Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge

by Trisha Vaz
My Christmas Tree is up, the carols are playing and the air at home, especially in my kitchen is full of lovely aromas of Christmas sweets being made. This literally is the best time of the year. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I love all things Christmas. Christmas sweets in my house, like any other Goan household, includes all sorts of traditional Goan recipes. Over the last few years, I’ve found myself including a couple of recipes that are more ‘recent’ for lack of a better word. Like this little gem I’m sharing with you today.

Most Goan Sweet recipes are a labor of love and usually require either hours of stirring on the stovetop or take hours to shape and form. And while I love them all and make most of them every year, I love having recipes like this Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge on hand. This recipe is a great one to have on hand. It uses just 4 ingredients and the cooking time is just a few minutes. And, after leaving it to set in the fridge for a few hours, you end up with a super delicious, decadent chocolate fudge. This time around, I’m using hazelnuts in the fudge and I’m happy to report that this fudge tastes very similar to the Ferrero Rocher chocolates you find in the shops, albeit, without the wafer. You can customize this fudge to suit your liking by swapping hazelnuts for any nuts that you prefer.

Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge
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Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge

Recipe by Trisha VazCourse: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

64

pieces
Prep time

5

minutes
Cooking time

5

minutes
Setting time

8

hours

This utterly delicious Chocolate fudge is so simple to make, it will make the cut to your Christmas platter every year. Its perfect for a little sweet treat any time of the year.

Ingredients

  • 350g dark chocolate

  • 100g hazelnuts

  • 1 tin condensed milk (we get 395g tins here)

  • 30g butter

Directions

  • Line a 9 inch square baking tray with some foil, leaving a little overhang on the sides and set aside.
  • Lightly roast the hazelnuts. Carefully remove any pieces of skin / peel that may have been left on. Let the nuts cool down completely.
  • Roughly chop the nuts or place them in a ziplock back and crush the nuts with a rolling pin. You will be left with a rough chop.
  • Add the butter, condensed milk and chocolate pieces to a heavy bottomed pan. Stir over medium heat till the chocolate has melted and everything in the pan has combined to form a rich, luscious mix.
  • Add the hazelnuts and stir through to incorporate well. You will notice the mix starting to thicken.
    Quickly pour into the foil lined tray. Leave it on the countertop to cool down a little.
  • Once it comes to room temperature, pop the tray into the fridge and leave it to set for 4-6 hours or overnight.
  • Carefully peel back the foil. Cut the fudge into squares and serve.

    If you’re not serving this up immediately, place in an airtight container and refrigerate till needed.

    Enjoy!!!

Recipe Video

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Dessert, Recipes

The Best Chocolate Brownies

by Trisha Vaz
Hi guys! Today’s post is a special one. It’s my favorite chocolate brownie recipe that I’m going to share with you. It’s my go to recipe for chocolate brownies and I’ve used it for years now. It yields, what I consider, the perfect Chocolate Brownie. You get a beautiful crust on the outside and a fudgy, gooey center.



It’s the perfect baking option for holidays or when you’re baking for a crowd because of its simplicity. The recipe can be doubled if you like. And when simple recipes yield such fantastic results, you know you’re on to a winner.

So I do hope you try these brownies out.

The Best Chocolate Brownies
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The Best Chocolate Brownies

Recipe by Trisha VazCourse: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

12

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes

Fudgy, gooey and so chocolatey, these brownies are bound to become every chocolate-lovers favourite.

Ingredients

  • 110g all purpose flour

  • 185g salted butter

  • 175g dark chocolate (either buttons, or roughly chopped bars, both would work)

  • 175g sugar

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

  • A pinch of salt

  • 50g chocolate chips.
     

Directions

  • Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a heavy bottomed pan on low heat. Once everything has melted, take the pan off the heat and set it aside to cool.
  • Halfway through the cooling process, turn the oven on and preheat it to 180ºC.
  • Line an 8 inch square baking tray with some foil and leave an overhang on the sides. The foil makes clean up so much easier and the overhang helps take the brownies out of the try very easily.
  • Crack one egg into a small bowl and lightly whisk it. Add it to the melted and cooled butter and chocolate mix and whisk to incorporate. Repeat this with the second egg.
  • Add the vanilla, salt and sugar and whisk well, making sure everything has mixed well.
  • Now add the flour and whisk until just combined.
  • Add the chocolate chips and fold it through the batter with the help of a spatula.
  • Pour the batter into the foil lined tray and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
  • Take the brownies out of the oven and let them cool completely.
     
