Caramel Pecan Chocolate Brownies - Day 41

   Salted Caramel Latte.  Can the world ever hold enough of this magical stuff, and whatever did we do for comfort before there was Starbucks?   Inspired by the transformative taste of salted caramel, this chocolatista set out to find the perfect brownie with a layer of caramel at center.  The quest continues, but Epicurious offers the best so far:  Turtle Brownie. 

Still More Brownies and the Last Easy Mountain - Day 40

   Arguably the most beautiful Sunday of the year,  a perfect time to share Nigella's Snow-Flecked Brownies on top of  14,014 foot mountain with both friends and strangers.  There are no more class 1 fourteeners left in this state for me to climb because I just did the very last one.  Late September, 2011.

Day 37: Bacon Bourbon Brownies with Pecans

    Spice of Life, an Ingredients Emporium, is a fantastic place to shop for  culinary items in a quaint, small neighboring city.  I love to drink coffee there and buy olives and Stilton cheeses.  They do not, however stock  baking chocolate.  I did not hesitate to point out this shortcoming.  As soon as he heard my intent to  bake Bacon Bourbon Brownies, the owner/manager/baker/clerk disappeared into the back.  He emerged with a bag of truly wonderful semisweet chocolate buttons, the kind real pros use. While selling me about 12 ounces of these rare and wonderful morsels, he confided that he makes hot chocolate with bacon syrup when cocoa weather comes.  I'll be back.
     I wish I could say I shared the brownies with this generous, helpful, imaginative man, but I couldn't because they disappeared right after they came out of the oven.  Go figure.  Make some yourself if you are so inclined.  Recipe's in Food and Wine, August 2011, page 80.

Chocolate Toffee Graham Fingers and a Birthday - Day 39

September 8, 2011

   The doctor flinched, struggled, had the appearance of a man trying to catch a fish barehanded in midair.  The baby I thought might stay in forever flew into the world, changing things from that moment forward.  As his father would pronounce, "One second we were regular people, and the next we were parents."  Twenty-one years later that boy rushes beween physics and organic chem lab to check his mail.  And lo, the chocolate toffee graham birthday cookies have indeed arrived.

    When you want to make someone really happy, Chocolate Toffee Graham Fingers are an excellent bet.   Heirloom Baking, page 278:  simple, rich, delicious, and oh-so-easy-to-ship in cool weather.