Chocolate? Raise Your Hand

Who here loves chocolate? Raise your hands.

I really cannot relate to anyone who doesn’t have their hand raised. Chocolate is the food of the gods. Maybe the Mayan gods, but gods nevertheless. (OK, you can put your hands down now)

Even with the mountains of chocolate I’ve eaten in my life there is a lot I don’t know about it. Luckily, others do. Here are a few interesting facts:

• The Swiss consume more chocolate per capita than any other nation on earth. That’s 22 pounds each compared to 11 pounds per person in the United States.
• The fruit of the Cacao tree grow directly from the trunk. They look like small melons, and the pulp inside contains 20 to 50 seeds or beans. It takes about 400 beans to make a pound of chocolate.
• The daughter of confectioner Leo Hirschfield is commemorated in the name of the sweet he invented: Although his daughter’s real name was Clara, she went by the nickname Tootsie, and in her honor, her doting father named his chewy chocolate logs Tootsie Rolls.
• The average person will consume 10,000 chocolate bars in a lifetime.
• Per capita, the Irish eat more chocolate than Americans, Swedes, Danes, French, and Italians.
• Chocolate manufacturers currently use 40 percent of the world’s almonds and 20 percent of the world’s peanuts.
• A recent study indicates when men crave food, they tend to crave fat and salt. When women crave food, they tend to desire chocolate.

See more chocolate trivia here.

Buckeye Brownies

These Buckeye brownies (chocolate and peanut butter) will convert any non-chocolate lover on the spot!

There is a lot here, but it is well worth it.

Prep the pan.

The chocolate.

And the peanut butter.

Ready for the oven.

And ready for my mouth.

Totally awesome!

Buckeye Brownies

Servings: 24 brownies

Ingredients:

For the Brownies:
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso (optional)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (17 1/2 ounces) sugar
1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon table salt
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup coarsely chopped peanuts
For the Peanut Butter Layer:
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk)
1/2 cup peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9×13 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. Place another piece of parchment paper in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk cocoa, espresso powder, and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined. Fold bittersweet chocolate and peanuts.
Spread half of brownie batter into the prepared baking dish.

In a medium bowl combine peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk with whisk. Pour mixture over brownie batter.

Drop the remaining brownie batter in 8 dollops over peanut butter layer in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.

Bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours.

Using parchment overhang, lift brownies from pan. Return brownies to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Source: http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2013/08/buckeye-brownies/