    You can now cut them into squares and serve. 

    Enjoy!

Recipe Video

Pin now and try later!

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Dessert, Recipes

Quick and Easy Treat for Easter – Chocolate Nests

by Trisha Vaz
I have kept my Easter prep for too late this year. I’m usually a lot more prepared than this. However, a minor accident had reduced my mobility this past week. I am on the mend but still not back to 100%. So I wanted to keep my treats quick and easy.

With that in mind I whipped up some Chocolate Nests. I love this recipe. It takes 3 ingredients and half and hour to make a batch. This is a very versatile recipe so you can make as big or small a batch, as you’d like. It is also a flexible recipe, so you can use the chocolate of your choice and mini eggs of your choosing too. So, if like me, you’ve left Easter prep for the last minute, try out this recipe. It is very popular with the little kids … and the big ones too.

Wish you and your loved ones a Happy and Holy Easter!

Chocolate Nests
Makes 8 Nests

100 grams Chocolate (I used Dark chocolate)
100 grams ready to serve Noodles
Mini Speckled Eggs

Chop up the chocolate roughly and melt using a double boiler. If you haven’t worked with a double boiler, watch the video linked below to see how you can use a simple saucepan and bowl to make one. (You can also melt the chocolate in a micowave using a microwave safe bowl and in 30 second increments.)

Toss the noodles into the chocolate and mix gently to coat the noodles in the chocolate completely.

Using a spoon and either a spatula or a butter knife, scoop out portions of the noodles onto a tray lined with baking paper. Shape to form rough circular shapes and make a little dip in the center of each nest.

Place the mini eggs in the dents created.

Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Serve.

You can watch the video recipe here –

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Dessert, Recipes

Double Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

by Trisha Vaz
It has been ages since I baked a batch of cookies. There was a time when I baked almost every week. But that hasn’t happened for a while. I must say that this batch has reminded me of all the reasons why I love baking. You haven’t really eaten a good cookie until you’ve eaten one that’s homebaked. The store-bought ones pale in comparison. I do believe that since I haven’t had a home baked cookie in a while, the difference was very noticeable and it is safe to say that I will be doing a lot more baking. It’s a good thing autumn seems to be just around a corner. Putting the oven on will be some much more pleasant on cooler days.

On to these cookies. The batter is really easy to put together. And the macadamia nuts in the cookies are amazing. I used a batch that I’d bought on our last trip to the Sunshine Coast. If you’re ever there, you must visit the Nut Factory. There’s not much to look at, but they offer a range of macadamia nut snacks, ranging from the natural and the plain roasted to a beautiful dark chocolate covered Macadamia Nut for the chocolate lover in you and a Crunchy Hickory Macadamia for when you’re in the mood for something savory (This was one of my favorites and it goes really well with a cold beer.) The best part of the visit is you can sample some of the treats on offer. But I digress. So let’s get back to these cookies. I was specifically looking for a cookie recipe to showcase the gorgeous Macadamia Nuts and this recipe does just that.

Double Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
Adapted from: Crazy for Crust
Makes 20 cookies


1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 large egg
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk the cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and flour till they are all combined.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Mix in the egg and vanilla till well incorporated.

Add the flour cocoa mix and mix until just incorporated.

Add the chocolate chips and the chopped macadamia nuts and fold into the cookie dough.

Scoop batter into equal sized portions onto the prepared baking tray and space them a couple of inches apart.

Bake for 9-12 minutes or until the cookies have just lost the glossy sheen.

Cool completely and then store in an air tight container.

Enjoy!!!

