The Other Woman Cooks

Go ahead, ask around. I guarantee that someone you love loves chocolate cake.  This little cake packs a chocolate punch that will surely make your beloved swoon. And to make matters even better - it's easy .... a rich, moist chocolate cake that takes only a few minutes to prepare the batter using one bowl. Use dabs of frosting to attach whole raspberries or strawberry halves to the top layer to make your cake the ultimate in sexy desserts. Finally. look for a sparkling rosé with strawberry or raspberry undertones for a delightful wine pairing.   Perfect! Don't let Valentine's Day catch you by surprise this year.  I don't know for sure if chocolate is an aphrodisiac but it's worth a shot. Make a plan to bake a cake, a chocolate cake! TRUE LOVE CHOCOLATE CAKE 1 cup white sugar 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 jumbo egg 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon va...

Chocolate ganache sounds awfully intimidating. It's really just heated heavy cream poured over solid chocolate and with a pat of sweet butter melted in for richness. You can use your favorite chocolate: milk, dark or white but keep in mind, better quality chocolate equals better quality ganache. I’m fond of Guittard .  There are many good brands available. Buy the best you can afford – it’s worth it! Once you’ve tried these ganache filled beauties you’ll be hooked. Typical chocolate dipped strawberries just won't cut it anymore! CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT FILLED STRAWBERRIES 2/3 cup heavy cream 8 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate 1 tablespoon sweet unsalted butter 2 teaspoons Frangelica or other hazelnut flavored liqueur 24 large strawberries 3 tablespoons ground hazelnuts Chop the chocolate and place it in a stainless steel or pyrex bowl. Heat the cream until just simmering. Pour it over the chocolate in the bowl. Let sit for a minute. Using a rubber/silicon spatula, ...

Ever wonder where and by whom the first brownie was baked? It's a good question on National Milk Chocolate Day, which happens to be today! Culinary historians have traced the first “brownie” cake recipe to Fanny Farmer in The Boston Cooking School Cook Book circa 1906.  According to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America , the recipe is similar an earlier Fanny Farmer chocolate cookie recipe, but with less flour and baked in a “7-inch square pan.”  The next adaptation came along a year later when another Bostonian named Maria Willet Howard added an extra egg and an extra square of chocolate to the Boston Cooking-School recipe and called it Lowney’s Brownies. But we all know there's no such thing as too many brownie recipes. For her next batch, Maria added yet another square of chocolate and named the recipe Bangor Brownies. Hence came the falsehood that brownies were invented by a housewife in Bangor, Maine.  Not so. Just like the American Revolution a...

Farmer Paul pours through the Boston Globe food pages regularly looking for something that appeals to his picky palate. Every now and then he finds a winner. Light, crunchy and chocolate ... what's not to love? Last week's Boston Globe recipe for Cocoa meringue almond bark is worth the effort.  And simply because I can't help myself from tinkering ... I used Hershey's dark chocolate unsweetened cocoa instead of regular cocoa. Yummy!!!

There is nothing like chocolate to pull me out of the winter doldrums. Though calories count, there's one easy way to give in to temptation. Make small treats with big flavor by whipping up a batch of mini-cupcakes. German chocolate minis weigh in at 55 calories each. And they freeze well, so no excuses to overindulge in one sitting!  GERMAN CHOCOLATE MINIS For the frosting: 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 egg yolks 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces Dash salt 1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, lightly toasted For the cake: 1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda Dash of salt 1/4 cup cocoa (my fave is Hershey’s special dark chocolate) 1 teaspoon instant coffee 1/3 cup boiling water 1/3 cup plain yogurt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp 1/2 cup Splenda sugar blend 3 eggs, room temp For the frosting: Whisk yolks, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan.  Bea...

It started a few weeks ago. I made a batch of cashew brittle for a friend with a bad back, remember ? Just last week a second buddy had surgery and in two weeks yet another pal o' mine is scheduled for a procedure. Homemade candy makes a thoughtful and yummy get well present. And this particular recipe is as easy as it gets. When my children were young 'uns, I liked to make this candy for them. Not that candy is ever really good for you but ... using honey and nuts and good quality chocolate makes these bite sized confections a step better than fillers and waxy chocolate found in commercial brands. Not to mention, the husband (AKA Farmer Paul) doesn't complain about the bits and pieces (they call them seconds in the candy trade) that aren't pretty enough to make the nifty gifty boxes. CHOCOLATE DIPPED NUANT 1/2 cup honey 1 teaspoon lemon or orange juice 1-3/4 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate 4 ounces white chocolate 2 wooden spoons 12 x 12 c...

No special utensils are needed to make these scrump-dilly-umptious cocoa almond rum balls. Have your mini-food processor handy to fine chop the almond slivers and grind the vanilla wafers. A grater to get enough white chocolate shavings to roll the candies in for the finishing touch and you're good to go. You'll have approximately three and a half dozen yummy truffle-like sweets to give away ... or not! COCOA ALMOND RUMMIES 1 cup almond slivers, finely chopped 1 cup finely ground vanilla wafers 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder 3 tablespoons honey 1/4 cup rum 1/2 cup grated white chocolate bar for rollimg Combine almonds, cookie crumbs, confectioners' sugar and cocoa in a large bowl. Mix well. Add honey and rum and stir, making sure to moisten all of the mixture evenly. Form the mixture into one inch balls with your hands and roll them in grated white chocolate. Refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving. If desired use individual can...

