kids attend an allergy-conscious school (or any of you have nut allergies) , just omit the walnuts and voila - a healthy AND nut-free treat. But for everyone else, I highly recommend you stick to the recipe and load them up with chopped walnuts. The added crunch is divine !

This recipe is in the Feb 2011 issue of Clean Eating.
Try these out ! You will be pleasantly surprised !

LET'S GET STARTED !

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

6 egg whites at room temperature
pinch sea salt
3/4 cup organic evaporated cane juice ( I used Sucanat)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Fry's brand)
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 oz dark chocolate (70% or greater), chopped
1/2 cup chopped unsalted walnuts

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven to 350F
LINE 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. * Though the recipe didn't call for it, I highly recommend you spray your parchment paper with cooking spray to avoid any sticky messes!*
IN LARGE BOWL, beat egg whites with salt using an electric beater until soft peaks form.
GRADUALLY add cane juice and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
FOLD in cocoa powder, espresso, vanilla, chocolate and walnuts and mix until combined (the recipe said no need to fold but trust me on this !)
DROP batter by rounded tablespoon onto prepared cookie sheets, dividing evenly. This recipe should make about 24 cookies.
BAKE 1 cookie sheet at a time on oven's middle rack for 10 to 12 minutes per sheet, until cookies are no longer shiny.
ALLOW to cool 5 minutes before removing from sheet. PLACE on cooling rack until they cool entirely. If these tend to stick somewhat to parchment just use a hard spatula to quickly lift them off the parchment.

These are chewy, sticky and just plain GOOD !

STORAGE TIPS: I recommend storing these in the fridge.
I also recommend you keep them in a simple plastic container with a lid.
Line the bottom with wax paper, then layer with one single layer of cookies,
top with another piece of wax paper and continue.
If the cookies come in contact with one another they will stick together.
I learned this the hard way after I took the photo at the top of this recipe entry !