You can watch the video recipe here –

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Cookies, Recipes

Rocky Road Crunch Bars

by Trisha Vaz
A quick look at my blog posts for this year revealed something fascinating. I haven’t had too many dessert / candy kind of recipes make an appearance this year. I owe that to what used to be a very demanding job. Now that I’m taking some time off, I actually have the time to breathe, to stop and smell the roses, so to say. And one of the first orders of business is to rectify that. I decided that the 2-ingredient Almond Rocks was a good way to start and I needed another rocking recipe. And out of nowhere, I realized I hadn’t make any Rocky Road bars in ages. Turns out, I had all the ingredients needed to make some Rocky Road. So with a few minutes of prep and some time to set in the fridge, I now have a delicious batch of Rocky Road.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can switch it up so many different ways. You prefer a sweeter chocolate, use milk chocolate. If like me, you prefer a dark chocolate, use a darker variant. I used a 70% dark chocolate. I know to many of you, it may seem like it is a little too dark, but considering the recipe also uses marshmallows, biscuits and glace cherries, it balances out nicely. If however you need something in between, use 2 parts dark to 1 part milk chocolate of half of each, to suit your taste. This time around I used almonds but I have also made them with cashew nuts in the past and they work well. I think peanuts would be really nice too. So feel free to switch things up. 
Just before serving these bars, lightly dust them with some icing sugar. I put about a spoonful of icing sugar into a small sieve and lightly tap it over the bars. This gives it a lovely snow-like effect. These bars would be perfect to serve up as dessert for your Christmas or Holiday Parties or it could just as well hit the spot as a little treat as well. They would look really good on your Christmas platter too. 
Rocky Road Crunch Bars
Yields: 16 pieces

200g chocolate (I used dark chocolate. Feel free to use milk or part dark and part milk chocolate)
85g butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp golden syrup
100g Maria biscuits (Marie biscuits or any other Tea biscuits)
75g almonds
75g glace cherries
60g mini marshmallows
1 tsp icing sugar
Roughly chop the chocolate up into little pieces. The smaller the pieces, the quicker it will melt.
Place it in a heavy bottomed saucepan with the butter and golden syrup and place it on a low heat. Stir it every now and then to make sure it isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pan. 
When it has mostly melted, stir well and turn off the heat. You will get a silky syrupy consistency like this.
Roughly chop up the almonds and biscuits and set aside. It doesn’t need to be uniform in size.
Tip in all the add ins like the marshmallows, biscuits, almonds and cherries into a large mixing bowl.
Pour the molten chocolate over the ingredients.
Stir well to make sure everything is coated with the chocolate.
Line an 8 inch square cake tin with foil.
Pour the mix into the lined tin and flatten it out as best as you can using the back of a spoon.
Refrigerate for about 2 hours. 
When you are ready to cut, carefully peel of the foil. It is easier to do this now rather than after you cut it up.
Cut into pieces. I got 16 squares of about 2 inches each.
Just before serving, lightly dust with some icing sugar passed through a sieve. 
Enjoy!!!

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Dessert, Recipes

Almond Rocks

by Trisha Vaz
My first Christmas post … is this really possible? It’s not yet December but I already have my Christmas on, and it makes me insanely happy. I happen to be someone that loves Christmas. Turns out this is the first Christmas that I have to myself in about 8-10 years. For more than the first half of the last decade, I made Christmas sweets to order back in Mumbai. So as you can imagine around mid November, things would kick into higher gear with the prep, graphic work, shopping and planning of the month ahead and come December I’d be buried to my ears in work. It was exhausting but I loved every second of it and I can’t wait to do this all over again here in Sydney. Not this year though. After spending the last few years in Retail, which at this time of the year has you running off your feet, I have decided to take a little time off. Time to step back, re-prioritize and take some time off. We going to spend Christmas with the family in Bombay this year and I’m really excited. So you should see a little more of me on the blog at this time of the year.

For my first Christmas treat, I’m going to share with you a little chocolate creation that will knock your socks off. If you aren’t wearing any socks at the moment, I’ll wait for you. Put them on and come back to check the rest of the post and prepare to have them knocked off. Almond Rocks are so simple to make and need just 2 ingredients. You can make as big or small a batch as you’d like to. But I must warn you, these are so addictive, do yourself a favor and make a bigger batch than you need. You can also adjust the chocolate to be as intensely dark or sweet as you want it. We personally love dark chocolate, so I use a 70% dark chocolate straight up. If you like a sweeter chocolate, you simple use milk chocolate. If you’re in a Goldilocks kinda situation, use half semisweet / dark and half milk chocolate. So you see what I mean, you could have your chocolate just the way you like it. So that’s about your first ingredient. Now onto your second, the almonds. I use just the regular natural almonds and I roast them myself. I find the flavor much better this way. But you could use store bought roasted almonds too. Those are the ingredients for you. Now let’s put these together, shall we.
Almond Rocks
Yield: 16 pcs

