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Kick Ass Chocolate Cake

Sep27

We were having my dear widowed father in-law over for dinner today.  He usually brings a dessert, but I wanted to make brownies. I bought some Ghirardelli Ultimate Fudge brownie mix from the store.  It was only $2.25 , and I had never tried this brand before.Ghirardelli Ultimate Fudge Brownie Mix 9-27-15 I assumed it was family size, as in a 13×9 pan. Wrong, it was only 8×8. Ok, just as well, less leftovers to end up on my tush.  So I mixed up the batter and put it in the oven. I happened to take a closer look at the box, and just about crapped myself.  Me and my poor ass vision put a 1/2 cup of water in, the box called for a 1/4 cup. Really?? My father in-law was due over in less than an hour. Too late to run and get something else. So instead of brownies, I guess we were having cake.

Holy cow! Best dessert mess up ever!  The box included chocolate icing. If you have ever had Ghirardelli chocolate, you will not be disappointed by this cake.  It was super moist, dense, and super chocolately.  And only being a 8×8 pan, very little leftovers.  It was perfect for our four guest dinner party. I served a small slice of cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup.  It was a big hit.

Six Minute Sea Salt Microwave Caramels

Jul14

These are these best caramels ever!  I usually only make candy around Christmas, but these are super yummy and very impressive.  Enjoy!

 

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light Karo syrup

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1Tbsp course sea salt

Directions:

1.   Combine all ingredients.

2.   Microwave 6 minutes , stirring every  two minutes. If mixture looks grainy, microwave in 2 minute intervals, stirring thoroughly until mixture is creamy and has no lumps.

3,   Stir and pour into foil line lightly greased 8 x 8 dish or cookie sheet

4.    Let cool for 15 minutes

5.    Sprinkle sea salt over mixture and refrigerate for at least one hour.

6.    Cut, wrap in parchment paper & store in an air tight container. ( or just cut, they probably won’t last long enough to wrap)

Added a sprinkle of sea salt across the top after pouring and the taste was amazing. So easy to make. Just be more patient than I was and let the caramel cool completely for easy cutting. Also, using the proportions in the recipe, you can pour into a half cookie sheet and still have room to spare, but when you slice it up and wrap into parchment paper or cut into squares, it makes nearly two dozen servings. Definite crowd pleaser!

I use a pizza cutter to cut the caramels.  It works great!