Chocolate Apricot Sandwich Cookies

These cookies were for another overnight at work. The cookie dough has a very deep chocolate flavor but isn't too sweet. The apricot preserves filling adds the extra little bit of sugar to make these delicious. I also splurged on some quality melting chocolate (68% cocoa, thanks Central Market). The dipping chocolate was so good I scooped the rest of it out of the bowl with a piece of bread...

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know what you're thinking: "You already created the perfect chocolate chip cookie Tanner, why would you bother with a new recipe." Well, you see, curious blog reader, I've been intrigued with salt lately, as it is all the rage with the foodie types...

Basic Brownies

Basic brownies? How boring. But, after the anything-but-boring bacon brownies, I wanted to get a better understanding of some brownie basics, so here they are...

Chocolate Bourbon Bundt Cake

I'm back! I know, it's been a while since I baked something. While my body is probably thanking me for a respite from sugar deluge, I've gotten back to it. I started a new (hopefully temporary) job, and I haven't had the motivation to jump into a hot kitchen, but I had today off, so here we are...

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

As I mentioned with the Garam Masala cookies, I have never been able to master the classic Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie. They always come out thick and cakey. That might sound great to you, but for me, I want a thin, chewy, gooey chocolate chip cookie. So while I avoided yelling at my TV over the deficit negotiations, I took up the banner of creating the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I think I've succeeded. I started with the basic Toll House recipe and threw every trick I know at it to make it better. I increased the white sugar to brown sugar ratio; I added some water to the recipe; I not only melted the butter, I browned it; I mixed the dough using only a wooden spoon; and finally I shortened the baking time by two minutes. And voila! Perfection. The browned butter really adds a nutty-buttery flavor and the cinnamon gives the cookie a little more depth in flavor than just sugar and chocolate. I suggest you mix up a batch for yourself to store in your disaster shelter you're going to have to live in once we go into default. They'll sooth your nerves when the roving motorcycle gangs start taking control in the post-default distopia we'll soon be living in...

Chocolate Pie

This one's for you Em.  This recipe seemed so simple that I figured it had to be delicious, especially since it was touted as coming from a true Southern cook. Not so. It tastes like chocolate eggs and is by no means "fudgy" as the recipe intro describes it. I'm thinking my oven, which I suspect is on a slow, but accelerating, decline, overcooked this one. I pulled it out 10 min earlier than the recipe called for and it looked a little overdone already. I also replaced the sugar with Splenda, so maybe this Southern pie refused to be made healthier...

Bacon-Bourbon-Pecan Brownies

Because butter and chocolate apparently aren't enough in brownies, why not add bacon grease? I had to give these brownies a go as soon as I read the recipe in Food&Wine. I think this is about as manly as dessert is going to get, and it includes three of my favorite things. 

This has to be the messiest thing I've made in a while. I think half my kitchen is now spattered with bacon grease and brownie batter. I had to fry the bacon, melt the chocolate, and then mix it all together in several steps. It's a good thing they turned out alright...