100g dark chocolate (I used 70%, but you can use whatever you like)
A handful of almonds (I use 3 per chocolate, and always roast some extras, in case you have chocolate left over. The almonds taste great for snacking too.)
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Place the almonds on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 5 minutes.
Toss the almonds and place back in the oven for another 4-5 minutes. Check at the 3 minute mark this time. You may not need as long as 5 minutes, depending on the size of your almonds and your oven. You want the almonds to slightly change color and you will distinctly be able to smell the nuttiness. You need to watch the almonds as you don’t want them to char or burn.
Once you’re happy with how roasted the almonds are, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely. They will crisp up and be a whole lot yummier one it has cooled down. (If you are using store bought almonds that are roasted, you can skip this whole step.)
While this is happening, roughly chop the chocolate into small pieces. Remember, the smaller the pieces, the faster it will melt, which is a good thing. If you haven’t worked with chocolate before, please ensure that all surfaces, bowls/plates, knives that you use to work with the chocolate are comepletely dry. Water and chocolate don’t get along. Any moisture will cause the chocolate to seize and that is NOT a good thing.
Place the chopped up chocolate in a microwave suitable bowl and pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and return to the microwave for another 15 seconds. Stir again. As you stir, you will see the chocolate starting to melt. It took me a further 15 seconds (1 minute in all) to get my chocolate melted. Stir well and as you stir, the chocolate continues to melt and gets silky like this.
Tip the completely cool roasted almonds in the chocolate. At this stage, you may feel like there isn’t enough chocolate, but trust me, there is. If you want to, you can add the almonds in two stages. 
Stir the almonds into the chocolate to make sure every nut is well coated in the chocolate. 
Line a plate or platter or tray with parchment paper. 
Spoon out one cluster at a time. I scoop up 3 almonds at a time and drop them on the parchment lined tray. (If you want smaller clusters, you could use just 2 almonds for each cluster. I like the portion size that 3 almonds yield.)
Repeat with the rest of the almonds and chocolate. I love the irregular shapes of candy you get. I think its what gives these almond rocks a lot of character. 
Pop the tray in the refrigerator for around 20 minutes to set. This is what it will look after it has set.
Keep refrigerated till you are ready to serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge. If you want to wrap them in colored candy wrapping foil you can do so at this stage. You could also pop them in little festive bags and use them as edible gifts or host / hostess gifts this holiday season. I am going to leave them uncovered. 
Enjoy!!!
Note: If you are making a massive batch, melt your chocolate in batches that way it is easy to work with. However if you find the chocolate getting too thick to work it, microwave it for about 10 seconds and you should be good to go.
If you don’t have a microwave, you could use the double boiler method to melt the chocolate. Simply place a bowl with the chocolate over a pot of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl and no moisture or vapor gets to the chocolate while you are melting it.

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Dessert, Recipes

Oreo Truffles

by Trisha Vaz
I have a little confession. A few years ago, I used to not like Oreo biscuits very much. There!!! I said it. But wait, I must also say this. A few months ago, I sorta flipped a switch. I happened to try one again, and I must say, I didn’t mind it at all. Don’t ask me what happened or how it did, but I can now say I actually like Oreo biscuits. So it was time that I reworked what was originally a recipe that used Oreos, which, when I first made, I actually substituted with another biscuit. But recently, I made them again using the real thing.

Sometime in August, we were celebrating a couple of birthdays at work and I decided I was going to bring a batch of these to the celebration. I was a little skeptical of how they would be received, but I shouldn’t have been. They disappeared. Not everyone had an opportunity to grab one, but some clever ones managed to get seconds, maybe thirds 😉 Those that had a chance to try them out, absolutely loved them. So turns out I didn’t have to worry about these at all. I’ve had a few people ask me for the recipe more than once. So I’m actually doing another post for it.

This is one of the easier treats I’ve made and if you have to take something sweet to a potluck, may I recommend making these. They will be an instant hit. Be warned, they are really moreish. You wont be able to stop at one.

Oreo Truffles
(Makes 1 dozen)

200g Oreo cookies (each packet is 137g, I just used 2 packets)
60g cream cheese
200g chocolate (I used 100g milk chocolate and 100g dark chocolate but you could use all milk or all dark or any ratio you prefer)
1/4 cup Candy melts (I used Yellow melts)

Blitz the cookies in a food processor till it reaches a fine crumb state. (If you don’t have a food processor, place the cookies in a ziplock bag and pound on them using a rolling pin.)

