Sucanat Chocolate Brownies

These brownies got nothin on the box kind.  AND they call for sucanat, not processed white sugar! I found this recipe on the back of this sucanat bag.  Yep, it rocks.  If this doesn't sell you on sucanat, I don't know what will. 

Here's what you need: 

1 1/2 stick butter or margarine

1 bag 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 2 cups)

2 cups sucanat

1 Tbsp. vanilla

5 large eggs, beaten

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Start by greasing a metal 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350. In a medium sauce pan, melt margarine and chocolate chips over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. 

Once melted, add sucanat and vanilla.

Stir until well combined. It should have kind of a grainy texture like this.

In a small bowl, beat all eggs, then add to chocolate mixture and briskly stir together to mix well. 

Once eggs are mixed in, add flour and salt. 

Once well combined, pour brownie mixture into the metal pan.  Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. 

Chocolate Frenzy!

I had a girls night at my house last night with all the girls from work.  All week, I was excited to make these cupcakes with my own chocolate covered pretzels on top.  After I was done dipping the pretzels, I couldn't stop there, oh no.  I remembered that I had some delicious organic strawberries in the fridge, so I went on a chocolate dipping craze!  So here is the simple recipe for the chocolate covered pretzels.

1 cup chocolate chips (I think milk chocolate is better than semi-sweet in this case, but use what you have)
2 Tbsp. cooking oil

In a microwave safe bowl, add chips and oil.  Microwave on high at 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval.  When chocolate is melted, start your dipping!

I used a tooth pick for the pretzels so my hands wouldn't get messy

Let excess drip off into the bowl.  Then lay pretzel on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. 

For the strawberries, just grab the leafy part.  (make sure you pre-wrinse them, and let them dry completely before dipping.  Any moisture added to the chocolate will cause the chocolate to get lumpy and harden)

Gently lean the strawberry side to side until most of it is covered.  Let excess drip off into the bowl.  Then lay strawberry on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.

Place baking sheet in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to harden the chocolate. Then, bring back out to add white chocolate if you have some.  Melt white 1 oz. white chocolate in microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring.  When melted, dip a butter knife in the chocolate, and wave knife over the strawberries and pretzels.  

Place baking sheet back in the fridge for everything to harden.  Store in the fridge until time to serve.  Keep in the fridge after serving too.

So while these look super fancy, aren't they just way easy to make?

You may think that eating these strawberries right away is best, but I just had some more today and oh my goodness! They taste WAY better after letting them sit for a day!

Chocolate Almond Clusters

I recently bought one of those huge almond bags from Costco, and realized that I needed to step up my almond- consuming game, cuz they weren't going away fast enough.  So I figured why not make this a good way to satisfy my nearly-ever-present chocolate craving? Ladies, I know I'm not alone on this one.  Chocolate and I are in a war, and chocolate likes to win the battles.  So I thought, why not at least justify  losing a little bit, by sneaking in some healthy almonds? Ya, sure, why the heck not.  So this recipe is intended to satisfy that chocolate craving, and they are already in portioned sizes, so you can grab one cluster and feel good about not over-indulging yourself, but still keeping that chocolate craving at bay.

3 cups whole, raw almonds
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/4-1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
27 cupcake liners

Lay out cupcake liners in baking sheet, set aside. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lay out almonds on a separate baking sheet. Roast almonds in oven for 10 minutes. (this helps to bring out the flavor in the almonds, so they present a good contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate)

In a medium saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate chips, stirring constantly.

Once chocolate is melted, add cinnamon and vanilla. The extract will make the chocolate sort of chunky again, so add milk to brink it back to a smooth consistency.

Add almonds and stir to coat almonds.

Pour almond mixture by the spoonful into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full.  

This should fill about 27 cupcake liners.  To be extra cute, you could add sprinkles or powdered sugar, etc, and give them to people.  But I was just making them for my husband and I. (more chocolate for meeeeeee!)

Place baking sheet  in the fridge or freezer for 30 minutes to harden the clusters.

Once clusters are hardened, store in a gallon freezer bag and place in the freezer. Then, when you want some chocolate, just take a cluster out of the bag and munch away!

**Note: If you are putting these in the freezer, make sure to let them sit out for a few minutes before you start eating them,  Otherwise they will stick to the liners (unless you are using wax liners).