(Triple) Guinness Dark Chocolate Brownies

For the first 2 or 3 years of knowing John, I was set on the idea that carrot cake was his favorite dessert. I'm not sure how this idea got planted into my head, but it definitely swam around in there for a few good years. Because of this, I think I made him 3 years of birthday carrot cake. Each year, he would get mildly excited (I mean, who doesn't love carrot cake, especially when there aren't any raisins!) but I never saw the response I was looking for.

Now if you know John, you know that he's not exactly the most emotional man ever. Even when he totally loves the taste of something, all you really get in response is a good head nod & maybe an extra drawn out "mmm." If something is out-of-this-world scrumptious, he might even slap his knee or yell, "yes!" but I've only ever seen that on a few rare occasions.

In 2011, I actually asked him if carrot cake was his favorite & I was boarder-line horrified to discover that it was not. What the what!? Was it my favorite? What was happening? He then proceeded to list all of his other most favorite desserts. Among them were boston cream pie, anything with dark chocolate, boston cream pie, & anything with dark chocolate (I'm sure there were more things, but I immediately ruled out anything that started with "Little Debbie's"...)

So for his 2011 birthday, I slaved over a boston cream pie & it was awesome. In 2012, I baked him a chocolate pecan pie & it was fantastic. This year, I decided (on his request) to embark on these Guinness dark chocolate brownies.

I don't think I even need to tell you how these tasted, but I will. They were simply the most rich, decadent, deep, dark, fudgy brownies I have ever tasted. They require 3 times the amount of Guinness as other brownie recipes, but that's what makes them so incredible. You cook down the Guinness until it's all syrupy & even more stouty (is that a word?) They actually reminded us a bit of a flourless chocolate cake (another one of John's favorites it seems).

I dare you to not eat these with a large glass of milk, or at the very least, some black coffee.

And just in case you are in need of a carrot cake recipe, check out this post on one with no sugar that I made for my step mom for her birthday in 2012. I think carrot cake is her favorite, but then again, maybe I made that up too.

(Triple) Guinness Dark Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup demerara sugar
2 bottles Guinness Extra stout beer
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil, or regular foil, lightly greased (I was a little freaked out by this, but after texting my baker friend Lindsay, she assured me that this would help the brownies come out of the pan easily, so that I could make perfect squares. Genius!)

Pour both bottles of beer into a medium saucepan, & simmer on medium heat until it's reduced down to 1 1/4 cups. If you keep a glass measuring cup nearby, you can check the progress when you think you're close. It should take about 45 minutes. When it's been reduced, pop it in the fridge to cool down while you prepare the rest of the batter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, & salt until evenly combined. Melt the butter, bittersweet chocolate & dark chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted (or in the microwave in a glass bowl). Remove from the heat. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs & sugar on high speed until light & fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined. Beat the reserved flour mixture into the melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in the reduced beer mixture & the vanilla (it might seem a bit thin, but it will turn out). Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan & drop the semisweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes on center rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature. Dust with confectioners' sugar if you want before serving.

Recipe adapted from Blondie's Cakes & Things

Devil's Food Chocolate Bunt Cake with Chocolate Espresso Ganache

I am honored & thrilled to have been featured on Yummly for the devil's food chocolate bunt cake (complete with chocolate espresso ganache) that I made for valentines day this year. Yummly is this cheeky genius child for foodies all over the world. Basically, people submit recipes & then they have the potential to get put into this massive collection of culinary delights. They are all about creating a digital kitchen, which is quite clever. Make sure that you head over to my post & the recipe at Yummly. You will absolutely adore this cake (unless you don't like chocolate, cake, or happiness).

Like I said in the blog post, I wanted to find a cake that was both decadent, yet simple enough to put together during a (potential) 2-hour nap time. Long gone are the days where I can slowly & thoughtfully put together something really complex.

I also wanted to use the new bundt pan I found at Goodwill. Until this cake, I had never made a bundt before. I have this deep-rooted fear of baked goods sticking to pans, & for some reason, bundt pans just seemed intimidating to me. After giving this one a good christening, I'm not sure what my problem was-- it was a cinch! And I chuckled silently to myself many times as I thought about this clip from one of my more favorite movies, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Oh, so funny those bundt cakes are.

In other exciting (to me & hopefully you) news, I'm working on a 4-5 blog post series on green cleaning & organizing because it's coming up on spring time, where a lot of people think about (& maybe even do) give their homes a good scrubbin'. I find it essential to live in an environment that is clean & organized so that I can create & I've learned that you really can do that very greenly, cheaply, & without devoting your whole life to cleaning (who wants to do that?) So come April, make sure you check out my posts on "creating clean."