Stir in the cream cheese and mix thoroughly.

Roll them into balls. Refrigerate them for an hour so that the firm up.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds and stir. Then as needed microwave in 30 second increments stirring inbetween till the chocolate melts. The stirring helps the chocolate melt.

Line a cookie sheet tray with parchment paper.

Dip the cookie balls in the melted chocolate. Using a fork, let the excess chocolate drip off and leave them to set on the parchment lined tray. You can serve them up as they are or decorate them with sprinkles or chocolate then do that at this stage and leave it to set.

If you want to use sprinkles to decorate them, sprinkle them on the truffles just after you dip them in chocolate.

If you want to drizzle some chocolate or candy melts over, microwave them in a microwave safe bowl according to the package instructions. Pour it into an icing bag or a small ziplock bag, snip off the tip of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the truffles. Leave to set.

Enjoy!!!

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Dessert, Recipes

Chocolate Mud Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

by Trisha Vaz
Today, let me tell you a little story. Its a story about a cake that looked a little ordinary. But we’ve all heard about how looks are deceptive, and in this case it was so very true. I made this cake a while ago and have no idea why I hadn’t gotten around to posting about it yet. I made this cake for my husband’s birthday last February. To give you a little perspective, at the end of January last year, we finally moved into an apartment here in Sydney, before which we were in a little studio apartment with a little kitchenette for the previous six months. I was excited to have a kitchen, but we’d only just moved and were still working on getting everything in place, namely furniture, appliances and the like. I knew I wanted to bake my husband his birthday cake, because he honestly doesn’t care for the store-bought stuff anymore and I hadn’t baked in more than 10 months.

So with a single cake pan and a wooden spoon, I set out to bake this cake. Please excuse the aesthetics on this one and don’t let it fool you for a single moment. This cake was so very good, I was amazed. I know I will make this recipe again. This cake was down right delicious. I think I might’ve jumped the gun when I tried to sandwich the cake with the icing. I now know better. I would’ve had a better looking cake had I just iced it on top. Which is why I don’t have a picture of the entire cake, just one enticing piece 🙂  That’s something I know I will do differently the next time. But all said, this is a winner of a recipe.

Chocolate Mud Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

For the cake – 
400g butter, chopped into cubes
400g dark chocolate, chopped
15g instant coffee powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
60 ml water
225g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
25g cocoa
6 large eggs
440g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Line a 9″ round cake tin with parchment paper and lightly grease it.

Place the butter, chocolate, coffee, vanilla and water in a saucepan over low heat. Stir and heat till melted. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl. Sift another 2 times.

Beat the eggs and sugar till pale and thick.

Add the chocolate mixture and beat till combined.

Fold in the flour cocoa mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.

Bake for 90 minutes or till done.

Leave it in the baking tin to cool for about 10 minutes.

Take it out of the cake tin and cool it down completely.

Note: According to the Donna Hay Magazine, where this recipe is originally from, she recommends testing a mud cake with a skewer. Piece the skewer into the center of the cake. It will emerge coated in cake. Roll the cake from the skewer onto your fingertips. If it balls up and feels tacky, the cake is done. Take the cake out of the oven.

For the ganache –


250 ml single cream
300g dark chocolate, chopped


Place the cream and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat and stir till melted and smooth.

Cool to room temperature.

To assemble – 

When the cake has completely cooled, spread the completely cooled ganache over the cake.

Serve.

Note: I did cut and split the cake into 2 layers and placed some ganache in the center. This is something I won’t do the next time, it just messes up the finish. I would recommend baking the layers separately, if you’re keen on a layered mud cake.  