Woke up this morning craving hot cocoa for breakfast -- problem, not a single package of cocoa mix in the house. Where there's a will there's a way and a quick look through the cabinets found everything I needed to stir up a batch of homemade cocoa mix. In no time I was happily sipping away. Adding the usual whipped cream or mini-marshmallows makes a nice finish. But a dollop of cold frothed milk with a swirl of old fashioned chocolate syrup is the final fantasy for hot cocoa lovers. A cold milk frother will run about twenty dollars at any specialty kitchen shop. Just one sip of hot cocoa or coffee coming through a cold cloud of fluffy frothed low-fat milk will make you wonder how you ever got by without it. The secret to my homemade m ix is the addition of chili powder. Measure carefully. Just the right amount will enhance the chocolate flavor of your drink to downright sinful but too much will give new meaning to hot cocoa! HOT COCOA MIX 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder 3/4 cup...

Courtesy of the Williams- Sonoma kitchen, right off the back of a box holding a Bouchon Silicone Baking Mold for little cakes that look like wine corks. The French word for cork is bouchon . My JP saw a picture of delectable little chocolate cakes dusted with powdered sugar and couldn't resist. The baking mold, recipe included, landed under the Christmas tree with a card that said To Mom with love. I finally broke open the box and freed up the mold for first use last night using the recipe exactly as called for. Well, almost exactly. I substituted a whole Lindt 3.5 ounce Chili Chocolate bar for the 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate -- quite sure that any good dark chocolate would do and I was correct. Believe me when I tell you that if you love deep, rich chocolate taste, you'll be hooked on chocolate corks. CHOCOLATE CORKS 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces 1/3 cup all purpose flour 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon ba...

... how much snow there will be. That's what my friend, roommate and fellow Democratic National Committee member said. We've been watching out the window, waiting for the blizzard to arrive. Southwest Air cancelled our flights home. Sure enough it's snowing out there and we're expected to be stuck in Washington, DC until Sunday. But no white out yet. Before I left home, I baked up a batch of fudge brownies with the hope there would be one left for me upon my return. Fat chance! I LOVE BROWNIES BROWNIES 6 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped ¾ cup unsalted butter 1 cup sugar ½ cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 4 large eggs Dash of salt 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks ½ cup chopped nuts Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt the bittersweet chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate with the butter, stirring until the mixture is smooth, remov...

Facebook friends from Washington, DC to New York City posted more snow warnings than The Weather Channel all last night. Today, my pals in eastern Massachusetts report near white out conditions. Here in western Massachusetts, it fizzled to a dusting at best. So I made up a batch of brownie cookie bites topped with peppermint snow and we had our own blizzard right in our kitchen. The best part? Peppermint snow is a pleasure to shovel ... into our mouths. But this IS New England -- who knows what tomorrow will bring! MINT COCOA BLIZZARDS 1/2 cup butter or margarine 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup cocoa 1 large egg 2/3 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup chocolate chunks 1/8 cup of peppermint snow (crush 4 or 5 mini candy canes into a coarse powder) Sift dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beat in on medium. Add dry pre-sif...

Chocoholics rejoice! This one's for you ... a warm and satisying dessert. Chocolate is festive and if you're looking for a way to get into the holiday spirit, nothing beats warm chocolate soup. Who can resist a Godiva boutique display? Or those Lindt bars on special? Everyone needs a chocolate snowman, don't they? Everything from chocolate tea bisquits to dipped dried fruits boxed and wrapped in gold and silver trimmed red velvet boxes -- a sprig of silk ivy points at you as if to say, "Just nevermind your old Aunt Alice, buy me for yourself!" While you're at it, pick up a high cocoa content bar to make this really yummy soup. You may keel over in a chocolate coma but you and your holiday guests will lie unconscious with a smiling face. Guaranteed. CHOCOLATE HEAVEN SOUP Amaretto Crème 1 cup heavy cream ½ cup 1% milk 1 egg yolk 1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur Chocolate Soup 1 cup 1% milk 1 cup heavy cream 1 tablespoon white sugar 4 ounces 85% cocoa chocolate squa...

Local markets carry Lindt , Ghirardelli and other high quality chocolate. But for a really special selection, Fairway Supermarket in Manhattan is an adventure. The Upper West Side icon is half supermarket, and half foodie emporium. Jam-packed with goodies, from specialty meats to gourmet chutneys, and amazing chocolates for cooking and eating. The history of chocolate is fascinating. Mayan and Aztec cultures offered chocolate to their gods in hopes of pleasing them. After the Spanish conquered Mexico, chocolate found its way to Europe as a profitable commodity. A few sips of deep rich chocolate probably explains more than a few l'affaires du coeur ... there's a reason chocolates are favored gifts between lovers. There are many online sources for fine chocolates if you aren't happy with what you find at your local grocers. And if you do find yourself in the city that never sleeps, head for Fairway Supermarket , wander around, read a few wrappers then buy yourself some l...

I am so going to miss the cheery summer table settings. Today was lovely but the temperature has dipped below 50 degrees every night for the last week. Nearly time to try out the fire pit we bought at Cabela's on sale at the tail end of last year. Wait until you see it, a very cute woodland motif - little moose and bear figure cut outs all around and a firescreen top to keep the sparks from flying. Meanwhile, we're up to our eyeballs in apples. Good thing my favorite brownie recipe has applesauce in it. If anybody has other great apple or applesauce recipes, please, send them my way! PATIO PERFECT BROWNIES 3/4 cup light brown sugar 1/4 cup sweet unsalted butter, room temperature 1 egg 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup applesauce 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped pecans Preheat oven to 350 d...