Until then, make this cake.
http://www.yummly.com/blog/2013/03/devils-food-cake-with-espresso-chocolate-ganache/

Valentines Day 2013

We might say that we're not very big "valentines day people," but really we would be lying. Any chance we get to make something special food-wise, even if it is a cheesy holiday, we're game. Here's a look at what we ate on Valentines day (& even the night before as we were getting ready for it).

Homemade pepperoni pizza in kind-of-heart-shapes (served the night before valentines day)

Valentines day morning homemade strawberry heart- shaped pop-tarts

 Homemade four cheese ravioli (fontina, mozzarella, ricotta & parmesan) with alfredo cream sauce & prosciutto (the rav was in heart shapes, but it's a bit hard to see)

 Valentines dinner: four cheese ravioli with a fresh garden salad (red leaf lettuce, grated carrots, salami, sesame seeds, soy nuts & balsamic vinigrette) & a glass of cab sav

 Dessert: devil's food chocolate bundt cake (my first bundt ever!) drizzled with chocolate espresso ganache

Dessert #2: Cream top dark chocolate mudslides. The "after baby was in bed" treat.

What to do with all your holiday cards

One of my absolute favorite things about Christmas time is all of the beautiful holiday cards that we get in the mail. I love seeing how your kids are growing (especially when they start to lose teeth!) or how adorable your dogs still are. I get really excited & inspired by all of the creativity that pours in & even though we haven't sent an "actual" holiday card (we choose to do it the frugal or, um, green way & send it electronically... did you see it posted here?) for a few years, I still really enjoy sending out something because it just feels right.

Ever since we've been married, I've saved the cards we've received every year. I'm not sure why... I'm really not that sentimental of a person. I guess I just couldn't bring myself to throwing all these special moments away. So this year, I decided enough was enough! I wasn't going to just look at this stack of unorganized cards any longer. It took me maybe 5 minutes to punch a little hole in each card, string a bit of yarn through them & make a little booklet for every year. Then, because I think our kid is the cutest, I put our Christmas card on top (this also helps me to remember what year the cards are from).

I'm really excited to have these little books to put out around the holidays & I'm really looking forward to adding to our collection every year. Thank you so much to those of you who sent us cards-- it really is something special to me & my family. See, Ruby just looooves your pictures!

Christmas Stories

This year, we didn't have a Christmas tree. Well, not an official one. Come to think of it, we didn't have one last year, either. I won't go into detail no as to why that is, but I do want to share a fun little Christmas activity that Ruby & I enjoyed this year that I would like to continue every year (especially when she's older & thinks it's awkward but still secretly loves it).

Here's our little mock Christmas tree (dried willow branches with some ornaments) & the first gift under the tree belongs to Miss Ruby, which was a sweet book on wild animales I found at the Goodwill

Our new tradition is focused on reading, which just so happens to be one of Ruby's favorite pass times. Every day, we probably read 20+ books because she LOVES books. She loves going to the library to get new ones & I love that so I don't go crazy reading the same dang elmo book hundreds of times each week. Because I know Ruby loves to read, I figured she would easily catch on to this new tradition...

For a few months before Christmas, I started collecting Christmasy books. It was actually harder than I would have imagined because, unfortunately, there are a lot of terrible books about Christmas out there, but I managed to find 12 books, which was my goal. Next year, I might try to be super ambitious & get 25... we'll see.

I wrapped up all the books & every night before bed, Ruby got to unwrap one & we would read it together. She really caught on to the unwrapping (& might have even unwrapped a few before naptime... I had a hard time resisting her when she ran up to me with a wrapped book, saying "story? ni-night?") & it was an all-around precious moment for us to share together.

Our little tree with the 12 books

Next year, I plan to use some of the same books (there's no way we're going to collect 12+ different books every year!) but I realized that I may need to hunt sooner & harder because I wasn't really satisfied with the content of a lot of the books. These books are just reserved for Christmas, though, so they are now put away in a special red & green bin in the basement with all of the rest of our soon-to-be-hibernating Christmas items.

The rocking chair with the books (please ignore the "happy birthday" gift wrap)

For next year, I want to collect even more Christmas books that really tell an accurate Christmas story. What are your (& your children's) favorite Christmas stories?

Christmas Card 2012

Love John, Gillian, & Ruby (17 months)

Haas Christmas Card 2011

truly he taught us to love one another,
his law is love & his gospel is peace
chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother
& in his name, all oppression shall cease

sweet hymns of joy, in grateful chorus raise we
with all our hearts, we praise his holy name
christ is the lord! forever we will praise thee
his power & glory ever more proclaim!

Christmas 2011