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Recipes

Two Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

by Trisha Vaz
Over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself craving for some chocolate cake. Now I could very easily just pop over to one of the shops not far from where I live and pick one up. Believe me, there is no shortage of cake shops and cafes in Sydney city. But all of these are a little bit of a walk away and I really wanted to bake one myself. Now seeing as to how I don’t have access to an oven, that was going to be a bit of a problem. But then I remembered seeing some posts on a number of blogs that featured microwave mug cakes, small portions of yum that I could be biting into in a matter of a few minutes. That would be much quicker that getting to a cafe to buy some cake. So I began my hunt on the internet and found a recipe that I decided to try. I was really excited about it. Its as simple as putting the ingredients into a microwave safe mug, whisking it up and baking it for a few minutes. And you have about enough time to whip up a nice cup of tea while your cake gets ready. Oh, please don’t be over eager like me. You have to let the cake stand for a while after baking, or else you’ll be left with a burnt mouth. The cake does get insanely hot, so please do yourself a favor and try to wait, no matter how difficult that may seem at the time. Anyway, I do hope you try this recipe.

I pretty much stuck to the recipe, with the exception of chocolate chips. I didn’t have any so I just left them out. And it still tasted pretty good. Also, I didn’t think the mix would fit into the mugs I had, so I mixed the batter in a larger bowl and then poured it into the mugs. Now its not as perfect as the ones I’ve baked in an oven, but it was good. And now that I know that something like this can be whipped up in minutes, I’m gonna have to try extra hard to not make this too often, for the sake of my waist; if you get my drift 😉

Two Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
Recipe from: Completely Delicious
Yield: 1 large mug or 2 small mugs

3 tbsp veg. oil
3 tbsp whole milk
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp all purpose flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
A pinch of salt

Place the oil, milk, egg and extract in a large microwave safe mug and whisk together using either a whisk or a fork until combined.

Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt and mix until combined.

*If you’d like to add chocolate chips, stir in 3 tbsp chocolate chips.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

There  you go, your cake is ready!

Enjoy!!!

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Recipes

Week 4 of 12WOCC – Chocolate Toffee Cracker Bars

by Trisha Vaz

This week I bring to you a treat like none I’ve ever tasted before. I’ve heard of love at first sight, but for me this was love at first bite, literally. The only thing I remember thinking as I savored every bite of this was “OH MY GOODNESS!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! And you know what, it wasn’t me. I wasn’t going crazy. My husband also thought this was one of the best treats we’d eaten ever. That is the highest honor and treat can every get in my home. And mind you, these little devious treats are addictive. For the fist time in a very long time, I found myself thinking of these bars every now and then and it took massive restraint to keep from wolfing these down.

I can’t really decide whether this is a cracker or a candy, but what I know is that this recipe is going to be treasured. I was really excited while making these bars because I got to use my new toy – the candy thermometer. Yes, I arrived at the decision that I had gone without one for too long. There were just so many wonderful delights out in blog land that called for a candy thermometer and I was done passing them by. So stay tuned and see what else I use this little magic wand of the sugar world for.
The Chocolate Toffee Cracker Bars are really quick and easy to put together. The most difficult part of this recipe was waiting for it to cool. By now you know, if there’s one thing I always struggle with, its the waiting 😉
Chocolate Toffee Cracker Bars
Adapted from: Baking with Lisa
Makes 35 bars
1 1/4 cups butter
35 Saltine crackers
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 can condensed milk (14 oz.)
350g semisweet chocolate chips (I used a bar, chopped into small pieces)
1 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
Line a 10″x15″ Jelly Roll pan with aluminium foil, shiny side up.
Melt 1/4 cup butter and brush the foil thoroughly with this melted butter. I didn’t need all of it though.
Line the pan with the crackers.
Combine the remaining butter and the sugar in a saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Boil the mixture till it registers 248ºF on the candy thermometer. 
Remove from the heat immediately and carefully whisk in condensed milk. Once the condensed milk has been incorporated well, pour it over the crackers, making sure they are all covered. 
Bake for 10 minutes. The top should be all brown and bubbly.
Scatter the chocolate all over the top and pop it bake into the oven for 5 minutes. 
Using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon spread the melted chocolate to make sure it covers the surface completely.
Sprinkle the coarsely chopped nuts all over and gently press down into the chocolate to make sure they stick.
Cool down and then refrigerate till the chocolate sets.
Invert the pan on a clean surface, peel back the foil and cut into bars. Keep refrigerated.
Cutting options – 
1) Cut along the cracker edges for generous cracker sized bars.
2) Cut into quarters for little bites
3) Cut in half for fingers

This recipe is also linked to –
Friday Potluck
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweets For A Saturday

Here’s what the others have brought to the table this week – 

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Cookies, Dessert, Recipes